The Place of Frogs

The city of Guanajuato was initially settled in the mid-1500s as a result of silver and gold mining by Spanish colonialists. The city itself is situated within an improbable setting--a ravine surrounded by hills on all sides. These hills, I have found in the last couple of days, are very VERY steep. It has already made me wonder numerous times, why-despite silver and gold-would anybody build and continue to build a city here? Regardless, they have--and quite an extraordinary city it is too.

El Centro Historico

I´ve come to Guanajuato to live for a month. Here, I´ll brush up on and practice my spanish in a collegiate atmosphere, where the world never seems to stop turning. Perhaps more importantly, I hope to be able to understand why this city is so important to a person that means the most to me--my brother. My brother has been my rolemodel ever since I have had enough cognizance to look up to someone. He has always been there for me when I have needed him, and will most likely be until we are too old to be there for anyone. In growing up with him, I have grown adept (albeit with the help of my mom) at knowing when anything means something to my brother. Through his own travels, Guanajuato--and his friends here--have grown to mean something very special to him. So, I´m here in an attempt to better understand him--perhaps in order to better understand myself (Plus, really, it´s a lot easier to learn Spanish in Mexico).

I arrived in Guanajuato on Thursday--my brother´s birthday, oddly enough--after a quick bus ride from Queretaro, where I was able to save a nice German couple from getting off the bus at the half-way point. Once I got to the bus terminal, I headed to the home of the family that I will be staying with for the next three weeks. They´ve been great so far too. The mother and father have three childre, two teenage boys and one girl. Their humble abode is located at the top of the ravine that is Guanajuato, along Paseo de la Panoramica. The only downside is exactly that though... Each day, I have to walk up the most godforesaken hills in order to get back. It wouldn´t be too much of a problem if it weren´t for the fact that you simply can´t get to sleep after your blood starts pumping like that.

The view from La Casa Saucedo

Anyway, shortly after I got to Guanajuato, I started walking around and headed to Academia Falcon, the school that my brother´s friend Jorge runs. It seems like a great place, and everybody that works there is friendly (It´s also a good place to run into other english speakers, just in case I need a break from Spanish for a bit). Jorge is a great guy too, very amiable. He invited me to lunch the next day, and I accepted fairly quickly. Shortly thereafter, I headed back uphill, passed out, and ended my Thursday.

I´m not sure where I got it, but when I woke up on Friday, I had the worst cold and I´ve been pretty miserable ever since. It´s hard enough for people to understand me with my poor accent, but I can only imagine how difficult it is to understand an american speaking spanish while doped up on cold medicine. It´s pretty hard to hear, too.

I spent most of the day Friday getting oriented with the city, talking with the Saucedo family, and trying to find a barber. It doesn´t seem that hot here, but having thick--and longer--hair still sucks. I didn´t find a barber, still couldn´t understand the steep winding street system (complete with underground tunnels), and spoke all the basic spanish I think I know how. Though, I will say that my listening skills have already improved ten-fold (I bet my family and Jess are pretty happy about that...). I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I don´t have a cell phone anymore... haha. But I digress... I made it to lunch with Jorge on time, and dined with him, as well as a few of his colleagues. We (they) talked about business, Mexico, coffee, etc. and I was able to meet a wonderful woman Judy who sold me a ticket to one of the main events at the Festival Internacional Cervantino. This was an incredible stroke of luck, as tickets to all events were sold out by the time I got here, and it´s undoubtedly quite a feat to find a scalper when you don´t speak spanish. Plus, the size of Guanajuato swells during the Festival. For more information, click here. After dinner, I headed to Bar Ocho to grab a beer and was introduced to the michelada: a concoction of salsa, lime juice, worchestershire sauce, salt and beer. It doesn´t sound good, but damn. I´m serious. I then walked home, in the cold wind, without a jacket thanks to either a) my absent-mindedness or b) somebody´s theivery. I guess just make up the best story possible.

The Centro, in front of Teatro Juarez

I woke up the next day, cold was worse, and I hadn´t had any good coffee for days. So, I set out for Cafe Tal, a place that numerous people have told me is the absolute best coffee in GTO. And it was... Perhaps the coolest part of my coffee house trip was that I bumped into this guy Hunter who went to TCU and knew my friend Bethany from High School. Small world, huh? Afterward, I went to El Mercado Hidalgo, Guanajuato´s biggest market and looked around. Unfortunately, it was too crowded to even move, though a good experience none-the-less.

I went with Judy to the Modern Dance performance of the Chinese dance troop last night at the Teatro Juarez--which reminds me a ton of 5th Ave Theatre in Seattle. It´s very intricately painted and has three or four different levels dedicated to distinct architectural periods. It made me kind of homesick for Seattle. The performance itself, well, was interesting. Definitely more than I had bargained for, and it kind of reminded me of why I don´t ever go to ballet, or dance performances. I´m glad that I got to experience the theatre, regardless.

El Teatro Juarez at dusk

Um... I´m tired of typing, so I think I´m going to go grab some lunch. A few new pictures are up on my Flickr account (which can be accessed by clicking any of the pictures on the right hand side of the screen my beloved, computer inept, family!).