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.