We are currently in: Ciudad de Mexico, DF, Mexico
It’s safe to say nearly everyone is familiar with tequila, even if they haven’t had any intimate experiences with it. The same can’t be said, however, for tequila’s cousin, mezcal. Let’s compare and contrast: Similarities Both are produced from the heart of the agave plant (though see below on how this is also a difference). … Read more
There is a placard about 400 feet as the crow flies from our house in Guanajuato that reads, “Diego Rivera pintor magnifico nacio en esta casa el 8 de diciembre de 1886″ (which in English means Diego Rivera, magnificent painter, was born in this house on the 8th of December of 1886). Diego Rivera! Not … Read more
Even as we entered el Museo Iconográfico del Quijote, we didn’t really know what to expect. Quijote, Don Quijote that is, is a fictional character interacting with the world we live in through only the pages of a book. Then again, though neither of us have read of his escapades nor knew the extent of … Read more
Most decent sized Mexican towns have at least one mercado (market), where vendors come to sell foods and wares of a dizzying variety. Guanajuato is no exception. Mercado Hidalgo, which marks the unofficial eastern edge of the Centro, is a cavernous T-shaped building with an arched roof. Originally intended to be a train station (not … Read more
As noted previously, El Pípila is Guanajuato’s favorite son. Born as Juan Jóse de los Reyes Martínez Amaro in 1782, his nickname is a Mexican Spanish word for turkey. According to lore, this arose either as a reference to his freckled face or to his laugh, which apparently sounded something like a turkey’s gobble. An … Read more
The cityscape of Guanajuato is undeniably captivating. With the centro located in the bottom of a bowl whose walls are made of mountains, the rest of town seems to climb the surrounding hills, coloring the basin with brightly colored homes and colonial architecture without quite spilling over the top. The most evident and prevalent of … Read more
Though La Alhóndiga de Granaditas was originally designed and constructed to be nothing more than a place to store grain, it gained a few pages in every Mexican history book shortly after it opened its doors in 1809. Nearly square (72 meters by 68 meters), the exterior façade is simple and bare, with only a … Read more
Mexican folklore tells a tragic story of two lovers in Guanajuato drawn closer to one another and then ultimately to their demise from their balconies across a callejón. Callejóns (ka-yay-hones) are a manner of connecting places in the city and walking them is often the primary method of transportation as very few roads passable by … Read more
When most Americans hear the word tequila, their minds are catapulted to a shot they probably shouldn’t have taken, their mouths water for a lime, and the Champs rock out in the background as Benny the Jet Rodriguez and his naive comrades make a mad, chew in place, dash for the tilt-a-whirl. Tequila is a … Read more
We are ecstatic about our new route map! Through tripline.net, we have created a dynamic visual that allows both us and our followers to look back at where we’ve been and the route we took to get there including pictures, descriptions, links, and even a video-esque rendering of the journey. Please take a second to … Read more
