Travel day: Guanajuato

February 2, 2023 (late post)

I was up early at the Yolihuani Polsada, and bag crammed over-full. I walked down to the bus station, which turned out to be only a 15 minutes’ walk. I spoke to the clerk at the Primera Plus window and she surprised me with a routing that I had no idea could work and would get me to Guanajuato 2 hours before I had anticipated.

My first bus was a luxurious Double decker bus for the 90 minute ride up to Morelia. The mountain passes were extremely cloudy/foggy, but everything went smoothly.

Watching the driver put on his tie over a white shirt gave me confidence in the professionalism attributed to bus driving in Mexico.

Switching in Morelia, I had only 15 minutes, and almost missed the bus when I picked up some coffee and torta. But I made it to the bus and had a very comfortable ride , 2 1/2 hours to Irapuato. I had never heard of Irapuato, but its bus station was among the biggest I’ve ever seen, with 45 bays and 6 or 7 bus companies. It seemed to be a convenient switching station for buses from all directions without them having to go deep into a major city.

From there, it was only 40 minutes into Guanajuato. A very young looking boy came in to sit with me. When I struck up a conversation with him, I put my foot in my mouth assuming he was a child, when in fact he was really a 28 year old veterinary student, but extreme small stature runs in his family. His normal body proportions fooled me.

Arriving in Guanajuato, I easily managed an Uber ride to a photographer’s studio who I planned to visit. I spent an hour there and then went to a cafe that had been recommended to me, Santa Cafe, a unique little place with tables perched on a walkway over another walkway in a very vertical city with narrow streets.

Around 4pm, I was able to contact the host family that had invited me to stay with them. Brian came down from his house and we headed to their gorgeous, modest home on the Paseo del Preso. I have my own little apartment with private entrance. I just have to be careful not to let the cat in.

In the evening I chatted with my hosts about their fascinating life histories, with a home made margarita.