By Glenda Winders
When I moved to Wisconsin from California a while back, one of my first priorities was to find a group with whom to practice speaking Spanish. Through a local Spanish teacher I connected with two couples — Bob St. Louis and Carlyn Conway, Bob Noyce and Linda Vognar — and we began meeting for two hours every week to have coffee and conversation — always in Spanish.
The bond of our common interest soon turned into friendship. We began having lunches at Mexican restaurants and Latin dinners in each other's homes followed by a Spanish-language movie. Then we decided to take the ultimate field trip to Guanajuato, Mexico.
Vognar's Internet research turned up a school that offered programs for all levels as well as a three-bedroom house for rent by owner just a five-minute walk away in an old part of the city.
"Having a central focus like language-learning interwoven into travel is very helpful in not just seeing things but learning about life and being connected to the community," Vognar said. "And renting an old historic home in the center of town makes the experience all the more rich."
Our days began with warm bread from a baker selling her wares from baskets on a nearby plaza, tortillas from a shop in our neighborhood, and fruit and eggs from the local market. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. we were in intensive language and Mexican history classes at Escuela Mexicana with teachers who were native speakers and classmates from all over the world.
Afternoons we explored the city, one of the most beautiful and culturally rich in all of Mexico. Its origins and its wealth resulted from silver being discovered in the 16th century in the hills on which the city is now built.
At one time the Valenciana mine provided two-thirds of the silver for the entire world, and today the nearby Templo de San Cayetano with its golden altarpiece still bears witness to the wealth from that era. Both are open for tours and well worth the crowded, careening bus ride up the hill to reach them.
"It was fun to be elbow to elbow in a crowded bus among the native people," Conway said. "I felt accepted. I didn't ever feel there was anything to fear."
Original tram cars from that mine and others are now decorative pieces throughout the city — some filled with rocks or flowers — reminders to its citizens from whence their good life came.
Today the city sits atop a maze of tunnels where the Guanajuato River once ran. Since the mid 20th century, however, a dam has diverted the river into underground caverns because it frequently flooded, and the tunnels now serve as roadways.
The most moving of the city's many museums is Alhondiga de Granaditas, a granary that was built at the end of the 18th century on a high point to protect its contents from those floods. Shortly after it opened, however, it was turned into a fortress by Spanish forces during the Mexican War of Independence. Legend has it that a courageous miner nicknamed "El Pipila" put a stone on his back to protect himself from bullets and burned down the door, thereby allowing the rebels to defeat their enemies inside.
Later, however, rebel leaders Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama and Jose Mariano Jiminez were executed and their heads displayed on Alhondiga's four corners. Today only their names remain at those junctures, and each of them is honored in the museum that now occupies the building. Also in the museum is a statement made by Lucas Aleman, who was 16 at the time of the war. He claimed no such person as El Pipila ever existed and that the hero was only a symbol of the common people's determination.
Nevertheless, an enormous statue of El Pipila reigns over the city from a high point that can be reached by hiking or funicular. From here it's also possible to get the best overall views of a city whose colorful buildings look as if they've been splashed from many paint pots against the surrounding hills.
Other exhibits in the Alhondiga museum detail Mexican history chronologically with artifacts and displays about indigenous people, the Spanish conquerors, the Second Mexican Empire overseen by the French emperor Maximilian and modern-day Mexico. Visiting the museum in the afternoon was a perfect complement to our morning history classes. After learning about Mexican leaders from every era we were then able to find out what they looked like and see actual artifacts — from pottery to weaponry — they used during their lifetimes.
One afternoon we taxied to Ex-hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera, so called because it no longer operates as a hacienda and is now a museum. Our bilingual guide, Carlos, directed us through opulent rooms filled with European antiques as he entertained us with stories about the compound's dramatic past.
We learned that a home could only be designated a hacienda if it was a working property, and Captain Gabriel de la Barrera (a descendant of the owners of the Valenciana mine) established this one at the end of the 17th century for the purpose of extracting ores. Despite the presence of his wife, the home was managed by a housekeeper who made sure the correct amount of taxes were sent back to Spain just as the priest who said mass in the chapel saw to it that a 10 percent tithe was given to the church.
The area that once housed the ore-extraction operation has now been turned into 17 themed gardens, which we explored before enjoying ice cream from a small refreshment shop on the grounds.
Guanajuato is perhaps best known for its Mummy Museum, where more than 50 mummified human bodies that were exhumed starting in 1865 are on display. I had seen pictures and quickly determined I didn't have the stomach to visit, preferring instead to investigate a couple of livelier possibilities.
One that I liked best was the Iconographic Museum of Quixote, a museum dedicated completely to artistic renderings of Cervantes' fictional character. Here were salon after salon filled with paintings and sculptures depicting the idealistic Quixote and his pal, Sancho Panza. Two that especially caught my attention were a Lladro piece and a carved wood pair by an anonymous sculptor that took advantage of the grain in the wood to show Quixote's angular frame and Panza's more corpulent figure.
Another enjoyable spot was the Diego Rivera Museum and Home. The place where the muralist was born has now been engulfed by a modern building that houses many of his paintings and drawings and documents his creative journey through several media before arriving at the style that made him famous. The only mural here is a small one, but it is well worth the hike to the third floor to see it.
Two good restaurants are conveniently close to the Rivera museum. Escarola was an excellent spot for taking a tea break during an afternoon of sightseeing. Mestizo is more upscale and offers a diverse menu in a setting filled with paintings and pottery.
On our last night in town we ate at an Italian restaurant next to the city's central garden. We held out for a table on one of the little balconies so we could have a last look at the festive and musical crowd that swirled beneath us.
WHEN YOU GO
We flew American Airlines to Dallas and changed planes for the two-hour flight to the Leon airport that serves Guanajuato. Escuela Mexicana (www.escuelamexicana.com) arranged for us to be picked up at the airport.
Glenda Winders is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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