Queretaro and Guanajuato

San Miguel de Allende is a lovely little town (okay, not THAT little), with the prerequisite winding streets, colourful houses and a healthy tourism trade. Be that as it may, there is more in the state of Guanajato than SMA, so we decided to go out and see what else there is on offer. (Hey, we're here for a month, why the heck not?)

Our first day trip was to Queretaro, a city of 2 million people that isn't a well known tourist destination. The old town was filled with lovely grand churches, a bustling downtown core and tons of restaurants. It might be impossible to starve in Mexico, as long as you have a functioning credit card or cash in pocket. The day proved lovely and we got to enjoy the views of a Colonial era aqueduct that still functions to bring water to the gardens and the fountains. The aqueduct is the best known attraction in the city. There were tourists in the city, (bus loads, coming to see the truly impressive structure) but mostly from other parts of Mexico and Latin America. We were very obviously the token white folks, but no one seemed to mind.

The most striking thing, so far, in the parts of the country that we've seen, is the green space. Trees, parks, wide boulevards, roof gardens, terraces and front or rear gardens abound. The buildings are still crammed cheek to jowl, but the planners have managed to maintain space for growing things that makes the entire city experience pleasant. (I imagine it goes a long way to controlling pollution, as well.)

We spent about 5 hours wandering around Queretaro and had a nice lunch on the Plaza de Armas, before catching a bus back to SMA.

It's a potato, and the Pope

 Our next little foray was to Guanajuato, purportedly the prettiest town in Mexico. It's population is notably smaller than either Queretaro or San Miguel de Allende. It's famous for being the birthplace of the artist Diego Rivera and it's mummies. There's something about the environment that preserves the interred by means of mummification. Some enterprising cemetery staff (tasked with disinterring those that hadn't paid the required taxes) started charging the morbidly curious to see the mummified corpses. Commercial enterprise knows no shame, I guess. (Says the woman who paid to see the catacombs in Paris.) Of course, we had to check that out.

Callejon de Beso

This little alley has, of course, a tragic love story attached to it. Well-to-do family, ne'er-do-well lover, you get the idea. They stole kisses leaning out of windows (or slipping into each others' rooms) across this little alley. It didn't end well, what with the outraged father of the girl and all. For whatever reason, if you kiss on the third step up, you're supposed to receive 7 years good luck as a couple. Why murder would result in good luck, I have no idea, but we did it anyway.

There are lots of hills and charming lanes

We caught a charming little trolley-style bus into town from the bus station and came up from the tunnels (an interesting feature of the city) into the heart of the old town.

It's a completely different style of city (town, really) from Queretaro, in that it grew rather organically and doesn't have any grid pattern, of which to speak. At least, not in the old town. The buildings ramble up the hills in a patchwork of colour, with no set direction or arrangement. Stairs seem to lead to nowhere and some streets are so narrow, lovers could kiss across the gap.

From the funicular

Charming little train station

The town is mostly known for being the birthplace of Diego Rivera (the husband of Frida Kahlo and well known artist in his own right). The mural below, survived the large earthquake in 1985, even though the hotel was almost completely destroyed. A minor side note: while Rivera didn't invent la Calaca (Lady Death, essentially) he made her famous in this mural. She can be seen everywhere during Day of the Dead celebrations. You can get your face painted like hers in the streets of San Miguel.

"Dream of a Sunday Afternoon" Diego Rivera painted onto the Hotel del Prado, Mexico City

It is also known for its Museo de Momias, or mummy museum. There's something in the soil that is an excellent preservative. When the church ran out of burial space, it started evicting bodies, if the families couldn't pay a special tax. When the bodies were disinterred, imagine the surprise of the grave diggers, finding many still well preserved and mummified. Some enterprising young grave digger decided to start charging to see the bodies, when he realised there was enough interest and a tourism industry was born.

Just in time for Dia de los Muertos

Juan Jaramillo

Mummies are mildly disturbing, but pictures
with dead children are much creepier

We perused the Diego Rivera museum and enjoyed some of the new artists featured there, as well as his works.

Once the main touristy things were done, we wandered the streets, enjoying the sunshine and we had a lovely meal at a restaurant called Los Campos, that features all Mexican, locally sourced meals, with a modern flare for presentation and flavour combinations. It's a small place, but the food was very good and the company enjoyable. We people watched a good part of the time. It was a mini United Nations, with French, British, Chinese, folks from the US and locals, plus the two observing Canadians, of course. 

We ended the day with a ride up the funicular, to take in sweeping views of the city, as the light of day fell and then headed back to the bus station for the trip back to San Miguel de Allende.

A small thing to note, the buses in Mexico are quite comfortable, with many having a private screen, much like on an airplane and a selection of movies, while others have drop down screens that play movies for your entertainment. Sure, they're in Spanish, but at least they provide headphones, so if you don't want to hear the movie, you don't have to. 

We'll have taken at least six long haul buses by the end of this little adventure and would recommend them as a means of getting around. For those that are curious, we've used both ETN and Primera Plus, even managing to buy tickets online without issue.