GUANAJUATO: crown of Spanish Colonial cities in Mexico highlands! Settled in the 1550's, the city looks like towns in Spain or Italy. Mild climate at 6600 ft above sea level; amazingly cosmopolitan. Annual Festival Cervantino in October with performers from across the world. In the center of Guanajuato within minutes of the Mercado Hidalgo, Alhondiga, Jardin Union, Teatro Juarez; 4 blocks from 'Callejon del Beso' above Plaza de los Angeles, and accessible by car in the Zona Centro. The space Renovated house above the Callejon del Beso and Mercado Hidalgo. We rent the entire house (5 bedrooms, each with en suite bathroom) though the house was constructed initially as two units, one 3-BR or and the other a 2-BR unit - each with their own living room, dining room, kitchen, and powder room. Each unit has it's own private entry but we now leave the units connected on the 1st and 3rd floors. Guest access Entire 5-bedroom house with 2 living rooms, 2 dining areas, 2 kitchens, and a rooftop terrace. Other things to note CASA ROSARITO: this description was written when we renovated the house and thought that we’d rent out the separate units (see below) – but in 5 years we’ve rented out Unit A once, so we’re now only renting the entire house. Just relating the history of why the house has 2 kitchens, 2 dining areas, and 2 living rooms – and why the house descriptions that follow have separate entries for ‘Unit A’ and ‘Unit B’. Rooms and things in Casa Rosarito, Unit A - Los Arcos (updated June 2023): This unit contains a full living room, large dining area, full kitchen, laundry area, powder room (common area toilet), and 3 bedrooms each with an ensuite full bathroom. Please note you must contact Sandra Sandoval, the local property manager, to arrange access to the house. We recommend you contact her when you have worked out your itinerary and know when you’ll be arriving in Guanajuato. FIRST FLOOR (planta baja): La sala (living room – entry from Callejon San Cristobal): entry door is on left side (facing the house); the identical door on the right side doesn’t open to the street. On the entry side, you must unlock the exterior wrought iron security gate, then the interior wooden entry door. The entry is the living room for Unit A, containing a couch, love seat, and upholstered chair, and a flat screen smart TV. Comedor (dining area): a few steps down from the living room through an arched hallway. There’s a built-in trastero (a Mexican equivalent of a china cabinet) which contains dishes for this unit, and a large mesquite dining table with seating for 10. There’s a connecting door to the entry area for Unit B. Cocina (kitchen): a full kitchen adjacent to the dining area, wrapped around a central light well (an open atrium, capped by a skylight on the 4th floor rooftop terrace). The kitchen contains a refrigerator, gas cooktop, electric oven, microwave, double sink, and a dishwasher. The central light well is framed by a large limestone arch opening into the dining area and two smaller limestone arches on the opposite side of the light well leading to the kitchen counter and stairs to the 2nd floor. These three limestone arches, and the three arches in connecting hallway between the living room and the dining area, are what inspired us to name Unit A ‘Los Arcos’ – the arches. Bedroom #1: off the other side of the light well, themed on the graphic artist Jose Guadalupe Posada, the famous caricaturist and printmaker. It contains a double bed and a large ropero (armoire), and has an ensuite full bathroom with shower, toilet, and sink. There’s the mural on upper wall of that bedroom painted by a local art cooperative (Zamer Zamer) inspired by Posada’s works. Between the Posada bedroom and the stairs to the 2nd floor, on the back wall of the light well: Laundry area: contains a clothes washer and a clothes dryer. Powder room: the common area toilet for Unit A, tucked under the stairs at the back of the first floor. SECOND FLOOR: Reading room: extends from the top of the stairs around two sides of the central light well. Contains a desk, chairs, and a bookcase. Bedroom #2: on the stair side of the light well, themed on Olga Costa, the German wife of the muralist Jose Chavez Morado. Contains a double bed and an ensuite full bathroom; the ropero is immediately outside this room’s entry (couldn’t fit this in the bedroom!) at one end of the reading room. Another mural by Zamer Zamer is above the headboard of the bed. Bedroom #3: on the far side of the light well and reading room, themed on Jose Chavez Morado. Contains a king-sized bed, a large ropero and a chest of drawers, and a large ensuite bathroom. The mural above the headboard of the bed is adapted from a Chavez Morado painting. THIRD FLOOR: Half the 3rd floor is an indoor terrace (originally) for Unit A, wrapped around 2 sides of the light well just below the rooftop skylight, facing a large expanse of windows overlooking the city center. There’s rattan furniture with a love seat and two individual seats. The other sides of the light well have frosted glass windows separating it from Unit B. The 2nd connection between Unit A and B is on this floor – a door with frosted glass off the terrace. Rooms and things in Casa Rosarito, Unit B - Buena Vista (updated June 2023): This unit contains a full