Beautiful Guadalajara...Blood, Sweat and Fears, Live Life and Tequila Sunrises....

We went 1st class from Tepic to Guadalajara on an amazing bus. Taking the first bus from Tepic we could was this luxury coach!!! Now this is the way to travel. There were only 32 well spaced seats with individual TV screens that had movies, TV shows, music...AND internet!  There were male and separate female washrooms, coffee dispenser, pullout leg rests, reclining seats, sunshades, curtains, clean windows, cup holder... We'll have to do that again.




                                  Agave farms go on and on in this region ...

In Guadalajara....

We found a hotel right away one block from the center of the old town for 700 pesos ($60). It's an old colonial hotel, approx 200 years old and has a 3 story high courtyard that our balcony opens onto.



      Hotel La Rotonda - one block from the main plaza in the historical centro.



       Handpainted mural in the courtyard... with Shayne on our interior balcony.



 We oriented ourselves by taking a horse carriage ride around the old town which reminds us of how we often got around Cuba.





The Rotonda is a monument built in 1952 to honour the memory of distinguished
people from the state of Jalisco. This was one block from our hotel.

Later in the evening we attended a political rally for one of the mayoralty candidates.  Was pretty elaborate with a massive stage that took 2 days to build, speakers, music, video screens, fireworks and a very large drone that was hovering over the plaza the entire night!  Labour groups wore the same coloured t-shsirts to show their solidarity.  Luckily we met an English speaking local who explained what was going on in this rally and a little bit about Mexican politics.

Guadalajara is a beautiful city with elaborate, old churches at almost every corner. Parks, plazas are everywhere.



                                        Guadalahara Cathedral

There are traditional shop keepers in their stalls as well as large modern shops and outlets.  This is a large city where fashion conscious people are everywhere.  How the women walk around in high heeled shoes on cobblestoned streets is a feat in itself!!! A very friendly city, with lots of people out walking etc during the sunny, warm days and settling into parks n plazas cafes at night. We ended up spending 5 days wandering the historico centro, riding buses, horse and carriage, visiting, churches, art galleries, museums or sitting listening to street musicians. Far cry from the beach scene.

Random thoughts......

No one uses seatbelts except the driver, motorbikes carry up to 3-4 people & little kids with no helmets, fireworks control is non existent...traffic looks chaotic, but always seems to flow. Mexican families always seem happy, respectful with each other...organized chaos reigns in regards to music, parades, celebrations. It always seems to work out..    Guadalajara women are beautiful - all shapes, sizes. Confident, poised...amazing!

Tequila Sunrise........

One day we took a tequila  train tour called the Tequila Express...

A mariachi band welcomed us at the train station. A minimal security check and we boarded for the 2 hours down the track to a tequila producing Hacienda. Tequila  shots, Margaritas etc. along with a good breakfast sandwich flowed on the ride out. We actually drank more beer while on the walking tour than tequila- go figure! A large, joyous group of Columbians made the trip quite fun.

They repeated a song over an over, which essentially was a dance tune that encouraged hip swiveling and shaking your booty. They would repeatedly call out Mexican states or countries to stand up in the aisles and shake their booty. They esp liked how we swiveled and shook for 2 non-latinos!  The Columbians became our new best friends.  They definitely enjoyed the tequila.

After the Hacienda tour (the beer made it bearable for S!  we saw the entire process of how tequilla
is produced from the cutting of the agave, processing to the final product... in their newer production
plant.









                                                 Blue agave plant.



           The 'pineapple' of the plant is removed by hand with this cutting tool.



                   Each of these 'pineapples' weighs about 20 kilograms!!!!



                                           Ready for processing...



                            Agave chunks that is as sweet as honey...



                 The plant ... on a current slow down while we were there...



Next came the tour of the 200 year old factory all made out of bricks.











We enjoyed a great Mexican lunch followed by live entertainment. Here again, the locals on this tour completely enjoyed the music and dance. Just not an all-incl show for tourists.



The finale was an invitation for everyone to get up and dance.  We danced, (Team Azul)...
and without realizing, we had entered the Tequila Express dance competition.


Seems the judges liked our moves, as we moved onto the next round, and the next and the next until we were in the finals with 5 other couples.

The finals had each couple alone on the dance floor to strut their stuff.To paraphrase... "Win the crowd, win the prize!".....well, we did just that...

