Guanajuato
Mexico
I found myself in Guanajuato by accident.
Colour brought me to Mexico
Thinking I was researching Trinidad in Cuba, a reverse Google image search and a couple of clicks took me instead to this even more colourful regional capital in central Mexico.
Not literally, you understand. The journey was a long haul, via Mexico City. (Whilst vibrant, not somewhere that immediately matches my criteria for a decent dally).
But it was colour that brought me to Mexico, not just air miles. And the blast that hit me when I hit Guanajuato certainly warranted all the effort.
Amidst a typically arid, drab and shrubby Mexican landscape, Guanajuato bursts forth in a panorama of colour, confection and contrast, as if the contents of a giant kaleidoscope had been emptied onto the hillside. It seems every home in town got the memo. ‘Properties should be painted as bright as possible, in vivid contrast to your neighbours’.
The result is a blast. Like Symi on steroids and Flores at scale, combined with the amphitheatrical topography of Matera and cascading charm of Cinque Terre. Ascend the slopes for the full dizzying effect. Your pupils will dilate in disbelief at the multi-coloured mosaic cascading before you.
With just my thoughts for company, I was utterly lost for words. After several minutes of chromatic acclimatisation, I managed a few colourful phrases. None of them repeatable here.
Amidst the panoply of pigments, the cherry on the top is Nuestra Señora, Guanajuato’s Basilica, iced in vivid confectionery colours of bubble gum orange and candyfloss pink.
Each of Guanajuato’s 23 churches is equally colourful. To the European observer, accustomed to pious white and honeyed stone as the colours of faith, this appears a little sacrilegious. But colour has origins deep in Mesoamerican culture, with red symbolising life (blood), blue equalling gods (sky) and yellow representing food (maize). Orange is a more poignant transitional colour, representing the liminal space between life and death (sunset).
Symi on steroids
On top of that, in Guanajuato’s opulent late Baroque period, the signifier of wealth was a grand colonial building, fashioned in vibrant colour.
Plus, more pragmatically, the local sandstone is either pink or green in hue.
If it’s a full colour overdose you’re after, there’s a short funicular up the southern flank of town. At the top sits Pipila, monument to Mexican independence, and next to him, a spectacular 180° mirador.
But indisputably, the very best vistas in town are from the terrace bar at the Casa Del Rector. I spent several happy mornings up there, attempting to paint the polychromatic panorama while sipping a black coffee. And every evening, I watched the view fade through dusky amber to a vibrant twinkle, invariably accompanied by a pale ale. The irony of my drink choices was not lost on me.
Talking of irony, Guanajuato is really into its bronzes. There’s statuary of prominent figures all over town. Notably Don Quixote, Sancho Panza and their creator, Miguel de Cervantes. (Somewhat bizarrely, Guanajuato hosts the world’s largest museum of Don Quixote-inspired art and an annual Cervantino Festival !)
Peices of kaleidoscope
Also, there's Diego Rivera, the temperamental Guanajuato-born mural artist, whose marriage to Freda Kahlo ironically drove them both up the wall. There’s a museum to him here too. Freda’s is in Mexico City. You’ll also bump into Benito Juárez, the first Indigenous president of Mexico.
But it’s precious metals that truly underpin Guanajuato’s vibrancy.
In the pre-Hispanic era, the place was known as Mo-o-ti meaning ‘place of metal’. In the Sixteenth Century the Spanish struck gold, prompting a full-scale gold rush. And by the Eighteenth Century, Guanajuato had become the world’s largest silver mine and the richest city in all of Mexico as a result.
That wealth was translated directly into Guanajuato’s aforementioned architectural gems. Meanwhile, all the hard-labouring miners got was a local speciality named after them. Enchiladas de Mineras is a hearty assemblage of corn tortillas, chilli guajillo sauce, potatoes, carrots, and queso fresco, topped with a roast chicken leg. Basically, roast dinner with all the trimmings, gone Mexican. Traditionally, it was cooked by the miners’ wives to fill a hole.
Just an average street corner
You’ll see this dish advertised everywhere, but the place to have it is Enchiladas de Doña Lupe. It’s the only thing on their menu. In fact, they have no menu. Although they do offer a choice - with or without chicken. Señora Lupe and her forerunners have been dishing up Enchiladas Mineras for generations. I managed to get in and out using only the words ‘ola’, ‘cerveza’ and ‘la cuenta’, and with change from $200 (about £6). Although I’d say the dish itself is more about filling that hole than striking gold.
My view was somewhat coloured
Speaking of holes, those familiar with the board game Cluedo will recall the Secret Passage. Within one turn, you could enter the tunnel and magically emerge in another room on the opposite side of the house.
Guanajuato operates just such a system. Tunnels were originally dug to prevent flooding, but in the 1960s, they were converted into a confusing subterranean road network, diverting traffic away from the clogged streets. Incongruous holes pop up all over town, leading into the darkest, least inviting blackness you’ve ever seen. (Or not seen, more accurately.) I even came across one passage to the underworld, plum in the middle of a fruity-coloured terrace. A pink house had been built entirely around and above the entrance, making it look like a diabolical, gaping mouth.
As an experience, the tunnels are more curiosity than attraction, best explored by taxi as you leave.
But don’t be in a hurry to leave. Guanajuato’s many tints deserve your time.
