| | |  Travel & Outdoors 
Mexico’s Freedom Trail - Part 4
 Jonathan Kandell - travel.nytimes.com
go to original
August 28, 2010
| | At left, the Teatro Juárez in Guanajuato, the town where many of the bicentennial events will be held. A statue of El Pípila, a heroic figure in a key battle, looms above. (Ann Summa/New York Times) | |
Among the hundreds of dead were friends and relatives of many upper-class co-conspirators, like Allende, who never forgave Hidalgo for allowing the massacre. Allende refused to fight alongside Hidalgo, and the two divided insurgent forces became easy prey for the royalist army. By mid-1811, both men had been captured, executed and their heads hung from the corners of the outer walls of the Guanajuato granary for a decade until Mexico finally gained independence in 1821. A century later the remains were transferred to Mexico City’s newly erected Angel of Independence.
Today, the Alhóndiga is a museum of Mexican history and art, with little reference to this murderous past. The massive stone outer walls still evoke a citadel, but once inside, the building reveals a neo-Classical beauty, with 40 Doric and Tuscan columns holding up two galleries that wrap around an inner patio of white-and-gray stone slabs. The art collection in the upper gallery reaches across two millenniums, from early Indian civilization to the colonial period and up to the 20th century.
I ended my journey along the Ruta de la Independencia with a funicular ride from the town center up a hillside to the 30-foot-high statue of El Pípila, the miner who burned down the Alhóndiga’s doors. The rolling urban landscape unfurled below, a tranquil tableau of church domes, tiled roofs and verdant squares.
And then I glanced at the unset- tling inscription on the statue’s base: "There will be other Alhóndigas to set on fire."
GETTING THERE
At Mexico City’s international airport, there are luxury buses that depart frequently on the three-hour route to the city of Querétaro for 220 pesos (about $18 at 12.4 pesos to the dollar). From the Querétaro bus terminal take a taxi for San Miguel de Allende, a one-hour drive for 300 pesos. Better yet, have your hotel in San Miguel de Allende arrange to have a car service meet you at the airport for $65 to $75 (hotels often cite prices in dollars) for one or two people.
LODGING
If you make San Miguel de Allende your base, stay at one of the small, intimate, well-appointed B&Bs that convey the town’s colonial charm. Two of the best, in easy walking distance of the town center, are Casa Luna (Quebrada 117; 210-200-8758 from the United States; casaluna.com), with rooms from $140, and Susurro (Recreo 78; 310-943-7163 from the United States; susurro.com.mx), with rooms from $155. Both places will help make arrangements for comfortable, inexpensive buses to Dolores and Guanajuato, or suggest a car service with an English-speaking driver-guide.
In Guanajuato, the centrally located yet secluded Alma del Sol (Calle del Sol 3; 52-473-733-5423; info@casaspirit.com) is a B&B of similar quality, with rooms at $145.
DINING
In San Miguel, good, inexpensive Mexican food is available at La Alborada (Sollano 11; 52-415-154-9982), whose specialties are pozole and meat tostadas at a price that is unlikely to exceed 120 pesos a person; at El Correo (Correo 23; 52-415-152-4951), the enchiladas are first-rate and a meal for one with beer runs about 160 pesos. No reservations necessary at either restaurant.
In Dolores, Carnitas Vicente (Norte 65) serves three incomparable pork tacos and a beer for 60 pesos. No reservations necessary.
In Guanajuato, high above the city, Las Mercedes (Calle de Arriba 6, San Javier; 52-473-733-9059) serves innovative Mexican cuisine for about 300 pesos a person, including a beer or soft drink.
Jonathan Kandell, a former Latin American correspondent for The New York Times, is the author of "La Capital: The Biography of Mexico City."
|
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us