Mexico 2018 - Back in Guanajuato

It was an inauspicious beginning in Guanajuato for me this year.  For the first time since I started coming to Guanajuato, I had agreed to staying in a different place than usual.  The usual is Casa Bertha.  The location is great, it's not very expensive and there's usually a good social scene there.  That's where I met Nancy in fact. But this year some friends of ours discovered a new place and convinced Nancy and I to book one of the apartments there so we could be their neighbours for this winter's stay.  Then it developed that the friends wouldn't be joining us until much later than originally planned, he, probably not at all.  From the very first introduction, I did not get good vibes about this place.  It was an old home quite near Casa Bertha, just a little closer to the action down in the centro.  The owners live in Celaya, a larger industrial town a couple of hours away, and they wanted a retreat in Guanajuato so bought this old run down house and did a major renovation, creating four apartments.  They did do quite a remarkable job on the reno but there were some things they couldn't change, like the night club nearby, or the fact that you could hear everyone going by.  The noise at night was appalling.  Even with windows closed up and good earplugs in place, sleep was difficult.  Not only that, but my apt was, was less than satisfying. And I had two weeks there on my own until Nancy joined me. I put up with that for a while until I could change to a bit nicer room but the noise was still horrendous. The day after Nancy joined me there, we both got up from a sleepless night and had the same thought:  go to Casa Bertha and see what they could offer.  Originally we had booked our entire time in Guanajuato at the new place but I realized right away that that wouldn't work so I had already booked our usual room in Casa Bertha for March but we wanted out of our present accommodations immediately.  Turns out they had a room for us that would do until our room of choice opened up.  So we happily bailed. It was great to get back to Casa Bertha.  I know the people there and felt comfortable.  I did notice that, even there, the noise level was higher than in previous years.  It seems that Guanajuato has been discovered in a big way and was overrun by tourists.  And what was strange, despite the increased number of tourists, Casa Bertha was pretty dead and the usual travelers didn't show up.  So, despite the fact that it is still a lovely little gem of a city, the days there were long and often boring.  That's not to say that it was terrible and we did have some nice experiences there but probably wouldn't go back for any sort of extended stay. 

Before Nancy got there, when I was hanging out on my own, I met Arnold, a bicycle tourist from Holland, it turned out.  I was admiring his bike and got to 
chatting.  He was cycling from the northern most point of Alaska to Patagonia, then across New Zealand and finally across Australia.  Camping most of the time.  This is remarkable enough on it's own but, the fact that Arnold is an albino, makes it even more remarkable.  I didn't realize it, but vision problems are characteristic of albinism.  I knew about the sun sensitivity but Arnold has only about 15% vision.  The irises vibrate so his vision is blurry and can't be corrected.  

I wound up taking Arnold under my wing for a couple of days, found him a room at Casa Bertha and fed him.  He was on a very tight budget so I was happy to be able to feed him well and show him around.  I enjoyed the companionship and I hope he enjoyed a break from his spartan lifestyle.  

Photos from around town:

 The Normal School

 University of Guanajuato