In from NYC, I took my wife's family who are local to Guadalajara last night. We were all really excited. I love history, great stories, and visiting attractions such as these. A cemetery can tell you a lot about a culture, and this one in particular is interesting because of its age, as well as its proximity to an old hospital, medical school, autopsy lab, experimental lab for infectious diseases, etc.
My problem is not with the Panteon de Belen itself, but with the TOUR.
We got tickets for the 11:30PM tour... you've got to get there around 7PM to get the tickets. The government's website for the attraction, http://sic.gob.mx/ficha.php?table=museo&table_id=1611, says that adults pay $62.50 pesos. When we got there, we paid something like 77 pesos.
The place itself, is incredible, I really want to go back during the day; however, the tour was really boring and frustrating for me, as my Spanish is quite poor. Generally, if someone is speaking clearly, properly, and not too quickly, I can completely get the gist of what's being said. I would expect that kind of guide on a tour run by gov't. While I thought this tour guide was good, and everyone seemed to love her, she spoke in local slang (according to my family here) and very quickly, making 4 words sound like 1.
My biggest problem with the tour, actually, was the size of the group. There were about 50 of us. I don't know the exact max # of people allowed on a tour, but I think that 20 should be the max for an event like this. When I was able to get close enough to the guide to see her use of her hands to describe things, see her speak, I was better able to understand things. However, when I couldn't get physically close to her, it was pretty hopeless for me. There were about a half dozen stops around the Panteon, and on about half of them, we were told to leave our flashlights OFF. I couldn't really see anything interesting at that point, so I had to stand and wait, usually for about 20 minutes till we got moving to the next stop.
Some of the stuff the guide was saying (as translated by my wife) was pretty bogus, and mostly just spooky fun for young people... that a vampire died there, and they buried him under a pomegranate tree, and they say that it's his blood that taints the fruit of the tree... pretty dumb. Or they pointed out that you could see the image of a man among the efflorescence stains of the masonry wall, about 15 feet above ground. Just ridiculous stuff.
Other things sounded really cool, and I really regret that I didn't take a tour in English, even at a much higher expense. There are other stories that I could share here, like the one about the baby who's buried above ground, but I won't spoil it for you because hopefully you speak Spanish better than I do, or have the good sense to ask for a tour in your native language.
If you're in my boat, and you're more interested in the place itself, as opposed to a "spooky midnight tour of a cemetery," go and see it during the day. If, however, you insist on seeing it at night, BRING A FLASHLIGHT (the crappy ones that they sell there for 20 pesos are HORRIBLE, basically good for seeing things in your closet at home, not a cemetery at night), and note... at night you may NOT use any cameras, including your cell phone. During the day, you may take photos, but without a flash. read more
