GUANAJUATO, MEXICO -- 8

CASA ZUNIGA

As our story on Casa Zuniga draws to a close, we have to note a few things.

First off, Casa Zuniga is not wheelchair accessible.

Perhaps it is odd to heap such praise on such a place in a blog dedicated to barrier-free access and urban walkability/rollability.

The thing is, most of Guanajuato is not wheelchair accessible.

It's pure topography.

Guanajuato makes San Francisco look like the flat filled swamplands of Florida by comparison.

GTO also is a very old place.

Some callejones (alleyways -- there are nearly 4,000 of them in this village) are barely two feet wide.

All of them are series of steep sidewalks and stairs.

GTO was a caregiver's respite for me.

Casa Zuniga is built on a hillside.

You have to walk maybe 50 steps down from Pipila and equal amount within the Casa Z property just to get to your room.

It's that kind of city -- buildings have multiple levels....people just keep building up and out on the hillside until they run out of land held by their family.

I'm sure if he could acquire a site downtown -- where GTO is moderately wheelchair-accessible at the very best -- he would do so.

His raw energy and ingenuity would surely serve wheelers.

The other thing worth noting is that Rick is a bit of an iconoclast and certainly and character.

To 99% of us who love travel and the quirky things you find on the road, that makes him an ideal host.

But I can see where Senor Zuniga's strong personality and opinions could rub somebody the wrong way.

But he's truly a saint. Most innkeepers would do well to offer one tenth of Casa Zuniga's hospitality.

Check them out at:

http://www.casazunigagto.com

casazuniga@yahoo.com

dial 011-52-(473) 732-8546

GUANAJUATO, MEXICO -- 7

CASA ZUNINGA


Rick's tours also include the mines.

Guanajuato was built on silver.

The Spaniards funded their nation on minerals plucked from the rich mines in the hills around Guanajuato.

The silver created a beautiful city lined with plazas, colonial buildings, cathedrals, museums, theaters and more.

The silver also came out on the backs of enslaved indigenous peoples.

Padre Hidalgo, from a nearby town, grew greatly concerned about the plight of such peoples and with others -- who paid for their revolutionary activities with their lives -- rebelled against mother Spain on the very streets of Guanajuato.

The couple in this photo is Bob and Lucy.

They're from New York City and they joined me on a trip down Boca Mina.

The trip is a bit claustrophobic, even though you don't go very far down the mine.

Everybody at the mine -- and every other historic site in town -- knows Rick.

He should run for mayor of GTO.

GUANAJUATO, MEXICO -- 6

CASA ZUNIGA

Rick's tours are another added bonus of staying at the heavenly Casa Zuniga.

You would pay a good $25 US or more for a comparable tour.

Rick does 'em for fee.

By the by, Rick is in his 60s and has a post-polio condition that leaves him in a lot of pain after walking.

But he's in better shape than most 30 year olds and he simply needs a day before head's up to do some stretching and he's ready to walk you to death (in a good way).

My first tour was a tag along with a young couple traveling through Central Mexico. She's from London and he's a Dubliner -- they're in the photo above.

We took off on foot, down those narrow, twisting, historic craggy steps and sidewalks filled with history.

My pausing to take photos robbed me of some of Rick's fabulous storytelling.

His love of all things GTO is obvious.

He lives and breathes the history of one of the most important cities in all of Mexico.

He loves to wander along the callejones and point out the amazing things that have taken place -- from floods to the start of the revolution against Spain.

GUANAJUATO, MEXICO -- 5

CASA ZUNINGA

Casa Zuniga has another super-duper bonus.

Its located footsteps from the only funicular in town.

Folks who grew up in Pittsburgh or other hilly towns will know that a funicular is a sort of loving elevator or inclined rail car.

It allows lazy, portly folks like this writer to avoid walking what seems like a quarter mile up twisting, endless steps and passageways to make it from downtown up the hill to Casa Z.

The funicular runs from about 7 a.m. to about 10 p.m. and its costs little more than a dollar US.

But you don't even have to pay!

Rick buys tons of punch cards for you!

The cards have about 10 rides on them and the funicular attendants take out a hole punch and literally punch your ticket once for each ride down or up.

If you run low, Rick's around to give out more cards.

So if you're afraid of practicing your Spanish, you don't even have to worry about buying a funicular ticket en espanol.

For the record, you should try out your Spanish -- don't be an ugly American.

For the record, part II -- Rick speaks perfect English, as does his wife Carmen.

The live in the San Francisco Bay area, so any gringos worried about language barrier need not.

And because it's their home, Rick and Carm are always around to help.

The City itself is pretty espanol-dominated.

San Miguel de Allende is the gringo town about an hour's drive away.

