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Mexico Travel Diaries - Leg 8
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas
San Miguel de Allende
There is no airport at San Miguel de Allende, so to get there from Mexico City, you either fly to the city of Leon and take a 1 hour bus journey from there, or take a bus direct from Mexico City to San Miguel which takes three-and-a-half hours. I chose to take the latter, more sensible transport option.
Set in the well-loved and prosperous State of Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende like many of the other colonial cities north and northwest of Mexico City was founded on the wealth created by the silver mines in the region. As you walk through San Miguel today, its colonial charm and friendliness is immediately apparent, although there is also an air of cosmopolitan life here with its chic boutiques, art and craft outlets that are continuously scattered around the town.
Outside of Ajijic on Lake Chapala, (some 40Km south of Guadalajara) San Miguel has the highest influx of foreign expatriates in Mexico; during the daytime as I wandered the streets in search of knowledge and pictures, I noticed that many of the people I passed were local-looking foreigners going about their daily lives.
I arrived at the Hotel Puertecita, which is situated in a quiet spot up on the hill in a residential development away from the crowds. It's just a ten minute walk down the hill which leaves you right in the middle of town on the east side of El Jardin, the main square in San Miguel. As you enter the property, you walk down some steps past a fountain with the view revealing the beginnings of a picturesque and pristinely kept garden. The hotel has two swimming pools, a restaurant and bar and garden terrace as well as a lounge area featuring a bay window with views onto the gardens below; a perfect place to sit, relax and enjoy drinks and conversation.
There are some logs crackling in the fireplace as I go down for the continental buffet breakfast they serve in the lobby. As I take the ten minute walk into the town centre from the hotel, I look up and see grey skies; the temperature is low enough to need a light fleece. Most of the activity in the town centres around the Jardin. I see lots of foreign expatriates gathering here to meet and chat. The rain finally began to fall by late morning. “This weather is very unusual” a local man I chatted to told me, “It’s not rainy season and this constant drizzle is not typical for the region”. Indeed, the climate today reminded me more of England on a wet spring day than San Miguel in late January. It’s not unusual for temperatures to drop in the late evening and stay cool until late morning in winter, but the rain is not a common feature this time of year.
Each of the rooms at the Puertecita Hotel is individually decorated in a typically colonial style; bright, comfortable and each one includes every amenity and comfort you would need on your travels. Many of the rooms have the famous “boveda” ceilings; a ceiling made from exposed red bricks which are placed together in such a way to create a dome which somehow stays together and doesn't fall down. The technique is very common in houses throughout San Miguel, where it originates.
The gardens in the hotel provide a great place to enjoy local flora and some tame wildlife such as squirrels; you can sit and relax on one of the benches and listen as the water trickles from a fountain into one of the ponds; or just enjoy a stroll in the peace and tranquillity of the hotel’s grounds.
The next day, I awake to find that the clouds have broken. Blue skies and sunshine have returned to San Miguel. Back in town, the main square is bustling with activity. Across the street from the Jardin is the town’s main architectural attraction: La Parroquia de San Miguel – a parish church – built in pink stone and featuring an amazing façade at the front. On the opposite side of the Jardin is the Government Palace, humble by some colonial standards in the region.& walked inside to find a flurry of activity going on as people rushed to pay their predial, their annual property tax, before the end of the month when the discount for early payment was reduced from 12% to 10%. Upstairs, some local politicians are gathering for a conference and some pre-meeting interviews are taking place in front of TV cameras, filming the event ready for screening on this evening’s news.
North of the centre is Avenida Insurgentes, and like its name’s counterpart in Mexico City, - it's a street full of shops and commercial buildings, albeit on a much smaller scale. The street has a couple of cantinas (bars) with the old-style swinging “wild-west” doors. Inside you can still experience a spit-and-sawdust tipple of your favourite poison. Further east on Insurgentes is the town library and a church on the corner by a small plaza. Two women stand by their stall at the edge of the plaza just off the street, selling tamales (corn paste cooked in a corn husk with a variety of sweet or savoury flavourings) to passers-by in need of a mobile breakfast.
Walking south of the centre, I find Jardin Benito Juarez, an old fruit orchard now turned into a community park and play area for children. West of here is the Instituto Allende, one of the region’s most famous schools that offers courses in art, sculpture, painting and photography and attracts students from around the world.
