A day in Guadalajara

We started the day by meeting Althea, a friend of our host. We also met the maid, Juanita, who comes twice a week.

We called Felipe, our taxista, to pick us up and take us downtown. We started at the Templo Expiratorio, a huge, semi-Gothic church, with impressive stained glass, including many panels showing the martyrs of the Christiada. Seems odd to see saints depicted in modern dress, but of course they died in the 1920s.

While taking the picture, Richard walked up the stairs to a dry fountain, and saw an apparently unconscious man in the fountain.


We walked over to the Museo de Arte, only to find that it was closed for a change of exhibits. Our next stop was the Rectoria de la Universidad de Guadalajara, which has two huge Orosco murals.

We took the electric bus down to the Minerva area, and ate a nice lunch at Oui Restaurant, which incongruously serves Mexican food. Marianne had Chilaquiles, a traditional Mexican breakfast, Richard had tamales. We walked over to Los Arcos, which was closed for remodeling, and then to Casa Orozco, also closed for remodeling.

We stopped briefly at the Burger King to use the bathroom, and then took the bus down to the plaza del Sol. The plaza de Sol is a huge shopping area. Marianne wanted to visit an English bookstore, but the bookstore there did not have a lot of English books. We grabbed a cab to the Chapalita area, and the English bookstore, Libreria Sandi. The Sandi was full of English books, including many travel books as well as classic books, like Jane Eyre. We bought a thriller for Marianne, and a couple of English newspapers.

We were going to get a cab home, but the taxi driver quoted us too much money, so we walked a few blocks to get a bus. At the bus stop, we spoke to a young man who spoke good idiomatic English, like a young man in the states. He was embarrassed by his T-shirt, which read "F..... Marijuana Dealer." He told us which bus to get on, which we did. We overshot a little bit, but as we got to the intersection, where we were going to get another bus, we saw Felipe! He honked, and we got in. Pretty funny.

After being shut out on the art museums, we had a very nice day, and a quiet evening at home. Tomorrow Althea is going to take us to Chapala. We can smell the rain, and hear the thunder, so a good night for sleeping.

A little exploration

Richard decided to ride the buses a bit today. He got on the R25 bus, which kind of goes around the town, rather than downtown. He got off at the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. This is a huge campus, with huge buildings. This is not a government institution; it is a private institution, apparently affiliated with the catholic church. The statue below is of one of the martyrs, José Anacleto González Flores, who died shouting "Viva Cristo Rey!". That was the slogan of the Cristero wars, which took place in the 1920s and 1930s. Although the plaque on the statue refers to him as the university's patron saint, he is just beginning the process of being designated a saint. Richard looked to see if he could find any interesting music or events at the University, but found none.


He got back on the bus, and proceeded to near the Basilica. Richard walked over to the Basilica, where a funeral mass was going on.

He took the same bus back to the apartment. On the way, he noticed one of the local armored car dealers, big business in Mexico. Their web site showed a woman and child getting into an SUV, and their slogan was "The tranquility of feeling safe". They offer protection up to grenades and AK47 rifles, whatever you are willing to pay for.

The view below is from our balcony.

Basilica de Zapopan

Marianne decided not to go, so Richard rode with our favorite taxista to the Basilica de Zapopan for church. He hopes to write an article on the Basilica, a pilgrimage place, centered around the statue of the Virgin de Zapopan.

We had been to the Basilica in 2007, except that this was a Sunday, lots of people, not ideal for writing an article. They have masses every hour on the hour, all day.

I saw again people going down the aisle on their knees, people of all ages.


I found where the ex-votos are, in the back of the Basilica. The exvoto is a kind of personal thank you note to God. The old ones (and some of the current ones) are folk art, but the new ones can be very simple, but no less personal. The exvoto below has a photocopy of his work visa to the USA, thanking the Virgin for helping him to get the visa, and saying that "I leave my wife and three children in your care."

Guadalajara buses and demonstration

Richard took the bus into town. It was more or less slow and uncomfortable, but did get him near downtown. Traffic downtown was heavy, and it seemed faster to walk.

Richard walked to the main plaza, where he saw a demonstration against the Governor of Jalisco. The main complaint was his donation of 9 million dollars of state money to help fund a huge church devoted to the martyrs of the Cristero war era (1920-1935). The pope recently declared around twenty new Mexican saints from that era. Not surprisingly, lots of people think that this is not something that should be paid for by taxes. The Governor's justification is economic development through religious tourism. Seems like a stretch to me, especially since the separation of church and state is generally stricter in Mexico than in the USA. Also this week, the Governor used some bad language in public, which put fuel on the fire.

I chatted at some length with a couple of young men at the demonstration. They said that it was not led by any political party, but by several social organizations. One was an unemployed reporter, who left Mexico city due to conflicts with his family. The other was a university student of business, who seemed impressed when I mentioned my business and engineering degrees, as well as by my Spanish.


I headed over to the hotel to buy tickets to the concert, but got hung up in the march of demonstrators. When I got to the hotel, I found out that the concert was canceled. Then I walked back to catch the bus home, figuring that walking was as fast as riding the bus, given the traffic.

I got on the wrong bus. I was supposed to be on the 629-1 bus, but I ended up on the 629-2 bus, not realizing the difference. I got home, but the long way.

Taxis look a lot better to me right now, at least inside the city. We may take buses for longer distances, like two or three hour trips.

Tonala

We called Suzanne's taxi driver in the morning, and he drove us to Tonala for 120 pesos. Tonala is one of handicraft centers of Mexico. We headed straight for the Sermel paper-mache shop. Beautiful work. Marianne spent all the pesos I had, but there was a nearby ATM. After a small lunch, we walked to highway, looking at pots as we went. We went as far as Marianne was willing to go, as the heat is hard on her, and caught a taxi home.

The pollution in the morning was very bad, helped by the forest fire, but better in the afternoon. We relaxed on the porch, and discussed what we wanted to do in the next few days. Paquita del Barrio is performing Saturday night; Richard has one of her albums, so we will go.

Denver to Guadalajara

This trip will have us spend two weeks in Guadalajara, cat and house sitting.

We got up early, drove to the airport, and caught American Airlines to Dallas. We had lunch at the Dallas airport, and then flew to Guadalajara. We took a cab to our hotel, and Richard went out to get some pesos and a cell phone card, to recharge his cell phone. Richard called our host Suzanne, and we took a cab to her apartment.

The apartment is very nice, we will be very comfortable. The picture is of Suzanne and Marianne. Suzanne is an interesting character, an expatriate most of her life.

The big news today is a big forest fire in el Bosque Primavera (Spring Forest), with huge plumes of smoke.