Week #12: Guadalajara, Ajijic y Guanajuato

During our last week of traveling in Mexico, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon in which people like to trim their trees and shrubs in the shape of a square or rectangle. I guess it makes sense as it's probably easier to trim the tree that way but I'm still getting used to the look - it's not very natural after all! See photos below for some examples of the square trees. 

As an avid runner, I love to explore new places through my daily runs. I used to do this as a cyclist and in some ways that was better as I could cover more ground on my bike. However, going slower can be an advantage as I notice things that I wouldn't have seen flying by at 20mph on my bike. The last two days I've been running in the highlands above Guanajuato and it is easily some of the most beautiful country that I've ever run through. It's got this wild west Mexican silver mining vibe mixed with the quaint cobblestone European charm of the City of Guanajuato. This place is a runner's paradise as long as you don't mind running hills and the base elevation of 7,000 feet above sea level makes for a great training location. See photo below from my first run in the hills above the city.   

I included some of our visit to Guadalajara in my last blog post but we stayed there a couple more days so thought I'd recap the rest of our visit. We did what we do in most cities which is walk and walk and then walk some more! Guadalajara was a great city to walk around as it's very flat and there's always interesting things to see wherever you go. We were a little surprised at the amount of graffiti that we saw in the city - probably more than any city we've visited before. One day we walked to Chapalita which is a newer 'fraccionamiento' that was largely built in the 1940s and is definitely one of the wealthier neighborhoods in the city. It has many great buildings from the Art Deco and Mid-century Modern periods and Chapalita became a model for much of Mexico for how to plan new communities with green spaces, water supply, electricity and trash collection. We also visited Tlaquepaque in the southeast corner of the city which is a pueblo magico and is famous for its Calle Independencia which is great for strolling and people watching.

After the big city of Guadalajara, we were ready for some peace and quiet so we headed south to Lake Chapala and the picturesque village of Ajijic. We had heard that Ajijic had at least as many gringos as Mexicans so we were ready for the onslaught of gringos roaming the streets. It turns out that most of the gringos live in Ajijic for at least part of the year as opposed to being peripatetic gringos like Ginny and me. The core village of Ajijic has these super narrow cobblestone streets that are filled with restaurants, shops and lots of real estate offices. We actually went on a house tour where we saw five different houses for sale. The average house cost US$250,000 and most had views of the lake and/or the mountains above town. We learned that expats can buy property in Mexico really easily and property tax is super cheap. When I asked the real estate agent how the government gets money for services, she just laughed at me and said 'what services?' In the government's defense, they have installed a fairly new bidirectional protected bike lane on the main road through Ajijic which seemed to be well-utilized in the morning and evening hours when it's not too hot. See photos below of a memorial wall honoring villagers who have died in Ajijic as well as a couple of the amazing meals that we had while in town.    

We left Ajijic on Friday and drove about three hours to the City of Guanajuato which is the capital city of the state of Guanajuato. We had heard great things about the city and it has not disappointed! It's an old mining city with many silver mines up in the mountains outside of town (some of the mines are still in operation). The city has a very European old world charm with narrow cobblestone streets winding from one historic church to the next. Perhaps the most beautiful thing about the city though is the vibrant colors of many of the houses which are truly built into the cliffs and steep mountains which surround the city. Guanajuato is the birthplace of Diego Rivera and we visited the Casa de Diego Rivera which is where he grew up in the late 1800s. It wasn't as impressive as the Casa de Frida Kahlo in CDMX but they did have a great exhibit of the artist Gerardo Cantu which we really liked. See photos of some of his paintings below as well as other shots of the City of Guanajuato.       

As a former transportation planner, the thing that struck me immediately about Guanajuato is just how walkable it is. It is a real joy to walk around this city and appears to be how most people get around. There are of course many factors that contribute to its walkability from relatively dense development, narrow streets with lots of services and a great climate. The city center is also largely void of auto traffic which contributes to the vibrancy and great walkability of the city. Guanajuato achieves this by diverting much of its traffic into a maze of tunnels that were originally built under the city to prevent flooding of the Rio Guanajuato during the rainy season. Most of the tunnels even have sidewalks although I'm not sure why you'd walk through the tunnels with all of the noxious fumes especially when you're in one of the most walkable cities in the world! See photos below of some of Guanajuato's tunnels.