Why you oughta visit Guanajuato, Mexico

Man oh man have I got an idea for you – stop whatever you’re doing and go visit Guanajuato, Mexico!

Guanajuato is a mid-sized town in central Mexico and is an entire world unto itself, hidden in the hills. It’s full of the most colorful buildings, the friendliest people, and the most varied, delicious meals you’ll find anywhere. (And it’s great for budget travelers.)

I went there for two weeks with my travel partner Masayo. We loved it, and my diabetes even behaved – mostly. I was running out of supplies though; would I be able to find insulin and other things at Guanajuato’s pharmacies? As it turns out, it would be tougher than I thought, but I did it. A diabetic always finds a way. (See below.)

Guanajuato is a strikingly lovely place, perhaps obvious from the fact that the entire town (plus some old silver mines up in the hills) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Streets are laid out in an almost random pattern, careering up and down and around hills while boxy, color-splashed buildings are jumbled throughout the city blocks and scattered along the sides of the hills on the edge of town.

Masayo and I ended up here on a spur-of-the-moment trip inspired by the fact that my father had a time share he wasn’t going to be using. We chose Guanajuato from a list, but actually spent the first few days a few kilometers from Guanajuato in a teeny town called Valenciana where the time share hotel was.

But now we have moved into the Casa del Angel hostel down in Guanajuato proper. And what a fun place Guanajuato has proved to be! If you come here you’ll see that life in this town is a series of street festivals, endless alleyways with bold, fresh paint jobs, and a good-natured vibrancy in the air day and night.

The Casa del Angel hostel

The hostel we chose is based on the theme of angels, as you can probably tell by its name. Masayo and I got the most expensive room available, since I was worried about a touch of sickness I felt and wanted easy access to a private bathroom. TMI? Welcome to my blog.

This hostel charges for rooms by the person, not by the room. We each had to pay about US$15 a night. This is the same system as in, say, Japan, and I really dislike it. Probably because I’m from the United States, where you pay for the room and cram as many people as you can into it if need be.

But as every traveler knows, when it comes to local realities you either put up with them or go home.

Anyway, what we get is an excellent value: a cavernous room with gigantic angel paintings on the red and yellow walls, plus two big beds and some big, funky furniture. Sitting by the big window reading, or hanging out on our little concrete balcony to watch the town go by, is bliss itself.

(And I wasn’t sick after all.)

The free wifi doesn’t really work in our room, and I discovered the door could be unlocked with a hairpin, or a long thumbnail, or pretty much anything else. But these problems don’t matter much: spending all day on the internet is a crime in a beckoning town like this, and the hostel staff replaced the lock for me (after trying to brush it off as unimportant; I had to insist).

One morning a big group was in the hostel for breakfast. They were foreigners who’d been out at cantinas all night and were in especially jovial spirits. We all drank coffee and ate free bread and jam together as one guy from France explained that he was an entrepreneur who was helping to establish recycling programs in Mexico City. (That’s him wiping his face in the above photo.)

The staff at this hostel speaks only Spanish. Now, I was quite good at Spanish for a long time after high school, but years in Japan has finally made me rusty. The people are patient though so they let me try my Spanish out on them. As in the restaurants, it comes back in pieces. Each complete sentence is a breakthrough.

In the town of Guanajuato

Walking around the town and getting lost in the streets and alleys is the fun part. There always seems to be something happening: small informal parades have marched through town almost every day we’ve been here, featuring groups of trumpeters, people in masks and costumes, and/or dancing troupes.

“Even fun-loving Thailand doesn’t have street parties every day!”, I keep thinking.

Meals have been good too, and varied: Mexican food like quesadillas, of course, and black bean dishes. But also paella and cafe-type pastries too. (My blood sugar after paella, incidentally, was 112. Yes I was proud.)

Guanajuato prices are acceptable even to low-budget travelers like us, and the food is always great. The weather has been so nice that most places have outdoor seating, often in little hidden plazas made of cobblestones.

We even found a Japanese place run by a Japanese couple on a side street, and we couldn’t help but stop in to chat and eat.

Want to go to Guanajuato?

Guanajuato is a wonderful place, truly. It’s a great example of what traveling is all about: discovering a place that gives you good vibes in different ways, is affordable and fun, and has everything you need.

Diabetes can react badly to rice and beans, but with enough insulin and a little experience you should be able to keep blood sugar mostly in range.

It’s certainly worth the effort. Now go make your own plans to explore this intoxicating part of Mexico!

Do you have any experiences buying diabetes supplies or medicine in another country?

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