Our spot in Guanajuato

When we met, I noticed pretty early on that Pedro loves colour. He likes bold, bright, primary colours and had splashes of colour throughout his house, his wardrobe, his art collection, even his dishware. When I saw photos of Guanajuato for the first time, I realized where he got his love of colours.

September 1st we took a short domestic flight to the airport in Leon. I was finally visiting Pedro’s hometown of Guanajuato, capital city of Guanajuato State in Mexico. Geographically, it is located in the south-center of the country, almost exactly equidistant from both coasts, and north of Mexico City. He lived here until he graduated from the University of Guanajuato with a degree in chemical engineering. Then he moved to Oregon and has been here ever since.

Unlike the chaos of arriving in Cancun a week earlier, in Leon we were met by a group of Rivera family members. I was tired and somewhat overwhelmed by the idea of meeting them all, so I barely remember what happened at the airport. We were soon outside and deciding who would go in which vehicles, and there was a long ride back to Guanajuato. They drove us directly to our Airbnb, and I was grateful for that. I think we all were. It had been a long day after meeting Edith, then the tour of the monkey sanctuary, then a flight.

As you can see in the photos, the city spills across steep hillsides and downtown is in the valley. Most streets in Guanajuato are too narrow for cars and many “streets” are simply stairs, like a European city. Our family drove us to the top of the hill above our room, so we could take the stairs down to our place instead of up. It was dark, and we were hauling bags on narrow stairs, and somehow we found it with ease. (But then Pedro and I have experience with finding Airbnbs – the craziest one was tucked away off a narrow street in Venice)

We arrived at night, and the scene was marvelous.

La familia helped us carry bags and they all came in to see our place. We saw right away that there was no bottled water, so Pedro and his older brother Jose (they are all older; Pedro is the baby of eight siblings) climbed the hill again to go find someone selling water at night. Lola stayed with me and Andre and we stared at each other uncomfortably for a while, not knowing each other’s languages. I remembered my phone translator and that helped! Then Andre found an app which simply “listens” to you speak, and then translates it on the screen for the other person. Wow, so cool. In that way, Lola and I were able to talk a little.

Then the men came back with a big jug of water and some bread for morning. We hugged all around and said our goodbyes with promises to see each other again soon.

The photos at the top were taken from the balcony of the Airbnb we stayed in for the next five nights. The view was nothing short of magnificent.

Since we were on the side of the hill, views only faced one direction, but it was enough. And since we are looking at the inside of the Airbnb, can I just say how lovely it is? All these bright tiles inside.

But let’s get back to that view.

Pedro explained some of the story behind the colours. I searched and searched the interwebs and could not find any impetus for the first adoption of colourful tradition. At some point, however, it was supported by the government. Pedro recalls that when he was in his early teens, his father applied for assistance from the city to get new paint. If a property owner had a dull outside wall, and particularly if one of the walls was in full view, the city would provide paint for the building. Pedro thinks the point of this was beautification in general, but he’s not sure if it specifically was for tourism.

Guanajuato is now famous for its colours. If you saw the movie Coco, you’ll recall the brilliancy of the city of the Land of the Dead that Miguel visits with his dog Dante. The design of that place was inspired by Guanajuato’s colours.

Yes, in the photo above, I said “street.” That is an example of common streets on the hilliest parts of the city. This is how we left and came home each day. It was marvelous! The teenagers were not always in approval of having to climb stairs multiple times a day, heh heh.

Many stair-type streets dropped off the side from the cobbled road that was for cars. Luckily there was a distinctive ancient cistern very close to the point where our staircase reached the top. We used El tinaco until we learned to identify which set of stairs to follow.

I have about 150 photos off the balcony. Each morning when I woke, I would gape in astonishment. It’s just stunningly beautiful. I chose a few that I like for the series below.

Ok, ok, that’s all I will subject you to. Our days in Guanajuato were packed. I barely even know how to begin with all the photos. But I am having fun re-living our time there two months ago. Thank you for joining me. ❤