...talleres

While in Guanajuato I got to visit a couple of talleres (workshops). The first one was an award winning wax and candle shop. The owner of the shop has been friends with Angeles since grade school.

Back in Guanajuato, Mario took us to visit a friend of his who is in the pottery business. A multi-generational operation, they focus just on producing miniature items.

...a picturesque city

Guanajuato is a city built over a riverbed. As it grew it meandered up the surrounding hillsides. The view from Celia's house was spectacular.

As I mentioned in one of my first posts about the trip--I couldn't quit smiling over the view.

Mario took us to different vantage points above the city so we could see different perspectives. We visited the statue of Pipila

and were able to find Celia's house. The arrow points to the bedroom I stayed in. Click on the houses below to enlarge the photo.

After visiting Pipila, Mario took us up by the presa (dam) to get another view. What an incredible city!

...museums

The city of Guanajuato is the capital of the state of Guanajuato. It is home to a university and many museums. It is a sister city to Ashland, Oregon. Here are some of the places we were able to visit in our free time:

Museum of the Mummies: This was rather creepy. Not my favorite place at all, but had my photo taken there to prove to my students that I had gone. When I visited with parents at conferences the week before our trip every person I told that I was going to Guanajuato said, "Oh the mummies! You have to see the mummies." OK, I've seen them. I won't go again.

Alfred Duges Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Gto: This was an interesting museum with a large variety of animals. We were surprised we were allowed to take pictures.

The Museo Iconografico de Quijote was delightful. We were allowed to take pictures in the courtyards but not in the galleries. There was a wide range of work all relating to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. When I Googled this to get information on why Guanajuato is connected to Cervantes I didn't get much.

The Diego Rivera Museum is located in the house where Diego was born. He lived in Gto as a very young boy. The downstairs rooms are set up as a home would have been during the time he lived there, and the upper floors are a gallery of some of his paintings and sketches.

We also visited the Alhondiga de Granaditas Regional Museum but would have had to pay extra to use our cameras. Since I had the cash flow problem of not being able to withdraw any money from the bank machines and David was paying my way into all the museums, we didn't pay the extra. We did ask a young man a simple question about the doors and he gave a wonderful history of the entire building. This picture is of the walkway leading up to the entrance. There were many vendors there selling all kinds of trinkets.

...visiting classrooms

Each morning that we were in Salamanca we were taken to visit a different school. The routine went like this: Arrive at the school and present ourselves to the principal or head teacher. Go through introductions and handshaking. Eat an "almuerzo" (brunch) prepared by parents in the community or by the secretaries. Visit classrooms. Observe for a few minutes, then give a visiting dignitary speech. (At first that kind of freaked me out, but then it was kind of fun!) Take photos with the students. Take a group photo with teachers and principals. The teachers were very nervous about being observed, and the kids were shy about talking to strangers, although at one school a group of girls gave me a note for my students--they want to be pen pals. We saw lots of learning going on, in spite of the limited resources available to them.