I suppose that's enough of the sad/bad stuff for one post. It really hasn't all been terrible...just parts. So now I'm going to share some of the highlights that I haven't gotten around to talking about. I believe that I left off with the Estudiantina. The very next day we went to visit the city of San Miguel de Allende. San Miguel is about an hour and a half away from the city of Guanajuato in the state of Guanajuato. According to Wikipedia San Miguel has a population of around 80,000 in the city limits. The city is known for it's colonial architecture and the large number of Americans living there. Anywhere from 10-20% of the population are foreigners from the United States (as well as many from Canada). The majority of these "North Americans" are retirees enjoying the lovely climate and atmosphere. As a side note, my host mother's architecture company is based in San Miguel de Allende and the family used to live there (the majority of the extended family still does). So here are some of the pictures from San Miguel:
The kitchen at the house where we stayed.
My host mom designed the house for her brother. He will use it as a rental.
Just as colorful as Guanajuato!
Overlook of the City.
Host Brother and a cool arch
Las Bellas Artes (an art school where one of the grandfathers teaches)
Las Bellas Artes again
Me in front of a statue in San Miguel
Beautiful buildings everywhere
Main Cathedral in San Miguel
Another View of the Cathedral...absolutely amazing!
Night View of the Cathedral
Overall, I had a great time visiting San Miguel. We celebrated my host mom's birthday by going out to dinner at a nice little Italian place (which is also my real mom's birthday...crazy!). We also went to a balneario which was a really cool place with pools fed from natural hot springs (I linked to their website which is in Spanish...but pictures might give you an idea). Then we went to the artisan market where I may or may not have gone a little shopping crazy. Then we went to an aunt's house to watch Mexico lose a World Cup game.
The next week (week 3) was relatively dull in comparison to week 2, but there were a few notable events. I went to see a ballet infantil (a children's ballet performance) that combined classical ballet with Mexican traditional dances. It varied from adorable to beautiful depending on the age group dancing.
Ready to watch the show
Little Girls Dancing
Cute
The oldest girls dancing, very impressive
And now...onto the next event. A group of students went to a museum that is the house where Diego Rivera was born. We couldn't take pictures of the artwork on the 2nd and 3rd floors...but we could take pictures of the furniture that is from the appropriate era.
The entrance to the museum and some of the members of the group
Fountain in the House
Period Furniturene
Self-Portrait just to say that I was there!
Whew...almost done. Just one more thing left! I went with my host mother, brother, and sister to see the Pipila (once again I've linked you to wikipedia which has a short but informative little article on the history). For those of you not interested in clicking on links, the Pipila in Guanajuato is a giant statue of a local hero from the days of the Independence movement in Mexico. It has an absolutely beautiful view of the city.
We rode up in a funicular
The statue of the Pipila
Me!
Absolutely beautiful view of the city
Me and my family (I hope that they stay my Mexican family and I don't have to switch)
Us in front of the statue
So there you have it! I'm pretty sure that's everything that I wanted to talk about. This weekend we are going to Mexico City. I promise you guys lots and lots of pictures and at least one post dedicated entirely to my visit there.
