History from the Heart of Mexico

On the morning of September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the local priest in the small town of Dolores, issued the cry for Mexican independence. Known as the “Grito de Dolores” (Shout or Cry of Dolores), Hidalgo called for the local indigenous people and the mestizos to take Mexico from the Spanish king.

Hidalgo and many other Criollos, Mexican-born Spanish who were treated as second-class citizens by the ruling Spanish aristocracy, were already in the planning stages of a revolution against the Spanish. However, their plan was betrayed, and another of the leaders, Ignacio Allende, had ridden the night before to warn Hidalgo of the situation.

Following a massacre of the Spanish population in Dolores, Hidalgo and the Dolores farmers made a circuitous march through the rugged mountains to the regional mining center of Guanajuato, increasing their numbers along the way. Upon the arrival of the rebels, the local Spanish aristocracy barricaded themselves in the massive stone Alhondiga de Granaditas, or grain warehouse.


The granary seemed like the perfect fortress, and combined with their superior weaponry, it allowed the Spanish to hold off the revolutionaries -- until one man turned the tide of the battle. Born with a birth defect, Juan Jose de los Reyes Martinez was a local man ridiculed for walking in a way that reminded others of a hen turkey or “pipila.” But on September 28, 1810, Juan became a national hero when he used a large flat stone tied to his back to protect him from the Spanish bullets and charged to the wooden door of the granary. Juan set fire to the door, which provided access to the granary for his compatriots. They stormed inside and won the first significant battle of the Mexican War of Independence. Today, Juan is revered as El Pipila, and his statue watches over the city of Guanajuato.







Despite their loss at Guanajuato, the Spanish did not cede power immediately. Within a year, Father Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, and two other leaders of the independence movement were captured and shot. For 10 years, their four heads hung from the four corners of the granary as a deterrent to other revolutionaries.




































But the revolutionaries fought on, and on August 24, 1821, Spain signed the Treaty of Cordoba, which recognized Mexican independence. For more detailed information about Father Hidalgo and the Mexican War of Independence, see http://www.mexonline.com/mexican-independence.htm and the entry for the Mexican War of Independence at wikipedia.org.

Today, the town of Dolores, renamed Dolores Hidalgo to memorialize its place in Mexican history, seems an unlikely birthplace for a revolution.


























The Plaza d’ Armas has been converted into a landscaped garden where families stroll and musicians play. Ice cream vendors, known for their exotic and varied flavors such as avocado and chile, are on every corner .






But the city remains well-known for its ceramics industry, which has descended from the pottery skills that Father Hidalgo taught to the indigenous people here. And the church from which Father Hidalgo issued his famous cry for independence is being restored for the bicentennial celebration that is coming in just 18 months.

About 40 km. down the road, another town has also changed its name to memorialize its role in the War of Independence. In honor of its famous native son whose head hung from the granary in Guanajuato along with that of Hidalgo, “San Miguel el grande” is now San Miguel de Allende.

LIFE IN THE HEART OF MEXICO

As the lights twinkle on in the city below, the sun sets directly behind the statue of Christ the King on a distant mountain. This statue marks the geographic center of Mexico. When we chose Guanajuato as our Mexico “home,” we had no idea that we would literally be living the heart of Mexico.

We’ve now been here for 18 days, and are getting a sense of the city. Initially, I was less than impressed because of the economic decline that I mentioned in the last post. However, my feelings are becoming more positive.

Despite the lack of funds (or political will?) to maintain the buildings, the city is full of vitality. Every night, the main plazas are full of people having a meal or a drink at a sidewalk café, or just sitting and watching the world go by. (The weather is so good that people don’t have to “hole up” at home to stay warm or cool. And I guess that TV is not good enough to keep people at home either.)

There is a wide range of dining choices, from street food to typical greasy spoon places to quite nice restaurants. One night, we ate in the plaza outside a tiny restaurant owned by a woman from the Languedoc province of France. The food was arrayed buffet style, and your plate was weighed each time you passed the cash register. In addition to excellent food, we had interesting juice drinks, including one made from cucumbers. After the main course, dessert, and coffee, the tab came to $13 for the two of us.

In another post, I’ll tell you about a very different meal – one that we will remember for a long time.

There is so much to see here that we have barely scratched the surface. There are at least a dozen museums, ranging from a mummy museum to the birthplace of the famous Mexican muralist (and husband of Frida Kahlo), Diego Rivera. Barbara really enjoyed this museum. The permanent collection allows one to see him struggling to find himself as an artist, with early works as well as works in the style for which he is famous. In addition, the collection includes a series that he did portraying the Mayan creation legend.

Another day, we visited the former hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera. The hacienda originally belonged to a family that became very wealthy from the local mines, but lost the property due to their support of the independence movement. The grounds include 17 different gardens, each designed to represent the style of gardens from a different country. Although not terribly well-maintained, the gardens are impressive, and often quite lovely.

For me, the most interesting aspect of the property was the house. There is a constant interplay between interior and exterior that provides a wonderful example of architecture responding to climate.

