May 5, 2007

The fireworks on El Dia de la Santa Cruz started at 5:30 am in the morning. Awakened by the clamour, groggy Adrienne thought we were under attack.

While we ate our desayuno, our home-stay "mother", Señora Maria Elena Prado, told us in Spanish that the May 2 festivities were to honour Mexico's construction workers.

A few hours later as we walked through the Plaza de le Paz on our way to our classes at Escuela Mexicana Guanajuato, we were met with men and young boys streaming into el centro carrying foot-long crosses wrapped in flowers. A thick crowd had also gathered in front of Basilica de Nuestra Senora Guanajuato.

A few days earlier Señora Prado had celebrated El día de los Niños (Day of the Child) with her grown daughters and five-year old grandson. A few days later her family would return, this time for El Dia de Madre (Mother’s Day).

We aren’t surprised to learn that May and September are the two months in Mexico with the most holidays or fiestas.

After camping for most of our trip (including our first night in Guanajuato at the Morrill Trailer Park), Señora Prado’s home feels like a five-star hotel.

We have our own bedroom and bathroom, and use of the internet and laundry facilities.

Each day, Señora Prado, an exceedingly gracious single mother of five, feeds us a hot desayuno before school, followed by a large comida in the early afternoon, and then a light cena before bed, often cheese quesadillas served with a bowl of homemade guacamole and salsa. At each meal, she sits with us and patiently speaks to us Spanish.

In the busy summer season she hosts up to six students. Right now, it’s just us and Jenny, a 20-year old college student from Wisconsin who is spending a semester at the Universidad de Guanajuato to refine her already strong Spanish skills.

In order to reach the cobblestone streets of the Cerra Del Curto, the neighborhood at the top of one of Gunajuato’s famed hills where Señora Prado lives, we must climb up 147 steep stairs - past the university law school, the movie theatre, dozens of houses and a couple of corner stores -on the narrow Callejon Penasco.

It is a grueling ascent that always leaves us panting, but the top of the callejon offers unbeatable vistas to take in the massive El Piplia statute, the domes of magical 16th century churches and the brilliant colours of the houses on the next hill over.

Key Facts & Figures:

-Morrill Trailer Park: $12/night
-Homestay (two people): $36/day