Guadalajara: March 25 - 28

Mariachi Bands. Mexican Hat Dance. Nope! Guadalajara is a working town and gringo-style tourism is well on the back burner. However, each day we saw thousands of people on the streets going about their business.

If you can imagine a regular Mexican town with cathedral, plaza, and market, with cobbled streets radiating out from the core, that is what the historic centre of Guadalajara looks like, except on a gigantic scale.

 

Cathedral

                                                                                Plaza

Some of the architecture is incredibly illustrious and others, just plain concrete.  We read that, in the early 20th century, town planners tore down streets of old houses to widen roads and create plazas.  This causes a curious effect when walking down an avenue with 18/19th century houses on one side and modern buildings on the other.

                                               Classical on one side, concrete on the other

 Beside the centro historico area is the business centre of town, with modern office buildings.  The area extends out in a five point circle, with major roads connecting the outlying towns which have since been absorbed by the expanding central core.

 

We arrived by bus at Zapopan in the upper left corner

 

Guadalajara is a huge manufacturing area and is known as the “silicon valley” of Mexico. There are factories and plants lining the outskirts, the city is full of working people and the whole place hums with activity. There are exceptions. Near the central area is the University. We recognized an international presence in this area as we saw people of different nationalities enjoying Starbuck’s coffee and eating in diverse cafes. We noticed several consulates in the area and the streets were leafy, relatively quiet and laid back.

In the south east part of the city is Tlaquapaque.

 
            Street leading to the church at Tlaquapaque

                                                                 Plaza at Tlaquapaque

 This area is an artisans’ colony and a pedestrian walkway winds itself through the area fronted by galleries and shops selling incredible works of art from painting, pottery and sculptures to blown glass, silver and wood carvings. You could enjoy a cappuccino at a marble table under huge, elaborate paintings of Greek gods or Mexican village scenes.


Bronze figures of Hidalgo and other Mexican revolutionaries follow
the tourist up the pedestrian walkways

The transportation system is incredible and the city was designed with pedestrians in mind. We took a “first class” bus from Bucerias to Guadalajara. It cost approximately $45.00 return and was the most luxurious and comfortable bus I have ever been on.

It definitely rivaled first class on international airlines! We floated through spectacular scenery on twisty roads in air conditioned comfort. The only annoyance was the back-to-back movies (dubbed in Spanish and often violent) that blared all the way there and back. (If you take one of these buses, I highly recommend you bring your IPod to block out the noise!)

Four and a half hours later, we were dropped off at a bus terminal at Zapopan where we walked about 10 steps and boarded another comfortable bus, paid 6 pesos (about 50 cents), and rode for half an hour, all the way to the very centre of Guadalajara.

                                                                Zapopan Bus Terminal

                                          Comfortable Red Line bus into the centre of the city

Although this bus was not air conditioned, it was comfortable and fast. We walked about 6 blocks to our hotel, the San Francisco Plaza, and were happily ensconced in our room 20 minutes later.
 
San Francisco Plaza Hotel, Guadalajara


We discovered that all the local buses cost 6 pesos. They come and go every 10 minutes or so, to all parts of the city. Most people use them and the traffic is kept to a minimum. A taxi is an inexpensive alternative.  We took one from one part of the city to the other for the equivalent of $3.00.

                                                             Guadalajara traffic


On Sundays, the leafy main street is closed for bicycle traffic only! I haven't seen this since Ottawa.

                                                                     Cycling on Avenue Juarez

                                               Then again, there were some cool rides!

Additionally, the centre of the city is riddled with pedestrian walkways and interconnected plazas making walking a dream. Many of these walkways are appointed with statues and sculptures celebrating the city's  past. We saw statues of conquistadors, city fathers, priests, poets, writers and the pope, among others.

                                A series of naughty little boys at the apex of a pedestrian walkway

         Illustrious statue - the bank of lights in the background illuminate nightly concerts in the square

There were many fountains cooling the passages and many benches for weary walkers to take a break from the crowds.

There were cafes, street vendors, wandering musicians (no mariachi though!), clowns, mimes, and fortune tellers.

                                                                      Tropical fruit seller

                                                     Clowns getting ready to amuse the crowd

Creepy fortune teller.  He stands as still as a statue with a Darth Vader-like golden mask on his face..  You put money in his hand and he fires up in a mechanical fashion, shaking a gold paper covered box. With a flourish he removes the lid and you choose your fortune on a piece of paper.  I tried to read what it might say over the shoulder of this lady in the white pants - to no avail - it was in Spanish (du-uh!)

