Sunday, December 15, 2013

A GUANAJUATO ANECDOTE

This return trip, we took our time --  not just zooming from Colorado mountains to Pacific coast and back.  Ah, Patzcuaro again... always pleasing.  And this time, we also went to Guanajuato.  Besides being a beautiful town built on steep rolling hills -- which we enjoyed driving through:

......we also knew that there was a museum containing mummies.  We were expecting to see royal mummies from the Aztecs, in all their finery and posings.

Not so.  Yet, we were entranced....   That is to say, the way one would be entranced whilst looking long and thoughtfully at ever so many individual mummies, now housed in glass boxes -- each one caught in whatever pose that their untimely death caused, even tiny babies.   They were ordinary Mexicans caught by a cholera epidemic in the 1830s, and stored in dry caves which preserved them. You can google the mummies of Guanajuato for more photos of what we saw, and more information...

 But ah....  there is a delightful anecdote w/r Guanajuato:  our experience with a professional guide.  As we approached the perimeter of the town, several hills/valleys away from the center -- we came upon the kiosk of tourist info,  and a friendly fellow approached us, offering to be our guide. He said that the roads were very winding, and the tunnel system (tunnels?  what's that about, we wondered) is very complex.   It is very easy to get lost and confused.   Jojo was rather abruptly rude to him (commenting later that he used to be such a "guide" in the Philippines, scamming tourists with tales of how they'll get lost without a guide etc...)  Myself,  I was inclined to believe this guy,  and since our time was short (late afternoon), why not hire him? 

BUT! we didn't hire him, and blundered towards town, descending into and out again from the first set of perplexing winding intersecting tunnels.  This town is riddled with the underground tunnel system -- who would ever have suspected that a small picturesque town rolling over various steep hills in Mexico would have a snake's nest of tunnels BELOW the picturesquely colorful buildings and winding streets above?

Anyway, when we emerged into daylight, we came upon a roundabout -- more choices!  We were utterly perplexed with no idea what to do next.  We pulled to the crowded side of the narrow busy winding road with its many side roads branching out,  and out came our simplified tourist maps....

After a polite passage of time as we puzzled over the maps, up to our window walked the very same professional guide -- offering, once again, his services.  He had followed along behind us on his motorcycle(!)...   knowing full well  that we'd get all tangled up in the road system of roundabouts, hills, and tunnels.  I gave Robert that Look,  and he nodded,  and we hired him.

As our guide zoomed ahead of us on his motorcycle,  I was delighted to read the back of his black leather jacket:  "TURISTA RESCATE"  ( Tourist Rescue)

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