The Historic Center of GuanajuatoQuick Facts · Everyone who comes to visit Guanajuato seems to want to find a hotel in “The Historic District or Center” of Guanajuato. · Hotels in the center of Guanajuato are the most expensive, the least comfortable, and will be so noisy that sleep will be impossible until two or three in the morning. This is especially true in times of festivals. · The restaurant, Casa Valadez is the only restaurant on el Jardin that we recommend. · In the evening, groups of young people called estudiantinas stroll through "The Downtown" playing stringed instruments. · The town is a maze of cobblestone streets and alleys that wind around steep hillsides upon a small ravine, opening into vistas of beautiful churches and small plazas. I received an email from someone who was wanting information about housing in the “Historic Center” of Guanajuato. I had to laugh. First of all, most American expat wannebees always want to know about housing in Guanajuato’s “Historic Center”. It is though they wouldn’t be caught dead renting or buying a house in a Mexican Barrio. They have to have the prestige of living in the “Historic Center” of a colonial Mexican town. This is what happened in San Miguel de Allende with mostly the American gringo ´population. Now, “The Historic Center” of San Miguel de Allende is virtually a Mexican free zone. Secondly, something else which causes a laugh is the term “The Historic Center”. This seems to me to be a term that arises in Mexico when American inspired gentrification is allowed to creep into a Mexican town beginning the downward trend of cultural ruination. Whenever you hear of a colonial town putting in a McDonalds’, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, a “superstore of any make or brand”, then you know this is the clue that they will begin to use the term, “The Historic Center” to describe what used to be “The downtown”. Wal-Marts, Mega Superstores, Sam’s Wholesale Stores, Office Depots, American fast-food chains, are all the beginning of the end of “The Downtown” turning almost overnight into “The Historic Center”. This has happened in American with the advent of “superstores” and malls. It used to be that Americans would go to “The Downtown” to window shop in the little Mom and Pop stores, have an ice cream, or simply walk up and down the street. They would in small-town America often walk from their little neighborhoods to “The Downtown” for a little shopping and maybe a bite to eat and definitely some gossiping with the neighbors. Now, there is no such thing as “their little neighborhoods” and certainly no American would walk anywhere to do something. Oh, no! They jump into their gigantic gas-guzzling, environmentally destroying SUV’s and drive to the mall. The American Mall is what has replaced “The Downtown”. When this happens then suddenly city councils all across American calls what was “The Downtown”, “The Historic Center”. Mexico isn’t any different. If you go to Leon or Queretaro, you will see a huge and sprawling metropolis that is horribly polluted, insufferably loud, but, rest assured, they have “The Historic Center” that gives the illusion of colonial Mexico. We recently saw this for ourselves in Queretaro. We went to Queretaro for our 24th wedding anniversary. The place was a gigantic city. We took a hotel in “The Historic Center”. The appalling thing was that we could see from the cab ride from the bus station the huge expanse this city had become. There are more than a million Mexicans living in that city. It was enormous! Then once we got to our hotel in “The Historic Center” we were thrown back into colonial Mexico. It was as though we entered some dimensional time rift. It was a bizarre experience. It felt confusing. There we were walking around in what could be thought of as the downtown of colonial Mexico but outside a few blocks from “The Historic Center” was the true city—what it had devolved into. Outside “The Historic Center” were too many automobiles, too much concrete and metal, too many buildings that did not resemble Mexico, too much industry belching black clouds of poison into the air, and lots of urban sprawl. But, by God, they had their “Historic Center”. I just don’t get how anyone can view that as a good thing. I really don’t. “The Historic Center” also conjures in my mind something that used to be functional and now is simply a museum-like tourist attraction to see how the locals used to live. In Guanajuato the central, or El Centro, is a highly functional, imminently charming, and a vibrantly alive part of the community. In what guidebooks try calling Guanajuato’s Historic Center is Guanajuato’s downtown. It is the life of the city. There is no lifelessness, pretense, or ancient useless buildings turned into tourist traps selling mind numbing trinkets. It is where reality in this town dwells. Though Guanajuato’s center exudes history it is not a place from the past. It is now. Reality. The very center of Guanajuato’s reality is el Jardín de la Union. This is a central plaza, small by most colonial Mexican town’s standards, that looks like a pied wedge. It is where, I’ve been told by the locals, that in those days when there were no phones, people would flock to el Jardin to see what was happening. If a disaster was imminent, something expected, or whatever