More wandering

If you can believe it there is even more to see in Guanajuato. My very favorite thing to do is find a small, off the beaten path museum which shocks and thrills me with it's eclectic collection. I hit the jackpot here in GTO. In the lower section of the university was a display of specimens that had been collected in Mexico back in the mid 1700s. It must have been Spanish scientist who originally caught and stuffed all these creatures. It's hard to believe they could have survived intact for so long.



That mountain lion is more than 200 years old. Ancient alligators, monkeys making scary faces,


Stuffed birds, including two eagles


Skunk!


The absolute most shocking thing was this "mermaid baby" in a bottle from the 1700s. If you scroll back to the first photo of the glass cases you can see it was on the top shelf.


There were also two headed cats, calves and sheep. I really wasn't expecting this! Whoa!
After visiting another church way up in the hills, we found a rock shop. Mining is a big deal around here so the shop had an interesting collection of rocks!









Next we made our way to Santa Cecilia castle which I believe was constructed to feed the cities deep need for things related to Cervantes and Don Quixote. They have a big festival in GTO every year to honor him.


This would be the perfect place to stay as it is a cool castle with a swimming pool, gardens and a playground. We ate lunch here and it was very good and not expensive.


Lastly, we also checked out the Don Quixote museum which has two floors of art related to the famous Man of La Mancha. In case you are wondering, Cervantes was a Spaniard who wrote this tale, set in Spain, back in the 1600s. Someone here in Mexico began collecting stuff related to it and it ended up becoming a museum. Hmmm.


Here is my fav piece in the museum. Love it.


Having spent a little over three weeks, I am sadly leaving the beautiful and mysterious country of Mexico. I truly think it is one of the most wonderful places in the world. The natural beauty, the culture, the people, the way of life, they have so much to offer. I know there are problems here, but there's a lot to love. Hasta luego, amigos.

Location:Guanajuato, Mexico