Guanajuato

Picking out a pinata for D's bday

Elijah, of course, picked the Mexican flag man. The child is obsessed.

The next day we went to Guanajuato.

BFFs chillin at the hotel pool:

Guanajuato is the birthplace of Diego Rivera:

The city center was one of the more beautiful places I've been.

The city is also filled with history. We rode a fincular (below, left) to the top of a hill to visit the Pipila monument. 

See Pipila monument below, on the left.

Pípila (Spanish word for a hen turkey) was, as the story goes, a young man born with defects both mental and physical. His physical deformities caused him to walk in a fashion not unlike the hen turkey—which brought about his nickname—and he was an object of ridicule.
Pípila was a miner and became famous for an act of heroism near the very beginning of the Mexican War of Independence, on 28 September 1810. The insurrection had begun in the nearby town of Dolores, and soon moved to the city of Guanajuato, where the Spanish barricaded themselves–along with plenty of silver and other riches–in a grain warehouse known as the Alhóndiga de Granaditas (below, top right). The granary was a stone fortress with high stone walls, but its wooden door proved to be an Achilles' heel.

With a long, flat stone tied to his back to protect him from the muskets of the Spanish troops, Pípila carried tar and a torch to the door of the Alhóndiga and set it on fire. The insurgents–who far outnumbered the Spanish in the warehouse–stormed inside and killed all the soldiers and the civil Spanish refugees. [wikipedia]~~We get tours  at these places, so technically I should know this stuff without looking it up, but I'm the self-designated kid-wrestler.

Looking out over the city at the base of the monument:

We also drove to Dolores (mentioned above). "Desde este  lugar arengo el padre de la patria al pueblo reunido en el atrio la mañana del 16 de septiembre de 1810."

We enjoyed the town for a few hours. Breakfast of strawberry tamales and chocolate atole (above, bottom  right). The local panaderia was abuzz and nobody seemed to mind (bottom, right).