living room, dining area, full kitchen, laundry area, powder room, and 2 bedrooms each with an ensuite full bathroom. ENTRY: the exterior entrance to Unit B is on the right side of the alley (Callejon Rosarito) on the side of the house, about 20 feet from Callejon San Cristobal (the main street carrying vehicular traffic passing in front of the house). You must unlock the exterior wrought iron security gate, then the interior wooden entry door. The entry area is at the foot of the stairway for Unit B, which ascends to the bedrooms, common area, and ends at the rooftop terrace. The ground floor entry room is essentially just a vestibule, and contains a coat rack just inside the door, and a connecting door to Unit A. SECOND FLOOR: Bedroom #4 (our bedroom count starts with the three bedrooms in Unit A): this bedroom faces Callejon San Cristobal and is themed on Guanajuato’s most famous native artist, Diego Rivera. There’s a queen-sized bed, a large ropero, a cabacera with matching bedside tables carved with alcatraces (calla lilies), French doors opening onto a small balcony, and a full ensuite bathroom. The copper lighting fixtures were custom made by Juan Carlos Suarez in Marfil, and the large painting (by our friend Bob Runyon) hung over the headboard was based on photos taking during the house renovation. A chest at the foot of the bed contains extra sets of towels and sheets for Unit B. THIRD FLOOR: La sala (living room)/comedor (dining area)/cocina (kitchen): this is a large room containing the living room for Unit B with a couch, love seat, and upholstered chair, and a flat screen smart TV; a dining area with a mesquite dining table and chairs seating 6 and a built-in trastero which contains plates and ceramic ware for this unit. There’s a full kitchen with refrigerator, gas cooktop, dishwasher, electric oven, microwave, and a double sink. Off the back end of the kitchen is a common area powder room. There’s frosted glass separating this entire room from the adjacent central light well and the indoor terrace for Unit A, and a door that connects Unit A and Unit B. Bedroom #5: this bedroom faces Callejon San Cristobal and is themed on Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The glory of this room is the boveda ceiling – an arched brick vaulted ceiling – in the bedroom, and a barrel brick vaulted ceiling in the bathroom. There’s a queen-sized bed, a large ropero, cabacera with matching bedside tables carved with desert plants, a chest of drawers, French doors opening onto a small balcony, and a full ensuite bathroom. The brass lighting fixtures were made by Juan Carlos Suarez in Marfil. ROOFTOP TERRACE: There’s a knockout view of the center city above the Mercado Hidalgo and a few hundred meters from the Alhondiga, San Roque church, and Jardin de la Reforma, with views of the University, cathedral, and valley up to Valenciana. There’s a large glass skylight in the center of the rooftop which caps the light well which extends down to the ground floor. Laundry area: on the rooftop, adjacent to the covered pavilion, containing a clothes washer and a gas-powered clothes dryer. An owners and property managers note: the house is thoroughly cleaned between guests, so you don’t need to do any comprehensive cleaning at the end of your visit. However, please do tidy up - put linens and towels in the laundry area(s) – and please don’t put blankets, bedspreads, and pillows in the laundry areas; it would be fine if you simply stripped the beds and left the sheets and pillow cases on the bed. Lastly, take the garbage out or at least to the door prior to your departure – that’s plenty and will limit what you need to do on your last day in the house. We ask for typical check-in times (3pm) and check-out times (11am); if the house is vacant at either end of your stay we are usually OK with earlier check-ins and later check-outs… but only if renters ask so we can plan accordingly with the local property manager and house cleaners. Very late arrivals – past 11pm - are usually not possible for the local property manager. If there’s another party arriving on the day of your departure (we’ll let you know if that’s the case), we’re asking that you allow the housekeeper access to start cleaning by 9am – you can still keep your luggage in the house but they need the extra time to clean and to launder linens. Water: There’s a portagarrafon in each unit: in the dining area in Unit A, and near the refrigerator in Unit B. These hold 5-gallon water bottles – they can be purchased from vendors who walk the street (listen for them shouting ‘agua’) on Wednesdays and Saturdays, or from the little tienda (store) just below our house. We try to keep a couple of water bottles in each unit for renters. If you run out of bottled water, buy a new bottle (trade the empty bottle) from a street vendor or at the store just a few doors done from the front entry of the house – they sell for about 45 pesos a bottle. Propane: 2 large propane gas cylinders are in a locked exterior ‘cabinet’ on the alley (Callejon Rosarito) side of the house. We try to make sure at least one cylinder is full for each renter’s arrival (a full cylinder usually lasts 2 weeks even with a full house). If you run out of gas (gas cooktops won’t light, no hot water, gas-powered clothes dryer