15 February 2008

Happy Birthday Irapuato!

Today is the 461st anniversary of the founding of the City of Irapuato in the State of Guanajuato, Mexico where I am proud to live. The city is actually a bit older, but it wasn’t until the year 1547 when the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, issued a proclamation on the 15th of February that established Irapuato as an official municipality. The general location was originally inhabited by a tribe of native hunter gatherers who were called “Chichimecas” and who settled the area around the year 1200 A.D. The place was called “Xiriquitzio” or “Iriquitzio” by the natives. By the way, the name “Chichimecas” translates into “perros sarnosos” in Spanish, and in English “perros sarnosos” means “mangy dogs”. If you look at some of the dogs that we have running around the outskirts of town you might think that we still have some “Chichimecas among us. Nevertheless, Irapuato is a very nice place to live and I wish many happy returns of the day for my adopted city. Thank you Irapuato, for everything and…

Happy Birthday!!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

hi bob:

do you still live in irapuato ?
why are u so proud of living in irapuato and what brought you to the city ? Not many gringos in irapuato, ha, ha !!! ...different from guanajuato or san miguel for sure.
Enjoy your blog that i just came across.
must read more. interesting.
dave

Bob Mrotek said...

Davster,
Do you live in Irapuato? Where do you live? Send me an e-mail so that we can chat. The address is in my blog. Thanks for your kind comments.

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About Me

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I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.