Guanajuato

I came to Guanajuato for Spanish language school at the Academia Falcon.  The first order of the day was learning to pronounce "Guanajuato", so don't feel too bad if you can't get your tongue around it. One of the biggest challenges that I faced was unlearning German.  Since that was the only language I'd studied in depth before this, my brain had somehow decided that I must still be learning it.  It was a bit embarassing (and very difficult to explain) when the instructor asked me a question en Espanol and I answered them auf Deutsch.

I recklessly arrived very late at night without a hotel reservation, and just walked near the school until I found a hotel.  It took a long time to find one, and it turned out to cost ten times the amount I was to spend per night in the dorm.  On the plus side, it was an extremely nice hotel.

This is the front of Academia Falcon.  The building facade is somewhat of a local tourist attraction -- there was a continous stream of cars and buses stopping in front so people could take pictures. In reality this is just the street front of the school, and merely houses the administrative offices.

This is the actual school, with the class rooms on the left and the dorms on the right.  My room was on the second story, towards the middle right. The paint job took a while to grow on me, but I like it now.

Guanajuato used to be primarily a mining town, and its inhabitants are very comfortable working with stone.  In many places foundations of buildings are just built in to whatever rocks happen to be sticking out of the ground.

Lots of gorgeous churches about.  This one in the center of town is one of my favorites.

The old train station in town has been converted into a large indoor market that the locals call just the "Mercado".  The word is spanish for "market" -- there are plenty of mercados in Guanajuato, but only one Mercado.

Both the Day of the Dead and Holloween are celebrated in this part of Mexico, and the shop keepers go to sometimes extreme lengths to do up their shops accordingly.  This witch's arms, legs, and head all moved independently, but really we all agreed it was the skirt that made it.

Academia Falcon celebrated the Day of the Dead by inviting everyone to make their own grave in the school courtyard.  Teachers and students participated, along with the adminstrative folks -- the sign on the computer reads "In honor of all the computer equipment assasinated by the office staff." In addition, candy skulls were given out to each of the students, so we could eat our own death and thus accept our mortality.  That's the pre-digested deaths of myself and fellow students Michiko and Junko on the right there. (Incidentally, the students from Japan didn't find the candy skull custom in the least weird.)

In the dance hall the school erected a full shrine to one of the local composers.  The shrine has nine levels, to complement the nine areas a soul must travel through in the afterlife.  It is covered with all of the things that the person enjoyed in life, along with flowers and a selection of fruits and vegetables. The fruits and vegetables can only be those that grow underground, to remind us all that good things come from under the earth, and that we'll all be going there eventually.

No one has been able to figure out the link between Guanajuata and Cervantes, but there are Don Quixote references all over town.  In addition, a major week-long festival called "Cervantino" is held every fall. I suspect it's like the Ashland-Shakespeare connection, in that there really isn't one, but it makes a good tourist draw.

I just love the schizophrenia embodied here. "We need steps." "No, we need a ramp!" "Okay, we'll compromise.  Steps, a ramp, and a bunch of very long steps at a 30 degree angle."

The sign outside the Polish consulate.  Now you may be asking yourself, why exactly has Poland gone to the trouble to set up a permanent consulate in Guanajuato?  If you happen to find out, let me know, will you?

Stray dogs are to Mexico what stray cats are to Greece (and the United States, for that matter).  Everywhere you go, there are dogs wandering about. Some are well kept, others have matted fur, but all are courteous and non-threatening.  They'll come trotting down the sidewalk, then cut a semi-circle to give you some space, and keep going.  They don't particularly want to be petted, but of course they'll always take food.

Caught this little feller crawling in through my bedroom window one night.

I'd never seen this breed of spider before.  The dorsal portion is almost a perfect sphere.

This is La Bufa, the favorite tromping grounds of the students at Academia Falcon.  This picture is taken from across town -- La Bufa just plain looms over the part of the city where Falcon is.

Halfway up La Bufa is a shrine to Saint Ignacio.  Right next to the shrine is . . . a large pile of empty cans of Chile Jalapenos.  I first thought that perhaps Saint Ignacio was the patron saint of spicy foods, but a chat with one of my instructors revealed that the cans are used to transport candles up the mountain safely during festivals.

This is a shot looking down on the final ascent of La Bufa.  That's Junko right down there in the center, and the climb comes up the rocks to the left side of the picture.

Guanajuato, as seen from the top of La Bufa.

This was a mural on the side of a local kindergarden ("Jardin de Ninos").  It's amazing how many languages have a name for a type of school that translates to "Garden for kids."

We forgot the Tequila, and it turned out the machetes weren't necessary, but it was a good hike nonetheless.

I wasn't expecting to see a rhinoceros that day.

The hikers.  Jorge (the school's main administrator, and taker of the picture) and I were thinking this would make a good Academia Falcon advertising poster, particularly given the 7-1 gender balance.