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Veg
Mexican Veg in San Juan de Dios Market So I've finally had some time to explore the centre of Guadalajara and it really is a lovely city. It is however pretty huge which means it takes quite an uncomfortable 30 minute treck on the bus to get there from where I am staying with the family in the suburb Zapopan and, as mentioned on a previous post, often involves longer when we miss our stop / get the wrong bus / generally have no idea where we´re going.
The cathedral is much like any other Latin American cathedral inside - huge but pretty plain apart from the compulsary collection of saints and gold alterpieces, no where near as impressive as the churches of Italy of Spain, but the outside of this cathedral is actually very different with a huge arch-shaped front and double spires it has a symmetry wich many of the other buldings here fail in. As with all other Mexican cities, Guadalajara also has its share of murals - the great Mexican art form, mostly found in the public offices and buildings. Here, many are painted by the one-armed local man Orozco, keen on his revolutionary themes and dull colours they contrast the works of Rivera
Murals Guadalajara
Murals in Guadalajara's Government Palace by the famous muralist José Clemente Orozco seen in Mexico City. Anne and I also made a brief visit to the Jalisco (the Mexican state of which Guadalajara is the capital) Museum, where luckily our student cards were accepted for free entry, and we saw a whole bunch of historic artefacts from pots to dinosaurs.
San Juan de Dios market is pretty spectacular. It is 3 stories of covoured market selling more shoes and fake DVDs than Mexico could ever need itself, as well as vegetables, jewellry, traditional sweets, spices, textiles and the obligitory tourist-tack. The smells range from the sublime to the vomit-inducing but it is incredibly interesting and definately the place to buy back your watch if you have been stupid enough to wear it to the market in the first place!
We´ve also been to the Parque Agua Azul, a lovely little park in the centre of town which has a buttifly house and an avery as well as an orquid garden - although nothing was flowering. It was nice to spend a bank holiday afternoon there sitting under the trees reading and being distracted by the hundreds of kiddies out with their families.
In the Cabañas de las culturas, a
Guadalajara Cathedral
Guadalajara's unique cathedral exterior huge building which in the past has been used as a hospital and an orphanage we didn´t find any of the displayed art and building and mural designs that are advertised, as the galleries are all being renovated. We were however able to appreciate the building itself which is huge and really buitiful, and Orozco´s most famous piece of work - over 50 murals which cover the inside walls of the chapel.
Tlaquepaque One weekend we went to Tlaquepaque, one of Guadalajara's suburbs, known for its handicrafts and old-village style; the suburb was orignially a tiny village but was eaten up by Gadalajara´s sprawl. Now there is not much really there but it has a lovely little square and tree´filled pedestrian avenues so it made a nice place for a Sunday afternoon stroll and a look around the market.
Tonolá Gina and Beto, our ´cousins´ have been great to us and this weekend they took us to Tonolá, one of Guadalajara´s other suburbs where there is a massive street market full of all sorts of handicrafts. We saw some guys blowing glass (in an amazingly hot room) and some of the things they made are so
Multi-coloured chicks
Anyone want a multi-coloured hat-wearing baby chicken?
Mexico proves it´s excellent stand on animal rights. lovely, I really wish I could bring more things home. It´s so cheap as well. We also say loads of ceramics and wooden carving and textiles etc - I want it all! Luckily I managed to buy nothing except a storage bag in which to keep some of the cr*p (sorry important souvenirs) I´ve already accumulated.
So that´s really it for Guadalajara, at least for now. We seem to be spending most of our time catching up on sleep from our early mornings and planning lessons, but we still have lots of plans for other places we want to go to outside Guadalajara. In this vien we have just booked a few days in Cuba to which we will be going during the school exams when there is nothing else to do. Shame! Mary has also confirmed that she will be coming out to meet me for 2 weeks after I finish teaching, which is so exciting! Let me know what you are all up to. Love you all!
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Beto
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Il manque beaucoup de choses
Hola Prima!!! Todavia faltan muchas cosas por hacer en México, hopefully we will be able to go next thursday to "El panteon de Belen" an old cementery that host tours at midnight. Also we may be going to Michoacan or Manzanillo beach and Colima so I hope you enjoy our city and country and practice your german "ich bin elf" by the way I love your writing and tu as des yeux jolis.... tres tres jolis