¡Hola, Amigos de Castro Valley!

¡Hola, amigos de Castro Valley! We left town just about one year ago, so I thought we’d send along an update. We now live in central Mexico, in the historic town of Guanajuato. The city was founded in 1548 and it’s a UNESCO world heritage site. It has a deep history, as the first major battle of the Mexican war of independence was fought here. It’s a very old and beautiful place to live, and we are running the family bed & breakfast, Casa Zuniga. We miss our friends and neighbors, but honestly, we don’t miss living in the US. We sold all our cars when we left California, so we walk almost everywhere here, we eat (and provide our guests) fresh fruit and vegetables, local ranchero chicken and eggs. We buy those things at small, family-owned tiendas in the El Centro district just down the hill from us. We have the use of a car, but we rarely drive. We were pleasantly surprised to find that there is a large and vibrant LGBTQ community here, due in large part to the University of Mexico campus in town. There are diverse, passionate and socially involved students everywhere. Guanajuato is also a very Catholic city, but honestly that hasn’t been an issue. There is a whole lot of “live and let live” going on around here. There is also music everywhere, all the time, which makes us happy. Guanajuato has parades and festivals seemingly every week. Most have been developed around the Catholic culture, but many are secular events to showcase different aspects of Mexican life. Viva Mexico! We have no school shootings, and gun ownership in general is rare. There are almost no un-housed people. There is no fentanyl problem that I am aware of, at least not in Guanajuato. Life is good here. We recently had a presidential election, and the people of Mexico elected a talented, capable, well-educated woman. It can be done. We also have a female governor in our state of Guanajuato (Guanajuato city is the capitol of the state of Guanajuato.) Our busy time is October through February, and we slow down in May, June & July. If you need a Mexican getaway (and who doesn’t?) you should come visit us during those months and we will take 20% off your room rate. See you soon, nos vemos!  

–Ari Huitzilopochtli & Billy Bradford, Casa Zuniga • Guanajuato, Mexico