There were beggars, women trying to keep track of their many children, caballeros passing the time of day, transvestites and ladies of the night. (sorry, no pictures!) Like all cities, Guadalajara is a kaleidoscope of colour and sound.

I expected Guadalajara to be a lot like Durango. I was very mistaken. I found Durango to be sophisticated and urbane, clean and cultured. Guadalajara seemed to be rough and tumble, a little grubbier and hands on. Although there were many more exquisite buildings in Guadalajara, they didn’t seem to be celebrated in quite the same way. Many of them needed a good power washing or sand blasting. However, what was similar was both cities seemed very European to me – not North American at all. At one point over the weekend, I could have sworn I was in Paris!

 Another interesting juxtaposition outside the market - the Virgin of Guadalupe, advertisements, market, newsagent and classical buildings.  Sometimes it was hard to focus!

We had heard that Guadalajara was not a safe place to be. We were careful to watch the neighbourhoods we were walking in and stayed in lighted areas at night, but at no time did we feel unsafe or see anything worrisome. People were friendly and helpful. I took the bus, alone, to Tlaqaepaque and one of the male passengers showed me where to get off and another took me to the pedestrian walkway. A teenager helped me to figure out how to get back to the centre of the city. We were treated courteously and respectfully.

As I mentioned, we stayed at the San Francisco Plaza Hotel. This was one of several colonial-style hotels in the centre of the city. There were more modern ones where I’m sure people on business stayed, but we were keen for more Mexican “flavor”. After doing research on the Net, I booked the room through Expedia for three nights at a total cost of $115.00! Even in all our motorcycle travel, staying at Mom & Pop style motels, have we ever been able to get such good value. The 2 story hotel had 3 interior courtyards surrounded by the rooms.

                                    Looking down from our room to one of the interior courtyards

                  Corridor leading to open-roof courtyard - our room is on the immediate right

                                                          Interior courtyard with open roof

Each room had a grand wooden door and, if you had a second floor room, had balconies overlooking the courtyard or street.

                                               Balconies overlooking internal courtyard

Athough this wasn't our room, it is very much like it

We had an interior room and we looked over two courtyards. The room was gigantic with a king size bed, but a very tiny bathroom with shower. It was rustically elegant, though it was dark and the air a little close. There was no fan and, although there was an air conditioner, it cost extra to use it.

Each morning we had a delightful buffet breakfast in one of the hotel’s courtyards
.

The service was friendly and efficient, the food wonderful. We could have scrambled eggs, pancakes, yoghurt and fruit with home-made granola, or we could sample some Mexican breakfasts like grilled cactus, or tortillas soaked in tomato sauce and cheese. Fresh squeezed juice and adequate coffee rounded it out and the whole thing cost about $7. What a bargain!

                                               Our room was on the upper floor looking down

During the day we wandered the many pedestrian walkways and spent time in the 3 block 3 story Mercado (which sold everything under the sun – to the extent that I couldn’t buy a single thing!).

                                                  One corridor on the inside of the market

 

Trying to find a hat - dazed and confused

 

Another narrow corridor - this market made Hong Kong look small!

We went to the Regional museum and followed the history of the area from prehistoric times to the present.

                                  Courtyard of the Regional museum - another gorgeous building

We viewed local artisan's work at the Art Institute near the university area.

We went to several streetmarkets

 Site of the cultural street market in Aqua Azul Park - note the gorgeous purple flowered jacaranda trees

and found an Indian restaurant in the University area where we enjoyed Tandoori chicken for the first time since Berkley (yum!).

                                                                            Cheers!

We found another restaurant – La Fonda de San Miguel – in the historical centro – in an ancient building that was a convent off and on for four hundred years!

 The story goes that the convent was established in 1610 and over the next 400 years the nuns were displaced by revolutionaries and the military on at least 5 different occasions for varying lengths of time.  Some pretty gruesome things are rumoured to have happened to these nuns - the least of which was bricking them up in the walls.  Stories of crying behind walls, singing in the courtyard, figures on the staircase abound.  Indeed, the place is a little creepy.  The dining area is gorgeous, but the gallery looking down is difficult to discern and when we went up after dinner to explore there was a cold look of darkness and neglect.  All that said, the dinner was delicious, the service excellent and the bill inexpensive.

 

I took this picture in the day when we made our reservation.  At night, only the stars and candlelight from the tables illuminate the place.

Our table, looking toward the bar

The three days whirled past and we were pretty tired when we boarded the bus for our return. We were back on the boat in La Cruz by 4pm in the afternoon and hit the hay early. Mexico is an intriguing place – so diverse – so much to see. I hope to come back to this wonderful country again someday to explore it further.