And the hacienda has a gorgeous private chapel, with mucho gold decoration.

Barbara is making a video and will eventually get it posted to vimeo.com for you to watch. Her video on the city of Morelia is posted there, if you haven’t seen it. (You have to create an account at vimeo.com in order to view the video.)

But the best part of Guanajuato has been the new friends. We’ve met several new acquaintances at the Spanish language school we attended last week. And we’ve met a few Americanos that either live here or are in the process of moving here. One who has contributed importantly to our enjoyment of the city is Greg, who owns and runs Café Tal, which provides excellent site-roasted coffee.

And we feel extremely lucky to have met Stanley and Alice Winborne. Former potters (although Stanley did a long tour of duty as a successful commercial real estate broker and developer), Stanley and Alice are true artists-at-heart, would fit right in with the “Brandywine” group. They have curious and open minds, and are a real joy to be with.

In summary, Guanajuato is a great place to visit, and we are having a terrific time!

Guanajuato – 10 Minutes Down, 35 Pesos Up

Bernardo, the property manager, picked us up at Appleby’s on the night that we arrived in Guanajuato and drove us to the casita (little house) that we rented via the internet. After passing el Centro, the historic downtown, the car began a steep ascent toward the top of the adjacent mountain. Almost at the top is a “ring road” called the Panoramica that essentially encircles Guanajuato in the valley(s) below. Our casita is on this road and has a magnificent view of town and the ring of mountains surrounding it. The lights of the city spread out below us, with the beautifully illuminated basilica in the center.

Our casita.

Just kidding!

Our "casita" is actually one of three one-bedroom apartments in a small building on the grounds of a large house owned by a family from North Carolina. A high stone wall and metal gate separate us from the Panoramica. The big house, above, rents for $2,500 per month, and has 4 bedrooms, so it would be a great place for a group vacation.

As we enter the apartment, Barbara kept exclaiming, “Oh, it’s so cute,” and, “It’s so charming.” And it is. It’s about 500 square feet and consists of a bedroom, a living room, a dining area, the kitchen and a tiny bathroom. But the bathroom is NOT charming. In fact, it is so small that you almost have to sit sideways on the toilet. (Sorry; no pictues!)

The drawback for me has been the noise. The noise from the road and the dogs barking into the early morning hours is so bad that after three nights, I switched the bedroom and the dining room so that I can sleep farther from the noise.

Despite these drawbacks, we are very pleased with the casita. The grounds feel very secluded and are well landscaped. Most of the conveniences are provided, but in somewhat reduced form. For example, I learned to my surprise that the clothes dryer is 4 lines strung across the laundry room, which is open to the sun. But Barbara is doing quite well cooking with a 4-burner gas cooktop (more like a camping stove) and a toaster oven. The gardens provide fresh herbs in addition to an abundance of flowers and hummingbirds. And we have wireless internet, so everything balances out!

As Bernardo left us that first night, he told us that el Centro was just a ten-minute walk down the mountain – and only 35 pesos back up. We have taken his sage advice and walked up only once to prove we can. Money may not buy happiness, but it sure saves your legs!

What do I do with myself now?: A Close Encounter with Ospreys

What do I do with myself now?: A Close Encounter with Ospreys

This is a great blog by one of our new friends, Stanley and Alice, here in Guanajuato. Thought you might want to see the kind of people this adventure attracts. They are going to be here for 3 months.

Guanajuato – Home Base for our month in Mexico

In the early evening of March 2, after about 8 hours on the road, we arrived at the main bus station in Guanajuato, where we will stay for most of the month of March. We have rented a “casita” or little house, via the internet, and I immediately called the property manager. Bernardo, an “on-the-ball” young man asked us to take a taxi to Appleby’s restaurant, where he would pick us up shortly. The restaurant looked pretty much like any other Appleby’s and served very good renditions of the U.S. menu items – at basically U.S. prices.

That night at Appleby’s has been our last contact with Americana.

Guanjuato is very much a Mexican city, and very different from Morelia. Rather than the grid of streets and plazas in Renaissance Morelia, historic Guanajuato is a maze of narrow streets and even narrower alleys, giving it the feel of a medieval city. Built along the banks of a small river that flowed between steep hills, the streets and buildings followed the river and climb up and down the hillsides. (The river was put underground long ago, and amazingly, in the 1950’s, it was lowered once again, when an extensive subterranean roadway system was built. These tunnels allow traffic to move through the city, leaving parts of the historic center free of cars.)

Scattered throughout the maze of surface streets in the historic center are numerous churches, plazas, and small parks. The plazas and parks are irregularly shaped, just like in the medieval parts of European cities.

The social heart of the city, oddly enough, is not the plaza in front of the Basilica of our Lady of Guanajuato.

Instead, the nearby Jardin de la Union serves this function.

Inside the triangular space of the plaza, a triangle of huge sculpted ficus trees creates both a shady walkway along the sides of the plaza, and a small “room” inside the trees. From a bandshell in this smaller room, an ensemble from the University of Guanajuato plays concerts two nights each week.

