Guanajuato 8

I never get enough of hiking in the hills around Guanajuato, by myself and in company.  It's always busy in town and being located in a steep-sided valley means that the action and crowds are focused at the bottom and, while I love the vibrancy, it's such a nice contrast to get up into the the quiet and wide open vistas of the hills. 

A hike to the Bufa with new friend, Martin, from Buenos Aires.  Yes, as our attire attests, it was cold.

Another hike to the Bufa with Dale, another recent convert to Guanajuato.  A much warmer day.

In this arid landscape, splashes of colour are eye catching.

Quinceanera celebration, a girl's coming out party at her 15th birthday.  Dad spends big.

Part of a mural, the caption loosely translated, "They came to sack and exploit, first the Spanish, then the Canadians".  A comment directed at Canadian mining companies.

A cliffhanger

Another maguey

Guanajuato 7

That dog on the roof down below is barking it's head off again.  Every year I've come here, that dog has been there. It's kept in a little enclosed area of someone's rooftop and every so often it goes on a barking jag for differing lengths of time, a loud, frenzied, demented sort of bark.  Sometimes it barks for a few minutes, sometimes all day, like the other day when I was sick and trying to sleep.  Seems so cruel to keep a dog confined like that.  The poor critter is clearly bonkers.  And the neighbors?  Day after day, year after year with that bark?  A testament to the Mexican live and let live mentality.  I've become accustomed to the fighting cocks on the roof just a couple of roofs over and don't even hear them any more.  But the dog......

It's Semana Santa and the town is inundated by tourists, mostly Mexican.  There have been a series of holidays leading up to Easter starting with the Day of the Flowers, then a women's run followed by Viernes de Dolores, Dolores Thursday (Our Lady of Sorrows) and since then there has been one event or another but I've spent most of that time in bed.  First I got some sort of tummy thing that put me to bed for a couple of days and while still weakened by that, I caught a nasty cold.  I'm not terribly sad that I missed out on the events as it feels like the town has been taken over and has become so crowded and noisy that I'm not comfortable.  Lots of young teens.  Sleeping has been rough due to partying people inside the hotel and out.  There are so many things I love about Mexico and Mexicans but, when you're sick in bed, the last thing you want are Mexican tourists staying in your hotel.  One of the characteristics of the culture here is the love of partying and there are no cultural taboos about noise.  More of that live and let live mentality.   I've given a lot of thought to where the love of the fiesta comes from.  Is there something stemming from the long history of being subjected by empire builders?  The Aztecs, the Spaniards, the French briefly, and lately the corporate empire builders.  The failed revolutions, domination by the US, the institutionalized corruption in every facet of society.  So maybe the response to all of that has been: screw it, nothing we can do about all that so let's PARTY! In my limited world experience, it seems peculiar to Mexico and colours every aspect of Mexican life and culture bringing a vibrancy and also an edginess to life reflected in the arts, particularly film and literature, a hint of violence lurking in the corners, sometimes not too far in the corners.  Colours are big, bold and bright, as is music. Laughs are big, loud, frequent and sometimes desperate.  Though all this vibrancy may be annoying to my restrained Canadian sensibilities at times, I miss it when I'm not here and always look forward to coming back.  And you can take my analysis and musings with a grain of salt.  Just another foreigner with his two cents.
 
More random photos:

Balcony flower gardens are very popular though I haven't seen any sign of veggies

More of those magueys as they continue their flowering cycle

Every Sunday Lydia sells her munudo in the little plaza by my place.  Menudo is a soup eaten almost exclusively on Sunday morning, is made from cow's stomach and is said to be a cure for hangover. 

Every week day she sets up a table of snacks for the children from the school in the plaza.  

A tenacious prickly pear

A crack in the earth

Guanajuato 6 - NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH

I was debating with myself whether to include these photos in the blog as they are somewhat disturbing images.  A new friend, Carol, who I met here, asked if I'd send her these photos so I'm doing so and if they are repellent to you, don't look.  The photos are of a sculpture show that was associated with the 11th annual horror film festival put on by the university.  A big screen is set up at the bottom of the iconic university stairs and viewers sit on the
stairs.
  

The sculptures were done by a young Mexican artist, Emil Melmoth.

 

Guanajuato 5

It snowed this morning!!!!!  That's right, SNOW! fricken snow, in Mexico, in Guanajuato.  (hey, that's kinda catchy.  maybe there's a song there)  It was supposed to have been a nicer day today but it continued from yesterday with a cold wind and then:  no it couldn't be.....!  Yes - the dreaded S word. 

And I'll say it again, there ain't no thermostat here.  Northern Mexico got hit hard by this weather front.  The highway going over the mountains to Dolores Hidalgo was closed due to snow; big winds in Mexico City causing damage and snow all over the north of the country.  It didn't last long here though and by late morning the sun was peeking out and I decided that, rather than shiver in my room, I'd take my camera and go for a walk and get the blood circulating.  Walking in almost any direction here in Guanajuato is going to entail steep uphill followed by steep downhill so the

blood gets flowing.  

Some of typical Guanajuato sights:

I walked in an unfamiliar neighbourhood and, while there are many commonalities between the neighbourhoods, there are always different wrinkles on the standard themes.

                              I swear, I didn't photoshop the colours

Gorditas are one of the common tortilla-based street foods in Mexico.  They are often breakfast food but you can get them almost any time. Small, thick tortillas are cooked on a comal, sliced open like pita bread, and filled with a variety of fillings, e.g. scrambled eggs (for a breakfast gordita), garbanzos, chicharon, rajas y elote (strips of ancho pepper and corn), cheese, nopal (cactus), etc. and salsa, of course.  These women have been operating this thriving gordita stand near where I stay forever and their gorditas are the best I've had anywhere.  Five women operate the stand (a few are sisters) each with a specific role in the production.  The emblematic sound is the pat pat pat of the woman who makes the tortillas.  From early in the morning until mid-afternoon they crank out the gorditas to a big crowd, leave the site in immaculate condition and go home to prepare for the next day's business, six days a week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGwdlSz_VSU&feature=youtu.be

Guanajuato 4

A cold day today, high of around 13, low 1.  With rain.  Despite a somewhat dire weather prediction, the day dawned to pretty good weather so our Wednesday hiking group went ahead with the day`s hike as planned.  We went steeply up, steeply down to the lunch spot on a lake, then steeply up and down again to return to Guanajuato.  We had a few little spates of hail off and on but on the last leg of the hike as we were traversing a ridge and totally exposed, it began to thunder and lightening and pour.  A wet and cold end to the hike, lovely hike it was despite the weather.  I didn`t take any photos, the light was bad, so here are some from last week`s hike. 

Last Sunday I accompanied friends to Dolores Hidalgo once again.  After never having had an inclination to go there for the many years I`ve been coming to Guanajuato, I think I`ve been there four times in the last year and half.  It makes a pleasant outing and the ceramics are interesting.