¡Guanajuato!

¡Llegamos! We have arrived in Guanajuato!

The road to Guanajuato and through the heart of Mexico (in the photo above) is beautiful - green, rugged, textured with cactus and brush whose names we have yet to learn - and the scenery was made all the more dramatic by shifting thunderstorms and periodic rain.

Along the road from Matehuala, we drove through the altiplano, a high valley plain, and for miles the road was lined with tiny thatched huts and mysterious roadside stands. The stands featured long, transparent snake skins hanging from small bottles of golden oil - snake oil, we wondered? And there were hides of various desert animals and heaps of cut cactus, and then giant billboards declaring: Don't damage the wildlife. It was a strange stretch of road.

When we turned west off interstate 57 toward Dolores Hidalgo, the roadside stands instead featured fresas y cajetas - little baskets of strawberries.

We were driving along the Ruta de Independencia, 2010, as many road signs declared. 2010 is Mexico's bicentennial, and central Mexico is the heart of Mexico's independence movement. And we felt like we were on our own ruta de indpendencia for 2010 as we travelled down the road to this new adventure.

Marcos, the husband of our landlady, said to us this afternoon as he pointed to just one landmark in the town, "Guanajuato es lleno de historia." Guanajuato is filled with stories.