Guanajuato, Mexico August 2008

We have visited Guanajuato many times.   It is about a 3 hour drive from Aguascalientes, where we stay.

On this trip, we left the car at the hotel and took the taxi to the downtown area.  Two reasons for this.  One is the labyrinth of streets and tunnels, many which are one way, can put you way out-of-bounds before you know it.  The other is the lack of parking.  All of the narrow streets are constantly filled with parked cars.  There is parking in the tunnels, but you have to know where to go and where to come up for that to work.

Taking a taxi from our hotel was the right decision.  $4.00 (US equivalent) included tip, one way, and we were there.

Our main goal was to see the Alhóndiga near the middle of town.  The history of the building is that is quartered Spanish soldiers when the first wave of the Mexican Independence came through.  Tens of thousands of Mexicans, mostly Indians, moving along with Miguel Hidalgo, stormed the building and subdued (putting it nicely) the soldiers.

Later, when Hidalgo was captured, his head, and three others were placed on the four corners of the top of the building and remained there until Mexico secured its independence some 10 or 11 years later.  Gastly.

The city is magnificient in beauty.  Colorful buildings.  Spanish Colonial architechture.  More architecture from the 1800s.  Restaurants, museums, shops, etc.  The city is nestled in a valley.  From any of the surrounding mountain tops one can view the entire city.  Over the top of one of the mountains is Dolores Hidalgo, the city where Miguel Hidalgo had his perish for many years prior to the Independence.   How did they cross that mountain on foot?