The main news this week was that our director, Brad Wilcox, visited us. He got into León on Wednesday night, and I met him in Irapuato. Unfortunately, there was some sort of tractor convention going on in Irapuato, so he had gone all the way back to León to spend the night after finding all local hotels full. They were pretty booked through Friday night, which ended up influencing our plans. We met with INEA on Thursday morning, which was a pretty productive meeting, and then headed out to the villages. I took Brad around to meet all the host families. He’s very big and jolly. Lots of hugs and compliments for everyone. We spontaneously decided to pack up and take off in his rental car that night, instead of just taking a day trip on Friday as we had planned.
Our first stop was the city of Guanajuato, which is where we went to the Cervantino festival a few weeks ago. We all wanted to go back to see some more of the city by day, instead of just the crowded, fiesta-filled streets. After spending the night there, we visited the birthplace of Diego Rivera, which had a lot of his artwork in the upper floors of the house. I’ve never really looked at any of his work besides his murals, but he experimented with a startling number of styles and media. He has a lot of depictions of Mexican campesinos, which I especially liked. We also visited an old armory (now museum), which was taken by Miguel Hidalgo and a bunch of peasant rebels in the Mexican Revolution. Hidalgo himself was ultimately beheaded, but the revolution was obviously successful. Our final stop was the Pípila, which is a statue on a hilltop with an amazing view of the city.
From there, we went on to Dolores Hidalgo to spend Friday night. We didn’t do a lot of sight-seeing there, beyond the main square and the church there. That’s the city from which Miguel Hidalgo started his revolutionary course, gathering up men to fight as he went. He started with only 700, which grew to 20,000 in just one month (that’s just a trivia side note for anyone interested).
Brad brought us back to Irapuato Saturday morning, and flew out of León that afternoon. It was nice to have a break from the routine, and to have his words of encouragement (and BYU taffies…mmmmmm). The main activity for the rest of the weekend was Stake Conference.
Our first stop was the city of Guanajuato, which is where we went to the Cervantino festival a few weeks ago. We all wanted to go back to see some more of the city by day, instead of just the crowded, fiesta-filled streets. After spending the night there, we visited the birthplace of Diego Rivera, which had a lot of his artwork in the upper floors of the house. I’ve never really looked at any of his work besides his murals, but he experimented with a startling number of styles and media. He has a lot of depictions of Mexican campesinos, which I especially liked. We also visited an old armory (now museum), which was taken by Miguel Hidalgo and a bunch of peasant rebels in the Mexican Revolution. Hidalgo himself was ultimately beheaded, but the revolution was obviously successful. Our final stop was the Pípila, which is a statue on a hilltop with an amazing view of the city.
From there, we went on to Dolores Hidalgo to spend Friday night. We didn’t do a lot of sight-seeing there, beyond the main square and the church there. That’s the city from which Miguel Hidalgo started his revolutionary course, gathering up men to fight as he went. He started with only 700, which grew to 20,000 in just one month (that’s just a trivia side note for anyone interested).
Brad brought us back to Irapuato Saturday morning, and flew out of León that afternoon. It was nice to have a break from the routine, and to have his words of encouragement (and BYU taffies…mmmmmm). The main activity for the rest of the weekend was Stake Conference.
This is just...Mexico.
Me with Angela overlooking the beautiful city of Guanajuato. The sun was totally blinding, hence the squinty-ness.
P.S. Thank you to Matt´s various relatives for leaving me blog comments :)
4 comments:
Hey--I have lots of comments, but I don't want to embarrass you. I love the blog, especially the photos. I thought your house painting was brilliant, and that it was likewise brilliant to take a "before" photo. Keep blogging. I'll try to get some relatives to comment.
Hey, Em --
It was nice to hear your description of places we visited with you and the group in the summer of 2006. I actually have sense of what the place is like.
Not to change the subject . . . but an interesting first impression I had of Hanoi when Mom and I arrived there last week was that it reminded me of Mexico. The people look a lot different, of course, but the outskirts of the big city, as well as the smaller towns we drove through, display the same kind of multiple small storefronts, often rather run down, with incongruous pictures of glamorous models in front of scruffy little beauty salons and clothing stores. When one walks around during the day, there are many differences, but on that first evening, I had the sense of having been to a place like this before. -- Dad
Hi, Emily! Gram here.
Brad Wilcox is a member of our ward, his mom a good friend. I am delighted that you had such a pleasant time when he was there and that you were able to go sightseeing some more.
Knowing Brad, I'm certain that his visit was uplifting.
I love your blog and your photos! Your tan is becoming to you. I hope I am doing this right, commenting on your blog, I mean. I hope you are getting my emails, Em.
I'm glad you had a great time with Bro. Wilcox. He was Matt's mission president in Chile - we met he and Sis. Wilcox last Christmas - wonderful family!!
I was also glad to see the before and after pictures of the painted house. Matt described it in his email but it was nice to see the colors and the stars!
Keep smiling:)
- Matt's mom
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