Guanajuato
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007The morning we were supposed to go to Guanajuato Matthias was still just tired of traveling and he decided he didn’t want to go. In the end we decided to split up, he took Julian and William and I were off to Guanajuato.
Riding the bus is very exciting for a 4-year old. There are lots of buttons and knobs to turn, there was a TV, they gave us free sandwiches, drinks and there was even a bathroom on the bus. William took a backpack full of books, extra clothes and 3 pairs of shoes (something I didn’t notice until we were unpacking in Guanajuato). The bus ride was 4 hours, a little too long for both of us, but we still had a great time and it was nice to be able to spend some time just him and I.
In Guanajuato we found a room that was just a short 5 minute walk from the center of town. It was a quiet neighborhood and the family that ran the place just loved William. The wife of the family always asked William how he was doing “Como estas?” And he would always answer “No muy bien” – “Not good!” She thought that was really funny and asked him how he was every chance she got just to hear his response.
On Sunday morning we were leaving our hotel to go have breakfast when we passed an older couple walking towards our hotel. They stopped and were so interested in William and kept asking him “Como estas? Como estas? No muy bien?” It turns out these were the parents of the couple that ran the hotel and they had already heard about William. When they ran into us they knew it was us and just wanted to hear William say “No muy bien.” After that, every time we saw them in the hotel the old man would jump out of his seat, run over to William and ask him “Como estas?” Eventually William said his “No muy bien” and this nice man had such a smile on his face.
The city of Guanajuato is probably the most beautiful city in Mexico. It is located at the bottom of valley surrounded by mountains. Most of the houses have been painted bright colors and it is quite a sight. The streets wind up and around the mountainside on all sides. There are narrow streets and alley ways all throughout the city. Many of the buildings have wire balconies and it reminded me of Paris a lot. It is also a very youthful city and the streets were filled with people well into the night.
While in Guanajuato we really didn’t do too much. We went to the famous mummy museum, rode the cable car up the side of the mountain, walked through town, went to a museum with an exhibition on miniatures and had great French toast breakfasts in a small café. We only spent two nights and the day we left William and I had a long game of soccer in an old fountain (without water of course) while we were waiting for our bus to leave. I think the best part of our two days there was spending a lot of time with William.
We had a nice bus ride back to Guadalajara. We got sandwiches, cookies and drinks in the bus again and had 4 hours of good conversation. While we were waiting for Matthias and Julian to pick us up from the bus station William started singing at the top of his lungs “Yo soy una ventana! Yo soy una lampa!” In English that means “I am a window. I am a lamp.” I have no explanation for this other than he is 4 and a lot of fun.
lotzbay