Back from Mexico!

[Chris Gholson 1,065]

Hi everyone,

My family I just got back into the country this week from a wonderful trip down into Mexico. I had visited the country before, but this was my first trip deep into the interior. The primary spots we explored were Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende, both of which are in the mountainous country to the NW of Mexico City. The traveling went fairly smooth except they lost our luggage, so we had to stay in the same clothes for three days, but eventually it found its way back to us. 

Both places had stunning old homes, cathedrals and cobble stone streets. Everyone I looked there seemed to be history. The Spaniards arrived in the region in 1522, led by a guy named Cristóbal de Olid. A few years later another Spaniard named Nuño Beltran de Guzmán led a force of 300 soldiers and a native army of more than 10,000 into the area. Countless indigenous peoples were killed and many communities in the region destroyed, but in the end the Purépecha were defeated and the area came under Spanish control. In 1552, Captain Juan de Jaso discovered rich silver deposits in the mountains surrounding Guanajuato and subsequently established Real de Minas (The Royal Mines). This discovery led to the rapid settlement of the region throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. 

There were so many people milling about and we encountered just about every sort of street vendor you could imagine. We found that the cheapest and best tasting food came from the stands and not the restaurants. I have no idea what half the stuff I ate was, but it tasted great! We met up with a local rancher and did a full day trail ride through the hills. We also zip-lined across the canyons and rented to quads to explore the countryside away from the city. It was an absolute blast! The people were super friendly and I never felt as if we in danger; even though I was walking the allies with two blond haired girls. Going off what the media says, I half expected to be abducted by a cartel, but this simply wasn’t the case. It was safe and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back. If you are looking for an adventure for yourself or your family, a trip to this part of Mexico is certainly worth consideration. Here are a couple of photos from our trip…
 

[dick ward 55]

THANK YOU CHRIS for the fascinating travelogue and pictures.  Looks like you guys had a great family vacation. 

[delnorter 8]

What a nice vacation Chris. It’s good to hear you felt comfortable taking your family to the interior of Mexico. Did you arrange the trip through an agency or research and plan yourself?

Mike

 

[Chris Gholson 1,065]

Dick, it really was a wonderful trip. The best part was that we just got to slow down and enjoy being a family. Sometimes it gets tough with all the distractions and day-to-day grind, but being down there with no phone calls or texts going off was a nice break. Maddie loved it! She also wanted me to say thank you again for her graduation gift, you guys are too kind!

Mike, my wife & I did all the planning. We rented a house down there rather than a hotel. It was actually about the same price per night and we had much more room and privacy. It was also really easy and pretty cheap to organize transportation to and from the airports. While in town we just walked or used taxis to get around. A taxi ride anywhere in town was about $2. If you ever want to head that way I'll be happy to help out any way I can.  

[nugget108 27]

Thats great Chris. Looks like you had a great time with the family. Thanks for sharing. 

[Bugler 0]

Thank you for sharing, Chris.  Those are beautiful pictures and great memories for your family.