The long Road towards Guanajuato… a tale of city contrast.

Gather round for this whimsical road trip story of a couple of lovers traveling across the country from the warm and humid beaches of Quintana Roo to the cold and dry colonial city of Guanajuato.

It all began on November 16 the day our apartment contract stopped, we’re returning to our home town in time for the festivities with the family, so we’re stopping for one whole month in Guanajuato, in our way here we made a few pit stops, one of them in the place that shall not be named but let’s just call it Villa H. uhmmm… better yet V. Hermosa, that should do it.

Anyway that was our first stop and boy was it a horrible one, i cannot hide the fact that i might have a little bit of a grudge with this city, but well let me just lay it out there… i hate that place, and all the people that drive there (where are they headed and why do they have to drive like maniacs, use your turn signals… yeah I’m talking to you young man), maybe in the very distant future when i don’t have to drive through it all i might change my mind, but in the mean time i will continue to dread the time I’ve spent in that place, we had to stay 2 days there on account of a devilish pothole in the road that bent one of the wheels rim, so what we had to do was rent a new wheel, find a place that could repair the old one, return the rented wheel and avoid being run over by some crazy driver… easy enough but just drive in that hell-town for half an hour and you’ll see through my eyes.

Everyone is on a hurry and people are parked everywhere, we saw a full lane being closed because someone parked to get some tacos, they better be the best darned tacos in the whole world or the driver is just a not so nice person, on a side note the people that fixed our tire were kind enough to do it on a single day at no extra cost, very humble and hard working people, i know the city has all kind of amazing human beings, it might just be the ones behind the wheel that are mean.

After that traumatic experience we arrived 2 days late to the most wonderful, clean and amazing city in Mexico, that’s right folks I’m talking about Orizaba!!!, what a difference it makes to find a place with barely any graffiti, or trash on the roads, people working nearly 24/7 to keep it that way, food dirt cheap or at least the one we bought (tortas at 10 pesos!!!), a free zoo in the middle of the city running alongside a river canal below the many old bridges, an amazing (and cold) view from top of the Cerro del Borrego, a really nicely traced city with straight streets and people driving like normal human beings (take a hint Villa Hermosa), sign me up!!

Our stay was short but I’d love to come back one day, it might not have a lot of attractions but what it has is inner and outer beauty like very few cities I’ve been to. And that leads us to the arrival to the weirdly shaped Guanajuato and the many oddly named alleys (I’m looking at you alley of the dead dogs), i haven’t been here since the few Festival Cervantino’s i came with some friends ages ago, it’s nice seeing it sober and with fewer people (though the weekends do seems to get hectic again), we’ve been here for a couple of weeks and i can already feel my legs getting stronger from all the walking up and down stairs you have to do.

I’ll just say it, this city is confusing as hell, but in a nice way, like walking through a time-capsule maze full of hipsters and people in tights trying to sell you tickets to tonight’s estudiantina, if you’re lucky you can find Miguel Hidalgo roaming the alleys (I’m not sure what he does for a living, never seen him asking for money, perhaps he absorbs nutrients from the stares he gets… i don’t know, further studies need to be made).

So come to Guanajuato and don’t forget your good knee cream if you plan on walking around