State of Guanajuato: Leon and Guanajuato

Thanks to Benito Juarez's birthday, we had a puente (or long weekend). Kurt and I decided to visit Janet in Leon, Guanajuato and then take advantage of her close proximity to Guanajuato to revisit a slighly more appealing city. Leon has a colonial center, but there's not a whole lot going on in general other than shoes (home to mexico's leaterh industry).

The city of Guanajuato on the other hand, is a cute, colorful old mining town nestled in a valley. I visited here during training, but the return trip was just as nice.

We took a quick trip to a small town perch on the mountain above Guanajuato to visit an ornate church and a mine.

So we found what we assumed to be the enterance to a mine (which it was), and figured we could enter on a tour (kinda true). After asking the man at the door, he looked around a couple of times and then quickly ushered us through the door for the start of our clandestine tour.

This is the enterance to the mine that supposedly drops 150 meters. This mine, soon to be active again, had large deposits of gold and still some silver veins. it was originally run by a Spanish count, and now has just been bought by Canadians.

Since Guanajuato was an old mining town, there are mining tunnels that run underneath the city. Planners have decided to utilize these to reduce traffic in the city and now many of the major roads run beneath the plazas.

After returning to Puebla on Monday night, we had a meeting for one of our projects in Jalapa, Veracruz on Tuesday. We got caught in a little bit of afternoon fog on the way home as we passed through the mountains.

Festivities

Kurt turned 30 last week and his parents came from New York to celebrate. We went to a town called Bernal (a revisit from training) and then to a nearby vineyard.



Workshop in Bernal (known for it's wool)

On the bus to the vineyard
A Mexican vineyard during the dry season





Favorite spot in the market

Huasteca Potosina: Puente de Dios, Tamasopo

On Saturday before heading back to Puebla (an short 12 hour bus ride), we went to the town of Tamasopo and then walked out to a place called Puente de Dios (God’s Bridge). If anyone is paying attention, we were also at a place called Puente de Dios last weekend while rafting, turns out there’s 2 in the Huasteca. So anyway, this Puente de Dio is also a big, rock formation that creates a bridge. There is an almost crater-like opening on one side that has several water falls pouring in. Then all the water is funneled under the “bridge” into a cavern/cave thing that you can swim into and that has the bluest water I have ever seen.

Huasteca Potosina: 2nd Week

I spent most if the second week in Valles in the cienaga (wetland) again. We finished the sample collection and had 2 days of tours around the cienaga with students from a local university. No pictures of this, but one night we were lucky enough to get a trip to a temazcal, or a sweat lodge. 1st we covered ourselves in mud, let that dry, and then washed it off in the hot spring. Then we entered the sweat lodge, a small, circular dome with a fire pit in the middle. Instead of using an open flame though, stones are cooked outside in a fire and then brought into the temazcal, where water is poured on them to create steam. During the process you are also rubbing various herbs and aloe all over you. Upon exiting, you’re treated to a very, very cold soaking and then wrapped in a towel, laid down on the ground and covered by a blanket, quickly massaged, and then given some tea to drink. The night was capped off by a dip in the hot springs.

Here are some picts from around the cienaga….