Stunning Guanajuato

Guanajuato, which is right smack dab in the center of Mexico, is known for its beautiful bastillicas, brightly colored dwellings stacked into its surrounding mountains and its festive celebrating of Dia de los Muertos, the reason for our visit. One of Mexico’s oldest cities, it is steeped in history, brimming with Spanish influence and is one of the country’s thriving cultural centers. Guanajuato is a gorgeous city. I could have wandered its spiraling cobblestone streets, trudged the 100 uneven steps to and from the hostel to the calle below and gazed at its spectacular architecture for weeks and weeks. But we only had 2 days.
Situated about one of Guanajuato’s many thriving plazas was a small little shop of comida naturales I stumbled across trying to find another vegetarian restaurant. It seems veg-friendly eateries south of the United States have a high rate of turnover and, considering the components of traditional Mexican food, it is no surprise. However, Unicornio Azul (The Blue Unicorn) was fully operational when its sign for a hamburguesa de soya caught my eye. I ordered said hamburguesa de soya, a veg-meat enchilada and a huge vegan chocolate chip cookie.Focusing on that cookie for a second, it seems big, dry cookies free of egg and dairy are easy to find in Mexico. I stumbled across quite a few in standard convenience stores and in vitamin/herb shops. They’re pretty darn good too. Far better than the racist stereotype Hostess-type snacks, I’m sure.
On our first evening, Dia de los Muertos festivities eluded us. We expected to see early festive goings-ons all about the Centro district but saw only scattered American-style Halloween trick-r-treaters and young twenty-somethings partaking in public drunkenness. Having been happy to escape this kind of thing in New York City (Halloween is numero 3 in amateur hour drinking, third to New Years Eve and St. Patrick’s Day.), our first evening was a bit off-putting. But on November first, thee dia of the dead, late afternoon foot traffic increased greatly in the city’s squares and busloads of Mexican tourists, many breathtakingly gorgeous, hip and stylish, loitered the streets in waiting for nightfall. With fresh-cut flowers and skull-vendors everywhere, I was amidst the excitement of this unique festival finally.