Lake Chapala

Yesterday Juan Carlos took me to Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico and about 30 minutes from Guadalajara. We ate at an Argentinean restaurant where we encountered an old hippie (see photo). In fact, Ajijic, where we stopped, has a lot of old Americans. It's a fun town and I want to go back and spend a weekend instead of just an afternoon.

A view of the lake from the shore at Ajijic.


Crazy American.

Typical week

This week I did average American things, such as going to bars, the park with Leo and the mall. Yesterday I spent some the day just hanging out with some Mexicans at their house. Other than the music being a little different and the conversation mostly in Spanish (as well as a cold tamale from a street vendor) it was pretty familiar. If you buy the larger glass bottles of beer, you have to turn in the old bottles to buy new ones, apparently, as the beer companies reuse them.

I knew that the Mexican minimum wage was about three bucks a day, but even if you work in, for example, a book store, you make only about 7.50 dollars a day. Not an hour. Where many things are not all that much cheaper than in the U.S., it is surprising that anyone is able to make it on that wage. The cost of living overall, though, is much higher in the United States, where we have plenty of poor people as well.

Chapultepec

I am at a cafe on Chapultepec. I've been in this area several times already as there is lots to do and it reminds me of a blend between the Central West End and South Grand, Mexican style. It's also close to downtown. I tried to find a taco stand near here to eat lunch but no one serves chicken, so I had to resort to a real restaurant where I'll actually spend over five dollars :( If I had to live in Guadalajara for the long haul, it would be here.


Views from my table at the cafe onto Chapultepec Street.



This is another place I've driven through often, Glorieta (Roundabout) Minerva. Here is a picture. I've sat at the Starbucks here a few times too, and this one is two stories, with the second story "open air." It's nice.

Saturday - busy.

I played "gotcha" (it is really called that in Spanish) - which is paintball. I'd never played before, and it was interesting. I imagine its nearly identical to paintball in the U.S. I have two welts, one on each hand, today. After that I went with Genaro to the Chivas game (one of the professional soccer teams here) and, of course, they won. It was so much like a baseball game and so different. You can sit anywhere, the most expensive ticket was less than 30 bucks, and it was not glamorous at all, meaning, the Cardinals' stadium is clean, with obviously a lot of money and attention put into the whole process of buying tickets, entry, seating, graphics, technology, etc. At Chivas, the exact opposite. Graffiti, concrete seating, prices for the night's game handwritten on a piece of computer paper. It was so low key it is hard to believe this is one of the most successful and popular teams in Mexico. After that, I went to a bar in downtown called Nacional, and it was very "hipster." I'd already befriended Kalett, who was "DJing" that night, and it was a good time. It's been really easy to jump right in here in Guadalajara, minus the language frustrations that I continue to have on a daily basis (though I learn AND retain a few words/phrases every day).

Downtown Tlaquepaque... with photos!

Today I decided to check out downtown Tlaquepaque. I technically live in the Municipio (County) of Tlaquepaque but I'm not very close to downtown, which is how I took the "long" way to get there and got turned around coming back. But hey, when you price gasoline in liters, it doesn't seem like I am spending that much getting around.

Downtown is beautiful. I saw several stores that, when I am ready to buy nice things for myself and others before I leave, I will be shopping there first. It is a very art-oriented town, and there was a ceramic museum as well as many artists who have galleries. This was the first time I saw Americans, and I saw a lot of them. Kind of disappointing :).

Going out tonight - excited to check out "The Rusty Trombone."

Blurry picture, but this is typical traffic in Guadalajara. This was this evening.




Calle Independencia

Street musicians on Calle Independencia

Some of the art galleries in downtown.

I think this was associated with San Pedro Church. I couldn't go inside; there was a funeral occuring at the time.

A side view of San Pedro.

I liked these doors.

San Pedro Church. I read it took about 150 years to complete.

The plaza in downtown Tlaquepaque.

Downtown Guadalajara

Yesterday my friend Diego showed me downtown. It is very old and very interesting. Again, I forgot my camera, but I am sure I'll be back many times before I leave. He showed me a Mexican sushi place, where two drinks and a roll of sushi was about $5. It was funny; the soy sauce had onions, cilantro and jalapenos in it but the sushi was practically identical to what you'd find in the U.S. (not quite as good). We also had something off the street that looked and tasted like a potato, but really white and soft, and with the lime juice and the hot sauce, very spicy. There are many, many plazas downtown, some with fountains, one with a "tianguis" (the flea market), but Diego said it was a "mega" tianguis, because it was three stories tall. As I got in my car, it started to pour down rain, for maybe 20 minutes. It surprised me because this is the dry season but it didn't last long.

I got to see the whole spectrum

Yesterday I got to see, as Pako put it, both sides of Mexico. First I went with "mama" to a tiangius (tee -ahn - gees). I think that's a close enough spelling. It's basically a flea market, on the weekends, and for 33 pesos (about $2.50) I got a big bag of oranges, a pineapple and grapes. Then Pako and I went to Calle Obregon, which is a street that is like a flea market as well, but permanent. They sell knock-offs of stuff, clothes, hats, sunglasses, toys... pretty much everything. It's on the "wrong side" of town apparently but all walks of life go there to shop. Then I went to a birthday party. It was extremely fancy. There was even a Norteno band - that type of music you hear in Mexican restaurants that has a lot of horns, accordians, drums, etc.? It is actually popular in Mexico (I always thought until the first time I came to Mexico that it was only for the ambiance of restuarants in the U.S.) and it appeared to be a big deal that this band was there performing. I really wish I had brought my camera - it was unlike any party I've seen in the United States.