During October, Guanajuato is overflowing
with people as it puts on the Festival Cervantino. Considered
one of the most important cultural events in Latin America,
the festival attracts thousands of international visitors
annually to the narrow and maze like streets of Mexico's
most beautiful silver city. No doubt that Guanajuato has
more to do than any other town of its size.
Looking at Guanajuato from a distant hillside
you'll see a panarama of colored houses layered on the sides
of ravines. This charming setting, together with its history,
tradition, culture, gorgeous architecture and mild climate
make Guanajuato for many, Mexico's finest colonial city.
Founded in 1557, Guanajuato - derived from the Tarascan
Quanax-huato, meaning 'Place of Frogs' - was declared
a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988.
The best way to see the city, absorb its
distinctive atmosphere and appreciate the colonial architecture
is on foot. This is especially true given that much of the
private traffic is carried below ground in tunnels - originally
built to prevent the Guanajuato River from flooding the
city. The river now runs deeper below ground but the networks
of underground roadways are an essential part of Guanajuato's
originality. Above the ground, many of Guanajuato's streets
end suddenly in quaint plazas or at the base of steps rising
up as a narrow alleyway - a callejón.
A great way to pass an hour or two is
to tag along with one of the organized walking tours called
Callejoneadas - these tours wind along the twisting back
alleys following a student minstrel group known as Estudiantinas.
Some of these groups have existed for many years, such as
'La Tuna Provincial', formed during the 1970s. You can usually
identify which Estudiantina it is that you are following
by looking at the collar on the costume that they are wearing.
The Estudiantinas leave every evening
during the summer months and the Festival Cervantino (Friday
and Saturday nights at any other time) from outside the
Teatro Juárez or in front of San Diego overlooking
the Jardín de la Unión. You can get details
from any of the information booths, but you could simply
hang around the Jardín around 9:00pm and you're bound
to hear singing or laughing. You'll be invited to share
some wine - just buy one of the peculiar ceramic jugs (called
a 'porrón'), then just follow the crowd through the
twisting callejónes. Sooner or later, all these promenades
reach the narrowest of all the alleys - only 23 inches wide
at its narrowest point - the famous Callejón del
Beso. You are told that couples smooching on the third step
will be guaranteed everlasting happiness - and if you are
alone, after a little wine you might just kiss anyone!
For centuries Guanajuato was the most
important silver city in Mexico, more recently it is better
known as a university city. The extravagant State University
is now one of the most prestigious in Mexico and during
school time; the student population makes the city a vibrant
place. The structure itself was completely remodeled in
the 1950s from a Jesuit seminary - designed to blend in
with nearby buildings. A climb to the top of the broad steps
offers fine view of the surrounding rooftops.
Undoubtedly, one of Guanajuato's most
famous sons is the painter and muralist Diego Rivera. He
was born in the house located at Pocitos 47 in 1886, now
the Museo Casa Diego Rivera, displaying some of his family's
household possessions, including the bed where Diego's mother
gave birth to him. The collection of paintings and sketches
on the upper floors mark his changing styles. There is a
detailed biography on the wall of the top floor and a small
gift shop to the left of the entrance hall selling postcards,
posters and T-shirts.
Between Juárez and Pocitos stands
the forbidding Alhóndiga de Granaditas (Tues-Sat,
10:00-1:30, 4:00-5:30, Sun, 10:00-2:30), originally built
as a granary and finished in 1809, it is the most important
of all the historical monuments in the city. Within a year
of its completion it came under siege, following the 1810
proclamation of Independence by Father Miguel Hidalgo in
nearby Dolores. A young miner named José de los Reyes
set the great wooden doors ablaze with a shield of stone
and a flaming torch, martyring himself in the process, but
permitting the Mexican insurgents to storm the building
and rout the Spanish garrison held up inside. The hero miner
-- known thereafter as 'El Pípila' - is honored with
a monument that crowns a hill overlooking the city. Although
the struggle for Independence had been ignited, this particular
triumph was short-lived; the severed heads of the rebel
leaders were suspended from baskets from the four corners
of the building as a gruesome lesson to the city's inhabitants.
The hooks from which the baskets were hung are still visible.
Later converted from a prison into a museum, there is a
fascinating collection of exhibits - mostly historical documents,
objects and paintings from the period around Mexican Independence.
South of the Alhóndiga, along Juárez,
is the Mercado Hidalgo - a huge iron-framed structure resembling
a Victorian railway station dating from 1910. The market
stalls are filled to overflowing with neat mounds of fruit
and vegetables - the greatest selection in the whole region,
due to the fact that the state of Guanajuato is the breadbasket
of Mexico. A section attached to the main market sells cheap
comida corrida.
The International Festival Cervantino
is definitely Latin America's most important arts festival,
attracting around 150,000 visitors annually. It has been
held in Guanajuato every October since 1972 as a homage
to the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (who wrote Don
Quixote). Artists converge from all over the world to perform
in recitals, concerts, plays, ballet, contemporary dance
and opera in the city's wonderful colonial buildings and
plazas (especially the gilded Teatro Juárez). There
are also many art exhibitions.
As many as 50,000 tickets go on sale a
few days before the festival starts. Tickets are available
from the main ticket office located on the south side of
the Teatro Juárez from mid-August - and from Ticketmaster
(Mexico). The most expensive tickets (for a performance
in the Teatro Juárez, for example) can cost $250
pesos with the cheapest about $15 pesos.
