Originally Posted by GringoCArlos

Sorry to disagree Isla, but the most confusing thing to me is how UNORGANIZED the Spanish laid out their cities anywhere in Latin America.

I realize this is hard for me, originally coming from a Germanic-based area where ALL of the streets & roads either go strictly North to South by the compass, or strictly East to West, and not Southwest to Northeast or curving or whatever. (just think of flyover country in the US where everything below looks like a quilt). The last US city I lived in had just as many hills as Guanajuato or San Francisco, but the streets still went North-South and were straight.

The Mayans seemed to get the alignment "right" with their pyramids, but the Spanish didn't with their cities. Puebla, MX City, Queretaro and most other MX cities may be partially on grids, but the majority of these grid areas are "cock-eyed to the compass". Hills or no hills. The rest of the streets seem to meander, following rivers or ancient foot/burro paths.

Another thing I have noticed is that when I have been in any MX cities, I always end up going in a circle until I get right back to where I left from. I once did this in Guanajuato following a twisting, turning street called Panoramica (?) all the way around the top of the city but no way to get "down there".

I did finally discover a looping way to get to downtown Guanajuato, and then got lost in the subterranean tunnels, with the same result - back where I started. After four circular trips around the city with no results I said (to myself) "F..ing Spanish idiots", and the heck with this and left, not seeing anything of Guanajuato other than what I saw out of the windows while driving past.

Learned Spanish with few problems but can't seem to shake up my brain that is hardwired to North-South-East-West.