Advice, por favor

[MNRon]

My traveling companion and I will be in Guanajauato for a couple of weeks in August, staying at the Casa de Dona Ana in San Javier and taking Spanish classes near the center at Escuela Mexicana. I am a retired history prof, healthy, in my sixties, and like to walk and chat with locals as best as I can with my low-level Spanish. Fine dining is not a priority, just solid, simple food. I'm the kind of guy that enjoys talking with construction workers, if you get my drift. We will hit a few museums and are hoping for a day trip to Teotihuacan.

I spent a month in Argentina last summer and managed to survive :) for a month, meeting only one other US citizen. I think I have to taxi from the airport figured out, and done enough on Google Earth to know my around town, I think. I am enthused about Guanajuato, in part because a very good Mexican restaurant that I frequent regularly here in Minnesota is staffed by a bunch of folks from a village near Guanajuato.

I am looking for advice, suggestions, pointers, warnings, etc. from the old hands. Anything that is "can't miss" or "stay away from" would be helpful.

Muchas gracias!

[laconstance]

Your hosts Mike and Ana are a wonderful source of information. Use them!

Instead of going the supermarket route (Comercial or Mega), shop at the Mercado Hidalgo or from the street vendors of comestibles.

A day trip to Teotihuacan is more than ambitious from Guanajuato -- I would say it is impossible. It is a day trip from M?xico City, and then only if you take a tour or hire a guide with a car to take you from M?xico City. By regular transportation, you spend all your time catching buses with not much time left to see the ruins.

[Jzmackenzie]

Bask in the walking options in GTO, concerts, and other options that are always listed in the Jardin near the teatro Juarez. Food? wow, the options are nearly endless; watch this list and they come and go a lot.

If you want to see locals, call us 473-102-4292 or 473-108-1955 or email jzm@email.arizona.edu and ask to come out to the "campo." We have had a USA nonprofit for 20 years. My PhD is from UA, my husband is a retired theater professor. We have lived in a nearby indigenous village since early 2008. We offer equine and agua therapy to locals. Check out photos of the area and university student comments at http//:www.spanishimmersioneducation.org

[SteveGinGto]

Yeah, Guanajuato to Teotihuacan is not a day trip. It is the equivalent to trying to take a day trip from San Francisco to L.A. or Boston to Washington D.C. You'd be best off finding a hotel for one night in the N or E of Mexico City (or closer to the ruins). There are a LOT of ruins in and around the Mexico City/Puebla area, so if ruins are your thing basing yourself over there for a future trip is not a bad idea.

But may I suggest you look closer to Gto for this August trip? There are a lot of day trips you can take. Here is a list I made for a forum in San Miguel:


1.) Between Guanajuato and Irapuato there is the Presa de la Purisima where they have boat races a few times a year. But on the east side of the presa is the Cerro del Sombrero which has neolithic spirals, which are very uncommon in the world. There are a LOT of them, on top of broad rocks at the top of the cerro. there is a path that goes up there, but I haven't been there yet myself. I will when I arrive in September. It's at the top of my list - but then I get off on really ancient stuff.

2.) SE toward Ac?mbaro, I found a nice medium sized town called Salvatierra a few years back. It's on the main road from Celaya to Ac?mbaro. The drive down that way - and past there, in the Bajio - in the rainy season should show central Mexico at its best. I plan to explore Salvatierra much more myself.

3.) In Ac?mbaro itself there is a Museo Waldemar Julsrud, which has some enigmatic figurines - over 20,000 of them, with a hundred or two on display. But they are interesting, nonetheless. Some say they are genuine and some say they are fakes. I don't know. Ac?mbaro is also renowned for its breads. It also has a pretty cool aqueduct and a bridge on the north side of town that was built in 1529, only 37 years after Columbus landed in the Indies. I THINK the bridge will last another 500 or even 1,000 years, so there is no rush, but it's a pretty well built bridge. This time of year it may actually have water running under it.

4.) East of Ac?mbaro in the puebla of Chup?cuaro is a small museum along the main E-W drag. It focuses on the people of the same name, one of the many indigenous peoples of Mexico that few in the USA have heard of.

