Guanajuato

This week I took a day trip over to Guanajuato with my friend Will, and his dad, Bill, who was visiting from Connecticut. We caught the first class bus at 10 AM, for about $8.00. By quarter to 12 we were having lunch in one of the delightful squares in that city.

Guanajato is the capital city of the state of Guanajuato. It is built in a valley. We took the Funicular up the hill to the statue of the Pipili, and a guide gave us a brief tour of the city splayed out before us, and took our pictures with the city in the background.


The Pipili was a miner who stormed the granery when the people were starving during the War for Independance. He strapped a large stone, or pad, to his back so the arrows and spears of the guards inside the granery couldn't hurt him, and he opened the doors so the people could get the grain. He is a very famous historic person in these parts. For example, he spent some time here in San Miguel, and there is a plaque commemorating this on a building by the park, and a huge statue of him in the middle of the Glorieta.

This statue was comemorated in 1939, and the plaque says something to the effect that, "There are more graneries to storm!"

This is me in front of my favorite place in Guanajauto, a fountain in a square, near the University. The University has about 25,000 students, many of them come here to study Spanish form all over the world. So the city feels younger and more cosmopolitan that San Miguel. Also, there are twice asa many alleys as streets here, a pedestrian's dream! My favorite part of this photo is the Mexican children in the background at the left, looking on.