Saturday, April 24, 2010

Day Trip to Guanajuato

I've been wanting to go to Guanajuato but it always turns out that we get lost in that city. All of a sudden you are in a tunnel that you didn't expect to be in and the next thing you know you exit and can't figure out where in the heck you are. Even places that we have been several times before, like Gorky Gonzalez showroom. So rather than drive over, get lost, and pay a cab driver to lead us to where we want to go, we decided to take the bus and leave the driving to them.

The Mexican bus system is really a great way to travel especially if you take the direct first-class buses. We left San Miguel early in the morning and when we arrived at the Guanajuato bus station we took a cab direct to Gorky's showroom. The cab driver took a route that we didn't know about....and probably couldn't repeat...but we ended up at Gorky's door and didn't have to worry about parking which is also tricky in Guanajuato.
We had broken most of our cups from Gorky so we ordered some more and of course there were some other pieces that I couldn't resist. Gorky will have them delivered right to our door in San Miguel when they are ready.
Out Gorky's door and into another cab. I wanted to go back to see the Mercado Hidalgo. I remember being there about 25 years ago and it was a huge building busting with fresh produce, meats, seeds and spices. From the mezzanine you could buy shirts and pots and dishes and look down on the riot of color below. I wanted to get a photograph from the mezzanine of that colorful scene. Oh dear, it wasn't as I remembered. Many stalls are closed and it seemed darker and dingier that I remembered.
Back outside, we found a procession! Surprise, surprise! How can you possibly go anywhere in Mexico without running into some procession. This one commemorating the death of six miners who in 1937 helped organize the miners union.
After the procession we walked. Every church needed to be explored as did every government building. We had to stop by the basilica at these pretty green umbrellas for a bit of cool refreshment. Then once again on to explore other plazas and places.
Although this isn't a picture of it, we ended up in the Plaza de Union where we sat under the shade of trees and had comida.

Guanajuato is a beautiful city. Very different from San Miguel.  I love all the shaded plazas and sidewalk cafes. I love the colors of the buildings which include blues, greens and aquas. Exterior colors that you seldom see in San Miguel. It seems very European compared with San Miguel. More grand buildings from the 19th century.

We left home a little after 8:00 AM and arrived back a little before 6:00 PM. It was a good day trip. You can see my tourist photos here.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

enjoyed your tourist pictures-as always-they are great!

i love reading your recipes-i will have to try some more in the near future.

by the way, would you like a cheesecake flan recipe? i've sent it to several other bloggers so i have it typed up already. if so, just e-mail me at tafreeburn@netscape.com and i will forward it to you. it is a scrumptious dessert.

teresa in lake stevens, wa.

Steve Cotton said...

You have guaranteed that Guanajuato goes on my search list. After the leg heals.

Phil said...

I really enjoyed your "tourist photos." Especially the church and chapel interiors. Were these time exposures? Did you use a tripod? Since there was no parallax problems, you must have used a telephoto lens. Thanks.
I wish there were first class busses in the U.S. Greyhound is only if you really have to go and no other way.

Billie Mercer said...

Steve, I know you would enjoy exploring Guanajuato. So when you come back.....
It is just a bus ride away from SMA.

Phil,
I use a Canon 5D2 camera which has very little noise at high ISOs. The interiors were shot at 1600 ISO. I did not have a tripod. I try to keep the camera level but I also use the perspective correction in PS CS4.

Phil said...

Ah! "I also use the perspective correction in PS CS4."

That's your 'secret ingredient.'
Very effective, sure makes a difference.

Sam and Bob said...

Thanks for sharing...I enjoyed your pictures.

GlorV1 said...

Thanks for the beautiful tour of a wonderful place. Great photos.

Jonna said...

Seeing the Gorky showroom had me drooling, luckily the pig head stopped that :) Lovely photos.