 

Once all couples had danced, the audience had to cheer for their favorite pair.  We won! Not bad for a flip flop, bare footed duo from the north country. Our Columbians friends helped!!! " Chika, chika, chika", they would yell out! They went wild when we grabbed each other's backsides during our dance. Haha! We felt like celebrities with all the hand shakes, high 5's and congratulations we received over the next few hours until we were back in town!!  Even the other finalists-couples loved us and most were locals or from southern spots. Our prize? ....24 cans of margaritas!  Not bad!  Once on the train we passed all the cans out to our new friends!!!  Win the crowd...  Pay it forward...Such fun!!!

Live Life....

That night, we rocked at a concert by Marc Anthony, latin american singer. Seemed to be abt 20,000 people of all ages and dress attending the outdoors 45 500 seat Omnilife Stadium. After spending hours online trying to buy tickets, we just decided the @#$%& with it and take a chance by just going to the stadium to buy tickets. We were in luck!  Finding the ticket booth in the dark, then figuring out where to go in dozens of snaking lines holding thousands of people. We could not find a single 'official' person to tell us which of these many lines we should join!!!  There were no signs either. We finally hooked up with two Mexicans who were also confused but going to the same section as we were...they were great!!  Concert started about 9:30 pm and ended after 11 pm. Marc Anthony's big song and finale....(google it on you tube) is his anthem song. We heard it Cuba and again throughout Mexico.

           Estadio Omnilife opened in 2010.  It is a multi-use stadium but was built primarily to provide a home for the Chivas soccer team.  It is the 4th largest stadium in Mexico. It has an open roof that was built to look like a volcano.  It's quite beautiful.

Welcome to the Jungle,.....

Last day in Guadalajara was spent at the famous Liberty Market that houses 2800 shops daily from 7am -8pm under a covered space of 40 000 sq meters on 3 floors!!! In other words, HUGE!!!!  It truly was a jungle here.  The senses get overwhelmed walking through the narrow passageways of every imaginable item.  Shayne bought a wallet with a little bargaining. Came across a street vendor selling roasted crickets that were crunchy like peanuts! Yum! Protein for the masses.



       Liberty Market plus yummy fresh roasted crickets.  Yes, we did eat them!!

Blood, Sweat and Fears....

Decided to take in a bullfight, as S had never been to one. Bullfights are an iconic part of Spanish/Mexican history. We can argue the merits about this blood sport - and whether it is a sport at all. However, it was fascinating to be part of this deeply woven cultural event.

The bullfighting stadium looked a little worse for wear than the Omnilife Stadium, but it was waaaay more interesting! It looked like one of the old stadiums from the movie Gladiator.



                       The main doors... the lineman preparing the rink.

We got to choose our seats in the sunny or shady section - the sunny section being cheaper. We bought the sunny section and paid about $15 each. Then, we bought cushions for $1.50 each to sit on the concrete seats.  Once seated we bought a 'grande cerveza' each for $5 total, since we were in the sunny section.



Front row seats right on top of the action, overlooking the spectacle, much like gladiator battles of the Roman days. Wow! Doesn't  get any better. Again, we seemed to be the only tourists present, off the grid and away from the coastal tourist enclaves. Little kids sat on parents' laps, old men whistled their displeasure at some action on the arena floor and the mariachi band played. 

Below us. the matadors stood, charging out to do their dance with the bull. It was a ballet of death - for the bull, and sometime the matador. In bright costumes, much like a court jester, the matadors preened around the arena.







                                See the bull in the lower left corner...



Horse and rider even took part. Sheathed in metal, much like a knight of old, the bull would charge the blindfolded horse and push it and its rider nto the inner wooden wall. Several times, it looked as if the bull would push right over the wall. Once the bull tired, sweaty and played out, the final moments ticked down. We even got sprayed by dust from a bull as he charged a matador in front of us!!

Staring down a 400kg bull up, close and personal is surely a test of nerves and quelling the fear. One swerve of the bull's head in passing, would have easily injured or gored the matador. The matadors ranged in age from late teens to men in their 50's. One matador was actually caught in the horns, tossed and in the ensuing melee was stomped on by the bull.  He was fine, eventually walking off the field.

Locals attended with family, outside the arena meals were served under tents. In between matches, clydesdales came out to drag the dead bulls away, and the grounds crew came out, like the infield crew at a baseball game to rake the dirt, shovel up the bloodied sand, rechalk the lines etc.





Each event was announced by the card guys, parading out to the center displaying the bull's name and weight! S appreciates the card girls that announce the next round of a boxing match way better. Haha!

Final score...6 bullfights, 6 dead bulls, 2 injured horses, 1 thrown/stomped matador!

That's it from our great days in Guadalajara!!! 

We're now heading east by bus again to the smaller colonial town of Guanajuato. 

Take care and send us a note from your corner of the world.  Hugs to all of you!

Yvonne y Shayne