The Cooper Week (Part II) – Week 7: Friday was designated as road trip day, and it actually happened that way. Because of the previously aborted visit to Guanajuato, we planned this trip for both Dolores Hidalgo and Guanajuato. We headed out for Dolores Hidalgo, all being brightly awake due to the exploding rockets and cherry bombs that started about 5:30 a.m. It seems that the natives celebrate with fireworks for just about anything, like a wedding, birth of a child, funeral, you name it. All day it sounded like the start of the Mexican revolution of 2007. We were not sure of the event, but suspect a wedding because of all the flowers at a church we visited in El Chorro last evening.
The stop in Dolores Hidalgo was a success as Les and Carol Cooper found some very nice wall tiles for accent in their new bathroom in their home at the Chelan golf course which they are remodeling. Our route from there was the direct (!) one over the twisty curvy road that comes into Guanajuato from the north. I loved it and it is very picturesque. It was a new road for Mary Ann and I so that was a travel plus. Guanajuato is built on hills and in a canyon so it is very hard to navigate. Underneath the city they have tunnels for streets. We tried to get into the same car-park we used last time but it was full. We continued to traverse the tunnels and actually came upon a parking place on the side of the tunnel. The stairs to the surface actually came out at one of the main plazas.
All of us enjoyed several hours of exploring this historic city which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We relaxed by having lunch at an open air restaurant in the Jardin Union, the main green square in the city. We extricated ourselves from the tunnel with no problems and headed for San Miguel de Allende in the late afternoon. The trip became exciting when we came around a corner in a small village and were being confronted by a running steer coming head on. We stopped and the steer turned out to be the lead of what I would term a stampede of steers, goats, burros, horses, dogs and their handlers racing across the road. Mexico is a constant surprise!
I do not think you can come to San Miguel without having breakfast at La Puertecita, up the mountain from the casa. The best way to do this is by taking a cab up and then walking down, which we did Saturday morning. This hotel dining area is as classy and pleasant as it gets. For the rest of the day we made sure that we got our walking mileage in, doing a large circle of the city, doing a lot of looking in the shops. Not much buying yet, but the Cooper’s have their eyes on a very nice tile framed mirror. For dinner we went upscale with cena at Bugambila, Mary Ann’s favorite restaurant.
Quirky Living Note: Because all of the homes in San Miguel have nondescript fronts, the only way you can really tell what is an expensive restored casa is by looking up at the roofs. If you see trees and plants you know that there are roof top patios, with fantastic views of the city, and that this is not just a run of the mill hidden house. When walking you always want to look in every open door, as often you will see wonderful exotic courtyards.
The stop in Dolores Hidalgo was a success as Les and Carol Cooper found some very nice wall tiles for accent in their new bathroom in their home at the Chelan golf course which they are remodeling. Our route from there was the direct (!) one over the twisty curvy road that comes into Guanajuato from the north. I loved it and it is very picturesque. It was a new road for Mary Ann and I so that was a travel plus. Guanajuato is built on hills and in a canyon so it is very hard to navigate. Underneath the city they have tunnels for streets. We tried to get into the same car-park we used last time but it was full. We continued to traverse the tunnels and actually came upon a parking place on the side of the tunnel. The stairs to the surface actually came out at one of the main plazas.
All of us enjoyed several hours of exploring this historic city which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We relaxed by having lunch at an open air restaurant in the Jardin Union, the main green square in the city. We extricated ourselves from the tunnel with no problems and headed for San Miguel de Allende in the late afternoon. The trip became exciting when we came around a corner in a small village and were being confronted by a running steer coming head on. We stopped and the steer turned out to be the lead of what I would term a stampede of steers, goats, burros, horses, dogs and their handlers racing across the road. Mexico is a constant surprise!
I do not think you can come to San Miguel without having breakfast at La Puertecita, up the mountain from the casa. The best way to do this is by taking a cab up and then walking down, which we did Saturday morning. This hotel dining area is as classy and pleasant as it gets. For the rest of the day we made sure that we got our walking mileage in, doing a large circle of the city, doing a lot of looking in the shops. Not much buying yet, but the Cooper’s have their eyes on a very nice tile framed mirror. For dinner we went upscale with cena at Bugambila, Mary Ann’s favorite restaurant.
Quirky Living Note: Because all of the homes in San Miguel have nondescript fronts, the only way you can really tell what is an expensive restored casa is by looking up at the roofs. If you see trees and plants you know that there are roof top patios, with fantastic views of the city, and that this is not just a run of the mill hidden house. When walking you always want to look in every open door, as often you will see wonderful exotic courtyards.
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