La la la la la Bamba!

Here are some mariachis.  Tons of them chill in el centro of town: El Jardin.

Guanajuato is a city of 170,000 people, all of which come to the centro, every single night.  This might seem like an exaggeration, but I count at least 150,000 people in the above picture alone.  Most Mexican towns seem to function like this:  There's a central plaza that everyone goes to, likely with a big church.  Thus these towns feels much smaller, as you start to see the same people day in and day out:
Michael, our resident American cellist bar-owner Michael Keaton look alike, with Denise.  Note the red eyes, they must be up to something.

And this is Mr. and Mrs. Billar.  Billar means pool.  They both wear pool gloves and take the activity extremely seriously.  They also usually win.  But not always.

Anyway, the small town atmosphere in such a beautiful and bumpin place has its ups, and not really any downs.
Ups:

• 10 peso (less than 1 American smackaroo) homemade ice cream every couple of blocks.  
• Kids to play futbol with, every couple of blocks.
• Corn tortillas at every meal.  
• Nightly live music of every style.  More than just Beatles and John Mayer cover bands, though I've, against my will, memorized the lyrics to Your Body is a Wonderland.
• A completely unparalleled, general attitude of relaxation and open-mindedness:

These are some of our 3rd graders, Giving us a little tour of the tiny, rural town of Cajones, while showing us the way to "Resplandor", our school where we run our summer camp.  

One day, Justin and I had to take 3 buses to get to Resplandor.  With no school-children to guide us, and despite our expert navigational abilities, we got lost.  Fortunately, we wandered past a glass shop, that is owned by the brother of a girl we know.  At the store's request, we inquired within: "Where are we going?"  They told us to hop in the pick-up, and they drove us the rest of the 2 miles to the school...Hot damn!  These are horses.  You might recognize them from such films as Dr. Dolittle and The Legend of Bagger Vance.

We were playing basketball with these guys and we didn't know how to get back to the bus stop.  Of course they showed us the way! 

 Downs: (And these are very general to Guanajuato/Mexico as a whole).

• Minimum wage is as low as 57 pesos per full day of work.  That's 5 bucks.  You can make your own Starbucks coffee comparisons/equivalents...
• Driving is scary, but that's in any country.  In Peru, people functioned as cars; go where you want when you want and auto traffic functions similarly.  In Mexico, cars don't stop.  Busses take hilly, winding turns in 4th gear, and there is the occasional near death experience:  Whilst Jess and I were walking with these two basketball boys (above) to the bus stop, a huge wooden sign flew off of a pick-up truck.  It missed me by about a foot.  It was about 6x6 ft.  Were I a non-religious man, that"seeing the light" kind of experience might have caused me to find God.  Fortunately, I have already found him/her in Derrick Rose.  And Zooey Deschanel. 

Whoah Derrick, what're you looking at?

• Moving on, every week, about 150 people in and around Guanajuato get diagnosed with diabetes.  That's because...
• Coke is cheaper than water.  One of the host families gives their 2 year grandson coke in his bottle because it helps with digestion.  Here's a coke bottle. 

• Finally, the right angle of a hill that we have to walk up, back home, twice a day.  

Well this post was supposed to go in a musical direction, what with the beginning being about Mariachis.  I guess that's for later.  Ignore the La Bamba title.