I'm fresh out of witty titles...

I HAD THE BEST WEEKEND EVER. EVER. Go online and book a plane ticket to Guanajuato, Guanajuato NOW.

Guanajuato is one of the neighboring states to Jalisco (of which Guadalajara is the capital). The capital of the state of Guanajuato is, remarkably, named Guanajuato (pronounced Gwa-nah-hwa-toe). Heather had asked Emily and I if we wanted to go, so we decided to get out of the city and head to the country for a weekend and explore a part of Mexico that the typical American tourist doesn't ever see.

We left work early on Friday and raced home to do laundry, pack, eat lunch, pack dinner, and run to the office where we met up with Heather and Jennifer. We took a taxi to the bus station on the outskirts of GDL and then we thought we were going to be cutting it close. However, the bus was moving on Mexican-time (they actually call it that here) and was 40 minutes late. The bus was supposed to leave at 5:30p and ended up leaving just after 6:15p. Somehow, we still managed to arrive in Guanajuato on time. This was a mystery to us. For the last 45 minutes of the journey, after the bus dropped off everyone else in Leon, we had the entire bus to ourselves to spread out in. We didn't really need the extra room. This bus line, Primera Plus, is POSH. The seats have foot rests and almost recline completely back with about 4 feet of leg room. And you get a free treat bag with cookies, a drink, etc. as you board the bus. Thus, the 4 hour bus ride (for the bargain price of $261 MXN or $26.10 USD) was very enjoyable.

We arrived in Guanajuato around 10p and took a taxi to the center of town and then searched for our bed-and-breakfast/hostel hybrid. We finally found Casa de la Luna and were greeted by my definition of a sweet Mexican grandmother. She showed us to our really nice rooms (2 rooms for 4 of us) and asked us what time we'd be eating breakfast. After exploring our rooms and staging a fake pillow fight (we're completely normal) we went to bed to get ready for a fun Saturday.

Saturday we had a fresh breakfast prepared by the "inn keeper" (the grandmother) and then she gave us a map and some recommendations and we walked 10 minutes into the historic Centro. There, we were instantly taken with the cute scenery and picturesque nature of the town. It is in the mountains and all the houses are built up the mountains and are all in bright colors. We were instantly spotted as tourists and were convinced to take a guided 3.5 hour tour where we would go to 3 museums. Our group, 8 of us total, first headed to the museum of the mummies for which Guanajuato is famous for. Las Momias were really weird and most of them died fairly recently (the "youngest" was from the 1970s). Then we went to the historic mine that is in Guanajuato. Traditionally, most of Mexico's silver ore has come from there but the mine has been out of service for quite some time now. The University of Guanajuato's engineering and archaeology/geology programs use it for research now. We got to wear really attractive hardhats and were accosted by several sketchy Mexican men for pictures. After that, we went to another museum that we hadn't read about. Had I read about it, I probably wouldn't have gone. It was where the Spanish Inquisition happened, in Mexico. It was basically a museum of torture devices at the site where it was actually done. It was discovered in the early 1900's during archaeological digs. It had been forgotten and grown over and most of the graves were covered in feet of dirt. It was creepy.

Then we were dropped off at the Pipila, a big statue with the best panoramic view of Guanajuato. The view was MAGNIFICENT. I took 100000 pictures of it because it was so beautiful. The tour was over around the same time as lunch, so we found a cute outdoor cafe and had wonderful enchiladas (my new absolute favorite food... I've eaten so many since I got here!) and then we wondered around, took ridiculous pictures, and found the world's tastiest pastry shops. They were on every corner and are Heather's downfall. We saw a music festival with some traditional indigenous dancing and some Spanish guitar ensembles. And we ate more pastries. Then we shopped and bought fun souveniers and we all got new purses in the Mercado Hidalgo, a massive market similar to the one in GDL. We found a charming outdoor restaurant for dinner and continued our wanderings of the city.

Both mornings we heard cannons firing, but they woke us up on Sunday. We also heard drums and trumpets. After breakfast, we headed down to the Centro and we found the cannons were for San Antonio and the drums were for an anti-abortion protest. I wrote a paper on women's rights in Mexico, so I was able to fill my friends in on the abortion debate and the legislation that was in Mexican Congress (the reason for the protest). We found some random museums, including one for Miguel Cervantes/Don Quixote. There is a big Cervantino festival in Guanajuato every year so we enjoyed the Spanish touch of that part of town. Also, we found Diego Rivera's house!!! Diego Rivera is one of the most famous Mexican painters and husband of Frida Kahlo. It was really awesome to be in the house where Frida had lived and died, as well as her husband Diego Rivera. Amazing.

We took another bus back to GDL and arrived about 9p last night. We got home, unpacked, and passed out, exhausted from such a great weekend.

This morning at work was CRAZY. It was so busy I could hardly thinking. I talked to a lot of my old friends, like Katia. Katia and I gossiped about the incredibly handsome doctors and other girl-talk. I also got to talk to some new patients I hadn't met before and played with a lot of small kids. It was a really fulfilling day at work, regardless of how busy it was. I had a great day. Every day I'm there I feel like I'm making more and more of a difference in their treatment. Even if they are in pain, I feel like making them smile makes it hurt less.