All of San Miguel’s streets in the centre of the city are cobbled; it’s fun to wander up and down the main avenues, exploring the side streets and narrow alleyways. All of the houses are colonial; some have their doors open and reveal stunning courtyards bursting with flowers and colour as well as fountains and other colonial furnishings. I spent one evening walking the streets at night and the atmosphere was quite unique. Roads and alleyways where cars are normally parked bumper-to-bumper are bare; the crowds and day-trippers to the town have gone. There are very few foreigners on the streets now; locals enjoy tamales and other Mexican fare from street corner food stalls; young adolescents meet by a fountain to share the latest social gossip; an old man and his wife are walking quietly hand-in-hand down the stone-tiled pavement towards the Jardin…
During festivals and public holidays (especially the Independence Day parties in September and Easter week) San Miguel’s night life changes dramatically. The huge influx of visitors to the town makes it one of the liveliest places to be at night. Tonight, it’s quiet here and the mood is mellow. A few cafes are still open; some begin to close their shutters as the clock tower chimes ten.
I walk into San Francisco’s, a coffee shop on a street with the same name, which is one of the cafes still open at ten-thirty. As a pre-bedtime snack I enjoy a serving of churros y chocolate. Churros are bread sticks, deep fried and then smothered in sugar; the hot chocolate is Mexican style; naturally sweet with a strong taste of cinnamon laced into the offering; it’s a combination which is often enjoyed throughout Mexico in the morning as part of breakfast or to relax and unwind with in the late evening.
San Miguel is a charming colonial town and shows off some of the best features of a true Mexican colonial experience. It’s a very popular place at weekends with locals and gets crowded then. If you want to visit here during one of the festivals or public holidays, be sure to book in advance. To enjoy San Miguel at its best (outside of festive dates) try to get here during the week if you can, and spend two or three nights. Some people arrive with the intention of staying a couple of days and stay for a couple weeks. Like all of Mexico’s popular colonial centres, San Miguel attracts a significant number of day-trippers. When they leave, the mood and atmosphere changes; it’s not better or worse; just different and worth the contrasting experience.
Guanajuato
Getting to Guanajuato from San Miguel is easy; there are regular buses all day, or if you want an executive class bus, you’ll need to go in the morning or in the afternoon on one of the two ETN buses that serve the route. The bus station is about 10 minutes by taxi out of town or you can take a local bus which runs regularly between the bus station and city center.
The city of Guanajuato was without question one of Mexico’s richest cities during the heady days of the silver mining era: at one point over a third of the world’s silver supply was being mined here. Its wealth was founded on the rich mineral ores found in the mountains nearby and processed with the aid of the waters from Rio Guanajuato. However, the river has also brought misery to the city as the rainy season caused the river level to rise to horrific levels leaving the city inundated under several metres of water. A new city was gradually built on top of the old one to escape the floods, and if you look down on the area between the San Diego Church and the Teatro Juarez, you can still see evidence of where the old city used to be. Today, the river flows underneath the city and modern drainage systems help to avoid re-occurrences of the flooding tragedies that have hit Guanajuato in the past. The last one on was on July 1st 1905. All around the historic centre you can see tiles on the wall a couple of metres above the pavement with this date inscribed and a wide white line above it, showing the level to which the water rose at that point on that fateful day.
The roads became somewhat bizarre as I was driven into the town from the bus station. Suddenly the road entered into a tunnel which I soon realised has been cut into the mountain as it looks like a mine shaft on the inside. The tunnels have a series of connecting tunnels, some with three-way forks, which themselves have forks leading off the same. My taxi driver believes he’s Michael Schumacher and whizzes through the tunnels at speed. His exhaust pipe has been especially doctored to ensure that people look towards the car as it roars past even when he's not going that fast, just in case it really is Michael in the driving seat. I arrive safe and sound at the Hotel Meson de Los Poetas on a street called La Condesa, just a couple of blocks from the town center. The hotel is an old colonial mansion that has been converted into a small, cosy and very charming colonial hotel. The décor is bright and colourful; a slate staircase leads you up from the lobby into a lazy-chair area and El patio de la Palabra (patio of conversation) surrounded by bright yellow archways and stunning floor tiles.
