Guanajuato, Mexico: INTRODUCTION

Soon after becoming American expats in Mexico we began writing. In fact, we’ve written a tremendous amount of material on both expatriation and tourist issues to since moving here in 2003. I’ve written and published more than 212 articles in the past 19 months, co-authored two books with my wife, written and published 4 more books myself. That’s a lot of writing.

What led up to this scribbling marathon (and sometimes nightmare) is that we learned in our pre-expat research that very little was written on the city in Mexico to which we wanted to expatriate—Guanajuato. There were snippets of information here and there online and in popular guide books. In one popular guide book, I once counted 14 pages about the state of Guanajuato and a total of 3 pages about the city of Guanajuato, our object of expatriation. There wasn’t much out there with substantial information and there still isn’t.

Although more information is becoming available there is mostly online personal accounts of visiting Guanajuato. In terms of original and personal accounts by Americans who live there, there still is hardly anything worth mentioning in the written word. And isn’t that the usual problem with the expensive and popular guide books? They are written by two or three people who do not live in the place about which they are reporting. The information is hopelessly outdated before the book goes to press and really, how can someone who does not live there tell you which hotels to stay in, restaurants in which to dine, or what sites to see and which to avoid?

They can’t.

If there is one lesson I’ve learned since living in Guanajuato it is that this city is vastly different than any other city I’ve visited in this country. Sure there are similarities. You can find the same things in other cities that you find here. However, it is an error to underestimate the differences. Guanajuato has a distinct and personal character that has caused some Mexicans from different regions of the country to comment to me how strange they find this colonial center of Mexico. One fellow from Monterrey told me that he and his fellow citizens of that northern city tend to regard Guanajuato as, “Stuck in Time and History.”

And, boy-howdy what truth my Monterrey friend spoke!