The heart of Mexico: Guanajato to Teotihuacan

Saturday January 23. We spent the morning exploring Guanajuato in the daylight. Much to Sharman’s

Our RV overlook on Guanajuato

surprise, Mike decided to take the car into town, park, and walk from there. But of course there was no parking. And driving the narrow, cobbled streets barely wide enough for a compact car, let alone a van, full of twists and turns and ups and downs and cars and people and dogs, is not easy. Then we discovered that the best streets are underground! Half the streets and three quarters of the parking are in tunnels. There is a whole network underground, with intersections and signage and everything—all narrow and one way, most with parking on one side. Driving randomly away from the centro we finally reached a tunnel with available space. So we parked and went above

A street in Guanajato

ground to see where we were. I still don’t know where we were, but all we had to do was wind our way downhill, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs by which to find our way back. Actually, Mike took photos. Sure enough, we came out at the Teatro Principal. We spent a couple hours wandering around the Union park and down to the cathedral and plaza and stumbled into the Diego Rivera house museum where we enjoyed seeing his early work as well as the work of a couple contemporary artists.

   Mike has an excellent visual memory and a good sense of direction, so we had no trouble finding our way back up the hill to our car. Another late start driving to San Miguel de Allende. Getting there was not hard, but once again we had trouble navigating through town to find the location of the RV park described in the book. Once again it did not exist, and significant landmarks were gone. Fortunately by then we were familiar enough with the layout to find a different RV park that our neighbor travelers in Guanajuato had described. An RV park with tennis courts. Our new neighbors—French, Canadian, German, Swiss, US, and Brazilian—invited us to join their happy hour. We were happy to join! The companionship was not only convivial, but travel tips were exchanged as well.

Sunday January 24. We spent the morning walking around San Michel de Allende. All the churches

Sunday in San Miguel de Allende

were full of worshipers, and the plaza full of families and retirees. The small vendors of ice cream, ices, cut fruit, and other street treats were doing a brisk business. Toy and balloon venders were trying to entice children and their parents. A funeral procession moved slowly down the cobbled street. Lots of Norte Americanos around. It was a quaint and pleasant city, but to our eye not as interesting as Guanajuato. We shopped at the Mega supermarket (yes they have everything a Norte Americano might want) and headed down the highway.

   Another navigational nightmare! It did not help that Mike and I both had splitting headaches, later diagnosed as altitude. We needed to turn off the main toll road to Mexico City and get on the smaller highway to Teotihuacan, the famous pyramids and adjacent town of San Juan. Even with the help of google maps we could not decipher the maze of exits, ramps, surface streets and bewildering array of signage that as often as not led us astray. I think we went in a circle and paid the same toll three times before we asked the toll taker for directions. It was by now well past dark. After that google maps got us to the pyramids, but routed us over a cobbled “highway” so rough it warranted a speed not to exceed 5mph. And of course we didn’t want to go to the pyramids at night, we wanted to go to town and find our trailer park. With the help of maps.me, we accomplished that task. What a relief to arrive, eat and sleep.

Pyramid of the Sun

Monday January 25. We spent the day at the great pyramids and archaeological exhibits at Teotihuacan. I had been there at age 9 with my family and it was just as I remembered it. But there was more reconstruction and exhibits and a new museum. All the stuff I learned was impressive, but rather than recount it I’ll link you to the Wikipedia site, which actually has more information than the exhibits at the site. The pyramid of the sun is 210 feet high, with steep steps to the top. Mike and I climbed once as tourists, and four more times as training for Pico Orixaba. At 7,500 feet, we felt the altitude.

   On the way back to the trailer park we toured the market where we bought four kilos of sweet, juicy oranges for less than a dollar! Fortunately we packed a citrus juicer.