Backtrack to Guadalajara

(Nov 6, 2011)

I spent this past week in Guadalajara city with another family whose son came to stay with us in Victoria about 4 years ago (Rodrigo). How lucky I am to have so many fantastic friends all over the world!  

I spent my first day wandering the old quarter of the city’s downtown and was able to watch parts of the final Marathon for the Pan American Games (tip – marathons are not all that exciting to watch, there is a lot of waiting around!). Luckily I was able to wander along the Marathon path on my way downtown and see the runners wiz past me every once –in-a-while. In the old centre of Guadalajara I checked out a few art galleries, with my favorite being ‘El Hospicio de Cabana’, a beautiful 16^th century hospital complex that had once been used for housing orphans, the homeless, and the sick or disabled in the city. While this may sound like a lot, the grounds were huge with many courtyards and gardens throughout. More recently the complex had been used to house military activity during the independence- fighting years and is now well maintained and scattered with art exhibits that lead the visitor on an elaborate scavenger hunt through the hundreds of rooms!

On my second day I went to a small satellite municipality called ‘Tlaquepaque’, which is positioned mainly as a tourist-y artisan centre. The colonial era buildings were beautifully maintained and the pedestrian walkways leading to the central square were lined with luxurious furniture and art stores. So far, this has been the place where I have seen the highest concentration of loud English speaking American tourists. I just wonder how they plan on getting their purchases home with them! My favorite Gallery by far in this neighbourhood was Sergio Bustamante, who employs a whimsical, storybook-like style in a variety of mediums including jewellery, sculpture, painting, shoes, handbags and furniture. His work was showcased in the Pan American Games closing ceremonies and I have a few pictures of his gallery on my blog J

Day three involved me lounging pool-side at Paty and Carlos’ health club before being dropped into the very chaotic middle of a MASSIVE fair. The fair is called ‘la fiesta de octubre’ and it is pretty much the same as any Canadian summer fair except 5-10 times bigger. I was told by a police officer that the fair likely holds 100,000 people at any one time: very easy to get lost in. I often hear about travellers searching for that ‘truly authentic local experience off of the tourist trail’ and, well, I found it! I was the only westerner that I saw in the 3 hours I spent wandering (squeezing through) the crowds and not a single word of English was spoken – not even by me!

On day four Carlos very kindly set up a tour of a nearby tequila plant for me (the makers of El Jimador for all you tequila connoisseurs). On the tour I met a team of 4 electrical engineers working for General Electric in Guadalajara and we all squeezed into their car and headed up to the city of Tequila to go on yet another tequila tour and then on a road trip to a popular lake in the area. All in all (what, with drinking tequila starting at 10am and meeting new friends) it was a very eventful day!

                I arrived at Paty and Carlos’ beach-front condo in Lo De Marcos (north of Puerto Vallarta) two days ago and have been spending my time conducting interviews of local non-profit initiatives and writing reports ever since! I have stayed out of the extremely hot sun for the most part but plan on going for a swim later this afternoon.This town is exactly what you would imagine a tropical beach-side town to be: beautiful, relaxed, and humid. Time seems to slow down here for everyone but me! I've been taking advantage of the peace to get some work done. Don't worry all - I'm not completely crazy: I plan on hitting the beach with my sunscreen, hat and iPod tomorrow.

               

                On Monday I will be heading to Puerto Vallarta to stay with the mother of two of our current students and then onwards to hostel living from there! I haven’t decided whether I plan on heading to the small towns of Puebla and Cuernavaca surrounding Mexico City first, or just going straight down to Puerto Escondido and Chiapas State. In the spirit of not missing anything, I feel inclined to take a Mexico City area detour but need to figure out how far out of the way it will take me and what options for lodging are available in these two small cities.

                Overall I have loved staying and visiting with friends in Mexico and everyone has been incredibly helpful and hospitable to me! I am looking forward to venturing out on my own and hitting the hostel trail a week from now! My Spanish seems to be slowly improving, along with my pronunciation (thanks to my audio language lessons!), and I am developing a good daily rhythm of early morning exercise, healthy eating, keeping up to date with current events and work responsibilities, and then heading out to explore the sights! I only hope that the internet holds up because it is really what is holding everything together!