Our first view of Guanajuato from the rooftop terrace of our hostel took our breath away. The tightly packed city with its beautifully colored buildings is very picturesque. This colonial era city (founded in 1570) is accurately described as “human” oriented. Yet, it’s many one-lane, one-way streets are packed with vehicles (buses, taxis, delivery trucks and personal autos). The narrow valley in which it is located makes its streets narrow and winding. Most are alleys that cars cannot pass through, and some are long sets of stairs up the mountainsides. The people who live there (and people who stay in hostels there) park or get off the bus in central areas and then walk up the narrow alleyways.  Our poor flatlander legs were exhausted by the amount on climbing involved in getting anywhere. On the first day we went for a walk and soon found ourselves lost in the narrow streets. A kind lady helped us just as were starting through a tunnel (in completely the wrong direction) and pointed us in the right direction. We were only a few blocks from home.  Much of the city are narrow streets and two or three-story buildings but then you come around a corner and there are lovely plazas with plantings, statues or fountains and places to sit.

Many of the city’s vehicle thoroughfares are partially or fully underground. The historic center has many small plazas and colonial-era mansions, churches and government buildings (it is the state capitol).

The wide pastel lines are underground tunnels that carry the traffic.

The origin and growth of Guanajuato resulted from the discovery of gold and silver in the mountains surrounding it. The mines were so rich that the city was one of Mexico’s most influential during the colonial period. One of the mines, La Valencia, accounted for two-thirds of the world’s silver supply at the height of its production. We took the Valencia Mine tour, it included a lot of stairs and took us nearly 200 feet underground.

The city is home to a Mummy Museum, which contains naturally mummified bodies that were found in the City’s cemetery between the mid 19th and 20th centuries. The Mummy Museum

Smallest baby mummy ever discovered.

was interesting but a bit creepy. The Mummy Museum was supposed to be on our tour but when we got there the van driver told us (in Spanish) that the tour was over and we would have to find our own way home. After the tour we headed off to find a taxi but happened upon a bus with “Centro” written on its windshield. We hopped on and got a 45 minute tour of the city before it dropped us off at the base of the hill where our hostel is located.