The hotel’s location is perfect: you are far enough away from the centre to avoid the sounds from lively street life at night when you want to rest, and close enough to be within a short walk of just about every main attraction in Guanajuato’s historic centre. The rooms are well decorated; colonial style in harmony with the rest of the hotel, and they are very comfortable.
The whole city was declared a World Heritage Zone by UNESCO in 1988. There are no traffic lights here, the signs and signage are carefully placed and labelled; I even saw local council workers washing the streets with high pressure hoses and detergent as I walked back to hotel one night; this city is impeccably clean, but local trades people and community leaders want it to be cleaner and are currently beseeching the local government into further action on the matter.
There is no town square; it’s more of a town cheese, a beautifully kept garden in a rounded triangular shape, situated just in front of the San Diego Church next to the Teatro Juarez (theatre) and is called Jardin de la Union. The trees in the garden are carefully clipped and have perfectly straight and flat edges with artistically crafted corners. The garden features chairs and benches where people come to relax, meet, read the newspaper or just watch the world go by for a while. Birds and pigeons bathe in the waters of the fountains while on the west side of the Jardin; tables are set out in readiness for the lunch bunch to come along and enjoy an afternoon meal in the open air next to the garden.
Stone steps lead up and into the attractive architecture of the Teatro Juarez, currently closed for remodelling, although you can tour parts of it for a small fee. The steps are a popular gathering place for university students who go there to meet, chat, or just sit and read for a while.
The Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato is the main church just off Plaza de La Paz. It’s bright yellow coloured stonework makes the whole building stand out, especially at night time when its lit up.
Like San Miguel, Guanajuato has a maze of small streets and alleyways to wander through and explore. Some burst open into little plazas or courtyards, others lead up winding steps to another level of the town, which then lead you onwards to more colonial surprises ahead. Without exception the people I met here were friendly and hospitable; total strangers smile and say “buenas noches” as I walked up alleyways in search of a new place to explore under the soft light of the colonial city lamps.
Another great attraction of the town is the Monumento al Pipila. The Pipila is Guanjuato’s own independence hero; said to have given his life by setting fire to the doors of the Alhondiga de Granaditas, which was being used as a fort by Spanish forces, enabling the Independence fighters to enter and kill the people inside. You can either walk up to the Pipila (a steep climb which will take around 15-20 minutes) or you can take the funicular train for $20 pesos each way. Reaching the top I walked around to the viewing platform and enjoyed panoramic evening and night views of the city below. The Pipila viewing point is very close the centre so you can clearly see major sights and buildings. During the day you can see and hear the activity going on down below in the Jardin de la Union. It’s the closest birds-eye view I’ve ever seen of a city from a viewing balcony.
The Alhondiga (warehouse) is one of Guanajuato’s most important historic monuments. It was originally a granary, then a prison and today houses a museum. The heads of the four chief conspirators of Mexico’s first failed attempt at independence: Hidalgo, Allende, Jimenez and Aldama were hung on the hooks at each corner of the building as a warning to other would be consiprators; the hooks can still be seen today.
On the afternoon of my second day, I take a cab to Guanjuato’s most macabre of attractions: The Mummy Museum. The museum hosts the corpses of around 100 mummified remains of locals whose families could not afford the rents required to maintain the bodies in the local crypts. So the story goes, Guanajuato’s rich mineral deposits that exist in the water act as a preservative in the bodies of the people who lived there all their lives and drank the local water. When they died (naturally or otherwise) their remains never decomposed, leaving a collection of naturally preserved corpses, some with incredible detail in the skin, muscle and bone tissues that have been mummified. A guide merrily escorts groups of people around the museum, telling tall stories associated with some of the corpses; the oldest of which has been on display for 137 years, apparently – although I suppose it’s a safe bet that no one is going to successfully argue with the number in hurry. Leaving the museum, I feel strange but suddenly very hungry and head back into town to lunch.
There is a special atmosphere in Guanajuato. It’s old and historic, its history seems to jump out from the walls and pavements as you walk its streets and alleyways; but it’s also young, vibrant and very alive. Being a university city, there is a large youth community here which helps to give the city part of its feel and vibrancy; but this isn’t at the expense of it’s rich culture and historic significance. Of all the colonial cities I have visited in Mexico, Guanajuato is my favourite; it offers colonial charm with modern convenience; it’s rustic and elegant; the people are some of the friendliest I have encountered in Mexico. Two days was certainly not enough time to fully experience it fully, but I have a taste to come back to one day.
