Regresamos a Guanajuato...

From the 8th through the 14th of March 2005, we visited León, Silao, and Guanajuato in the state of Guanajuato, México. The main reason for our journey was Corona Rally México 2005, but of course there was much more to it than that. Everyone was great; the Rally Travel group we were with, and especially all the people we met along the way. At the Arrancado Ceremonial on Thursday in the theatre district of Guanajuato, the mayor of the city of Guanajuato especially thanked the people of Guanajuato for making this possible, and while one's mileage may of course vary regarding things spoken by politicians in general, he was completely right---the people we met were absolutely lovely. It was indeed a severe case of I LOVE EVERYTHING.

With that in mind, here are some photos from Wednesday, 9th March 2005, where we spent some time on a walking tour of the historical district of the city of Guanajuato, which is the capital of the state of Guanajuato. This is without question the most touristy thing we did, but it was still fascinating---so much so that the photos won't do it justice, no matter how good they are. As always, click on these thumbnails to see a larger version of each photo.

Here is the entrance to the Museo y Casa de Diego Rivera. Aside from some early works of his, you can also see his cradle if you go inside; this is his hometown, after all.

Here is one of the many cobbled streets we walked along. The genesis and growth of the city was mainly influenced by two things: the silver mining industry and the Rio Guanajuato. What you see when you walk the streets is largely a result of these two things. There is a large maze of underground tunnels where much of the automobile traffic goes, but cars and people alike walk and roll in the narrow cobbled streets, taking turns. Gorgeous, definitely something to keep one in decent shape, and not a place you want to be if you're handicapped.

Here is a stage where the estudiantinas from the Universidad de Guanajuato often perform, amongst other visiting theatrical troupes from around the country and the world. Our guide told us that it gets craziest in this area in October, when the Festival Internacional Cervantino is going on. This city is all about the Cervantes love; one of the museums we visited (no photos or videos allowed) was in fact the Museo Iconográfico del Quijote, which used to be a private dwelling but became a museum housing works based on the story of Don Quijote in the late 80s. It's an amazing collection of Quijote-related works from around the world and throughout time, in many different media, and I can't even begin to tell you how breathtaking some of the works were.

Here is another view off to the side of that stage. There doesn't seem to be a bad view in this city, to be honest.

We also stopped in the Callejón del Beso. One thing the page linked in the sentence before this one doesn't mention is that apparently the big issue Carmen's father had was that Luis was incredibly poor. Also, if you're a couple and you visit this alley, it is allegedly incredibly good luck to kiss there and incredibly bad luck if you don't. Though with the legend being what it is, I'm not sure exactly where the good luck comes in. =)

Here are some images of the outside of the Museo Alhóndiga de Granaditas. It used to be a granary in the late 18th century, but became instrumental in México's battle for independence. In 1810, rebel forces stormed the granary where supporters of Spanish rule had barricaded themselves. This victory was short, however, as later that same year, four of the leaders of the independence movement were beheaded and had their heads hung in cages from hooks at the four corners of the outside of the granary to serve as a message to all other would-be supporters of the rebellion. The hooks are still on display, though the building is now a museum of history. Down the street from where we stood is now a gigantic market, which you can sort of see in the second photo.

Somewhat fittingly after that, our guide took us in a cable car up the mountain to visit the statue of El Pipila (and look down on the city of Guanajuato from above, after having wandered around in its streets for a few hours). Why fitting? El Pipila (Juan José de los Reyes Martínez) broke down the door to the granary, thus allowing the rebels entrance. Here are some photos from the cable car trip, as well as one of the statue of El Pipila.

Finally, while this photo was taken looking out at the parking area near the statue of El Pipila, it's really more representative of most of the cars we saw while we were in the state of Guanajuato. There were tons of things we don't get in the US, but I'd say at least 80% of the cars we saw were VWs. Also a fair amount of Opels rebadged as Chevys, some Mercedes A-classes, several Seats, some Peugeots and Renaults, many Mercedes busses and trucks, a couple of MINIs (apart from the Red Bull one, which I'll post photos of at a later date)...and some Hyundai we don't get here, either. What astounded Spaz most of all was all the Mk I VWs we saw that were in unbelievably great shape, as you can sorta see in the photo below. We expected all the old-style Beetles, because México didn't stop building (and selling) them until a couple of years ago---but we hadn't expected the deluge of Mk Is.

This concludes the most touristy portion of our trip. Succeeding photos (and .MOV files) of Corona Rally México 2005 shall be posted in the following days; watch this space. Also watch Joe's Garage, as he took even more photos than I did. You may want to give us both time to sort and post them all, though---we took an awful lot. Did I mention it was an absolutely brilliant trip? Because it really was.

it's called "target" marketing for a reason

Right.

Could someone please explain to me what, exactly, the McDonald's corporation expects to accomplish by creating I Am Asian.com?

Two things immediately come to mind. One, do people actually buy this crap? Do people of the particular target market at which a given ad is aimed actually see it and go "Hey, McDonald's is cool, like me! They know what I'm about! They understand my culture! I should eat there, like a good little [insert ethnicity here]"? I somehow doubt it. While I'm often guilty of wondering just how stupid people can be, I seriously doubt anyone is THAT stupid. Seriously. (And I hope I'm not proven wrong on this point, though I fear I shall be, having stated it like this. XD)

Two, when you reach the sort of saturation level of a multinational corporation such as McDonald's, do you even NEED to advertise anymore? It's to the point where McDonald's is nearly synonymous in international minds and across language barriers with "fast food." As to what that "fast food" actually entails, your mileage will of course vary by region, country, and etc., but it's a lot like the term "photocopy" often being replaced by "Xerox" in normal speech. Or "tissue" being replaced by "Kleenex." These brands have transcended association with a brand of an item and have come instead to be understood as synonymous with all instances of that item, whether you actually photocopy your documents on a Xerox-brand photocopier or a Toshiba, or whether you blow your nose with Kleenex, Puffs, or your local generic equivalent.

