By Toni Dabbs

photo by Toni Dabbs

The Mexican town of Guanajuato filled the little valley below us like fruit in a bowl, its colonial buildings an array of delicious colors: pineapple, mango, blueberry and lime. Alejandro, a trained architect and practicing tour guide, had brought me to the top of San Gabriel Hill to help me get my bearings. 

Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988, Guanajuato is a compact maze of cobblestone streets, stepped lanes, snug squares and traffic tunnels, making it an easy yet delightful place in which to lose your sense of direction. Its well maintained colonial buildings are made of color-splashed stucco with elements of cantera, a locally quarried stone found in a range of pastel hues. 

Situated 355 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Mexico City, Guanajuato was settled in the 16th century along the curves of a river and slowly climbed the steep slopes of the ravine as it grew. During years of heavy rains, riverside buildings were flooded, but it wasn't until the 1960s that a dam was built, the river diverted and the riverbed paved as a roadway.           

By that time, buildings had been cantilevered from the slopes of the ravine and over the river, so authorities decided to enclose the riverbed roadway beneath these structures, forming a tunnel. The government added more tunnels between 1979 and 1999, creating a subterranean traffic system.           

Tunnels seem appropriate for a town that owes its existence to the mining industry. In 1558, the Spanish discovered rich veins of silver and gold in the surrounding mountains. Water was needed to process the ores, so mine owners built their haciendas at the river's edge, and support businesses soon followed.           

Several hundred years later, Mexican-born descendants of the Spanish silver barons were angered when Spain first increased the share it took of Guanajuato's mineral wealth, then expelled the Jesuits from Mexico for speaking against the monarchy, and eventually seized church property. But when Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808 and made his brother king, matters got worse. Local citizens refused to recognize the new ruler, and Guanajuato became the birthplace of Mexico's independence movement.           

Towering above Alejandro and me on San Gabriel Hill, as if guarding the town below, was a huge figure memorializing El Pipila, the rebel who torched the front doors of the Spanish-occupied Alhondiga de Granaditas, enabling priest and rebel leader Father Miguel Hidalgo to win the first victory of the independence movement.           

"Alhondiga de Granaditas is there," said Alejandro, pointing to another of the major landmarks he had been identifying for me. "It's a simple neoclassical structure built in 1809 as a storehouse for grain. After Hidalgo and three other independence leaders were captured, they were decapitated and their heads hung in metal cages at each corner of the building."           

Alhondiga de Granaditas was our first stop after coming down the hillside and beginning a walking tour of the town. The storehouse turned fortress also was used as a prison before becoming the Museum of Mexican Independence in 1967. In addition to items relating to the independence movement, it now houses a fine collection of  Mesoamerican artifacts and exhibits about the history of Guanajuato.           

A few blocks away, we called at Casa de Diego Rivera, the birthplace and childhood home of the popular Mexican muralist who shared both a birthday and a penchant for Cubism with his Spanish contemporary, Pablo Picasso. On the ground floor is a series of rooms containing family furnishings. Upstairs is a selection of Rivera's drawings and paintings.           

Among the prettiest buildings we visited were the Universidad de Guanajuato, with a grand outdoor staircase ascending to the university's castellated facade of pale blue cantera stone, and the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Guanajuato, with two mismatched church towers and a decorative baroque portal. Behind the basilica's altar is a silver pedestal supporting a statue of the Virgin Mary, given to the town in 1557 as a token of appreciation for enriching the Spanish crown.           

Churches Everywhere

photo by Toni Dabbs

Churches caught my eye throughout our walk around Guanajuato. Templo de la Compania, built in Spanish baroque, or Churrigueresque, style in 1765, is topped by a contrasting neoclassical dome, which replaced the original after it collapsed in 1808. Templo de San Roque, commissioned in 1726, is at the center of the town's International Cervantes Festival, held in honor of the Spanish author and playwright in the adjoining plaza each October. Templo de San Diego de Alcala was built in 1662 as part of a convent, the remains of which may be glimpsed through a window set into the sidewalk between the church and Teatro Juarez.           

Teatro Juarez, opened in 1903, is considered one of the most beautiful opera houses in Mexico. Doric columns support its neoclassical portico, and statues representing the nine muses line its roof. Alejandro took me inside to show me the auditorium with its jewel-toned Moorish motifs and the upstairs lobby with its glass floor and skylight.           

Another 20th century structure is the Mercado Hidalgo, the town's primary marketplace, crammed full of stalls selling toys, crafts, clothing and housewares as well as fresh meats, cheeses, vegetables and fruits. Alejandro told me that the building was designed by the Eiffel civil engineering firm to be a French train station but was purchased by the Mexican government and erected in Guanajuato in 1910.           

Branching off Guanajuato's main streets, many narrow passageways cut between colonial houses. Not far from Mercado Hidalgo is the narrowest, known as Callejon del Beso (Alley of the Kiss), with the balconies of houses on either side practically touching. A local romantic legend tells of young lovers living on opposite sides of the lane who were forbidden from courting by the girl's father. He apparently didn't realize that they could furtively exchange kisses without ever leaving their homes.           

Callejon del Beso is part of a route frequented by Guanajuato's estudiantinas, student groups who dress in medieval attire and wander like strolling minstrels through the town's streets, strumming guitars and serenading the crowd that forms to follow them.           

We fell into step with one group that led us back to Jardin Union, across the street from Templo de San Diego de Alcala. The triangular park is popular by day, with benches set beneath closely planted laurel trees sculpted to form an overhead hedge. But it's the center of Guanajuato's night life, and people of all kinds congregate at the restaurants and sidewalk cafes around its perimeter.           

The colonial streetscapes might give Guanajuato the appearance of a place stuck in the past, but it took me less than a day to realize that, not only is the town alive and well, it's thoroughly enjoying itself. 

If You Go 

Guanajuato International Airport: This small but modern airport, built in 1986, is 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the town of Guanajuato. It’s served by Aeromexico, American, Continental and Mexicana Airlines, with direct flights to Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Mexico City. 

Climate: With an altitude of 2,017 meters (6,600 feet), Guanajuato enjoys warm days and cool nights. Average high temperatures range from highs of 36 C (97 F) in June to 27 C (81 F) in December to lows of 12 C (54 F) to 2.8 C (37 F) in the same months. The rainy season is June through September.