Auditory Overload

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You might think the alleys would be quiet but Guanajuato has an insatiable appetite for fiestas and nowhere is safe.

Most nights (weather permitting and I've taken to praying for rain) touring bands of musicians and singers wind up and down through the streets and alleys with 100 or so followerers pausing every now and then (and regularly just up from our windows at 11 pm) to sing or relate some historic event. It's a practice from the past and mostly for tourists (mainly Mexican) but local families seem to join in as well for a bit of an outing. There's absolutely no point trying to sleep (even with ear plugs and sleeping pills) until they pass.

But as if to punish all those who stay up late (and we're all forced to), men who have the unforntunate job of supplying houses with very large gas cylinders (carried on their shoulders from the streets at the bottom of the ravine) commence to wander through the alleys calling out "gaaaaaaassssss" at dawn.

And fireworks? Whenever someone (at any time of day or night) feels like it they seem to be able to fire a sizeable rocket into the sky. The "bang" in this tight little valley is quite something.

And then there are the religious fiestas. This morning (for a virgin saint Carmen we think) the bells (as tuneful as a toddler with a very big stick plus saucepan) and rockets began around 5.30 am. They went for about 30 minutes non stop. Any attempt to go back to sleep was twarted by repeats of the bells plus "canon" fire every five or ten minutes after a break. It's a remarkably tolerated imposition on all by the religious few. There really aren't that many footsteps heading off to church. Although I'm about ready to wander down myself and fire my own rocket.

Alleys of Guanajuato

Since traffic in the old centre is restricted to a few main roads at the bottom of town, access to everything on the steep sides of the valley is by foot (or the odd motor bike) along winding alleyways (callejones) and stairs.

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Genarally, the further you go from the main thoroughfares the thinner and shabbier things become. But where people have the money and/or interest they paint the buildings bright colours and hang plants from their windows and balconies.

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Sub-terrainian Guanajuato

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Guanajuato, sits mainly in a steep valley at 2000m. It's an old colonial town and extremely pretty. Traffic (except the odd mountain goat of a motor bike) is restricted to a few main streets and numerous, pretty (think a land version of Venice) sunken and underground tunnels, some of which run along the old river bed. The river was diverted after it flooded the town in 1905 (I think).




Pedestrain access to the sunken roads and tunnels is via sets of (geranium capped) stairs scattered around the old city centre.

Guanajuato, Mexico

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Not a sick pig in sight but all this talk about the flu has left Guanajuato (our first stop), and probably Mexico as a whole, just a little less well (off) than it already was.

For our part, we've ignored the travel warnings (although we did fold a wee bit under pressure and bring masks and tamiflu) and defied the travel insurance people to embrace Mexico by enrolling in Spanish lessons, taking a tiny unit for one month and sitting in the pretty town plazas with a cerveza or bad wine (which is mostly what it is) to do our bit for common sense and the economy.

The town has about 70,000 people and sits in a pretty impressive valley at 2000m above sea level. It's surrounded by very impressive mountains.