the need, the locals knew someone in el Jardin would be there calming the worried crowds and who could inform them what was going on. It is very much “the place to be” today and is not only the center of this winding ravine of a city, but it is also the center of this colonial town’s magnetic charm. There are always posters, small billboards on the plaza listing concerts, plays, lectures, or whatever else might be on the horizon. Someone once asked me how anyone finds out what is going on in this town. The answer? Go to el Jardin! The pie shaped plaza is ringed with hotels, restaurants, a few fine tourist shops, and a plenteous supply of benches for sitting long hours in the warm sun on a winter’s afternoon or to soak up the cool breezes that blow through during the hottest months in Guanajuato (March and April). My wife and I often make the hike from our barrio, some 30 minutes away by foot, just to sit on the benches until our buttocks and lower backs look like the wrinkled coat of a Chinese Shar-pei dog. In the hotel, restaurant, and shopping chapters I will review which ones are worth your time and which to avoid. El Jardin is the heart of “The Downtown”. It is never boring. It is always bustling with something new that is going on; a clown’s street performance, concerts, mariachi singers, or children running and playing or older couples walking hand in hand around and around the plaza. The oddest thing is that if you haven’t seen someone for the longest time just go sit in el Jardin. You will see them. Eventually, everyone you know, and those who you don’t but will meet, all of it takes place in the thriving center of Guanajuato’s downtown. It is from el Jardin that you can branch out to the other areas of “The Downtown”. It is like the center of a wheel with confusing spokes shooting out from the center. In the Plaza de la Paz, one block over and across from the Basilica, is the tourist office where you can get maps of the city for free. The maps are as confusing as everything else in this town. It is best to strike out on your own. Another thing to note: from el Jardin and the rest of “The Downtown” is that you can stand almost anywhere and look up the sides of the mountain and marvel. You will marvel at the engineering feat it took to construct this city. In the center you are basically where the river snaked its way through the ravine and can look up to see a wonder of engineering and architectural design. Things to See and Do Downtown · Access the Pipila – From downtown, in El Jardin, you can look toward the south and up the mountain and easily see El Pipila. To get to this monument to see the fantastic site, you can cross the street that separates El Jardin from Teatro Juarez and walk between the theater and the church or the church and the Hotel San Diego. Take the walk to the next street over and you will see the funicular station. Buy a ticket there and ride up to the Pipila. You can walk up the side of the mountain but considering the likelihood that you won’t be accustomed to the elevation to successfully make the climb I would highly recommend riding the funicular. If you are insistent on making the climb, as you are facing the Pipila and Teatro Juarez, turn left on the street dividing El Jardin and the theater. Walk down this street until you come to the first callejon on your right. There will be a large bulletin board on the building and a sign telling you that the walk to the Pipila is “this way.” · Teatro Juarez – “Guanajuato is host each year to the International Cervantino Festival, named in honor of Miguel de Cervantes, author of "Don Quixote." Artists from around the world perform in recitals, concerts, plays, ballet, modern dance, opera and art exhibits. Events are held throughout the city and, indeed, throughout Mexico in other cities such as Mexico City, Guadalajara and San Miguel de Allende. But the real focus of activity for the festival is the Teatro Juárez (1903, above) which faces the main plaza of downtown Guanajuato, el Jardín de la Unión. Every inch of the interior of the theater is carved, painted, sculpted or embossed in a beautiful, truly awe-inspiring display of art of the period. ” And, this description does not do this place any justice at all. If you do nothing else, pay for the admission to see the place and be prepared to have your eyes bug out of your head. It is every bit “old world” elegance. If you can understand Spanish there will be someone there to take you on a tour. Also, in front of the theater, almost each night, will be a mime or clown who will do a performance that is very popular. You can sit on the steps of the theater, in the cool of the evening, and watch this show. Tip the guy afterwards if you enjoyed the performance. · Estudiantinas – This is a most delightful custom put on by students of the University. In front of the San Diego church (between Teatro Juarez and Hotel San Diego) a group of excellent singers, in Spanish costumes rooted in Andalucía, Spain, put on a show and then, for a donation, take you on a musical walk through the winding and twisting Callejóns (alley ways) of Guanajuato. “This was brought to Guanajuato in 1972. It has become a unique attraction in this compact city of narrow streets and steep, twisting alleyways.”
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