Guanajuato to Mexico City

When we arrived in Guanajuato and drove up the narrow, winding roads, I began to wonder about the hotel I had booked, especially when Mark stopped the car and told me to walk up and find out if the hotel was up there and if he could get up the road and park. This was the view from our room

The historic centre was only 550m away, straight down 91 steps from the hotel to the road then another 246 steps plus steep slopes into town. Guanajuato is in a narrow valley, which makes its streets narrow and winding. Most are alleys that cars cannot pass through, and some are long sets of stairs up the mountainsides. The historic center has numerous small plazas and colonial-era mansions, churches and civil constructions built using pink or green sandstone. The city was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

When we walked down into town on Thursday March 22nd, we saw many market stalls selling flowers (the scent was incredible) and other paraphernalia and discovered it was "The Day of Flowers" - on the last Thursday before holy week. It is customary for 'Dances of Flowers ' to be performed in many halls and was akin to the folk dancing we observed in San Blas. The tradition is for the young people to meet in the main square at the end of the celebrations with the girls walking one way and the men in the opposite direction. Once a man was attracted to a young girl, he gave her flowers. There was certainly huge crowds of young people out that evening (and 'commuter elbows' is a skill that is never lost), but us being old and knackered meant we didn't stay until dawn to witness the end of the celebrations.

Next, San Miguel Allende. On the way, we visited the Sanctuary of Atotonilco (aka Santuario de Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco). The church complex is a World Heritage Site and was built in the 18th century. According to tradition, Father Luis Filipe Neri de Alfaro was called upon by a vision of Jesus with a crown of thorns and carrying a cross. The mural work inside took over 30 years to complete and the complex has been dubbed the 'Sistine Chapel of Mexico'. It receives as many as 5,000 visitors every week, which is quite impressive.   

The day we arrived in San Miguel de Allende was the 'Friday of Sorrows' and occurs the Friday before Palm Sunday and one week before Good Friday. Here in Mexico, the faithful make small shrines to the Virgin Mary (both in public places and people's houses) and the general public walk around the streets in the evening looking at them all. We saw a few on our walk into and from town.
The town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 and has a lovely historic centre.

Back on the road again this time heading to Queretaro. The historic centre was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996 and the old colonial town is said to be unusual as it has retained the geometric street plan laid out by the Spanish, side by side with the twisting alleys of the Otomi. It was a rare occurrence at the time for the Otomi, Tarasco, Chichimeca and Spanish to live peacefully together especially as the Indigenous and Hispanic were at odds with one another in other parts of the country.

The city has an enormous aqueduct that consists of 74 arches, each 20m wide and average height of 23m and is approximately 1.3kms long. It was built between 1726 and 1738 at the request of the nuns of  the Santa Clara convent to bring water to the people of the city

On the way to Mexico City we had to stop at Teotihuacan and see the mighty pyramids. The city is thought to have been established around 100 BC and at its peak was the largest city in pre-Columbian Americas with a population estimated at around 125,000 or more.  The 'Pyramid of the Sun' is the third largest in the world after the Great Pyramid of Cholula (which we will visit after Mexico City) and the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Mark climbed to the top but I only made it to the second level as my lungs are still recovering from a bout of flu. 

The city has a central avenue called "Avenue of the Dead" and is about 4km long. The "Pyramid of the Moon" is at one end, with many other structures along the route including ceremonial platforms.

Taken from halfway up the Pyramid of the Sun. Pyramid of the Moon is to the right

A ceremonial altar 

The complex was much larger than we had expected and it was nice to walk around it early in the day before all the tour buses arrived from Mexico City.

Mark has already written about our journey into the city so my next blog will be about capital.