Guadalajara is an enchanting city

Im really behind on my blog right now because I have been so busy exploring that I have not had much time to use the internet. So I´ll try and update right now, if I can remember all of the amazing things I´ve been doing. I made it to Guadalajara in good shape and I was immediately impressed with that city. It is so beautiful, like an old European city, with an amazing cathedral and wonderful architecture. Also the people are unbelievably friendly- they would come up to us all the time to ask if we were enjoying our visit and welcoming us to their city. Colin made a friend named Juan who we ran into again and again so we hung out with him a bunch and he was our informal tour guide. Juan was about our age and he told us about some nice day trips to take outside the city and also some fun spots to hit up in the city. We went to a few museums, saw some nice parks, and pretty much spent a lot of time hanging out talking to people- it was really good for my spanish. Guadalajara is very tranquilo and enjoyable.

So a few highlights of our stay in Guadalajara (we were there for 6 days):
The first night we got there, Colin and I were walking down the main strip in the center of town that is just for pedestrians and there were tons of people out, walking around, selling things, performing, and what not. Colin and I saw a big group cirlced in front of us and we were wondering what was going on their, and saw there were 2 clowns in the center. We walked by and sure enough they spotted us, and ran out and grabbed us each by the arm and pulled us into the circle. Soon we became the center of the entertainment and they were cracking a lot of jokes at our expense- everyone loved that there was a couple of gringos to mess with. It was hilarious, one of the clowns took me from Colin and said I was his girl and then him and Colin had a balloon sword fight to see who would win me. The clown stabbed Colin and he fell to ground very dramatically, then I picked up Colin´s balloon sword and defended him. The balloon was very floppy and I went to stab the clown in the chest after he got me, but I ended up stabbing him in the crotch (everyone was cracking up) and I was the winner! The croud grew really big and it was a fun experience.
Also, Guadalajara has the biggest market in Latin America (so they told us) and it was right next to our hotel. This market was so insane it was about four stories high and a whole block large and packed full of everything under the sun. There were handcrafts, clothes, household items, tons of food, cowboy shops, sandal shops, and I could really go on and on. Adventuring through the market was intimidating at first but I came to love the madness of it all. Colin and I had a few meals there- they had some great fruit stands with all sorts of tropical fruit for very cheap. I took lots of pictures, and speaking of pictures, I am trying to figure out how to put them on my blog but I have not figured that out yet.
Another great thing is that Guadalajara is mariachi central. There are mariachis all over the place performing, and their music is so wonderful. During Colin and I´s first lunch there was a 12 piece mariachi band performing next to us almost the whole time. Also one night we were at the plaza by the cathedral and there was a mariachi performance going on there and we saw and an all female group which was fun. But the best of all is the our hotel was right off of the plaza of the mariachis, were they all congregated. Every night there was a mariachi band under our window serenading us through the night.
Oh yeah, I can´t forget, last Sunday we went to the Balet Folklorico. It was so unbelievable-- they had music and dances from all over Mexico. My favorite was probably the costumes, everyone was dressed in traditional clothes and the colors were spectacular. They had one dance where the couples all danced around bottles of tequila and I thought that one was pretty great. The Mexican culture has so much to offer, its really fun and lively.

So Colin and I decided that we could probably live in Guadalajara it was so nice. One thing about our trip though is that it is also really exciting to see what will come next- every place so far has been full of surprises. So on Monday night we said goodbye to Guadalajara and caught the night bus to Mexico City.

Everyone warned us that Mexico City is so big and really dangerous and we might not want to go there and we should be really careful, and so I arrived very suspicious of what it would be like. So far, I have been nothing but extremely impressed with this city! We are careful here, but I have not felt threatened at all yet. This is such a spectacular city with so much to see, we will probably be here for a while to take it all in. Yesterday we walked around and saw some murals by Diego Rivera and found a vegetarian restaurant to eat at for dinner! The city is great for walking around, plus the metro is really handy and there is a stop right by our hotel. Today we rode the metro to Chapultepec Park (the huge park in the city) and walked around there. They have a zoo right in the center you can just walk into for free so we wandered around looking at animals and then we went to the museo of antropologio. I can not even begin to say how unbelievable this museum is. It is huge and full of ancient artifacts from the Maya, Olmecs, Tolmecs, Mexica, and everyone. You could walk around there for days and not take everything in. I think Colin and I might have to go back. The history and culture of the americas before the Europeans arrived is so fascinating to me. They also had artifacts from the temples at Teotihuacan, just outside the city, and Colin and I are going to take a day trip out there.

The next part of our trip is a bit up in the air because we were going to go down through Oaxaca, but there are some serious political problems going on there now with the governor and I´m not sure how safe it is. We also want to go through Chiapas, so we´ll see what happens next, but for now I´m engulfed in the Mexico City madness and I love all that it has to offer. I´ll try and keep you all updated, but just so you know it is hard for me to use the internet when I have so many other things to do. Love to all! I left my apartment a month ago which is hard to believe, and this trip is really coming along, and I´m so excited!
hasta luego

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