Estudiantina

Here's a video of one of the estudiantinas (the bands) that I was talking about!!! They play right in front of my house every night.

The tour

The tour was really long, and we walked so much! I'm glad we have to walk everywhere in the city, and I'm also glad that there are hills and steep callejones. At least I'm getting some kind of workout, even though it's small. My legs and feet were hurting, and I might be a little sore tomorrow.

It was great to walk around the city. There are always so many people out in the streets, and the city is so lively. You'll never see the same thing twice, and you'll always see something new, even if you take the same route every time.

First we went to El Pipila, which is a statue that historically honors a military official. I don't really know the story behind it yet. The view from El Pipila is very beautiful though! I love it.

El Pipila

The view from El Pipila. The big, white building is the University of Guanajuato

We saw plenty of plazas, gardens, and churches on our tour today. Another one of the attractions that we saw was el Callejon del Beso (the alley of the kiss). There is a legend behind this attraction: 2 different families lived in the homes on each side of the alley. One family had a daughter, and the other had a son. The daugter and the son began to fall in love with each other, but the daughter's father forbid her to see him. As you can see, the homes are very close to each other, and you can easily reach the person on the other side. And that's what happened...the son and the daughter saw each other by meeting at the top and talking through the windows. Most importantly, they kissed there. One day, the father caught the daughter and son kissing, and he tried to shoot the son but ended up killing his daughter instead. Then he proceeded to kill himself.

It's a really depressing story, and I'm not sure if that's how the legend goes exactly. Someone told me that story, but I have yet to have a child tell me (there are always kids there who want to tell you the legend). I'm sure they know exactly how it goes.

El Callejon del Beso

Every night, there are musicians that play songs and tell stories in the streets. They most commonly pass through the callejones in the center of town, and that would include ours. These musicians don't stop coming through the streets until really late at night: around 11 Monday-Wednesay, and very late into the night Thursday-Saturday! They are really good, entertaining, and fun to watch though. Sometimes it's hard to get to sleep because they are playing so loud, but it's fine with me. I like listening to them, and if I really do need to get to sleep, my Senora has offered me earplugs to use!

Me with the band (la estudiantina)

Well, I have homework to do. I've already procrastinated for an hour and a half, so I need to go ahead and start.

Un saludo de Mexico!