Mexico, July 2003 Guanajuato and Michóacan. The purpose of our trip was to participate in a fossil dig near San Miguel de Allende. The dig was an amazing.

Mexico, July 2003Guanajuato and Michóacan

The purpose of our trip was to participate in a fossil dig near San Miguel de Allende. The dig was an amazing experience, but the time that we spent in the Mexican states of Guanajuato and Michóacan was just as splendid.

This slide show is simply my feeble attempt to put into words and pictures a little bit of that experience.

Unfortunately, a good deal of our pictures did not develop. I’m not sure why. Because of that, this is really just a small sampling of our adventures!

I did not include anything from the fossil dig, because that is all in another slide show.

We hope that you enjoy it!

This is the entrance to the ancient Valenciana silver mine on a hilltop at the edge of the city of Guanajuato. Thousands of people died inside here, mostly natives enslaved by the Spaniards.

Love it or hate it, the city of Guanajuato’s most famous attraction is the Mummy Museum. Many years ago, a dead person’s family had to pay a tax every five years to keep them in the cemetery. Those who didn’t pay were disinterred. To everyone’s amazement, many bodies were preserved by the areas dry climate. Now over 100 naturally mummified bodies from the cemetery are on display in the museum.

I really wasn’t sure about this place, but my morbid curiosity got the best of me and I had to go. The mummified bodies are all displayed in cases and are treated with a degree of respect. Still, it gives you a really strange feeling to be here.

Below are two mummies of children. They are dressed in the clothes in which they were buried.

Many of the mummies have a pained look on the face. When the body decays, the muscles pull tight and cause the mouth to open. This sometimes makes the mummy look like it is in pain.

This is a woman. I’m not sure why she was in an upright position. Only a handful of the mummies were displayed in this way.

Many of the mummies had clothes on and others had nothing but socks and/or shoes. Still others had no remains of any clothing left.

This mummy was a French doctor in life and his body was one of the very first removed from the ground in 1865.

He is very well preserved and well-clothed.

About 95% of the mummies are displayed as shown below. Note the socks in the mummy on the top.

Each case had a small opening in the glass about the size of a fist. I’m not sure what the purpose if this was, but it allowed the smell of the mummies to permeate the air. They didn’t smell rotten, but they definitely had a distinct aroma!

This mummy was very obese (fat) in real life. As the fat decayed inside the body, the preserved skin was left sagging and loose.

Because of the position of the hands and scratch marks on the head, it is believed that this person was accidentally buried alive.

This very well-preserved mummy was a woman who practiced brujeria, or witchcraft. It is said that her ghost still haunts the narrow alley (or callejon as they are called in Mexico) where her home was located.

Allof the different colors in her shawl represent different things in brujeria.

She looked really creepy to me, more than any of the mummies I think!

This was the view from our balcony at night at the Casa de Pita in Guanajuato. Señora Pita’s house was like a home away from home. She is a very nice lady and a great cook! If you’re ever in Guanajuato I highly recommend the Casa de Pita!

Nancy struts her stuff in our room at the Casa de Pita in the city of Guanajuato. We are less than a block from two beautiful plazas.

The streets are actually alleys much too narrow for cars. They are called callejones. You could almost touch the house across the street from us.

Señora Pita told us of a mountain along the edge of Guanjuato called La Bufa (The Toad). There is no park, but there is a trail that you can take to the top. We spent the better part of day trying to reach the top, but had to stop short near the summit because heavy rains had washed out the trail and made it impassable.

Our trek up La Bufa started here at the hospital.

Behind Nancy you can see the summit of La Bufa.

The rugged outdoorsman scouts the trail to the top of La Bufa!

The summit of La Bufa draws even closer. The vegetation changed constantly on the way. In parts in was almost desert-like and in others it was very lush.

Near the top of La Bufa the vegetation was sparse and the rocks ruled.

These goats were domestic, but completely unfenced. This is the norm in Mexico. Cattle, goats, pigs, etc. roam freely and are herded when needed.

The summit of La Bufa as we get even closer . . .

. . . and here we had to stop. The trail was completely gone.

This is the statue of La Pipila, a hero of the Mexican revolution who led an attack on a granary being used by the Spaniards.

