The Home of Tequila and Mariachi

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Guadalajara was the first time I had worked remotely in another country, which resulted in its own set of problems. Things I take for granted like phones, credit cards, and online deliveries suddenly became a problem. I will need to figure out how to set up a dual sim card for future travel, so I can still have people contact me from home while using a local provider for data. I had all kinds of problems with my credit/debit cards, either not working because of PINs, not being able to use them online, or not being accepted everywhere. Finally, Amazon in Mexico has nothing to be worried about with IKEA. I ordered a desk through IKEA, but the whole delivery process was a complete disaster. I ended up ordering a new one through Amazon, which went smoothly.

I picked Guadalajara because of my experience in Mexico City in 2017. Food, cocktails, and value come to mind when I think of Mexico. There is just something wonderful about getting the same quality of experience when travelling that is a fraction of the cost of back home. The food was great here, and there were many fabulous restaurants. I remember the cocktail scene from Mexico City. I would not be disappointed here, whether it be the creativity of the cocktails or the funkiness of the bars. Given the location of the town of Tequila, it wasn't a surprise that Tequila dominated the cocktail menus here. Finally, I still rank Mexico as one of the top three countries globally for street food, along with Thailand and Taiwan. Unfortunately, vegetarians would be lost here, as this is a meat-centric culture.

I brought my bike again, but I knew it would not be the same experience as Vancouver or Quebec City. Whether cycling in the cities or the countryside, cycling in the developing world is always an adventure. Guadalajara would be no different. As in most parts of the developing world, the bigger you are, the higher you move up the pecking order regarding the right of way. Cyclists are only higher than pedestrians. While the city had an extensive bike-sharing program, the bike trails were still a work in progress. All of them were along busy roads and non-contiguous. I am sure the goal is to have contiguous trails. There is at least RecreActiva here, which is common to many Latin American cities. They close down 60 km of roads from 8:00 to 14:00 each Sunday to cyclists, runners, walkers, rollerbladers, etc. There are also many side activities downtown like dancing and hola hoops, to name a couple. I have participated in this event in Bogotá and Mexico City.

Guadalajara has done a fabulous job with their downtown. Like many Latin American cities, they have a historical downtown going back nearly 500 years. However, unlike other cities, they have created an extensive pedestrian area, and the flow of cars goes underneath rather than through the historic part of downtown. What this has done has brought people out at night. The shops are open until 20:00, but people linger and enjoy the area's beauty even past then. In nearly all Latin American cities, the historic part of town has been abandoned by the wealthy for newly created neighbourhoods in the suburbs. A unique feature of Guadalajara I found was that they seem to have no policy in place for derelict cars. We saw many of them that had been sitting there for years. Most of them had been vandalized to some degree.

As with most of the world, people are getting tired of the pandemic protocols, and masks were an example of that. We saw MANY people wearing them around their chin or below their nose.

We took in three evening events of note during our stay. The first was Lucha Libre, which is Mexican wrestling. While this was similar to what we see in the United States, it is somewhat more theatrical, with nearly all wrestlers wearing colourful masks. I was pretty impressed by the acrobatics of some of the wrestlers. The crowd can get into it as well. Like Mexico City, the arena used has been around for decades. Next, we took in the symphony housed in the historical and beautiful Teatro Dellogado, which goes back 150 years. Music is international, so why not enjoy these beautiful buildings worldwide while taking in the local symphony. This symphony was quite small, with groups of nine and five playing during the evening. The tickets were very inexpensive, though. Finally, given that Guadalajara was the center of mariachi, we went to Casa Bariachi for an evening of music. This dinner theatre was highly recommended online, and locals embraced it. It was a great deal given the food was good, and there was no cover charge. We found most of what we wanted to see in Guadalajara was within walking distance or a short Uber ride.

Given we were here for a month, we took the opportunity to do two-day trips out of town - Lake Chapala and Tequila (yes, the place where Tequila is made). As a retiree spot for Americans and Canadians, I had heard of Lake Chapala before, but I never knew where it was. While Lake Chapala is the largest lake in Mexico, it is also very polluted. It is not hard to see the attraction of Mexico for retirees with its proximity, low cost of living, and weather. The weather was so lovely that I stopped checking the weather. On our last Saturday, we went to Tequila, which I might add wasn't as nice of a trip as Lake Chapala. While there is just as much history, it has become very touristy and not in a good way. Buses, looking like tequila barrels, travel up and down the streets of the old part of town, while many shops allow you to try different tequilas at their storefront. It seemed a bit like the Fort Lauderdale I remembered from spring break during university.

All in all, it was an excellent trip for our first remote stint outside of Canada. It is hard to beat the value of Mexico. Its proximity and close economic ties with the United States has meant a country with many of the creature comforts of home, but not at the same cost or weather.

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Photos

Tlaquepaque
Most large Latin Mexican cities have swallowed up small colonial towns from the past.

Despair in Different Forms
Homelessness is universal.

Comments

[Emma Miller]

Great blog I love to try the Tequila and Mariachi. Thanks for sharing!