Guanajuato, Day Three

We woke up on Sunday to the clamoring of bells: Hallelujah, it was Easter. We didn't have much of a plan for the day, except to take it easy. After all, the trip was supposed to be a bit of a vacation. So that's what we did.

We started off by taking a tour of the Teatro Juarez, across from the Jardin, mostly because as we were walking by, it was open. We'd certainly noticed the exterior - with its Doric columns, Greek muses, and bronze lions, the building demands attention. The interior did not disappoint - the main theater was awash in red and gold, and decorated with intricate Moorish designs. The entryway and second-floor smoking lounge were equally lavish.

Taken all together, it was awesome but perhaps a bit too much. Which I guess should not surprise - the theater was built during the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, a man who liked his buildings European and ostentatious. (He really did; he is also the man who laid the first stone of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, perhaps the coolest and most extravagent building that I have ever seen in person.)

Porfirio Diaz officially opened the Teatro Juarez, in 1903, (about seven years before he gets ousted for this sort of thing during the Mexican Revolution). Opening night featured a performance of Aida.

After the theater, we strolled toward the Basilica, hoping to catch some of the Easter celebrations. But Guanajuato had suddenly gotten quiet; it was like everyone had packed up the night before and left town. So when we got to the church, not much was going on - there was a small crowd of people around the baptismal font, waiting to get their babies baptized like it a holy assembly line - but it seemed pretty casual.

We only stayed in the Basilica for about 20 minutes before wandering back - via random alleys and encountering a parade of VW bugs -to the Jardin and to Starbucks. Our intention was to enjoy the sunshine and dip into the novels we'd been lugging around, but neither of us could read - the people were just too interesting. There were certainly a lot less people than before but still, it was fascinating. We eventually headed back a couple of blocks to the area around the Quixote museum, where we'd found a little Zen shop offering inexpensive massages. (I told you we were on vacation.) It was heaven for half an hour.

Since clearly all we wanted to do was eat, drink, and chill out, we wandered next back to the Jardin, where a man was performing a comedy show on the steps of the Teatro Juarez. He was pretty funny, with his striped shirt, suspenders, and black clown nose. We sat down in the audience and not too long after, he motioned to me to participate in one of his skits. Luckily, it was mostly mimed. When the show ended - with me giving him a little kiss - we opted for El Cafe Galeria, an eatery that had a cluster of tables set up at the foot of one end of the Teatro steps. I can't remember what we ate, but we definitely sat there through a couple of drinks. (We tried to ask for chimichurri sauce but since we didn't know the name yet, the waiter didn't understand what we were talking about.) Before long, our friend the comedian returned to the steps and started a second show. He asked me to volunteer again. He asked me to volunteer in the third show, too. (Yeah, okay, we sat there awhile.) And maybe even a fourth - I started to lose count.

Eventually we headed back to the B&B - climbing the stairs, a total mistake - to "freshen up." But instead, we ended up taking a little snooze and it was dusk before we woke up. I'm not good at re-energizing after a nap but luckily, this one didn't knock me out completely, and we decided to head back into town for dinner. We ate an Italian restaurant right on the Jardin, on the second-floor of a hotel, so from our balcony table, we had a great view of everything that was going on below us. And there actually was quite a bit going on - the estudiantinas, or wandering students minstrels - were putting on a show.

The estudiantinas are apparently quite famous in Guanajuato. They dress up in Cervantes-era costumes and lead singing tours around the alleyways. Even though we were a little tired, we decided we shouldn't miss it. So we bought a ticket and waited for our particular group to be called. First, our guys (and it should be noted that they were mostly not students; the B&B owner told us that the tradition had dwindled enough that now, only one estudiantina is actually required to be a student) - anyway, first our guys performed a couple of love songs there at the Jardin, ostensibly to attract paying customers. Then they filled our ceramic mugs and off we went. We'd walk a little then stop while the estudiantinas would either sing a song, tell a local story, or both. It was kind of fun.

At the end of the tour - which was around midnight - we ended up at the Callejon del Beso, or Kissing Alley, which is so narrow that you can reach out the balcony of one house to touch the one across. As the tale goes, the love of young Carmen and Luis is thwarted, Romeo and Juliet-style, because her father evidently doesn't approve of the match and sticks a dagger in the wee suitor's chest. Alas. But the Callejon del Beso was actually my least favorite part - partially because it was so late, but partially because it was so ridiculous commercialized. (We'd heard that during the day, people were making Easter tourists pay to walk down it- which is crazy, since it's a public street!)

Our callejoneada ended there and Emily and I trudged home. And we truly did trudge - the furnicular had closed at 10pm, so we tackled those 300-ish steps for the second time that day. Not surprisingly, we were quite happy to see our beds...when we finally reached them.