Guanajuato: Day Five and Final

Originally, we had big plans for our last morning in Guanajuato, before we had to leave for the airport at 1pm. We had contemplated fitting in two museums, the Museo Olga Costa-Jose Chavez Morado (home of the muralist) or the gardens at the Ex-Hacienda de San Gabriel de Barrera, or maybe even the mine that once made Guanajuato the richest city in the New World.

And then we realized we just wanted to quietly enjoy our last few hours so instead, we went strolling and shopping. We started off by taking photos on one the town's most colorful streets, where all the houses are a different color, and sometimes, multiple colors. (From looking at the map, I think the street's name is Matavacas which translates to, oddly, "kill cows.") I really can't stress enough how awesome Guanajuato is - it's just so beautiful.

Then we headed to the Jardin de la Union. The scene there had completely changed from Easter weekend. The thousands of people were gone and the few remaining were just enjoying the leisurely pace of life, sitting on the benches in the sunshine or getting their shoes shined. A few blocks down, two nurses were giving out H1N1 shots. It was an interesting contrast; in our five-day trip, it was like we got to see both festive Guanajuato and ordinary Guanajuato.

Also interestingly, on Friday and Saturday, we hardly saw any other American tourists - and we felt like people definitely stared at us, because we really stood out. The city felt undiscovered, in contrast to San Miguel. But then now, on Tuesday, we saw American tourists all over the place - and I don't know if it was just that they had recently arrived or stood out more without all the crowds.

Well, I suppose we weren't just leisurely strolling; we were also on a mission to come up with 4,000 pesos to pay our B&B bill. We had brought credit cards and U.S. dollars and figured we would at least be able to pay with one of two out of three forms of tender. But then the morning before, the B&B owner pretended to ask us how we wanted to pay before telling us that he only accepted cash, in pesos. Which was fine - but it would have been nice to know beforehand...and it would have been nice if he'd been willing to discuss payment. When Emily tried to talk to him that morning, he walked away from her, essentially telling her he couldn't be bothered because he was too busy with his new guests. (I seriously don't understand why this guy has the top rated B&B in the city. He was such an ass.)

Anyway...after we settled on just using the ATM, we walked in the direction of the Mercado Hidalgo, a huge warehouse/market built by Gustave Eiffel. On the first afternoon, I had seen some cool wooden earrings with geometric cutouts, so we were on a mission to try and find them again. And eventually we did, at one of the stalls right outside the Mercado. We also strolled through the mercado - it's a utilitarian market, as opposed to touristic, so we just kind of walked around, looking at all the food stalls and checking out the people. Emily even had a glass of horchata, this strange rice milk drink we'd discovered in Mexico City.



And that was pretty much our morning. We bought some souvenirs as the prices were fair to low, and the shops had really unique artesanias. Emily got a tin angel and I bought a calavera head and a nicho featuing Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge:

And that's it! We left for the airport at 1pm and got to Leon in plenty of time. We spent the next two hours in the airport playing Phase 10, checking out the Christo Rey statue that we could barely see on a distant hillside, supposedly at the very center of Mexico (and that we forgot to take a photo of), and laughing over this funny, no-smoking sign:

Thanks for reading about our adventures. Hasta la proxima, until next time!