Colonial Tour: Part Two
March 2006
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From Zacatecas, we headed south and east a bit through Aguas Calientes, skirting the city of Leon and finally arriving in Guanajuato. Driving into town was crazy, there are tunnels everywhere, one way streets and virtually no stop lights. We weaved and bobbed our way to this tiny, terraced camp spot right smack in the heart of Guanajuato with two grassy flat areas overlooking a side canyon of town. We took it mellow our first day and tried to relax and clear our minds from all the previous art and architecture we had overwhelmed ourselves with in Guadalajara and Zacatecas. We have several friends and family members who had traveled to Guanajuato and raved about it. Perhaps our expectations were skewed by all of the reviews, but we were actually disappointed a bit. Mostly due to the extremely large population of North American tourists, the vibe in the town felt very touristy. Despite all of the rich history, beautiful gardens, art, culture and tradition, we found it difficult to connect with the area after spending time in Zacatecas where there was very little catering to the NorteAmericano tourist industry. We resorted to our usual techniques of seeing sights, exploring WAY off the beaten path and basically losing ourselves in areas not known for sites. It was in the out of the way neighborhoods void of camera toting, lonely planet led gringos where we found comfort. We have also found that if you really want to connect to the local scene, spend some time in the hardware store. Eric got to know some teenagers in the neighborhood where we camped and got to be good friends with them. Our legs got a great workout hiking into town and around town each day, avoiding taxis and punishing ourselves by walking everywhere. Our highlights were the main market where Sarah found a classic pair of Mexican sunglasses, Eric found the coveted Cruz Azul soccer jersey, and we bought a shopping bag like those used by almost all the Mexican shoppers (plastic mesh with short rubber handles, so you can carry heavy items quite a distance without your hands hurting or bumping the back into your leg as you walk). The Casa de Diego Rivera was really neat, as was the museum of Don Quixote iconography. We both decided that we were “museumed out” so we started to make plans to hit the road towards San Miguel de Allende.
Departing Guanajuato was actually easy; we were the only ones in the campground and hadn’t really felt a connection to the town. As a good book about traveling says “pilgrim pass by that which you do not love”. We took this to heart and coaxed the van around steep corners and winding roads until we hit the town of Dolores Hidalgo. Dolores Hidalgo was a cool town for sure. Known for its pottery, and it history as the locale where Father Hidalgo issued his famous “el Grito”. We looked at some cool stuff but didn’t feel a need to purchase anything. We decided that at the point where we are decorating a house, we will just head back with a trailer or something. Onward to San Miguel de Allende (SMA) we went. The road from Dolores Hidalgo to SMA was flat and smooth within the large valley these two towns inhabit. We could see the center of SMA as we approached from the northwest. We found our way to another great little campground right on the edge of town and settled in for a few days. The campground had several people in it who were all very nice and helpful. One of the couples was the husband and wife who wrote the Mexican camping guidebook so many people use. It is actually kind of funny how much of a cult following they have within the Mexi-RV set. People kept telling us, “ooh, and the Churches are staying here while they update their book,” taking the reverent tone usually reserved for a religious leader of some sort. Within a few hours of arriving and finding a spot, we were on the phone calling our friend, Allan, to see if he was in town. He answered immediately and the fun began be meeting him at one of his favorite local restaurants for dinner and a drink. He started introducing us to all of these interesting people who call SMA home. One was Jon Peterson or “Farmer Jon” as he is known. He told us all about a documentary film that was recently made about him and his family called “The Real Dirt on Farmer Jon”. We haven’t seen it yet because it has just been released, so check it out and let us know!
For the rest of our stay in SMA, Allan led us around, introduced us to friends, cooked for us, took us horseback riding and basically rolled out the red carpet for us. His generosity was very special and we made sure he understood our true appreciation. Our only hope is that we cross paths with Allan again in the near future. SMA itself is a town that seems to have struck a balance amongst its Mexican roots and its burgeoning ex-patriot community. The scene there is truly international and while there is a little tension in places between locals and transplants, the ex-patriots have done some wonderful work in helping the locals with education, jobs and public projects. Had it not been for our ex-patriot friend Allan, we certainly would not have stayed very long in SMA, but instead we found it hard to leave. However, with the rapidly approaching Easter holiday we needed to decide what to do. So, we decided to settle our itch for the ocean and head back to the coast. Last year we spent Semana Santa inland, so this year we decided to spend it with the rest of Mexico, en la playa. With the potential for the early south swells to work, we decided to go back through Guadalajara to the San Blas area. Legend has it that when it works, the North end of Matachen bay produces the longest rideable wave in Mexico, so we settled on Santa Cruz as our destination. On our way from SMA to the coast, we spent a night in Guadalajara after exploring Chapala Lake. From Guadalajara, we passed through Taquilla and the miles of Blue Agave growing for the purpose of making Taquilla. We passed through Tepic before hitting the jungle again and descending down the mountains through vast mango groves to the coast. We pulled into a hotel/campground called Paraiso Miramar. It is a lush “eco” hotel and campground with pools, gardens and beach access. We beat the rush and were actually the only people at the campground for the first 2 days.