Aguascalientes
I travelled to Aguascalientes from Guanajuato via the city of Leon which has good bus connections for destinations around the central-pacific regions of Mexico. Aguascalientes' name (meaning “hot waters”) is also the name of the State; the smallest State in Mexico. The ‘hot’ waters come from some springs north of town on the road to San Luis Potosi in a place called Ojo Caliente although I was told that the waters there are temperate at best.
Aguascalientes is an industrial town that has grown up in the last two decades to become one of Mexico’s most important provincial cities and is now home to a million people. Aguascalientes City is not a well-trodden tourist spot, but to by-pass the city as part of colonial tour would be missing an insight into modern Mexico; with its fine historic centre and newer colonial buildings and architecture built up around an remarkable bullring.
Aguascalientes is also host to Mexico’s largest fair – the Feria de San Marcos which starts around Easter and runs for three weeks. Three million people from around Mexico and beyond descend upon Aguascalientes for its biggest party which is hosted in the area around the Jardin de San Marcos and down the Paseo de la Feria which also hosts the Casino de la Feria, a large building opened up during the fair to host betting and gambling games. The Feria is an exciting time to be in Aguascalientes; its population nearly quadruples during the period as many Mexicans come here for the events, the party lights and the electric atmosphere the fair generates.
The main historic buildings centre on the Plaza de la Patria, or town square. South of this main plaza is the Government Palace; inside it has been brilliantly decorated and is one of the most colourful Government Palaces I have visited in Mexico. West of the Plaza is the cathedral, which is a little unusual as most often in Mexico, the city's principal church or cathedral is situated opposite the Government Palace. Aguascalientes’ Cathedral was originally a church which has had an additional ‘cloned’ spire added to it; the architecture is typically colonial and I won't tell you which spire is cloned; check the picture and guess. In the middle of the plaza is a tall pillar with an eagle perched on top. Aguascalientes claims that the pillar marks the exact geographic centre of Mexico although the matter is a debatable subject.
The Jardin de San Marcos, (San Marco is the Patron Saint of Aguascalientes), stands opposite the church by the same name and is easily recognised by its four arched entrances, one on each side of the rectangular shaped park. The park offers fine gardens and shade from the sun on its lazy benches; a centre stand provides a stage for local bands in the middle of the garden. Market stalls set up along some of the corridors selling sweets, drinks, arts and crafts to passers-by.
Because of its centric position, I found Aguascalientes to be a convenient and worthwhile stop-over on the colonial route of the journey. Aside from being able to see some fine examples of colonial architecture, I gained a useful insight into a newer, more modern Mexico in some places around Aguascalientes. Despite the fact that it is not traditionally known as a tourist destination, Aguascalientes played an important role in Mexico’s past (for example, it was an important hub for silver mined from the surrounding colonial cities) and today is one of the cities at the vanguard of Mexico’s drive to developing a modern economy and social structure. The city also offers some good museums, fine hotels and an excellent range of good restaurants.
Zacatecas
The 125Km road trip from Aguascalientes to Zacatecas can be undertaken in little over an hour by car, and regular buses also do the trip northward. The final stretch of road (tolled) is a fast, smooth and very well maintained four lane highway (dual-carriageway); it's well worth the $25 peso toll each way.
Like all of Mexico’s colonial cities in the central plateau of the country, Zacatecas is high up – 7,500 feet above sea level and the city itself is built in a valley between two hills. The city was founded in 1546 and like all the other colonial cities in the region, silver and other minerals were the key attraction and the financial foundation upon which the city was built. The silver boom in the late 18th century attracted people from around the world to the region to invest and speculate; as a result, Zacatecas grew into the rich and elegant colonial city I’m wandering about today.
