Guanajuato

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Driving out of Guanajuato we went through some tunnels and passed many landmarks dear to us.







 We, however, are on a bit of a schedule and must move on to San Miguel de Allende.  San Miguel is no slouch either!  It is a magnificent colonial city with an amazing Centro.  We can camp here in a wonderfully clean place – San Miguel RV.  It is an easy walk to Centro, past many well restored colonial buildings – no wonder it is their piece of heaven for a high percentage of expats.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Wow!  We woke up in San Miguel de Allende.


 




We needed to get a walk in this morning, which took us to Via Organica.  This, we discovered, was an area of very fine graffiti.  This area also reminded me of adventures here in 2007.  We also re-discovered an arty area close to the Mercado to purchase some gifts. We saw so many wonderful places in such a short time.  Since we like San Miguel we thought a whirlwind real estate look should be done.  OK – this guy was  not like Raul, unfortunately.  To begin with he’d left his car doors open because the heat needed somewhere to escape.  The car windows didn’t open.  Nor did his seatbelts work and his windshield was cracked – get the picture.  Nice guy though and he drove to the top of the mirador and then the car would turn over.  Finally the engine turned over, much to our relief.  One house was nice, but bad view.

Back at our camp pool the crew of RVers was having a potluck and we were invited.  Being typical Canadians we didn’t participate in the food because we had nothing to contribute.  We did, however, enjoy the company and social setting.  We met Mike and Teri Church, who wrote the RVers Guide to Mexico.  Wonderful, friendly Americans.  If it wasn’t for them we might not have decided to camp in Mexico.  We also met Brenda and Wayne from Surrey – hope we keep in touch.  They knew about San Miguel and us about Ajijic area.  We seem to meet such very interesting Americans and Canadians camping in the spring and  an elderly fellow and his wife have been coming down since 1965 – wow!

Friday, April 5, 2013

We had wanted an early start for our long drive, but good thing life got in the way.


 




Ken needed extra sleep.  I could not sleep in because of the cannons that were firing at regular intervals.  Why cannons you ask?  Well, very good question, but I do not know the answer.  Wayne and Brenda . some friends that we met yesterday, came to talk with me and bid us a safe journey.  It was great to discuss plans and ideas with others, and helps to clarify things in your own mind.  To leave we drove up above San Miguel, eating our picnic lunch.

As we drove on my throat and lungs felt worse.  Ugh!  Being under the weather on holidays is a real drag, plus I still have arm complaints.

We stopped in centro of the City of San Luis Potosi.  We have been here before.  In fact, somehow we managed to stop at the same restaurant (not planned).  I remember little from our first visit, but I do recall this restaurant.  San Luis is very much like the city of Morelia, architecturally speaking.  It is clean and quite a beautiful city. Pressed for time, we continued our journey.  There were huge Joshua trees lining the road and in the fields.  We broke one of our Mexico rules – do not drive after dark.  We were on a well fenced four-lane new highway.  We made it to our camping spot in Zacatecas.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Happy Birthday Ken!












I woke up in Zacatecas at our usual camping spot. – Hotel de Baruk, feeling quite sick.  A rather nasty cold has inconveniently invaded on an important day - Ken’s birthday.  I feel even worse knowing I will likely be a real drag for any birthday celebrations.  Once we were finally ready to descend the hill and walk into Zacatecus (we spent two weeks in this wonderful colonial city in 2008) I felt a bit better.  We were to meet the book binder that bound our other travel journal, Hildana.  We met her and her sister, Monica.  We walked with them to the Museo de Arte Contempare where Hildana knew a translator.  Her sister could speak some English.  We worked at the deal for the travel journal and went our separate ways to meet again Tuesday evening.

Walking was too hard on me with a cold, so Ken decided to drive.  We went to Soriana and Walmart.  He wanted something different for supper – bunwiches with cheese and veggies.  Yes, we actually picnicked.  He also picked out a big slab of chocolate cake for himself.  We had fun eating out by the van in Zacatecus for Ken’s birthday.  He got lots of Happy Birthday wishes by e-mail, even from my dad.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

I woke up feeling even worse today – ugh! 









We have decided since we will be here three more days we must find a place to stay that does not involve camping.  The city was having a festival, so all of the hotels were booked solid.  Now the festival is over so we should get a good room at a reasonable price.  We took the car down the hill to five different places.  Gerrase Hotel was a cheap boutique hotel – our second pick.  It was clean and well appointed with lots of light.  Empario Zacatecus was extremely well appointed but a bit pretentious.  Santa Rita had an amazing huge mural on the entrance wall.  We tried a cheap one – Real del Patrocinio – seemed OK, but not for three days.  Our final pick was Meson de Jobito.  It is very old and built like what I imagine an Italian villa would look like.  The hotel actually occupies a traditional vecinidad.  It was a common form of housing in the old days for the lower classes. When Ken and I were here in 2008 we used to cut through here often, amazed at the architecture.  It is a gem.  We left the front desk to decide what to do and the receptionist shouted to us a deal.  Most of the rest of the day was spent napping.  Ken got us installed in our room.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Being Monday we took the laundry in to be done.

We have had our laundry done at this lavanderia before and know the worker does a good job.  It happened to be located near our hotel.  I am feeling a bit better today and am anxious to explore more of one of my favorite cities – Zacatecus.  They have a finished cleaning up the rose coloured, old central cathedral, which was being worked on last July.  We have seen the church beggar doing his usual routine.  Many of the other buildings have been cleaned and/or painted. The city has really cleaned up and was definitely showing itself off as a tourist destination.  We walked and took pictures of highlights, which we likely already have pictures of.  I saw a few street dogs, but not many.  I wanted to explore more, go to the museums and galleries, but this annoying cold will not allow it.