Welcome to the pleasant southern European city of… Guanajuato, Central Mexico. A mining town turned university city and cultural precinct. Although I did not perform my own survey, the Internet tells me that Mexicans consider it one of the most beautiful in the country. I believe it. I mean... just look at this town! It’s genuinely a gorgeous place and vastly superior to neighbouring San Miguel de Allende, a popular and comfortable destination for westerners that I was a bit underwhelmed by. Oddly enough, it reminded me of the Gamcheon Culture Village in Busan (colourful, hilly, working-class roots), only it’s not a soulless tourist trap. I didn’t know until I arrived, but the town was hosting a festival dedicated to Cervantes (the ‘Don Quixote’ guy). There were musicians everywhere and at night the local university students dressed up in traditional outfits and stomped around the back alleys playing regional folk songs as part of a walking tour. It was dreamy. Obligatory food notes!
One of the highlights of Guanajuato is the mummy museum. It contains corpses that were removed from the local cemetery because their families couldn’t keep up with the graveyard rent. And since the local climate preserved their bodies so well, their final resting place ended up being a glass cabinet for morbid visitors like yours truly. They even had a mummified foetus and a woman who had been accidentally buried alive. Grisly stuff. I also took a stroll around the nearby cemetery, which had a pleasant view of the surrounding city. There's something to be said about the cultural understandings that can be gleaned from visiting foreign graveyards and necropolises. The takeaway? Momento mori, I guess. Recall that even Caesar, during his triumphs through Rome, had a slave behind him on his chariot whispering “remember you will die”. There was one thing I didn't like about Guanajuato, mind you. Bloody church bells booming away at seven in the morning. Many communities in Latin America are turning away from their Catholic roots towards evangelical Christianity and this will likely result in all shades of societal and economic disruptions. But all I care about is the following — will this demographic trend stop the damn bells? But O! Guanajuato, I do jest, how can I dislike you? It's the photographer's, the roamer's, el explorador's dream...
0 Comments
|
AuthorMing is an economist, traveller, and creative writer from Melbourne, Australia. He’s a nebulous collection of particles on the lookout for a good corner to sit with a book and a cup of coffee. Archives
September 2023
Categories
All
|