Hola Guanajuato!

I made it to the "Gatlinburg of Mexico" as I heard one person describe Guanajuato on Friday afternoon around 5 o'clock. And since then, I haven't had time to stop and think. I've had all sorts of new experiences to experience and new sights to see.


Friday was pretty laid back. After arriving the CIEE group gathered and spent some time getting to know each other. There are 16 of us and we are from all over the US. It's an interesting mix of accents and backgrounds. We ate dinner at the hotel and met the program director Karen, the assistant director Eduardo or Lalo, and the program coordinator Rebeca. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome and at ease.

The picture below is of the flowers at the hotel. They are beautiful and can be found all over the city.

Saturday was a busy day. We had orientation at a recreation center in a natural reserve on top of a mountain. It was chilly, but the view was amazing. We talked about culture, homestay logistics, and health and safety stuff. I tried the local, traditional coffee. It is not at all like our coffee. It tastes almost like hot cider because they put cinnamon in it and it comes sweetened. It was good though and the warmth was appreciated. After orientation we headed back to the hotel and had several hours of free time. I decided to wander around with three other girls and see if we could find the downtown area and the historical Centro. We succeeded and found out that it really is true that if you walk downhill you will end up the the town center. The city is full of twisting, narrow callejones or alleyways that give the city character and make it extraordinarily difficult to figure out where anything is. The Centro is really interesting. There is a huge Catholic church that is orange and yellow on the outside and full of gold-plated altars on the inside. The University of Guanajuato is just as amazing as the pictures. I got up the energy to climb the stairs so that I could see the city and it was completely worth it.

Saturday night we met our host families. I live with Queta, Julio, Paula and Cesar Enrique. Queta runs a newspaper that focuses on cultural and social news and Julio is a secretary for the Secretary of the Economy. Paula is six and her favorite color is pink and her favorite cartoon is Tinkerbell. Cesar is three and he loves cars and Spiderman. They are unbelieveably cute and so full of energy it is tiring. We have colored together and watched cartoons. Paula never stops talking so I suppose that is how I will learn Spanish.

Sunday we went on a tour of the famous sites around Guanajuato. We went to two different mines and went down one of the mine shafts. Guanajuato is mining central...I think that the area around the city produced 30% of the world's silver at one point. We also went to an hacienda with an amazing garden. It was really neat to imagine what it would have been like to live the life of a wealthy landowner/mine owner. We went to the Iglesia de Cata in Valenciana which is a nearby town. The church was beautiful and there was a wedding about to start when we got there. I found out later that my host parents were married in the same church. After the iglesia, we went to a statue called Cristo Rey. It is a huge statue of Christ on top of a mountain. The view from the overlook is absolutely stunning and unlike anything I have ever seen before. We also went to the monument for El Pipila, who is a local hero. The view of Guanajuato from the base of the statue was incredible. The picture below gives you a glimpse of what I was looking at and also where I get to live for the next five months.

The rest of the day was spent with my host family. I'll describe them in further detail in a later post.

Today I started classes with CIEE. I had Spanish class for three hours this morning. Then I went to the bank and exchanged my money. In the afternoon we had the Prope class. Basically we talked about how Mexicans view knowledge and education as well as learning several important Mexican phrases. I hope that my Spanish skills improve rapidly.

As they say in Guanajuato, todo es posible, pero nada es seguro.
Becky