Guanajuato, Mexico is known for its mummies. It is a dry area (although I’ve been caught in a few rain storms in Guanajuato), and there are natural chemicals in the ground which allow for a quick mummification process. The mummies you can find in the museum (El museo de las momias) are all modern mummies. I don’t think the oldest mummy is more than about a hundred years old even though no new ones have been dug up in over 50 years.

The mummy museum of Guanajuato features the world’s smallest mummy (on the right). The baby mummy pictured above, and its mother, died during the birthing process. It looks fairly large in this picture, but in real life it is only a few inches in height.

Ever heard of dying with your boots on? The guy in the above photo didn’t quite meet that saying, but he did die with his socks on, and they haven’t moved ever since.

Posted on November 25th, 2008 under Other. Tags: guanajuato, mexico, museums. Comments: 5

My first night in Mexico was spent at a hotel in Toluca. The next day I had meetings at Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México. After our meetings my colleagues (from Canada and New York) and I were taken to a local professor’s home in Metepec. The interior, pictured above, was amazingly beautiful I thought. Maybe it was just the high-quality tequila I was being served, but I remember being dazzled by the place.

The dinner table conversation was most unusual. Only one person there could only speak English (my colleague from New York). Several Mexicans could only speak Spanish. But most of us could speak two languages. The interesting thing is that those two languages weren’t English and Spanish. Three people could only speak French and Spanish. One (from Montreal) could only speak French and English. One Mexican could only speak Spanish and Japanese having lived in Japan for several years while in college. I can’t speak any Spanish. So there were two or three conversations going on in Spanish, two going on in French, one was happening in English, and mine was happening in Japanese. It was a wonderful meal and experience that I will never forget.

Posted on November 24th, 2008 under Other. Tags: mexico. Comments Off on Metepec, Mexico house