When you reach that point in your growth as a hideously oversized behemoth of a corporation, what is the POINT? I mean, other than showing how grossly out of touch you are and pissing off as many of your potential customers* as you can?

At what point does overadvertising become counterproductive, regardless of stupidity of content? Do ad agencies actually ever believe it does?

I think I've reached the point where it's really their utter cluelessness in their blatant shilling efforts that's most primarily offensive. :P

* = Apart from the ones who would already be pissed off because they've Done Reading About You and have some sort of social conscience dictating the direction of their anger?

forgotten bits of usefulness

in writing up the bike show we went to over the weekend, i completely forgot to mention the demonstration of Luma Locks we saw. provided i do go for a scoot with at least a front disc brake, they should work for my purposes, too. which would make me feel at least somewhat better---though it wouldn't make the scoot any less easy to lift, i suppose. still, they seem like an awfully good idea. for Spaz' Monster, too, of course. ;)

protect yourself!

the MINI people are at it again.

check out Counterfeitmini.org and learn how to protect yourself from imposter MINIs! XD

[ETA: i can't believe i missed out on this, but in case any of you did as well, on this lovely Love Day, i present you with Hello Cthulhu. in case you doubted my feelings for you. XD]

[ETA^2: right. the Franz Ferdinand performance last night? Mssr. McCarthy looks an awful lot like Special Agent Dale Cooper playing a guitar. that's all i'm saying...XD]

STELLA~~~!

we paid a visit to the Cycle World International Motorcycle Show in Conventia, the Convention Hall Planet Rosemont yesterday. Spaz took tons of photos, many of which i'm sure will show up over at Joe's Garage soon.

the show was crowded, as was to be expected, but not too crowded, thankfully. tons of interesting stuff to look at, including more scooters than i'd expected. Honda brought along a Helix, some, Metropolitans (heh), Ruckus + Big Ruckus...but no Reflex, so i couldn't make the Duran Duran jokes i was dying to make. someone on the ChiScoot list mentioned that they'd make over a Helix into a TRON light cycle if they had a million dollars. me, i do believe i'd have to do some really ludicrous Duran Duran theme with a Reflex. or at least go ask Christopher Walken if he'd let me take a photo of him sitting on one while wearing a blonde wig. XD

anyrate, Yamaha brought along some Vinos, a Zuma, and a Majesty. the Majesty is an absolute BOAT. i hadn't seen one in person before, and photos tell one NOTHING about the relative size of a scoot, i've found.

there was (surprisingly) an Aprilia booth, right next to which was the Moto Guzzi booth. Spaz sat on a Futura, which was really nice, and i got to examine the Atlantic 500 in person (another boat! sheesh! i don't know how you'd even begin to handle something that HUGE! then again, i'm barely over 5', so...XD). no Atlantic 200 for me to ogle some more (it's so gorgeous ;.;), but various Scarabeo and even the SR 50 Ditech were in attendance.

Scooterworks had a booth set up, which i'd known...with a couple of nice Stellas and a restored Vespa 150 (unsure on the year). the lime-green Stella had an awesome matching sidecar, and while i mostly didn't feel the need to take photos (because Spaz took really nice photos of everything i'd wanted to take photos of, and his camera takes nicer photos than mine anyway XD), i wish i'd taken some of this. that sidecar was great. ^^

shockingly, we found i was actually able to sit on a 2005 Monster 620 at the Ducati booth...and touch the ground! with feet flat! the ride height had obviously been lowered, and was quite a bit lower than Spaz' Monster's is. it was weird, though. i'm so used to being too short. XD there were tons of little kids crawling all over the displays, too, and parents sticking their kids on the bikes so they could examine them. there were these two young boys who were obviously brothers on the Monster and the 998 (i think it was a 998? can't remember now) next to it that were great. later on, a dad stuck his little girl on the Monster while we were standing there. couldn't have been more than 6 years old. it was great. ^^

there were some OLD Moto Guzzis and Nortons back in one corner, as part of some club's display. those were really cool. it was nice to see the Buell Firebolt in person, too. Ducati had a DesmoQuattro engine on display for people to examine, and i was highly amused (for some reason) at the Denso clutch on the thing (possibly cos thoughts of Denso lead to thoughts of Gran Turismo, which lead to thoughts of the latest Sniff Petrol? XD).

strangely, Suzuki didn't seem to have a Burgman in attendance. i'm sure it's just as boaty as its comparative models at Honda and Yamaha, but i still wouldn't have minded seeing it and going, "...look! personal watercraft!" the Honda Silverwing is nuts. again, can't see handling something that big. there was one at Givi's booth, too, demonstrating one of their top boxes and hard sidebags (and possibly a tank bag, i think).

way in the back was Triumph and the MV Agusta booths, which we nearly missed. glad we managed to find them before we left, because i'd never had the privilege of seeing an MV Brutale Dark in person before. that is one unbelievably gorgeous bike. shockingly (well, not really), several of the MVs on display came from MCC, although the reps there weren't anyone Spaz recognised. directly across the way was the Husqvarna booth...which, truth be told, neither of us is really into off-road stuff, but i just love saying "Husqvarna." say it with me; it's a fun name! XD

next up, and perhaps more coherent: the 2005 Chicago Auto Show. stay tuned...