La Estudiantina

Friday night most of our group got to enjoy the entertainment of one of the “Estudiantinas” of Guanajuato. To start with, I guess I short explain what an estudiantina is. One guide site describes the estudiantinas like this:

Guanajuato's evening "estudiantinas" - also known as "callejoneadas - comprise what is undeniably one of the city's most enjoyable traditions. On weekend evenings around 8:00pm, head down to the Church of San Diego, right off the central Jardín de la Unión, where the estudiantinas get things started. During festivals, you can expect the music and merriment each day.

The tradition, said to have originated in Spain, features a group of light-hearted professional musicians and singers dressed to the nines in traditional garb. Once a good-sized crowd has gathered, the whole mob - led by the musicians - snakes through the winding alleyways of the city to the sounds of singing and playing. Between songs, they tell stories and jokes to entertain the crowd and keep them entertained.

I would say that this is a pretty accurate description of my experience with the estudiantina. Sometimes they include wine and other alcohol, but since we were going as an official group with the director there was, of course, no alcohol.

The group met up at the stairs in front of the Teatro Juarez where we waited for the event to start. The director of our program hired this particular estudiantina just for our group. Which may or may not have been a good thing. It was nice that we could see without any problem but, on the other hand, we didn’t know any of the songs so we didn’t participate very much with the singing or anything.

A bunch of students waiting

Me waiting for the festivities to start

Once we were all there and ready, the estudiantina began. They started by singing to us there in front of Teatro Juarez.

Then we were off and walking. Through the callejones of the city.

As you can see, we covered a decent distance in our travels through the little alleys (callejones). The whole time they were singing and telling jokes. Even did a little bit of dancing too. It was a rather amusing experience all around. I even got a couple of pictures with the members of the estudiantina afterwards!