This morning I went to the Internet Café down my street that opens early so I could by a plane ticket to go to Minneapolis the weekend of November 3-7. That weekend will be my nephew Jonathan’s Bris (the Jewish tradition of circumcising a baby eight days after being born – or, as in Jonathan’s case, when the baby’s healthy enough). I didn’t plan on returning to the U.S. before the exchange was over, but I don’t think that anyone in my family knew the profundity of emotions that we would feel for the baby and the desire for all of us to be together with him.
After getting my ticket, I went to the bakery at the end of the street for a little breakfast and a snack to bring on the bus ride to Guanajuato. I also decided to buy a sandwich – not knowing how long it would take, seriously, about 10 MINUTES! So to get to the bus station quickly I jumped in a taxi – what a mistake! I have to remember that it doesn’t matter how far a destination, the time of day, not even how much I have to lug – the metro is always the fastest option.
As soon as I saw that we were only at the Chilpancingo station, I jumped out, throwing the money at the driver and ran with my suitcase to the metro, and between stations. Andi and I were sending each other text messages so then she knew that I was arriving late, and, in the end, I missed the bus – by 10 minutes. I was horribly embarrassed but it all worked out fine, and at least I only had to pay half of the ticket’s original price of $30 to change the departure time.
It ended up that I was only an hour and a half behind Andi and we met up in Guanajuato. We relaxed that night, drinking and eating in one of the many plazas in Guanajuato. Jeannie arrived around 10 PM and we met up in a really relaxed bar where we could talk and enjoy some good Mexican cervezas. We returned to the hotel, a castle! Hotel Castillo Santa Cecilia officially opened in 1939. Later, Miriam arrived at almost 1 AM to complete the group.
I’ve been to Guanajuato two times before: The first time was seven years ago when I was volunteering in Guadalajara and my group of friends spent the weekend there. I vividly recall the cheap hotel room in which we stayed, just up the hill across the street from Alondigas. That weekend we also celebrated my birthday at a restaurant in the main plaza, by the Teatro Juarez. I still remember that my awesome meal of chateaubriand cost just $10 USD. The other time that I visited Guanajuato was five years ago on a trip with others from my Master’s program. It has always been one of my favorite places in Mexico – it’s beautiful with houses and buildings brightly painted in pastel colors with many of those homes poking out of the mountainside. The mountains surround the city and plazas are around almost every corner, filled with outdoor cafés. This visit is different however as it’s during the International Cervantes Festival, that is during the month of October. This site has a good summary explaining all about the festival: http://www.donquijote.org/guanajuato/info.festivals.asp
