Guanajuato part 3 - The list

The last few days in Guanajuato we tried to enjoy it to the fullest. And we had a lot of  things on our list of things to do.

Saturday we went out in the service. This time from door-to-door. It was a nicer area with a lot of grand houses. All with big fat gates and big barking dogs. A bit different than in Sweden. We all paired up with a spanish talking sister, because even if we're looking for people that speaks english you need to introduce yourself in spanish. To just ask "hablas ingles?" works in the street service, and that I can pull off. But when you walk up to someones house and knock on their door you can't just ask if they speak english and then walk away if they don't... And to politely ask and explain why is a little over my league. Suprise, surprise! The sister I teamed up with was really nice and we talked a lot. The weather was lovely and I loved feeling the heat of the sun on my face. It's funny though, because for them it's winter and they dress up in warm clothes. They wouldn't survive a day in Sweden ;) We didn't meet a lot of people that day. But it was still a really nice time, getting to know the sister. Who I - am embarrassed to say - can't remember the name of right now :( Very frustrating, because I do know it. I wanna say Angelica...but maybe I shouldn't guess... I'm hopeless sometimes. I do have a photo though!

House wall

Two lovely sisters

Door-to-door service

My brother, Jonathan and I went downtown for lunch after the service. It's a very lovely café where the tables are on a little brigde/ledge. It's nice to sit there and look at the people walking on the street below. Also there was this musician under the bridge playing some music. That, combined with the sun shining, a good meal and a cold beer made it the perfect lunch! And guess what we had? Thai food. In Mexico. Huh? Well they did make it in their own way. Delicious!

That was the perfect recharge of energy that we needed and after that we took a stroll through Guanajuatos streets. My brother lead the way. This was another thing on our to-do-lost. Walk around and take photos. So yes, I took a lot of photos! Some of them you find here. Enjoy!

 

Tunnels are very unique for Guanajuato

After a day in Leon (friday) and a busy saturday I needed some rest again. The medicine I got was really good, but I was still fighting an infektion. So I went back to our lovely apartment to snuggle with the cat and get some rest while Jonathan and my brother continued in the service. Actually they had a bible study! They went to a café to study with him. We sure are in Mexico.

Later that evenening we had plans with our Swedish friend Pelle! He invited us home to his really nice apartment, decorated in a nice style with some of his lovely photos on the walls. He made a delicious dinner for us and then we talked all evening, trying out different tequilas. After 3 weeks we finally started to warm up to the most popular drink in Mexico. My favorite was the one with the worm in the bottom :) Yum! I forgot the name though so when I went looking for it in the stores I couldn't find it... I guess I have to go back one day! :)

One and a half day left in Guanajuato and still a very long to-do-list. So of course we work our way from the top to the bottom.

First on the list: Hiking in the mountains and watch the sunset from the top!

Pelle had some tips for us how to get there by foot. Unfortunately he couldn't join us. But it turned out to be a very fun adventure for 3 swedish tourists :)

Stay tuned!

Gunajuato part 2 - pAsta pArty and a worldwide family!

pAsta pArty

After fighting a cold for a few days Jonathan finally got better, but I unfortunately got worse. I went from having a sore throat and no energy to coughing so much and blowing my nose all the time. Not really how I had planned to spend my days. I tried to find balance by resting one day, and then doing something fun the next day. A way to get my rest but still be able to enjoy our vacation.

First thing on our list: attend a party a couple in the congregation had - a pasta party!

Robert & Jonathan

Some of the view

Apparently they love italian food. So that's what they had. And it was delicious. Italian food in Mexico? Yup, that works! They had a very nice apartment with an incredible view from their balcony. I had my 50mm lens on so I couldn't quite capture their view in one photo... It's not good for landscapes. But I did catch a bit of the beautiful, colorful sky! And I got to play around with bokeh because they had a lot of lights hung up on their terrace and in the background you could see all the houses lit up, so that was pretty cool.

After eating (a lot) and talking with everybody there, including my friend that I haven't seen in 10 years or so, it was time for a game. Yay! I love games.  But what should you not do when you have a bad cough? Talk. And talk very loud. And get overexcited and talk, talk, talk. So what game did we play? Tabu. If you know that game you know it's about explaining words and guessing them. Which means talking. A lot. And getting excited and talk too loud so everybody can hear you! Did I have any voice when we left? Barely. Did I cough less after that night? Um no... Did I have a lot of fun? YES! Did I regret going? NO! :) :) :)

So many amazing new friends that I look forward to get to know better!

