Guanajuato

I realized I made a post about the mine in Guanajuato, but no actual pictures of Guanajuato. So here are some buildings, some trees, and a crazy-fancy Catholic church.

And they call it a mine...a MINE!

In Guanajuato we went to a mine, where the Spaniards had enslaved the native people and made them dig for silver and gold. I think we only went 65 m underground, but the mine went a lot deeper...

Ahem. So first, gross picture of me with hardhat, getting ready to go down.

Here's the entrance to the mine...

It was very uneven steps going down, but there were some very thick, damp ropes to help everyone walk!

Aaand because it's Mexico, there's little catholic statues everywhere. It doesn't really give respect to the native peoples who died there, but okay.

Here is a pic taken pretty far down. The guide was telling us how the native people never saw the sun, as they entered the mine before dawn and came up every night after dusk. So apparently they had a lot of problems with their eyes. Then he turned the lights off to show us what it was like for them every day. Scaryyyyy :/

Then I made out with the mine dog.

Indigenous Peoples of Queretaro

In the US, most of our indigenous peoples are on reservations or casinos...or they've just become part of 'American' culture...In Querétaro, they just live in el centro, alongside everyone else. Only mostly in the streets. They walk around selling little things they make, like cell phone covers, tortilla wrappers...and just touristy stuff. Even the children walk around, trying to sell stickers or a piece of gum for one peso. The old women just stand on a corner somewhere with their hand out. It's pretty sad...I've never seen anyone buy anything from them, but I'm finding it hard to resist little girls asking me to buy a bracelet for 10 pesos, which is nothing to me.

It's pretty easy to tell which people are the indigenous ones. Most of them have a little bit darker skin, and they usually are wearing their traditional clothing. They also speak a language called Otomí. Most of them can speak Spanish too, but I've heard them speaking Otomí to their children. Many of the little children will walk up to someone and says ''dame'' (give me) while they're drinking a soda or eating ice cream. Don't get me wrong, they're very polite people...They're not very pushy at all. It only takes about two 'no's to get rid of a little girl selling stickers. But it makes me feel uncomfortable every time. :/

So obviously it would be a bit disrespectful to pull out my camera and snap a picture right in front of them. I took these pictures from across the street/plaza, with full zoom on. They didn't notice me. Sorry for being creepy :(

Here's a mom and her baby...I think that is probably her son and his friend, as the boy on the left is wearing a school uniform, which parents have to buy themselves.

A woman selling knitted cell phone covers:

I've seen this lady a lot. She just walks around aimlessly every day asking for money :(

So...yeah, that's about it. I probably won't try to take any more pictures of them. But if anyone wants souvenirs from Querétaro, I can buy you something from them! Although most of their stuff is useless... x.x

La Universidad

A Mexican student also took me to see the university here in Querétaro. There weren't any people around, so it was very peaceful. He said there are about 1300 students.

El Mercado y niños.

I'm trying to upload the pictures so that they're bigger, but I don't know if it's working. It should be that you can click on the pictures and the full size appears, but that doesn't always happen. I'm sorry!

Anyway, these pictures are actually from my second day here. One of the Mexican students took me on a walking tour, and we went to the outdoor market, and the university.

I dunno what this is, but the kids were cute:

The outdoor market was really cool! I mostly took pictures of the birds...for obvious reasons. I miss you Henry and Eliza! Don't lay too many eggs for Emily and Alan!

Many zebras in one cage... :(

And really expensive finches for 300 pesos! (less than 30 dollars)

Here's a picture looking in to the market...It's super cluttered but really fun to look around! It was impossible to take pictures once inside, but i'll probably attempt that some other time. ;)

But this is just a shot of the clothes/crap section. The meat/fruit section is both disgusting and cool! I'll try to get pictures!

fútbol

So...I went to a soccer game. I don't like soccer games in the US, but I figured I'm in mexico and should go to one. Since soccer doesn't really interest me, I didn't take too many pictures of the game. I did, however, take pictures of the security there! We got patted down and everything!

Here is Rebecca having her knife taken away....

And then la policía came out in their full gear, and stood around the entire field for the whole game!!

...But most of them turned around and watched, haha.

People don't have very much money in Mexico, so the upper area had people STANDING, while the bottom area wasn't very full.

Oh yeah, I did take a picture of the game. It wasn't too exciting, but the home team, Los Gallos (roosters) won!

Then I got creepy and took pictures of little boys.

Aqueducts

So...I guess there's aqueducts in Querétaro that were built to bring clean water to the city? There's a silly story that everyone tells that says a man with a long name was in love with a woman, and he built the aqueducts under the assumption that she would pay him...? But then she didn't, so now if a woman wants something from a man, she has to pay him first. So far there doesn't seem to be any truth to that. :D

So here's a close-up - the streets were built around it

And here's a view from atop a hill...

And here's a shitty picture of me just to prove I was there. Nobody really talks to me or wants to take a picture of me, so this is all there is.

Woo. It was an amazing view though!!