During the day, the walkways under the trees are lined with the tables of small vendors selling everything from tacky handicrafts to Christianity Jehovah Witness style.

At night, the vendors are replaced by roving bands of musicians that will serenade you, for a donation, of course. Each band has an elaborate costume to distinguish it from its competitors.

We choose a somewhat less accomplished madrigal for our evening’s entertainment.

At the wide end of the Jardin de la Union sit two quite wonderful buildings. The first is the Templo de San Diego. The façade of this church is an excellent example of the very ornate Churrigueresque style and dates from about 1784. It is adjacent to the east sides the Teatro Juarez. Sitting atop its front portico of Doric columns are colossal sculptures. Rising up to the portico are two flights of steps that serve as meeting places for both local students and older people studying Spanish at a nearby language school.

All of this, I know, makes Guanajuato sound like a wonderful place. And it does have much to recommend it, including a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. However, none of this conveys the decay that permeates Guanajuato. The city was established following the 1558 discovery of silver, and for about 200 years, produced as much as one-third of the world’s silver. However, the wealth appears to have given out long ago, and most of the historic city has not been maintained in the interval.

Despite the decline, Guanajuarto is a lively town with a large university, three performing arts centers downtown, and many museums. Barbara and I have already attended a wonderful symphony concert featuring Suliman Tekalli, an incredible young violinist from Daytona Beach who teaches at UCF. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPlo7K3kq6g&feature=related for an example of his playing.)

We look forward to exploring more of the city’s cultural venues and meeting its people.

Monarch Butterflies

Butterlies everywhere – thousands of them! In some places they cling to trees so thickly that the pine trees change from green to orange. As you watch, the trees seem to sparkle with fluttering butterflies.

Each year, about 100 million monarch butterflies travel as far as 2,500 miles from the eastern United States and even southern Canada to just five or six spots in the mountains about a three-hour drive northwest of Mexico City. I know that many of you have seen this incredible sight yourselves, and today, Barbara and I joined you and the other lucky people who have enjoyed this experience.

We began yesterday (February 28) by boarding a 1st class bus in Moriela, and riding 3 hours southeast to the small town of Zita′cuaro. These buses are much more comfortable than current coach class airline seats, and the trip cost just $7 each. Unfortunately, the great value did not extend to our hotel here, which is a total rip-off. Pete Vogt suggested a much better hotel, but it was full, so we ended up at Villa Monarca Inn. This place makes a Motel 6 look luxurious, and is grossly overpriced! The rooms do not even have heat!

However, the staff is very friendly, and they gave us extra blankets and even a small electric heater from the office. The hotel staff also arranged a taxi with an English speaking driver, Ignacio, who added his own sparkle to the day. Ignacio was born in Zita′cuaro, but has lived in Los Angeles and Portland since he was twelve. He’s back in Mexico to settle his parents’ estate, and is experiencing his own culture shock. He is an American through and through, despite his birthplace.

For an hour, Ignacio drove us higher and higher into the dramatic mountains that rise above Zita′cuaro. Finally, we arrived at Sanctuario Sierra Chincua, where the paved road ends. The land is owned cooperatively by the local indigenous people, and they’ve simply put a rope across the road and charge a small fee for the vehicle and each person. At this point, we picked up a “local” guide, David, who had lived in Houston for several years, and also spoke excellent English. Actually, we’re finding it fairly common that local people have worked in the US, and speak English far better than we speak Spanish.

After another fifteen minutes climbing higher into the mountains on a dirt road, we left the car, and began the real adventure. When we found out that Ignacio, our driver, had never proceeded beyond the parking lot, we convinced him to go with us by offering to rent a horse for him to ride along with us. Then, to Ignacio’s great surprise and, I think, dismay, David, the local guide, recommended that we walk in to the actual site of the butterflies and ride the horses out.
The walk through the forest of pines and oyemel trees was lovely, but strenuous. It is the oyemel trees and the many indigenous plants such as milkweed that attract the butterflies to these mountains. But the real fun was the constant flow of comic quips from our “city boy” Ignacio, who reminded any nearby snakes that he was really a local and that they should bite the Gringos if a meal was required.

Finally we began to see the beautiful orange and black flutters of the Monarchs – at first, just a few, and then the bushes and air were full of these delicate creatures. In the distance, several trees were literally covered with butterflies huddled together to keep warm. We watched in delight as they left the trees to search for water and nectar from the local wildflowers.

After an hour, it was time to saddle up and ride back to the car.

At this point, we learned that Ignacio had never ridden a horse. Being quite overweight, he was quite a sight on the small horses that work this trail. At several especially steep slopes, Ignacio wondered aloud how he had ever been convinced to go on this adventure, when he could have happily stayed with his taxi and taken a nap.

At the end of the trail, Ignacio gratefully exchanged his horse for his taxi, and drove Barbara and I back down the mountain. We sat in the back seat smiling from the unique experience with the butterflies and the laughter we had enjoyed with our new friend Ignacio.