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Published: April 12th 2009
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Guadalajara 1
"Amy get excited we're in Guadalajara!!" First thing's first, Happy Easter Everyone!!! P.S. you may want to grab a snack, maybe a coffee, orange juice, I know I would. This entry is gonna be long and even split into two entries.
Ahh, finally Vacation week, Semana Santa. Well to start of this blog lets go to the planning steps of this trip. So as I had started planning this trip it was originally supposed to be in Chiapas with Steve, Amy, and whoever else wanted to come. But that got changed because Amy couldn't go due to the danger in the area of southeastern Chiapas. So we changed it to a Tabasco journey. In Tabasco we were going to go to some caves, travel a little of the ocean, and visit one of the Guimond family members, a sister in law to my host dad, that lives in Villahermosa. But that got changed because then Steve had talked to our friend Jenna about coming with us and she wanted to go on a Oaxaca trip and join another group. Alright so lets check out the prices and everything. OVER $500 ?!?! umm I opted out of it because I didn't want to go bankrupt on this
trip. So i looked yet again at another choice, Travel the Yucatan! Started sounding great and pretty cheap, but Jenna still wanted to go to Oaxaca and Steve now as well. So it was just Amy and I, which was fine, two people in the group no big, literally, and that means only one person to worry about. So after much debating and tons of deliberation, we had decided to go to Guadalajara and Guanajuato, mainly because one of the airlines had super cheap tickets to that area and we found cheap hostels.
Alright! We now have where we want to go 3 days before leaving. Now what are we going to do/stay and when are we going to which city? 2 days before we make all of our reservations and have our basic plan. The plan? To fly into Leon/El Bajio take a bus to Guadalajara, and stay 2 nights there. Then take a bus from Guadalajara to Guanajuato and Amy stay 2 nights there and I stay 3 nights, and the second day in Guanajuato we would go to San Miguel de Allende. Why the split at the last second? Because I wanted/needed to see and live
Guadalajara 5
Very similar don't you think? the Good Friday Spectacles in Guanajuato. So, now we have places to go, places to stay, and a plan to follow! Woohoo!
So comes Monday and we're on our way to Leon/El Bajio. Evidentally this didn't mean the city of Leon as we landed in a small town halfway between Leon and Guanajuato called Silao. So took a taxi over to the Leon bus station and hopped on our bus just in time, I mean JUST in time we got there 15 min before it left and got to the bus maybe 5 min before leaving. Whew! Horrible problem avoided. And what a choice of a Bus company too, that was the comfiest bus I had ever ridden. And not only was it comfy but we got complementary ham and cheese sandwiches and soda AND movies during the ride. Got to the Guadalajara Bus Station three hours later where we then found a city bus to take us to the general area of our Hostel. Sweet I've seen a map of Guadalajara so we should be at our Hostel in no time and be on our way exploring the city real soon! Not! Because as it turned out there
was tons of traffic and Buses don't tend to go very fast with tons of traffic, I don't know why i mean they're surely the easiest vehicle to maneuver right? Everyone can see them coming shouldn't they be afraid of the moving bus and move out of the way? Not in Mexico. Anyways after an hour and a half bus ride we get of and find our Hostel. Now first impression of my first Hostel ever?? Awesome!! Please someone remind me why i hadn't stayed in Hostels before! It was a small little house with flags from all over the world and inside they had computers with internet we could use for free, a tv with movies and a playstation, a beautiful backyard with hammocks hung up, lounge areas, a balcony connected to our room, and breakfast every morning. All for a great price of $17 a night for a private twin room. So we move into our room for the two nights and go to explore the city.
First impression of Guadalajara? Huge and very modern. Around the city we found a couple of monuments and statues, and some old houses made into Historic Centers. We then made
Guadalajara 25
Award for Best Fountain Ever?? I think so. our way downtown where we found even more statues, monuments, fountains, churches, and even a really sweet clock. Every hour on the hour it would chime, but there's also a little mechanical men show built into the clock. Sweet! We then proceeded to the markets and found some cool gifts for everyone and what not. Downtown was a bit different than the rest of the city, it was more historic looking. What was really sweet is that you could tell that some areas definitely kept the Spanish influence and others changed. There was a spot in particular that you look to your right and its the mexican colorful influence, and look to the left and its the spanish architecture influence. After walking around this area and being awed and amazed, attacked by plenty of beggars, and watching a street performer play the saxophone rather badly (i don't make fun though because i can't play the saxophone at all), we headed back to the Hostel for a nap from our long day. When we woke up we got some dinner and then just enjoyed to nighttime views of Guadalajara.
Day two of our Semana Santa trip. Started it off with
a free breakfast, you can't ever beat free meals! Then made our way back to downtown where we found a tour bus for 90 pesos that you can get on and off at any point of the route! As well it had two routes, Sweet! So the first Route took us to a historical artisans market called Tlaquepaque where I don't even know how to begin describing the area. Beautiful colors, Buzzing markets, Beautiful Architecture, street musicians (some really good others just okay),and awesome museums (rather art galleries we treated as free museums!!). After a while exploring down in Tlaquepaque we caught the bus back and took the other route which was a route around Guanajuato. We saw multiple historic Plazas, historic statues, and historic monuments including the famous Arcs of Guadalajara! At the end of the day we went back to sleep and get ready to go to Guanajuato in the morning!!
Until next time,
Live life to the Fullest and without Regrets!
Rob
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