guanajuato: day one

Yawn! So tired. It's drizzly and grey outside. Gloomy. But a perfect excuse to hole up and blog. And let me preface this post with a few frivolous tidbits.

Firstly, Bruce took me to an oyster bar restaurant Monday night. I have never had oysters before, and I will never have oysters again. Bruce, on the other hand, loves oysters. He slurped them down like slimy manna. I tell my children when they don't want to eat something in front of them, "Try it at least once. If you really don't like it, you don't have to eat the rest." So I manned up, tried that half oyster and now wish I could go back in time and tell that foolish girl to put the concha down. I've been green and ill the last 36 hours as a result. Bruce says it is all in my head. But let me tell you something. If you had to watch him slurp eleven raw oysters like I did, you would understand.

Secondly, I stayed up watching North & South. I meant to go to bed. I did. But I love this movie. I own this movie. I will never tire of watching it. Bruce is not as enamored as I am by BBC. And since he has been out of town every week for the past nine weeks (ten now? Bruce, I miss you! I'm sorry what I said about the oysters and you grossing me out. Come home!), this is how I choose to occupy my time.

Anyway. What I really meant to start here was Guanajuato.

Guanajuato is a town located about 4 to 5 hours outside of Mexico City. It used to be a mining town, and consists of tunnels that run underneath the city like a maze. The cars run through the tunnels underground while people are able to walk the cobblestoned streets up above. It reminds me a little of Europe with its narrow streets and outdoor cafés.

We stayed in an old castle (El Castillo Santa Cecilia) that had been converted into a hotel. I would tell you when it was first constructed except I can't remember (1500's maybe?). It wasn't fancy and maybe you had to flush the toilet once and go back a few times to make sure... you know, everything went down. But it was neat. Because I love old things, centuries of history and all that it entails. Plus, the rundown-ness of it all made the stay much less stressful with my destructive offspring. (They may have ripped the sofa a little more. Whatever.) So this worked out quite well for us, seeing as how we ended up spending quite a bit of time there. My children are only capable of one outing per day and not at all capable of sight-seeing. As sight-seeing is all there is to do in Guanajuato, it got tricky after the first few novel hours of our stay.