Guanajuato -- or GTO as the locals abbreviate it -- is full of students and visitors.

Many of the visitors are professionals from Mexico City or other areas.

So the shops, restaurants and museums function in Spanish.

Picking up some lingo on the streets of Miami equipped me perfectly for conducting all tourism matters in town.

GUANAJUATO, MEXICO -- 4

CASA ZUNIGA


The view from Casa Zuniga is so perfect, they could charge $10 bucks to outsiders just to watch the sunrise and sunset over the magnificent colonial city of Guanajuato...which covers every hillside and rolls down into the valley below Casa Z.

Just about every room at the Casa features a window with a million dollar view. The ones that cost a few bucks more have fabulous patios -- but the grounds have lots of common areas for spectacular viewing, so even a piker can take pictures like a pro from many vantage points.

Guanajuato gets rain in the summer, but the rest of the year it is pretty dry.

The summer is like Los Angeles, but without the traffic and smog.

I went in November and the days were in the mid 70s and the nights got down around 40 degrees.

That was cold to my Miami bones, but perfect weather for those from just about anywhere else in North America.

Casa Zuniga has fans, not air conditioners.

With all the breezes that blow through it, I can't imagine it getting too hot even midday in the summer when the temps could reach the high 80s.

Casa Z does not have central or individual heating. No place in Guanajuato does.

My room had about 6 layers of sheets, blankets, comforters, etc., so I never got cold.

But Rick, remembering my trepidation about near freezing night temps in an email I zapped a month before booking.

I came back up town to Casa Z one frigid evening to find a space heater purchased just for me and set up in the room.

Would a Ritz Carlton go to this length for a guest paying 10 times what I did at Casa Z?

I doubt it.

GUANAJUATO, MEXICO -- 3

CASA ZUNINGA


Casa Zuniga rooms start as low as about $60 US per night.

But rather than a low-ball hidden cost that has hidden extras, Casa Zuniga rooms are the opposite -- they come with so many extras that you would darn near pay $60 US just for those bonuses that don't include a quiet, huge, beautiful room to sleep in.

First off, the taxes are included in the price.

The biggest room is maybe $100 US per night.

When you wake up, you see the kitchen going 100 miles an hour, working at least 90 minutes to make your breakfast from scratch.

Breakfast at Casa Zuniga features foods that most gringos think of as dinner food -- enchiladas, pieces of beef, chicken, huge bowls of beans, guacamole and tons of other gut busting but perfect food stuffs.

There are some eggs, fruits, juices, coffees and breads for those who crave more familiar breakfast-type grub.

They even fried up some bacon for this homesick gringo on his next to last day of a 6-day, 5-night stay.

Right off the bat, Rick asked about food allergies, likes, dislikes....I told him it's not like they kill me, but onions flip flop on my belly and eggs really give me tummy troubles.

Just like that, I had chilies rellenos without the customary egg batter outside.

Each day, the wonderful gals in the kitchen made me my own little sin cebolla (without onions) guacamole.

I felt guilty about such kindness and luxury visited on lazy old me.

GUANAJUATO, MEXICO -- 2

CASA ZUNIGA

When you approach the outskirts of Guanajuato, tell your cabbie you want to be dropped off at Pipila (pee-pee-lah) a huge stone statue that everyone knows.

Pipila, whether myth or real man, was a local hero of the independence.

Next from the towering, lit monument to Pipila, is Casa Zuniga -- where proprietor Rick Zuniga is a hero to all travelers.

Casa Zuniga is an inn that is sort of like a large house...but each room has its own bathroom, shower, lockable door, etc.

So you get the best of both worlds -- hotel class accommodations with B&B charm and friendliness.

Rick is a no nonsense guy.

If you start emailing him questions that sound like you're more inclined to want to stay at a Holiday Inn, he has no trouble directing you to such accommodations.

Carmen, Rick's wife, is the other half of the Casa Zuniga team.

She is a quiet, steadying force to Rick's Energizer Bunny-like movements, enthusiasm and constantly running deadpan commentary.

GUANAJUATO, MEXICO -- 1

CASA ZUNIGA


Mexico. Oft-maligned, today it conjures up every ugly American's nightmare of a place where you walk out for coffee and wake up with one of your vital organs harvested.

While there certainly are many places with crime problems inflicting unspeakable horribles on the locals and scaring off cultural visitors aplenty, Guanajuato is NOT one of them.

From the States, you fly into Leon airport -- a very small, no nonsense place with clean shops, good security and helpful staff -- and catch a taxi to Guanajuato.

There's a taxi stand where you prepay...so you don't get the price hiked and you get a pre-screened driver for safety.

The cabbie may push the speed limit, but that is the only lawlessness you'll see on the way to Guanajuato.