Mexico continued- the plaza

On that main central plaza there were dozens of musicians. I speculate that Guanajuato has got to have one of the highest stringed instrument to inhabitant ratios of any city in the world. We took a tour with these guys one night that started on the plaza and wandered through the tiny alleyways as they sang and played their instruments. One of them carried a string bass (no kidding- a full sided string bass) and played and sang at the same time. Whenever we got to a place where there was enough room for it, we would stop and they played a few songs and told jokes. It was really amazing.

On the plaza itself there were always people playing and trying to make some money. This guy had clearly been doing this for a long time, as his voice was starting to give out from years of singing all day every day. It was sad, but the music was very pretty. Also, he has one of the most awesome mustaches I have ever seen. Step aside, Jason Lee.













These guys were just sitting around waiting for somebody to ask them to play. There were about six more members of the band wandering around to the benches and tables asking people if they were interested. Most people weren't that day, but the band wasn't taking it too hard. They seemed to enjoy siting on the plaza as much as we did. Adolfo (on the far right) rivals the guy in the picture above this one for worlds best mustache.

Mexico continued- Guanajuato

After a couple days in Leon, we went to the city of Guanajuato. It was also very nice, but way more touristy. Can you blame the tourists for wanting to come to a place like this?

The city was very pretty, and we enjoyed looking around. This picture was actually taken while my parents and I were trying to find a museum full of Diego Riveras' art. We got lost and spent 20 minutes going the wrong way, but we did see some very nice views like this one.










One day we took this neat little ski-lift thingy (which I didn't get a picture of) up to the top of a hill overlooking the city. At the top was a big scenic lookout type place. So, this is Guanojuato from the hilltop. The red dome in the front and center is a church, and to the right of that is an old theater that was very nice inside. Right in front of the church is a green triangle. That is the central plaza that we spent lots of our time on.

Mexico continued- the music school

The biggest help to this neighborhood is a lady named Lourdes, who has taken it upon herself to improve the area. One of the things she is doing is teaching the kids music.

We got to hear a small concert by the kids and it was great. Most of the kids (all the ones on the stage) are just starting, and didn't know how to play yet. But they clapped along with the beat and bowed at the end. It was really cute.

The kids who actually played were also very nice. All in all, I think it's a good program. Music is a great way to keep kids out of trouble.

Mexico trip

So, here I am, back from Mexico and starting my very own blog. I figured it was about time that I started doing one since I never call or email anybody with updates on my life.

I'm new to the blogging thing, so I'm not quite as good as I want to be at making the formatting work quite yet. So, I'm going to do a bunch of little posts from my trip to Mexico rather than one big one. Little posts are easier to manage for me. So, I hope that you can follow this.

We started our trip in the city of Leon. It was a really cool place. These pictures are of a neighborhood we visited. The city was pretty diverse. We saw some very, very nice places, and some places like this that need some serious care and attention. Thankfully, as I will talk about in my next post, they are starting to get the help that they need.