My view may be coloured, but the Hotel Casa Del Rector is definitively the best base for any lingering. Arriving at the casa at street level, you're met with what appears to be a modest merchant’s house turned café. Ascending the grand stone stairs, this turns out to be the high-ceilinged home of the founder and first Rector of Guanajuato University, Armando Olivares Carrillo.
So much, so bougie. As you rise to the upper levels, the space unexpectedly opens up and the modern vernacular amps up. I let out another colourful expletive as I opened the door to my copious designer suite.
The restaurant occupies the expansive outdoor courtyard. A tad chilly at breakfast, by lunchtime, shaded from the blazing midday sun, it’s seriously cool. From that courtyard, a glass elevator whisks you nonchalantly up a cliff-face to the pièce de résistance, the upper terrace. Here, beside the perfectly positioned bar sits the most glorious pool with a view. Petite, perched and permanently at bath temperature, it’s possibly the coolest pool you’ll ever drool over.
Brilliant bunting
After a hard day hitting the watercolours, I bathed in colour up there, washing away the pigments, while soaking up the rainbow coloured vista.
Thoughts would invariably then turn to eating and drinking. Expecting a feast of colour, I have to say I found the food in Guanajuato a bit of a mixed palette.
Wallop of colour
‘Typical’ Mexican food can often be somewhat brown and sludgy, with little to distinguish your enchilada from your tostada or your taco from your guaco.
Modern Mexican, on the other hand, is a riot of colour and texture, with that all-important hit of lime to bring the zing. I found the most flamboyant flavours, both food and cocktail-wise in some of Guanajuato’s trendy mezcalerias. Somewhat incongruously, I sampled the best Brussels sprouts dish of my life in one such bar. A dubious accolade, perhaps, but memorable. Details below.
If you’re chasing a full-on wallop of colour to wake you up, Vamos Con Lalo is the place to head for. Tucked down a back lane in a quiet but vibrant corner of town, you’d be unlikely to just happen across this breakfast joint. But you certainly won’t be alone in seeking it out. The key topic on its many reviews is waiting time. Write your name on a board poignantly titled ‘lista de esperanza’, then hope. Better still, get there at 9.25 on the dot. It’s take-no-prisoners Spanish, but whatever I ordered was zingy, punchy, hearty and certainly made me happy.
So, full to the brim with colour, I said adiós to Guanajuato, and headed for almost as vibrant, colonial hotspot, St. Miguel De Allende, 90 minutes away (virtually next door by Mexico standards).
I dallied very successfully and enjoyably in St Miguel. It would merit a write-up of its own, were it not so on-the-beaten-track. It’s very much de rigueur for visiting Americans, retired ex-pats and the cappuccino classes.
So, boy, is it bougie!
Virtually every other shop in the cobbled centre sells floaty clothes for expat women, with obligatory boho accessories. (I found only one shop selling men’s clothing). The remaining boutiques offer oh-so chic interior design for those with airy second homes to accessorise. You know the vibe.
And there’s the reappearance of the ‘Concept Store’ I first spotted in Marrakesh. I’m still none the wiser what the concept is exactly, other than a price premium.
With all its cobbles, colourful facades and crossroads, SMA’s wanderability factor is high, with two particular highlights.
First, the most fabulous Starbucks I’ve found anywhere in my travels. Forget the interior, with its interminable queue. I’m talking about the courtyard. Cloistered, cool, colourful and packed with greenery. It’s the place to linger, with or without an overpriced drink. I lingered there three times, completing the tryptic below.
Green with envy
Cacti colour clash
Posed next door is La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel. Possibly Mexico’s most photographed parish church. Somewhere between gaudy and Gaudí, this is a late-nineteenth-century masterpiece of we've-got-it-so-we-may-as-well-flaunt-it renovation. It’s off-the-scale Gothic, imaginative and indulgent, all the more so for being finished in the area’s pink sandstone. This splendid flamingo of a building helped St Miguel become the go-to city it’s become.
So, as accidents go, my 12,000 mile impulse journey was a happy one.
The aim of my rose-tinted review, isn’t to make you green with envy, give you the blues, or make you see red. I simply hope my happy accident can bring a little whimsy to your day, and maybe transport your jaded spirit somewhere more colourful.
Whether or not your whim actually takes you there.
A Few Links and Practicalities
(Just sharing the love. I absolutely don’t get paid for these.)
I flew to Mexico City, then took an internal flight to Guanajuato International Airport, BJX (Silao), about 30 minutes from Guanajuato City itself.
Hotel Boutique Casa del Rector
Worth every peso
Macaria Mezcaleria & Cocina
www.instagram.com/mezcalerialainfiel
Food with zing. Drinks that sing.
Black Mamba 61
www.instagram.com/blackmambagto
Go for the Brussels. Stay for the cocktails.
Vamos con Lalo
www.instagram.com/vamosconlalo
Go to breakfast and brunch heaven.
Tostévere
restaurante.covermanager.com/tostevere
My stand out restaurant in St Miguel De Allende
Will Fly For Food
www.willflyforfood.net/guanajuato-restaurants
Encyclopaedic street food guide
Don’t miss;
The Casa del Rector pool at sunset
The view from Monumento Al Pipila about an hour before that. No queues for the funicular. With the opposite side of the valley still basking in sun.