Madeline's Travels: Guanajuato Weekend

A few months ago one of my friends here in Mexico recommended a movie to me: Las Momias de Guanajuato (The mummies of Guanajuato). It’s a cheesy horror movie about a mummified luchador (wrestler) coming to life and haunting the residents of the city of Guanajuato. Little to my knowledge would I soon visit the very mummy exhibition portrayed in the movie. The terrain of Guanajuato must have some special chemical composition because it is capable of mummifying bodies in a span of less than five years. When archeologists began uncovering the accidentally-preserved bodies, they decided to make them into a museum, which has consequently become an item of Guanajuato regional pride.

This weekend we traveled to Guanajuato as the last official excursion with the exchange program. Guanajuato city--capital of the region with the same name--is about six hours north by bus from Puebla. It reminded me of certain towns in Spain, with its small tortuous streets, flowers hanging from buildings and the bustling nightlife. Not surprisingly, it’s regarded one of the more romantic cities of Mexico for all its charm. Our first full day was an unusual mix of activities: the mummy museum, a museum of the weapons used during the Inquisition, churches and historic monuments. In the afternoon a few friends and I went to the Casa de Diego Rivera, the house where Diego Rivera was born and lived for the first years of his childhood. This was definitely a highlight of the weekend because I’m such a huge fan of Diego Rivera. The first floor was a representation of the Rivera family’s house and the upper floors exhibited some of Diego Rivera’s sketches and paintings. That evening I went on a night tour of the callenjones (alleyways) led by a musical band similar to mariachi players. As we walked through the streets of Guanajuato, the musicians played traditional Mexican songs and told us the legends of the city. It seemed a bit like Christmas caroling without the cold.

We spent the second day in Guanajuato visiting two nearby towns: Dolores Hidalgo and San Miguel de Allende. For many Mexicans, Dolores Hidalgo is a revered pilgrimage site because it is where Hidalgo let out the battle cry that marked the beginning of the 1810 Mexican Independence movement. We toured Hidalgo’s house, but the attraction that I found equally captivating were the helado and nieve (ice cream) stands in the zócalo (main plaza). The helados of Dolores Hidalgo have a reputation for their unusual flavors, among which: shrimp, avocado, tequila, rice, cheese, beer, cactus along with normal flavors such as lemon and vanilla. To nobody’s surprise, I got the mole helado. It was spicy, chocolatey and rich just as good mole should be. After the helados we drove on to San Miguel de Allende to eat lunch and tour the markets.

My other chocolate highlight came Sunday morning. A friend and I had just visited the Don Quijote museum and were heading over to the university when I noticed a Sister selling hot chocolate outside of a church. Unlike other Mexican hot chocolate that I’ve had, this one was not as sweet and slightly resembled pudding because it had been thickened with cornstarch. It seems that wherever I go I manage to find some link to my chocolate research!