Emily had a full afternoon and evening, so Diane and I booked a 4 hour tour. It was completely in Spanish so we stopped by Stacey's restaurant and she walked us to the kiosk to ask the guide not to leave us somewhere if we didn't understand instructions. We rode around town while the guide probably gave insightful commentary that we didn't understand, but at least we got to see other parts of the city. Our first stop was at the San Ramon silver mine atop the hills overlooking the city. It was in operation for more than 450 years, and part of a group of mines that produced up to 30% of the world's silver. We went down into the mine 60 meters, but the steps were very uneven and steep so we turned back around before the rest of the group. For some inexplicable reason, they had a cave barricaded with bars and filled with "treasure" that included a dog skeleton! After the required tour through the gift shop, we rode to the Templo de san Cayetano (est. 1775), which was built by the owner of the Valenciana mine either A. because he promised the Saint he would if he made him rich or B. to atone for his sins. I'd guess he was rich with sin because it has 3 gold alters and 3 huge paintings.Next stop was a torture museum, a homage of ways the Spanish tortured and killed the Mexicans. I declined. The mummy museum was probably just as gruesome, but you can't be a tourist in Guanajuato and not go. Apparently the soil is such that it mummifies bodies after burial, and this was discovered either A. when the relatives could not pay the upkeep on the cemetery plot, or B. when they needed more room in the cemetery. Either way there were many mummies displayed including a pregnant woman and fetus and a group of infants. OK then. After walking through the gift shop we wound our way down through narrow streets to El Pipila, the monument to a revolutionary hero who burnt the Alhondiga down and defeated the Spaniards ( for a brief time) on the way to Independence. The views were incredible and we had the place to ourselves this time. We went back to Centro through the 25? kilometers of tunnels under the city. We found Emily and her new friends and went to supper with them. Emily stayed for salsa, but we grabbed our own cab for the first time (with a note from Emily)and had the guard next door walk us up the hill to the apartment. I had trouble with the keys but succeeded in getting the door open. (It is not as easy as you think especially with 3 keys to choose for 2 locks in the pitch black and weak from lack of oxygen by having to walk the entire way keeping up with the guard without our usual stop for a minute at the bottom of the steps.) We lit the water heater for our showers and fell into our usual evening routine. We are becoming big girls.
