Visiting Mexico: Guadalajara, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Queretaro

My wife and I have just returned from a ten-day visit to Mexico. We spent three days in Guadalajara and a week in San Miguel de Allende with side trips to Guanajuato and Queretaro. While my wife, who is Mexican by birth had previously been to Guadalajara and Guanajuato, it was my first time in all four places. All four being inland, there were no beach resorts, but in terms of beauty and culture, it was our best trip to Mexico to date.

Our first three days were spent in Guadalajara, and we stayed at the old colonial-style Hotel de Mendoza, right off the main square in the historic city center. Most of our time was spent around this square and the cathedral, but we did take a bus trip to the Tlaquepaque neighborhood of Guadalajara, where the shops and restaurants were amazing.

Guadalajara, of course, was the scene of the 1985 kidnap, torture, and murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in 1985 along with his associate (pilot) Alfredo Zavala-Avelar. Being retired from DEA, I admit I was not completely comfortable visiting the city, but I am glad I did. One of the tours we took passed by the former American consulate. It was on a side street near the site where  Camarena was kidnapped by members of the Rafael Caro Quintero-led drug cartel. We took both a day tour and a night tour of the city, the latter of which included a live Mariachi band and shots of tequila and beers.  

Below are photos we took of the main square and cathedral both at day and at night.

From Guadalajara, we took a bus to San Miguel de Allende, a trip of some 5+ hours. The inter-city buses in Mexico are first class and quite comfortable. (The city buses are more of an adventure, but to save on  taxi fares, we rode both several times.)

Below are scenes of the main cathedral and town square that we shot.

The Mexican Day of the Dead holiday was approaching and the appropriate costumes and skull images were out in force.

My wife is the short one.

On our last day, a wedding was held in the cathedral.

Musicians performing in the central plaza.

On our second day in San Miguel de Allende, my wife's niece (who lives in Jalisco State) drove over and took us to Guanajuato, about one hour away. October is the time when the city celebrates its annual Cervantino Festival. In addition, students and professors from the University of Guanajuato Music Department (Estudiantina de Guanajuato) were giving guided musical tours through streets of the old city, and that was very entertaining.

We went back a couple of days later by bus and spent a few hours there. We intended to visit the Museum of the Mummies, but we didn't have time. The museum contains the mummified remains of dead who had been buried in the local cemeteries many years ago and later exhumed due to lack of space. Once exhumed, it was discovered that due to the soil content, there was limited decomposition, thus they were put on display. It is one of the top tourist attractions of the city.

View of Guanajuato from the Pipila Monument overlooking the city.

On another day, we rode the bus to Queretaro, the town where French-installed Emperor Maximilian was captured and executed.in 1867. I wanted to visit the site of the execution, the Cerro de las Campanas, but we didn't have enough time.

Queretaro

On our final night in San Miguel de Allende, after dinner, I dragged the Missus into a cantina, and we enjoyed a couple of margaritas in the bar. Outside the window, musicians were performing, and we were able to enjoy the show through the window of the bar. While there, we made the acquaintance of famous Country singer, Tanya Tucker and her husband, Craig Dillingham, also a singer and songwriter. Craig and I had a long conversation about this and that at the bar. Nice people. It was a memorable ending to a great trip. 

(I won't say anything about the airport experiences in Los Angeles and Dallas going and coming back.)

If you are interested in seeing something of the history and culture of Mexico beyond the resorts, all four of these cities are worth a visit.