Guanajuato: El Pipila, Food, Music and Spanish

I spent the weekend continuing to explore Guanajuato on foot, the highlight being the climb up the steep narrow lanes to the Monumento a El Pipila from which there is a beautiful view of the city. I'm now using this climb as my regular cardio exercise to compliment my daily yoga practice.

El Pipila was the hero of the Mexico's War of Independence who torched the Alhóndiga, a fortress where 300 Spanish troops and loyalists barricaded themselves as rebels attempted to take Guanajuato. El Pipila, a miner, tied a stone slab to his back to protect himself from Spanish bullets and set the entrance on fire, letting the rebels move in and kill everyone inside, the first "victory" of the war. Don't feel too sorry for the Spanish. When they retook the city, they retaliated by conducting a "lottery of death", in which names of Guanajuato residents were drawn at random and the "winners" tortured and hung. Brutal times. The inscription on El Pipila's monument reads, Aún hay otras Alhóndigas par incendiar (There are still other Alhóndigas to burn), that is, there are other repressive and corrupt leaders and governments to get rid of. I can think of one in the U.S. right now.

In addition to my wanderings on foot, I am enjoying the food and restaurants here. There is a huge variety and number of restaurants and I've enjoyed really good Mexican, Indian, Middle Eastern and fusion cuisine meals. The street food is delicious and the vendors are pretty conscientious about maintaining sanitary conditions. The hot little gorditas sold near my apartment are amazing, with many of choices of fillings, mushrooms, potatoes and cheese and nopales being my favorite so far. In the morning, street vendors also sell fresh bread, juices, yogurt and granola, and pastries. These tasty selections paired with a delicious coffee from one of the micro-roaster cafes makes for a great breakfast. If I decide to eat my main meal at lunchtime, there are lots of places that offer a three-course comida (set menu) with an aqua natural (juice-flavored water) for less than $4. Basically I'm eating like a king here on a peasant's budget. Thus my daily climbs up to El Pipila and the yoga!

A pervasive aspect of Guanajuato is its music. It's everywhere, day and night. In every plaza, large and small, there is live music playing. Sometimes it's loud mariachi bands competing with each other. Sometimes it's just an old man strumming a guitar and singing to no one in particular. On Fridays, the symphony orchestra plays in the magnificent Teatro Juarez; my ticket cost all of $5 to listen to excellent renditions of Beethoven, Rossini and Stravinsky. And then there are the callejoneadas, where a group of professional singers and musicians in traditional dress start performing in a plaza to draw a crowd and then everyone starts walking through the streets and alleyways singing, dancing, laughing, partying. Some of these callejoneadas are very professional, aimed at tourists and those wanting first-class entertainment. Others are more amateur "jam bands" that attract university students and others who like to drink at a moving party. Last Saturday, a callejoneada like this ended noisily in the plaza outside my apartment at six in the morning! Everyone was still singing strong, albeit the lyrics were a bit slurred.

I started Spanish classes on Monday. I'm taking two hours of private classes in conversation and grammar and one group class on Mexican culture, which I'm using to improve my listening comprehension. It has been a humbling experience so far. I'm finding the step up from my functional Spanish to being able to have an adult conversation much higher than I thought it would be. I'm working pretty hard at it, but finding I need to manage my expectations so that I don't get frustrated by my slow progress. By the end of my two weeks of classes I'm sure I'll be able to speak better, but I doubt as well as I would like.