5.) Mor?lia is not so far - under 100 miles as the crow flies and the roads are more or less direct, too. It is one of the crown jewels of Colonial Mexico.

6.) 35 miles ENE of Morelia is Los Azufres with several balnearios/spas and a lake. (about 76 miles as the crow flies from SMA)

7.) At the right time of the year there is the Monarch valley east of Morelia.

A bit further afield:

8.) Lake Patzcuaro with the town of Janitzio on an island in the lake. Patzcuaro is a center for Day of the Dead festivities.

9.) Uru?pan, the avocado capital of the western world is west of Lake Patzcuaro. It has a lovely national park right in the downtown area, with one of the nicer waterfalls in Mexico. Uru?pan is also known fo its food and its lacquers.

10.) North of Uru?pan are some of the artesan pueblas, each of which makes one kind of crafted goods - guitars here, equipales there, woven baskets, wroguht iron - all sorts of things.

11.) In that exact area is also the famous Paricut?n volcano - the one that grew out of a farmers's field back in the 1940s. It is still a tourist magnet. Paricut?n is right smack in the middle of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Zone. Volcanoes stretch from Orizaba in the east to west of Guadalajara.

12.) The cascadas of Huasteca Potosina are wiorth the trip, even if you have to stay over in Jalpan or Ciudad Valles (not so much there in the city). Cascada Tamul is an awe inspiring thing to see, though it has to be done by canoe. Other falls are El Meco, Xilitla, Puente de Dios, El Salto, and Minas Viejas. Along with the falls and strange buildings at Edward James' Las Pozos and the Sotano de las Golondrinas, it is more than one can see in a day, but is well worth a 3-day trip. And the Sierra Gordas are on the way there...

That list in no way exhausts the possibilities nearby. Since making it I found a very beautiful town 60 miles east of Morelia, tucked into the NE corner of Michoac?n. Its name is Tlalpujahua.

It is definitely a colonial TOWN, if not a city, and worth a look. If you are into churches, they have one with a stunning interior. And it is also the main glass Christmas ornament producer in North America, if not the world. And it is also pretty close to the monarch valley (but the monarchs will be up north still).

So, enjoy Guanajuato city and explore as far as you want to. There is plenty to see. Some of the towns and cities in Mexico don't have much to recommend them, but there are some you should not miss.

Steve

[Izzenhood]

If you really want to meet locals there are a couple of cantinas and a ladies bar (cantinas are generally for men only), that I can recommend, although it has been 6 years. All are in safe, touristy areas.

One is El Incendio at Cantarranas 15 near el Jardin. An interesting feature of this Cantina is the piss ditch at the foot of the bar. I have seen these in old western bars in the US, although at El Incendio I suspect you could still use it.

Another local Cantina is on the road to the La Presa. From el Jardin head southeasterly (good luck figuring that out in GTO) past Teatro Jaurez and take the street under the bridge bar and across the road barreling out of the tunnel. A few hundred yards farther along on the left is (or was) a nondescript cantina called El Minero, or something like that.
Kind of reminds me of the Miners Tavern in Silverton. Friendly locals, but no tourists. Better speak some spanish.

The third bar I would recommend to meet locals is the Ladies Bar next to Mercado Hildago. I think that is even its name. Not as scruffy as the other two I mentioned, but one can't have everything!

There are a couple mercados more local that the Mercado Hildago, although it is definately worth a visit. The best market I found was at Plaza Embajadoras, which is past the Miner's Tavern on the way to La Presa. A second was on the way to the mummy museum but was pretty sparse, although I didn't visit on a weekend.

There are quite a few free maps of the city available. Get them all.

I was in GTO for a month about 6 years ago. It was the best vacation of my life. I was there in January. Perfect weather in my estimation.

[events]

Great GTO YouTube video that was posted recently

Guanajuato -- Mexico's Dream City

by Bill Weaver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppVHV8Km0Y0

[Izzenhood]

Bill

Wonderful video. I've been looking for something short and sweet as your video to get my wife and friends to visit GTO. I was there for a month in 2006 and I have to get back, with or without wife and friends if they don't want to go. Like you said, it is irresitable.

Steve Lappin
Grand Junction, Colorado