According to dailytidings.com, Ashland Fire & Rescue Forest Division Chief Chris Chambers vacationed in Mexico at year’s end, visiting family in San Miguel de Allende and spending Dec. 27 in Ashland’s Sister City, Guanajuato. He was accompanied by his wife, Leah Saturen, and daughters, Anya and Mira Saturen, and his father-in-law, Steve Saturen.
It was a return trip to Guanajuato for Chambers, who has visited several times, once as the leader of the city’s official delegation to the annual Festival of San Juan and Presa de la Olla, celebrated each June.
A street mime decked out as a miner freezes in position with his hand resting on the head of Anya Saturen, daughter of Ashland Fire & Rescue Forest Division Chief Chris Chambers. Chambers took his family to Ashland’s Sister City, Guanajuato, last month. Part of the city is visible in the background. (Photo: Chris Chambers / dialytidings.com)
Chambers offered “Entre Amigos” this description of the family’s day spent in Guanajuato:
“We were greeted by Mario Barron, long-time leader of the Heroic Corps of Volunteer Firefighters and friend to Ashland, along with Capt. Juan Eduardo “Lalo” Lira Luna, the Corps training officer. Lalo has been to Ashland to receive a donated fire engine and attended our prescribed fire and trench rescue trainings last spring.
We toured the fire station, which has been recently repainted, and jumped into a truck to the town center, passing through the tunnels that Guanajuato is known for. The tunnels originally diverted the Guanajuato River to prevent flooding of the early mining town. Converted into a rabbit’s warren of underground roadways, they lessen today’s traffic on city streets above.
Ashland Fire & Rescue Forest Division Chief Chris Chambers (right) and Capt. Juan Eduardo Luna Lira of the Heroic Corps of Volunteer Firefighters of Guanajuato stand beside a refurbished Ashland ambulance. The 1992 vehicle was retired after 24 years of service and donated last year to Guanajuato, Ashland’s Sister City for nearly 48 years. (Photo: Chris Chambers / dailytidings.com)
“We joined a tour of Teatro Juarez, after scoring a big cup of fresh cut mango splashed with lime. The square and the whole downtown were packed with Mexicans on holiday break. We visited the Cervantes museum and then looped above the plaza to the childhood home of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, now a museum as well. The colors of Guanajuato captivated Mira and Anya.
We stopped for a photo on the University of Guanajuato steps and were joined by another firefighter, Miguel, who has been with the volunteers for more than 20 years and worked his younger years as a miner. Our gracious guests held a place in line for us at the funicular (cable car) while we shopped for jewelry next to the Teatro Juarez.
The funicular is an amazing machine, counterbalancing two cars that climb and descend a steep grade to the Pípila Statue above downtown. Pípila is the nickname of Juan José de los Reyes Martínez Amaro, Guanajuato’s hero of the 1910 Mexican War of Independence.
Source: http://www.dailytidings.com/
