How to Find English Tour Guides in Guanajuato

A few years ago, while I was sitting with the wife in Guanajuato, Mexico's El Jardin de la Union doing what I do best-resting- I saw three lovely and charming lady retirees from Australia. I knew they were Australians from their accents. I stopped them for a little chat. I love talking with Aussies and these three were a hoot and a half. I was doing research (from a park bench) for my newest, yet-to-be-released book, A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel, and wanted the Three Musketeers Australians' opinion on touring Guanajuato.

Through the chitchat with them, I gathered they loved the city, were enjoying their stay, and would indeed come back for a return visit. They even said they would bring some of their other friends the next time. However, and there always is a "however", what they did not like was the fact the city had too few English-speaking employees in the service industry. This was a point well taken.

I've written extensively in other articles about why Americans who choose to expatriate to Mexico should become fluent in Spanish. I've also acknowledged, and still believe today, that the monolingual tourist is another breed altogether; one the tourist industry in the city of Guanajuato should accommodate. If you plan to move and live here permanently, then you should learn not just a little Spanish, but achieve the highest degree of proficiency in Spanish as possible. If you are coming for a visit, through knowing "some" Spanish would be useful, it shouldn't have to be mandatory.

I know there are those who might disagree with me. But, the point is, if a Mexican city wants to woo the American, Canadian, Australian, and anyone else who is not fluent in Spanish, then those within the service and tourist industries should get on the bilingual stick and learn some English. This will bring more and more tourists wanting to spend their Dollars or Euros or whatever to your city.

When you go to visit the resort areas, or the Prime Living Locations for American expats, you will be immediately startled at the number of English-speaking locals. I found this an exceedingly fetching idea for the tourism factor and not so good a thing for the expatriation factor. Whatever position you take on the expat not learning Spanish, we can at least agree that the locals will attract more tourists if they learn English to give the visitors a smoother and easier vacation in Mexico.

About a year ago, I got the first hint that someone in Guanajuato was beginning to get the big picture. I was walking to the post office when I happened upon a truck driver picking up a very large shipment from the post office. With his "dolly", the driver and a post office worker were loading multiple boxes of a renowned home or self-study English as a Second Language course into the truck. This was something on the level of the Pimsleur Language Products or the Learn Spanish Like Crazy courses. A very good sign.

Then, most recently, I've spotted a small sandwich sigh in El Jardin Plaza advertising English-speaking tours. This is something new, the sign at least, and bodes well for the tourist industry. I have friends and family members who would come to central Mexico if they knew there were people in the service industry who could speak English. If you take a look at TripAdvisor.com, you will see in the forum or comments area about Guanajuato an often-made complaint that none of the staff in this hotel or that restaurant could speak English. Some of the contributors to this forum resort to the myth, "I know they speak English and are pretending they don't."

I've always wanted to ask someone who believes that,

"So let me see if I am following you. Here is someone who knows good and well that if they spoke English to you, you would most likely spend a lot more money and possibly tip them lavishly, but they are pretending they don't speak English?"

I mean, really!

Another really great thing that has me all tingly with excitement is a brochure of "Official" tour guides in the city. The list indicates those who are bilingual in Spanish and English. Not only are they bilingual but also this brochure has names, phone numbers, and email addresses! You could arrange something BEFORE coming to Guanajuato to spend thousands and thousands of dollars helping this city's economy (which I hope sincerely you do).

Tour Guides in the City of Guanajuato

Erasmo Rafael Morales Sánchez
734-1670/473-108-1175 cell phone
erasmo_ms@hotmail.com

Hugo López Zepeda
732-3698/473-101-6242 cell phone
hugo4830@yahoo.com.mx

José Martín Medel Marín
732-8464/473-103-0212 cell phone
martinmedelmarin@hotmail.com

Rafael Pérez Morales
473-738-2860 cell phone
pipoperez.com@hotmail.com

Alfonso Barrientos Rea
473-560-7451 cell phone
troisi_mex@hotmail.com

Carolina Hernández Arvizu
734-2356/473-101-3936 cell phone
hernandezarvizu@yahoo.com.mx

José Luis Salazar Córdoba
732-7390
jose-luis586@hotmail.com

Antonio Rocha Yebra
473-756-7047 cell phone /473-732-8142 cell phone
tdonquijote@hotmail.com

José Elias Rodriguez Zarate
732-9100/473-737-2651 cell phone
pepeelias@hotmail.com

Jerónimo Regalado Mares
733-3825/473-117-3002 cell phone
maresregalado@yahoo.com.mx

Authorized Guides

These are "Guías Autorizados" (Authorized Guides) and should all have official credentials in the form of a badge from the Secretaria de Turismo. There will be an official seal in the upper left-hand corner. The badge will have a credential number in the upper right-hand corner of the badge. The words, SECRETARIA DE TURISMO, will be centered and below the credential number. The picture of the guide will be centered in the badge on the left edge. His or her name and Official Title will be below the picture. If the person is an English guide, the lettering will be in red. For a Spanish-only guide, the lettering will be in green.

For more information, you can call the Sub-Secretaria de Desarrollo Turistico at 01-800-714-1086 (toll free within Mexico).

To call a cell phone within Guanajuato, you have to dial 044 + the area code and number. To call a cell phone from your home country, please check with your local, long distance, or international operator.