nekare

Well, I'm back. Remember how I said I'd take lots of pictures to show you guys? Well, I LIED. I kinda forgot my camera at home. *shifty eyes* SORRY. My dad took some with his cell, but I've no idea whatsoever how to get them to the computer, so.

I had a great time, especially because my dad decided to do every. single. embarassing thing one can do. LOL. I didn't give any present to my brother, though, which makes me feel kinda guilty, but then again I gave him beer last year (AREN'T I LIKE, THE BESTEST BIG SISTER EVER?) and the little asshole hasn't drunk it yet, so. Anyway, he seemed to enjoy his birthday, so whatever.

I would have had a better time if I hadn't had a stomachache, though. Then again, it's my own fault, because I ate too damn much. o_O

Anyway, I know some of you guys wanted to know a bit about Mexican traditions, so here goes: Although the battle for independence didn't actually start until the morning of the 16th, we have the 'Grito' on the 15th, at 11 pm-sh, in which the mayor/governor/president in turn goes before the crowd outside and says 'viva Aldama' or 'Viva Hidalgo' or 'viva random-independence-hero' and finally 'Viva México' and the crowd answers 'viva' everytime. Then a bell (usually a replica of the original bell Miguel Hidalgo used to call for war) is rung and people cheer and wave flags and throw water/foam/alcohol around. It's pretty fun, but really crowded. THEN THERE ARE FIREWORKS. FIREWORKS = HAPPY ALE.

Guanajuato is the place where the insurgent army first fought against the Spanish forces, so it's kind of a big landmark, so the celebration was pretty grand. As always in these days, there are lots and lots and lots of traditional food and after the 'grito' has been all said and done people (of course) go to bars and get drunk. BUT, I was with my parents, so no tequila for me, aww. (Like I said, though, I had LOTS of food, ugh. I had enchiladas and pozole and chocolate-filled churros and gelato and strawberry cheescake. YEP, RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU'RE NOT SURPRISED I GOT INDIGESTION. And today I had chilaquiles and tacos de carnitas, so my poor stomach is probably crying, or something.)

September 15th or not, though, Guanajuato is charming on its own - it really still looks more or less the same as how it looked during the colony, two or three centuries ago. It's full of rickety old alleways that for the most part, are too narrow to allow cars, so one has to walk up and down through the city all the time. It's awfully pretty, though, so no one really minds. That and half the streets are underground (because of the same lack-of-space problem, but the tunnels are also centuries old, so they look wicked cool).



Mind you, these aren't my pictures, I just took them from google, but they'll do, I guess. SEE, ALLEYS. COOLNESS.



The University of Guanajuato. Yes, it is a bitch to go up those stairs, why do you ask?



The Alhondiga de Granaditas, where the first battle between the insurgent army and the Spanish took place. That's where the Grito was given yesterday, so just imagine it with some thousands of flag-waving people and you'll get the idea, lol.



UNDERGROUND STREETS. They're so awesome.

I really wanted to go see the mummies today (oh yeah, Guanajuato has this really odd kind of earth that actually preserves bodies in the shape of mummies, and there's a museum, and everything - we Mexicans are sure morbid.), but my dad said it was dumb (THE NERVE) and refused. Bah.

Speaking of morbidity, you know what the 'meaning' of pozole is? It's SOMEWHAT of a homage of the Aztecs human sacrifices: The broth is red for the blood, the hominy (which is still crunchy) represents the bones and meat the actual human flesh. LOL, MORBID. It's still a delicious dish, though and I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. (my grandma makes it a lot, but she doesn't do it RIGHT - she uses chicken instead of pork meat and she makes the broth clear so thinking of PROPER red pozole sounds so yummy). Still, pozole is a somewhat eatable dish for foreigners - If I told you what menudo (yep, that's a dish in here) was made from? You'd run screaming, haha.