Snuggling

Breakfast

The next day was my resting day. I can't remember exactly what I did now (as I write this from Sweden)...but I guess I snuggled with the sweetest little cat and had some breakfast in the sun with the incredible view. And maybe my brother came over and made us delicious quesadillas for lunch. And maybe we had a nice evening playing cards and watching a movie (that I fell asleep to). Because that's how I remember the relaxing days in Mexico.

Pancakes

Soup = Azteka

Thursday included time out in the service. But I had to start late because of my cold. So I sort of missed the best part. And that is walking the streets of Guanajuato asking people "hablas ingles?" and hopefully finding some people to talk to. I joined the group when it was time for lunch and we found a very nice place. And I had a delicious Mexican soup, Azteka. Yum! After that we continued the service a little while, then we checked out Guanajuato. 

Out in the service

Later in the evening we sat down at Kingdom Hall for the second time on this trip, and I was happy to be back! Unfortunately I spent the meeting running to the bathroom all the time blowing my nose :( But the very great thing about the meeting was that all our closets friends participated in the program. That was very special!

After the meeting we were invited home to several people which warmed our hearts. But the offer we accepted was something I really needed. Brenda, a sister in the congregation offered to take a look at me and my cold. She's a pediatrician. And she drove me to the other side of the town, examined me, took me to a pharmacy and then back home. And she wouldn't let me pay because we're family. 

That's us. A worldwide family!

Over and out!

Guanajuato - part 1

We live in the white house
with the blue window frames

Leaving Mexico City was quite an adventure itself. There were more security than on an airport. I was checked 4 times. I must look very suspicious! But finally we got on the bus with some snacks that were included. The seats would fold back almost all the way down and we all were half asleep most of the time. After a four and a half hour comfortable bus ride from MC, and a 30 min taxi ride we finally arrived in Guanajuato! The goal with this trip!

It was nice to drive through the city by night and see all the houses lit up. And the last part of the ride we went up, up, up! If the cars have trouble getting up you can imagine how steep it is... But up we came and wow what a view! I didn't want to go inside, I just wanted to enjoy what I saw. Yes, it's a bit of a challenge to get here, but it's worth it!

The house and the hill

Kittens

The next day we went down the hill with my brother and had burgers for breakfast. Yum! Then we bought some groceries and started our climb up the hill. I have to say it went well. But yeah we were tired. So tired that we had to say in bed for a few days.

I don't want to blame the hills, I rather blame the filthy town we just visited. It was a few intense days and the air wasn't very clean. We came from the heat to some very cold nights. So the combination is probably what did it.

We've been fighting a cold ever since we left Sweden. So I guess it was inevitable. It's never fun to be sick on your vacation, but having the view we have and some nice cats to cuddle with, I guess it could be worse ;) And I did go outside one afternoon to feel the heat from the sun and to take some photos. So much to look at just outside the door...

Yesterday (sunday) we made it to our first meeting at Kingdom Hall here in Guanajuato. Such a lovely congregation, and they all came up to talk to us and welcome us! A young brother from the congregation had his very first talk. He did such a good job and it was very warm and uplifting. It was nice to be at an english meeting and it was actually easy to follow. What I really enjoyed was to sing our songs in english! Too bad my throat was sore, but I did my best... The congregation was a mix of people from around the world. Mostly from America, Mexico but also from London and Sweden. I'm sure there's more nationalities that I don't know about. Many of the brothers and sisters have moved here to fill a need. The Kingdom Hall is shared by four groups - spanish, english, sign language, and an indian tribe language (can't remember the name). We went home tired but happy!

Welcome to Guanajuato

The group

After some rest we finally made it DOWNTOWN! We've heard so many good things about this town, the congregation and the atmosphere here. And well, they were right! We took the 30-40 min walk and it was nice to both see the  city and to get a little exercise. Not sure how much I got because of all the stops I did to take pictures though ;) We could've had more clothes on because it gets chilly at night, but we found some restaurants with heaters. We (Rob, X, Jess, Joey, me and J) had a lovely time joking around, taking pictures, listening to the street musicians and the noise from all the people. We had some dinner at a place with lousy service - not going back. But they can't all be good. And we ended the night getting a drink at another place, just outside this very cool building that is sort of the centre of this city. It's so cool at night when it's lit up. I love it!!

We ended the night pretty early since we're not recovered from our cold. We took a taxi home for 40 pesos. That's 20 kronor. Split between 3 persons. Yeah, pretty cheap! And we didn't have to walk up that hill...

The funny thing is that they all have trouble finding this house. They always drive around a bit lost. It happened again. This guy knew the way to the area called de La Bufa, which is the big mountain behind our house. But still, he went the wrong way and we (my brother) had to correct him. The good thing about it was that we got to see even more of the breathtaking view!

Not bad for 7 kronor each!

The view from the house - Guanajuato by night

Over and out!