His statue overlooks the city of Guanajuato from a hilltop.

The photograph doesn’t give you much of an idea of its size, but for a few pesos you could walk up to the torch.

This is the beautiful view of the city of Guanajuato from La Pipila. To get to the top of the hill where La Pipila is located you can either walk or take a cable car called the Funicular. We tried it both ways.

This plaza is located about three blocks from where we stayed.

There was always a celebration going on in Guanajuato. Here is a parade. I’m not sure what the occasion was, but we enjoyed it all the same.

Do you believe that this is a man?

In the background a statue of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus is being carried at the back of the parade.

There is almost no grass in the city of Guanajuato, but the kids always seemed to be having a great time.

Playing in the fountains and chasing (but never catching) pigeons seemed to be very popular.

This is the Plaza Mexiamora and you could see it from our balcony at Casa de Pita. It was a nice place to sit on the benches and relax.

A view of the Plaza Mexiamora from our favorite bench.

These are the famous Callejojeadas of Guanajuato. They lead groups through the callejones each night singing and performing. It is a genuinely grand time!

Pizza delivery vehicles in Guanajuato.

Dogs lived on the rooftops all over Guanajuato. We called them “roof dogs.” This roof dog had just worn himself out running back and forth along the ledge barking at another dog being led on a leash below.

This is the Mercado Hidalgo in Guanajuato. You could buy almost anything here and the food was great (and cheap).

Another view of the Mercado Hidalgo.

One last view of Guanajuato. The city is so hilly that many people have to enter their homes from the rooftops.

After a few days in Guanajuato we traveled by Mexico’s first class bus service to the state of Michóacan and the mountain city of Patzcuaro. The elevation of ~7,500 feet made the climate and vegetation seem very similar to the Pacific Northwest with huge fir trees and pines.

In Patzcuaro, we stayed at a very nice place called the Hosteria San Felipe.

Here’s another view of our hotel in Patzcuaro. It was a monastery at one time.

This photo was taken near the main plaza in Patzcuaro. The buildings in the downtown area were all painted red on the bottom and white on the top. I’m not sure why. These building are about 400 – 500 years old.

Note the volcano in the distance. This area was dotted with volcanoes in every direction. The famous Paricutin Volcano is only few kilometers from here.

A street in Patzcuaro near Lake Patzcuaro.

This is the dock area on Lake Patzcuaro where you can catch a boat to the island of Janitzio. The machine in the water is keeping the water hyacinths cleared out for the boats.

This man was paddling around the island of Janitzio. We made a complete circle around the island before docking.

These are the famous fisherman of the island of Janitzio with their butterfly nets. They don’t do much fishing with them these days. They mostly pose for the tourists and then paddle alongside the boats for tips.

Here the fishermen have their nets raised up out of the water. At one time they used the nets to catch small white fish. I ate a cup of fried white fish, eyes and all at the dock and they were really tasty! Nancy didn’t eat any.

The statue of El Generalisimo Don Jose Maria Morelos y Pavón is visible at the top of the island. We walked to the statue but didn’t have change to walk to the top of the statue itself.

Janitzio is inhabited by the Purepecha people, and it is a center for the annual El Dia de Los Muertos, The Day of the Dead.

Lake Patzcuaro was formed by a caldera, a collapsed volcano. At one time there were other islands, but lowering lake levels have joined some former islands back to the mainland.

Another view of the island. The island was gorgeous, but by Mexican standards it was very expensive. It is also a bit on the cheesy touristy side, but still worth the trip.

Nancy is posing near the top of Janitzio. There’s a volcano in the background. Isn’t she beautiful? Nancy looks pretty good too!

This is a cemetery on the island of Janitizio.

San Miguel de Allende! This city is located in the eastern part of the city of Guanjuato. It is very touristy and full of Americans, but it is still a nice place to visit.

This was the view from the roof of our hotel in San Miguel.

The Parroquia de San Miguel de Allende is the centerpiece of the city, and as you can clearly see, it is beautiful at night!

The cathedral is around 400 years old.

It was beautiful watching the sunset from the rooftop of our hotel in San Miguel.

Nancy poses on the roof of our hotel in San Miguel. The cathedral is visible in the background. The next day we headed to the expedition.