The Mexican part Dos
Where did I leave off? Ah yes, Victoria beer and large churches with wiggy Jesus’.
Forget the image of Cher for a second and concentrate on the fact that this city had a massive number of holy places (John even found a Methodist church way up in the hills -funny it was next to the mummy museum. I wonder if pickin’s were slim in those days) with the population of Round Rock and Pflugerville combined. By the way, I just made that statistic up but it seems to work since I’ve been there and you haven’t.
It is my understanding that the city in general has not changed in almost 200 years -meaning no new buildings. The simple fact that this city is an international treasure is point 1 to go there but more than that it is only a short 2.5 hour plane trip from Dallas and another 45 minute cab ride to the city center of another country. How awesome is that?! You can hardly get out of Texas in that time frame and you still have to deal with crappy border states that speak whatever they speak.
Well, back to Guanajuato. The first day that we got there we went straight to the Hotel Luna, checked in, and promptly visited the bar/ restaurant. This was a funny place since it was meeting point central for all the groups as well as the place that happened to be tipped the best in town by Mr. John Engler. John ended up personifying an open wallet once the vacation vibe got in his veins. “Hey Marc I think I just let that waiter a $15 tip for coffee.”
It was easy to spend more than you thought since the exchage rate was 10 to 1 american but you feel challenged when you have to move the decimal over one digit while thinking in Spanish even though math is universal. Isn’t there a joke concerning Chinese algebra and Barry White…? Never mind. I love John for the simple fact that he is absolutely the man when it comes to buying you more drinks. Need them or not he is there with what you don’t need at 1 AM. He bought me a shot of Jake Daniels at a bar after drinking that “suck all the energy and life out of you mexican beer” AND it was bed time for Bonzo (me).
You couldn’t ask for a better traveling companion in John, even if you think that he is sleeping and not paying attention to you it’s actually the fact that John’s eyes get smaller when the sun and beer go down.
Anyway enough about “John Engler the wonderful, beer buying-overspending-good traveling, sleeping till noon man on a mexican fun mission .” We spent a lot of time just running around the city, weaving in and out of the the small narrow streets and stopping at the wonderful eateries.
One place in particular, Tasca dela Paz, was just off the main plaza in the city center next to the main cathedral. The staff was awesome and one man in particular, Noah was exceptional with his service, knowledge of the menu as well as speaking pretty fluent english. The next best meal in town was right next door at an Italian/Mexican place that made the best guacamole. If you were looking for great street food the vendors were everywhere selling cups of fresh fruit juice - fried potato chips. They even had a Domino’s Pizza in the city center.
Just one more thought on the food there. If you get the chance to wake up early on just about any day of the week except Sunday make your way to the University or the Main Theater and go east through town till you get to a small plaza with a large fountain in the middle of the street. There you can get a great cup of coffee at Van Gogh’s coffee shop and fresh made tortillas with meat and beans all made by this little old man on the side of the street. I knew it had to be good if the line was long and made up of all locals -I ate for 2 dollars (or 20 pesos).
That’s it on the food. I’ll talk photograph and sites next.