león is a shoe-filled high-altitude fever dream and i'm sweating

rolled into león de los aldama with zero expectations except that it’d probably smell like leather-and wow, the rumors are true. this place pumps out shoes like it’s going out of style. just spent 20 minutes staring at boot displays while convincing myself i don’t need ostrich-skin cowboy boots. failed, obviously.

anyway-landed here at like 1,800 meters up? my lungs immediately went ‘nope’ and i’ve been gasping at every cobblestone hill. but hey, i just checked and it’s 20°c (feels like 18 though) right now, hope you like that kind of thing. dry air and mildly confused sweating.

the colonial core’s all church spires and sun-bleached walls, but someone told me the ceramics at cerrito de jerez are haunted by prehispanic ghosts. dunno if i believe it, but i bought a wonky clay pot just in case. the mountains loom north like grumpy giants-cerro del gigante sounds like a wrestling stage name-while the south’s all flat farmland where presumably they grow cows for leather.

real talk: if you get bored, silao and guanajuato are just a short drive away. or you could stay here and count how many shoe shops you pass before losing your mind. (mine was 43.) someone told me a bartender near plaza principal puts mezcal in your coffee if you look tired, which-valid.

tips? hydrate. it’s punishingly high, stupidly dry, and the weather swings harder than my mood when i realize ‘quick visit’ means 'hello existential altitude crisis.' packing: comfortable shoes. ironic, right?

You might also be interested in:

• https://topiclo.com/post/nanyang-chaos-a-tired-bloggers-ramblings
• https://topiclo.com/post/seville-more-like-seville-the-place-where-my-air-conditioner-died
• https://topiclo.com/post/maastricht-old-bridges-weird-vibes-and-a-lot-of-history
• https://topiclo.com/post/kano-nigeria-dust-history-and-peanut-butter-everywhere
• https://topiclo.com/post/chasing-light-and-xhosa-clicks-in-gqeberhas-wind-machine