Feb 12, 2013 - Silver Mines in Guanajuato, Mexico

On our second day in Guanajuato my two Canadian friends and I, decided to take a look at where all the silver came from. We were certainly doing our part in supporting the economy of GT by buying up as much silver jewelry as possible. We hired a man from the La Paz Plaza to take us and another couple on a tour of an old mine in the hills above the city, a famous hacienda and the Mummy museum. It was interesting to see how our guide managed our standard transmission van with only his left leg. A little scary too, but he did just fine as long...

Feb 11, 2013 - Guanajuato, Mexico

After a week in San Miguel de Allende I took a one hour bus ride to Guanajuato. My two friends Jan and Marion from Vancouver, whom I met at a Flamenco Show in San Miguel, decided to come along. One of the pleasures of solo traveling is meeting so many wonderful people. Where San Miguel is full of interesting American and Canadian Expats, Guanajuato is a more authentically Mexican small town. Known for the silver mines, it is situated in a natural basin and has had some serious floods. The houses are many colored and cling to the hillsides....

Dec 7, 2010 - Leon - Guanajuato

Heute frueh sind wir von Zacatecas aufgebrochen und erst nach Leon gefahren, haben dort die unendlichen Tiefen der Lederwarenmaerkte erkundet, sind mit einer Lederjacker fuer Bene wieder rausgekommen und weiter nach Guanajuato gefahren. Viel haben wir von der Stadt noch nicht gesehen weil es bei der Ankunft schon dunkel war, aber es sieht nach einer gemuetlichen, netten Stadt aus. Das Hostel aus dem Reisefuehrer das wir nehmen wollten existiert nicht mehr, es ist jetzt ein Internetcafe, aber dort hat man uns ein anderes Hostel empfohlen,...

May 17, 2010 - Guanajuato and León

I know I said we had to stay at home now until we finished our dissertations, but we couldn’t resist another weekend away before we finish. This weekend we headed to Guanajuato and finally after a broken-down bus delaying us and found our hostel in the early hours of the morning. Exhausted, we just wanted to crash but there was some kind of party going on in our dorm, with loads of people who weren’t even staying there sitting on our beds… great. We took one look at the room and told the owner we didn’t want to stay but she insisted that we...

Dec 17, 2009 - Unterirdisch gut!

Am 17.01 holten wir morgens die ominoese Sylvia ab. Ominoes deshalb, weil Norma, Sandra und Liz fest davon ueberzeugt waren wir meussten uns kennen, weil Sylvia auch in Vancouver war zur selben Zeit. Aber weder Sylvia noch ich konnten sie davon ueberzeugen, dass wir uns nie zuvor gesehen hatten. Aber gut wir verstanden uns auch ohne zwei jaehrigen Hintergrund gut und so stand unserem Trip nach Guanajuato nichts mehr im Weg. Mit dem Bus gings dann Richtung mexikanische Revolution, aber die haette ich verschalfen, denn die gesamten vier...

Dec 13, 2009 - Guanajuato et San Miguel

Nous faisons un tour vers l'etat de Guanajuato. Le stop marche tres bien depuis Guadalajara et nous arrivons dans l'apres midi a la petite ville de San Miguel de Allende. C'est á nouveau un endroit plein d'etrangers et surement a cause de cela la ville est propre et ordonnée mais toujours avec sa touche mexicaine. Les quelques etrangers que nous croisons nous paraissent un peu fous...surtout une anglaise qui nous a embarqué dans une drole d'histoire juste pour nous louer une chambre a 75 us dollars! On s'est presque enfuit de chez elle en...

Nov 2, 2009 - Guanajuato

This weekend I met the others in the city of Guanajuato. Guanajuato is a really beautiful old colonial town, and feels very European, the best way to describe is it’s like being in a city like Granada. We stayed in this really sweet ‘casa’ in the centre of town. Our rooms were like a cave with low ceilings and little archways, very cute! Guanajuato was buzzing all weekend. Every year they hold a famous festival for two weeks called Cervantino, and we were there for the final weekend. Crowds gathered to watch street entertainers, and the...

Mar 19, 2009 - Something completely different!

I'm going to cheat on this entry and rather than type up my own I'm going to take the information right out of the towns brochure. Until the beginning of the 15th century, Guanajuato was home to a settlement of Otomi natives. Indeed, the name 'Guanajuato' comes from a word in the Purepecha language 'Guanaxhuato', meaning hilly place of the frogs. Th city of Guanajuato owes its foundation to the rich silver mines that were discovered by the Spanish from 1548 onward. In 1741, the city was given the title of 'The Most Noble and Loyal City of...

Mar 18, 2009 - An expensive drive

Time of departure: 0730 Time of arrival: around 1500 Distance traveled: 230 miles Travel expenses: 1119 pesos or $75 US for toll roads Staying in: Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico Staying at: Bugamville RV Park Amenities: 15 amp, water and electric Our travels today were almost entirely on toll roads. Early on we did travel within 10 miles of Mexico City and I have to tell you that the air quality was AWFUL!! There is something to be said for all those regulations we have in the states. Upon our arrival at our new home we discovered two...

Mar 18, 2009 - Guanajuato

The bus came early for our day trip to Guanajuato. This turned out to be another 3 hour round trip bus ride. The city is very interesting. It is build from a valley floor up on to the steep hills all around. In addition, since the roads are so steep and narrow, they have a maze of tunnels under the city for through traffic. It would take a long time to learn your way around! We off loaded to smaller buses, and we drove under and over the city. We had lunch in a great restaurant across from the opera house. The opera house reminded us of...

Mar 16, 2009 - Travel to Guanajuato

March 16 - Travel to Guanajuato This was an easy travel day turned difficult. After driving most of the way to Guanajuato, the folks traveling behind us notified us of smoke coming from one of our trailer tires. We pulled over in a safe place that just happened to be at a strawberry stand. So while everone else shopped for strawberrys Doug investigated the problem. It turned out that 3 of 4 shackles on the trailer had broken and allowed the tire to rub on a shock absorber support thus creating smoke. Sufficient force had been applied to a...

Feb 14, 2009 - Guanajuato...Happy Valentines Day!!

Both of us would like to wish each of you a wonderful Valentine's Day ... much love from us to you! Tomorrow we are heading to Zacatecas for two days then on to Durango (where John Wayne filmed many westerns) for two days. Perhaps we'll have internet there and catch up again.