The Cathedral in the middle of town which was completed in 1750 is said to have the best façade of any Cathedral in Mexico. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see it, as it is covered with scaffolding as the building undergoes some cleaning and maintenance during the off-season. Zacatecas like Guanajuato was nominated a World Heritage Zone by UNESCO in 1994 after completing a programme to restore its elegant colonial heritage. Besides the spaghetti like wires and cables that criss-cross the streets (these will probably be buried underground in the future as part of a modernisation/development programme), the city is a picturesque colonial scene and although I didn’t feel as enamoured by Zacatecas as I was with Guanajuato, I was nevertheless left impressed by the detail, the elegance and the flamboyancy of this fine city.
Like the Cathedral, half of the Government Palace building was under wraps for some maintenance work. The remedial works are a good excuse to return to the city for second and more detailed look when I have more time.
Just south of the Cerro de la Bufa (the highest peak in the area and a main vantage point) is the Mina de Eden (Mine of Eden) an old mine which stopped production in 1964 and Mexico’s only open tourist mine. Tours start every 15 minutes and begin on a ‘train’ that transports us 600 metres into the mountain. The train stops and the rest of the tour is undertaken on foot as a guide points out major points of interest, tells of legends and myths, and runs off a suitable quantity of off-the-cuff statistics; one that I recall told of the mountains in Zacatecas yielding some of the most profitable mines in Mexico with up to 25% ore per tonne of rock extracted. Our tour began with a plug for the Mine Night Club; the only night club in the world to be totally underground, it has a capacity for 240 people and features a $60 peso entrance fee plus drinks on top. The guide is probably a shareholder; I’m not taking a cut for this plug, I just thought it was quite a nifty attraction (apparently unique in the world) and you might like to know about it.
Our guide has an excellent sense of humour and we all enjoyed the tour 300m below the mountain’s surface; although I thought that the fake waterfall switched on and lit up at the end was a bit on the tacky side. I asked at the end if any tours were undertaken in English and was told that the guides who are not bi-lingual are currently being given English lessons and provided that sufficient English-speaking customers show up, they’ll run an tour in English.
From the mine you can take an elevator which takes you straight up to the entrance of the cable car station, and from there you can ride across the cable to Cerro de la Bufa and take in excellent views of the city. Alternatively, you can walk back through the mine to the train stop and exit from where you came in.
At the cable car station, the operator jokingly asks everyone who gets on, “so where were you from?” as some of nervous disposition tread onto the car that gently swings as you wait for the next ride. The journey takes seven minutes and offers good views across the city. At the top, you walk up another 300 metres or so and get to a church, a courtyard and museum of Mexican history; the museum was closed when I was there. Outside is a monument to three of Mexico’s revolutionary heroes: Pancho Villa, the most famous, takes centre stage. The viewing balcony has telescopes installed and a man sells tokens for $3 pesos which gives you about 3 minutes' worth of viewing time; enough to see the main attractions in the city below.
On the south side of the city I go past a couple of good attractions: the Museum of Francisco Goytia (a famous Mexican artist) and what remains of the old aqueduct which runs past the old bull ring. The bull ring was bought up and a luxury hotel has been cleverly built up around its ruins so the centre of the old bullring is now the centre of the hotel’s courtyard.
Like Guanajuato, Zacatecas is a city for exploring. Because of the topography, you’ll find yourself going mostly uphill or downhill; the altitude can be wearing if you’re used to living at lower levels, but there are plenty of café’s, restaurants and corner shops to stop at and rest for a while with a cool drink while you get your breath back. The streets are paved with stone or cobbles; steps lead up into pathways and alleyways that curve around into a new street at a higher or lower level which can break out into colourful plazas and courtyards.
Summers here are intensely hot, which is why the early evenings are the busiest times of day out on the streets. Zacatecas is a popular weekend get-away for Mexican families and a well-known destination for travellers on Mexico’s colonial route. My schedule only allowed me to stay in Zacatecas for one day, which enabled me to see many of the main attractions, although like Guanajuato, there are many points of interest here and a couple of nights stay would have easily been filled with further exploration.
The bus trip back from Aguascalientes to Mexico City takes about 6 hours. I get back to the Capital to find that the quiet Christmas and New Year lull is definitely over; the streets are packed with people and cars, and the pollution which is particularly bad in January and February, makes any physical activity here that much harder. I have travelled back to Mexico City to publish the diaries and prepare for the next leg of the trip that will take me into the "Soul of Mexico" - the southern State of Oaxaca.