From the Parador San Javier
Sep. 25th, 2005 12:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfooleMillari and I are in Mexico. I have never been before, and so there are many first impressions for me, piled on top of meeting scads of M's relatives and the new inlaws. It's late, and I don't want to take too long, so I limit myself to a few points.
1) This hotel is gorgeous. Pricy, too, even in pesos, but very nice, with a nice courtyard and garden, lots of trees, and at least an acre of land in the middle of a crowded city.
2) Guanajuato is a charming, beautiful, vibrant and distinctive (if not unique) city, carved out of mountains as a mining city. It has the crowded, hilly streets, picturesque buildings, and color of Montmartre (with some pastel shades reminiscent of Tuscon to me), and it is riddled with and built on top of old mining tunnels that have been turned into roads, with houses and buildings and streets not only resting on top of them, but leaning out over them. Plus, people park in the tunnels, so it feels very like Paris. The town is famed for its arts and music, its university, and for its role as the matchpoint for the Mexican war of independence. I might feel differently were I here for long (and on my own nickel), but right now I'm charmed. I'd love to live here for a bit, I think. Big fly in ointment: Mexico really is poorer than the US. There is a lot of visible poverty here, and that might well come to seriously depress me.
3) Millari's cousins and new inlaws have all been really nice to me. I'm charmed and touched, and I hope that they can tell.
4) Mexicans seem to be more friendly than Yankees. There's a story behind that observation, but I'll post that tomorrow. (Or check Millari's LJ.)
1) This hotel is gorgeous. Pricy, too, even in pesos, but very nice, with a nice courtyard and garden, lots of trees, and at least an acre of land in the middle of a crowded city.
2) Guanajuato is a charming, beautiful, vibrant and distinctive (if not unique) city, carved out of mountains as a mining city. It has the crowded, hilly streets, picturesque buildings, and color of Montmartre (with some pastel shades reminiscent of Tuscon to me), and it is riddled with and built on top of old mining tunnels that have been turned into roads, with houses and buildings and streets not only resting on top of them, but leaning out over them. Plus, people park in the tunnels, so it feels very like Paris. The town is famed for its arts and music, its university, and for its role as the matchpoint for the Mexican war of independence. I might feel differently were I here for long (and on my own nickel), but right now I'm charmed. I'd love to live here for a bit, I think. Big fly in ointment: Mexico really is poorer than the US. There is a lot of visible poverty here, and that might well come to seriously depress me.
3) Millari's cousins and new inlaws have all been really nice to me. I'm charmed and touched, and I hope that they can tell.
4) Mexicans seem to be more friendly than Yankees. There's a story behind that observation, but I'll post that tomorrow. (Or check Millari's LJ.)
