Getting to Guanajuato

Finishing a van picnic of delicious barbacoa tacos y quesadillas in San Miguel, we were fueled up, looking forward to the Guanajuato journey….well, until the car wouldn’t start…

After unsuccessfully trying to flag down cars to jump us on a busy one way street, we retreated to the taco shop family, convincing them to help us out. (Good thing we had left a good tip for our takeout).

Our new friend pulled up in his big truck, blocking the whole road, standing by our side till Pancho was fired up…Viva la barbacoa 😉 … Eeeeeesshhh…

The battery didn’t want to hold a charge… J had to keep his foot on the gas at all times to prevent Pancho from giving up.

Startling other vehicles in traffic, J would gracefully pop Panch’ into neutral or park at the red lights, gently reving the engine to keep us ‘alive’… An uneasy way to start a 3 hr drive through the middle of no where, with no cell reception.

We died again about an hour later, right in front of the policemen who had just hassled us for not having our front plate on, but conveniently next to a parked cowboy truck.

A few eye rolls from the policía checkpoint, I hopped out, smiling, waving the jumper cables in the air towards the caballeros. “Tenemos cables” …See, all good in the neighborhood…

Cruising over, the men curiously stared at Pancho before popping their hood to get us running again. Tipping their hats, we were off, round 2! Yikes.. still only half way there..

Hot and sweating, we weren’t the only ones heating up… Pancho was getting a little too warm. Temperature, elevation, mood, lots of variables in the mix there…

Finally entering the Guanajuato city limits, google maps stopped working right as we approached the underground tunnels… yea…

We didn’t quite know what we were in for driving in Guanajuato. An absolutely stunning city, it was built in a narrow valley, down one mountainside and up the other.

The streets (originally different river beds) were like intertwining spider webs, woven in, under and around the city. Dipping down into tunnels that would branch off in several different directions… Missing the wrong turn meant winding and ‘gophering’ back around, and around.

Up-down, up-down, up-down. Now you see us, now you don’t.

J was magically juggling the gas and break pedals, we were so close, but Pancho was getting pissed…

A guide on the side of the road offered us a free map and generously helped us trace the route we needed to go in order to arrive at our AirBnB (even giving us a business card, offering his own house if we couldn’t find our reservation).

Simultaneously, Alvaro, our AirBnB host was trying to help us, sending direct coordinates to the residence.

Total chaos, sucking in, holding our breath, as we tried to squeeze through the narrow alleys and streets, barely scraping the side mirrors.

J driving, Mozy and me nervously navigating, right as we made it to the right street, Pancho lost his patience, overheated and shut down in the middle of the street.

Hissing, simmering, we came to a halt, stopped on the cobblestones and shrugged our shoulders at the poor guy behind us… you best reverse buddy.

Tempting to let our spirits sink, Alvaro turned our frowns upside down, emerging with ice cold beers while we waited for Pancho to cool off.

Quite an introduction, we had a decompressing moment of silence with our beers in the middle of the street.

Getting to Guanajuato!