not functional), call the property manager and they’ll take care of it. NUMBERS, etc. for Casa Rosarito Street address: La Esquina (corner of) Callejones San Cristobal y Rosarito 12 Colonia Centro Guanajuato, GTO C.P. 36000-CR-36001 Sandra Sandoval, the local property manager, can, if given advance notice and agreement on additional cost, arrange for a driver for pickup at the airport in Leon, for someone to cook meals, or for extra housecleaning. Taxi phone numbers: 734-1026 and 732-9172 For emergencies: 066 – emergency 065 – ambulance 068 – fire Public security 732-0292 and 732-3972 here's the street directions: WARNING: CONSIDER CALLEJON SAN CRISTOBAL TO BE A ‘SUBURBAN-FREE ZONE’ – LARGE SUV-TYPE VEHICLES (LIKE CHEVY SUBURBANS) WILL HAVE GREAT DIFFICULTY NEGOTIATING THREE EXTREMELY NARROW POINTS ON THE STREET – AND IT’S STEEP, ONE-WAY, AND IMPOSSIBLE TO BACK UP OR TURN AROUND ONCE YOU’RE ON THE STREET The house address is #12 Callejon San Cristobal - most call it Callejon but it's also known as Calzado San Cristobal. The same street starts off the Panoramica as Calzado Pozuelos and changes names several times downhill and past our house: Peñitas, San Cristobal, and then Callejon Venado below our house and Calle Barranca nearest downtown. There are several houses labelled ‘#12’ above and below our house – some of these are actually on Peñitas. Our house is on the corner of Callejon San Cristobal (the street you’ll be driving down) and Callejon Rosarito. If you’re coming in Guanajuato through the Bajio International Airport (BJX) in Léon, the easiest way to the house is either in one of the airport concession taxis (flat fee about 500 pesos) or to have Sandra Sandoval arrange for one of her drivers to pick you up (same price, and they know exactly where the houses are). We usually don’t rent a car when spending time in GTO – too difficult to find parking and not much reason to drive in town. The simplest way to get to our house by taxi or car is to go to Plaza Pozuelos (a shopping mall with a La Comer grocery store – a decent place for groceries – and a La Marina department store); the street Calzado Pozuelos starts behind the mall and climbs the Cerro de Gallo, crosses the Panoramica. Then it's literally all downhill about a mile or so to the house, on a road that's extremely narrow in at least 3 spots - it's on the left on a corner, it’s cornflower blue, with second and third storey balconies; there's NO street parking available until you get about 100 feet or so downhill, and then not much more than about a dozen spaces. There are other ways to get to the house (though no other way to end up at the front door by car): 1. you can take a municipal bus (they all have the destinations/routes written on the windshield) or taxi to the Plazuela de Los Angeles and walk through the plazuela and up the Callejon del Beso (which is such a tourist destination that anyone on the street could point you in the right direction) to our street, only a few yards from the Callejon del Beso - it's called Callejon Venado in that area - and turn right; our house is about 100 meters up the street all uphill. 2. you can park in the Estationamiento Patrocinio (one of many municipal parking garages - the fees are over 20 pesos/hour) off the Subterraneo Miguel Hidalgo; on exiting the garage (on foot) turn right, walk through a short tunnel, then climb a set of steps starting on the right up to a small junction of callejones. Take the first callejon on the right up a short block to San Cristobal; turn right and the house is four blocks uphill on the right. 3. similarly, you can park a car in the tunnels or subterranean streets, but most parking in the tunnels is a few hundred yards further than any of the other alternatives above. You can see a lot of the routes described above if you look at mapping apps; you'll probably get a bit frustrated as all the streets and landmarks named do not show up on those apps. And, lastly, you will need to contact Sandra Sandoval to get a set of entry keys - she can make arrangements to meet you at the house, or to meet elsewhere and guide you to the house themselves. Feast of San Antonio de Padua – feast day is June 13, and the weekend during or after the feast day our street is barricaded off the Panoramica and inaccessible by car for a couple of days. There are community meals on the callejon and daily (loud) parades by marching and dancing community groups – most in unique costumes or uniforms ranging from Plains Indian buckskins and head-dresses to semi-Aztecan breechclouts with feathered caps to semi-military garb for the trumpet and drum corps. Festival Cervantino – a cultural festival held for 3 weeks every October – brings at least 20,000 people into town. Our street stays open, but the general street noise (from pedestrians, not vehicles) is louder and continues later. There’s an incredible choice of theatre, opera, jazz, dance, classical music, and street performances; there are 8 or 9 big indoor venues and 5 or 6 outdoor venues, from Valenciana to Marfil. Most are within walking distance of the house in town. If you’re considering going, check the website, buy your tickets early, and be prepared for a tight room or house rental market – we charge an additional ~10% per night during the Cervantino for the house.