Guanajuato
12-19 March 2023
Well its been almost two years since we returned from our last “year afloat” and we stoped writing our blog, but we are now ready to start up again!
After returning from our trip down the east coast in 2020-21 we ended up going back to work at Framingham State University for one final year. Initially this was intended to be part time work, but for Mike it became full-time when the Chemistry Department needed someone for the academic year at short notice. It has always been a pleasure to work at FSU but it seemed harder in the aftermath of Covid even though classes were all back in session. All the students and faculty were still required to wear masks and there seemed a lot less interaction than previously. In any event we enjoyed the experience and retired (again) in May last year and have been adapting to our new lifestyle. We have continued to enjoy life at home in Massachusetts and have also done some sailing locally in New England. In November we had a lovely visit to see our daughter Tasha and her partner Mac in their new home outside of Spokane, Washington. We also spent time generating big plans to travel this year. Mike got things started with a trip back to the UK earlier this month and we have just returned from visiting our friends, Lynn and Lee, in Guanajuato, Mexico. At this point we are just about ready to set out on a 10-week car-camping tour around the USA, and we also have plans to head south on Cotinga later in the year. So all told, it seems like the right time to re-start our blog and to capture some of these adventures.
We first met Lynn and Lee in the autumn of 2012 at River Dunes marina in North Carolina. We were on our first year aboard Cotinga and Lynn and Lee were living on their sail boat Serendipity. We had gone to the marina to enjoy the excellent and inexpensive facilities, but ended up staying a week as we sheltered from hurricane Sandy. We got to known several cruisers during that week and bumped in to many of them again. We were delighted to be able to catch up with Lynn and Lee later that year down in St. Augustine and the following spring we joined up with Serendipity to cruise for a couple of weeks in the Bahamas before crossing back together to the USA. We became close friends and over the past ten years have met up with some regularity. Lynn and Lee have moved on from sailing and are now focussing their adventures on canoeing and “dirt-cruising” (camping). They are now also retired and have spent the past 3 winters down in Mexico, the last two in Guanajuato. When they invited us down to spend a week with them we jumped at the opportunity.
Guanajuato is a beautiful city, nestled in the hills about 250 miles north-west of Mexico City. We flew in to the nearby airport of Leon and took a taxi over to the center of historic city where Lynn and Lee met us. We hiked up the steep narrow alleyways to their apartment, which was challenging at an altitude of 6500 ft. The view across town from their rooftop patio was amazing! Over the next week we had a wonderful time exploring the city, eating fine food, visiting the orchestra and hanging out with good friends. On one day we took a 90 minute taxi drive through the countryside to San Miguel, where the four of us took a cooking class with a well-known chef in his home kitchen. We prepared four different meals and ate them as we went along! The food was terrific, Chef David was highly entertaining and we learned a lot. Altogether a great experience! We also spent a couple of days hiking in the nearby countryside, firstly climbing up one of the hills that surround the city, and then later, walking to the Presa Peralillo reservoir. It was a pleasure to see something of both the city and the countryside. One of the things that impressed us the most was seeing Lynn and Lee chatting with the locals. They have worked hard to improve their Spanish and take lessons three times a week. It was so obvious to us how having those language skills enhanced their interactions with the local community.
In the following pictures I want to try and give you a sense of the atmosphere and beauty of Guanajuato, with it’s colorful buildings, vibrant culture and it’s countless winding alleyways.
Mike
Sunset over Guanajuato from the roof patio on Lynn and Lee's apartment
The town at night (panorama stitched together from 6 individual images)
One of the many plazas / parks with cafes and restaurants, live music and a great atmosphere
Selling balloons outside the cathedral
One of the stepped alleyways leading up to Lynn and Lee's apartment
An elderly lady peers into the window shrine of a small local store, high above the city center
It was wonderful to just wander around the roads and alleyways with all the beautiful painted houses
It was challenging to take photos during the day as the contrast between the areas in the sun and those in the shadows was extreme. However, as the sun went behind the hills the lighting became soft and beautiful. I used focus stacking techniques to ensure great depth of field in conjunction with combining multiple images into a panorama for some of the street views
The vertical format gives you more of a sense of how narrow and steep some of these alleyways are
There were beautiful murals on the walls of many of the buildings
Here a religious mural is painted on the adjacent corner to a pop art depiction
There are lots of dogs in Mexico! Many are kept as guard-pets and live on the roofs of their houses. This husky-like dog was next door to Lynn and Lee and I shot the photo from our bedroom window
Never doubt how seriously we take ice cream! Lynn and Lee preparing to indulge
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