La Cuña de Independencia

Well, we found out why the frist two rooms we were shown were interior rooms. We chose the “outside” room as it is a two-room room and we have two balconies and it simply seemed so quaint. It was REALLY quaint until the night. At 9pm there was a light and sound show at the church (where Hidalgo issued his “Grito” of independence) which pretty much enacted the grito with MUCH noise and sound. That was followed by what sounded like a parade of Harley Davidsons right outside our windows. The balcony doors really don’t close all the way; there is a nice gap at the bottom (for air flow, I assume). So not only did we get to enjoy the sound of the loud autos but also the exhaust. Yummy! The Harleys or very many autos with bad or non-existant mufflers (now I know why we pass SO MANY muffler shops on the road) were interspersed with Very Loud Rap Playing Autos. We could feel the vibrations before the music arrived.

We enjoyed a nice interlude of quiet until the iglesia began to sound the bells. Oh My Goodness.Not content to sound them a few times, we counted, each time they sounded it 40-50 times and seemed to be every 30 minutes to an hour. This began before dawn and ended at about 8am. The desk clerk said it was to notify people of masses. I asked him why the bells sounded 40-50 times and he just laughed. What a silly question, gringa.

(sissy took this picture)We’re considering staying another night as WE HAVE LIVE TOUR COVERAGE IN OUR HOTEL ROOM. At this very minute, we’re watching the last 20km of Stage 7! Stuey’s in the front, Go OZ!

We’re having a bit of trouble getting out of our trailer park; the rains have made the ground so soft that I actually got stuck twice just driving the van out. We’re hoping for a couple days of hot sun and no rain and we still may not get out. Yet another reason that we’re in our lovely Dolores Hidalgo. If we have to be stuck somewhere, we’re more than happy to spend the time in Dolores.

Jamie got to see the Tour LIVE this morning and after having a particularly wonderful ride to the foothills of Guanajuato (got to find out what range that is) we decided to spend another day here in Dolores. We’re feeling absolutely and positively PAMPERED here in a HOTEL! We’re dreading the campanas of the iglesia this morning (according to the desk clerk, they are at 5:40am and 6:40 am, but I could SWEAR they were every 30 min from 4am on) but the location is so worth it.

The kids and I chatted forever with a wonderful Indian woman selling roasted corn and painted some ceramics with another woman while Jamie was riding. We made friends with another family who is having a wedding tomorrow in the iglesia. We visited the house of Hidalgo and the Museum of Independence (here in Dolores) this morning and the children are thoroughly “historied up”.