The City of Frogs

Tomorrow I leave for Guanajuato, Mexico. It's the capital of the state of the same name and is one of my favorite places. The name Guanajuato is said to come from a Purepecha word that means "hilly place of the frogs." It's a beautiful city built in the mountains and is one of Mexico's colonial cities, with Spanish European influence everywhere. It was an important spot for the Spanish because of the rich mines there; some are still productive. Because Guanajuato is primarily an agricultural state, there are wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables in abundance. I'll be there a little more than a month, house-sitting for a friend. Besides staying in such a beautiful city, another perk is that Spanish lessons are included. And Guanajuato's a great place to learn Spanish, because not much English is spoken there, unless you count market vendors who speak 'money' in lots of languages.

The city was built along the Rio Guanajuato and was prone to flooding until the river was diverted into underground caverns. The original riverbed serves as a highway of sorts and there are many highway tunnels, built by the enterprising miners. These twisting roads, alleyways and tunnels give the city the feel of a labyrinth. But more on that later ...

I checked the weather conditions and that's also a perk: high 80s during the day and 40s at night. How perfect is that? Warm enough days for a cerveza fria and cool enough to sleep under a blanket with the windows open. Just stick a fork in me!

Getting there will be an adventure in itself. We traveled to Guanajuato earlier this summer, so I already know the drill. Steve will drive me to Presidio, and across the Rio Grande into Ojinaga. I'll take a bus from Ojinaga to Chihuahua, change to a higher-class bus from Chihuahua to Leon, and then change again to a commuter bus to Guanajuato. The whole trip is a 24-hour affair: 3 hours from OJ to Chihuahua, 20 hours to Leon, then about an hour to Guanajuato (Gto.). The first two buses are air conditioned, show videos, have fully reclining seats, plenty of leg-room, and restrooms. They also have reserved seats. The last bus is more like a U.S. city or commuter bus, but without air conditioning.

I'll sleep some during the middle leg of my trip, but I like to be awake when we come into Zacatecas because that's another beautiful mountain city. I want to visit there someday with my friend Summer, who's lived there before (now that would be some fun!). Somewhere along the way we'll stop to eat. I'm hoping to get to stop at a little place outside Aguascalientes where we stopped before; the food there was fantastic and the prices reasonable. We had some of the best tacos al carbon and carnitas I've ever had. Yum.

The Mexican bus stations are more like our airport terminals than our U.S. bus stations. There are ticket counters for all the bus lines (and there are a bunch of them) and their different classes. The difference in fares between classes is not huge. I was really surprised at how efficient the Mexican bus system is. Apparently the Mexican government invested in its bus system whereas the U.S. put more money into airports. Each terminal along the way has a pay toilet, about 3 pesos, and they're much cleaner and nicer than I had expected.

It will be tough leaving the desert--yet again this year!--and I'll miss my friends and pets, but it's such a wonderful opportunity. I'll take lots of photos and share them in the coming weeks. Hasta pronto!