January 30, 2013 – Guadalajara Two
Some general notes about the city for those who haven’t been here. Guadalajara is Mexico’s second-largest city, located in the Central Valley, which is in the mountains at 5,200 feet. This gives it a terrific climate, with nine months of the year in the mid-twenties and three months around thirty; overnight lows vary from ten to fifteen degrees. In other words, it’s spring/summer pretty much all year. It was founded just under five hundred years ago, and has a magnificent historical section which is loaded to the gunwales with art and culture, which, of course, is pretty much wasted on me. But the buildings are cool.
The scale of this place is also pretty daunting. If you took all of the people living in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Yukon, the NWT, and Nunavut, you could put them into Guadalajara and have room left over. Of course, you’d have to take all the Mexicans out first, but you get what I mean. It’s big.
Today was Shopping Day, as Deb had heard from many of her friends that Guadalajara has an enormous market that just absolutely can’t be missed. So after finding it, we didn’t miss it. No, that’s not right…. Anyway, we’re about five blocks from the centre of Centro, which is the historical centre of town, and the market is about 5 blocks on the other side, so the 10-block walk was a good leg-stretcher to start the day. The market turns out to be a three-floor behemoth that is at least five hundred yards long and two to three hundred yards wide, and then of course there are a couple of ancillary markets as well. At fifty square feet per vendor, that makes – let me see……. a shitload of booths. There are at least three floor-to-ceiling atriums (atria?) housing a ginormous food floor and a vegetable market, amongst other things. And of course, you can buy pretty much anything except the Ikea Monkey there, although he may be there and we just missed him. Can’t figure out how, though…. Deb pretty much covered the whole thing.
Looking down on the green-grocers.
This pig appears to be surfacing out of the other pig parts. I think I saw this movie…
The food floor is at least 5 acres. And it’s very good too!
After that, with throbbing feet and absolutely no purchases (this was a catch-and-release outing), we spotted a four-floor shopping centre that kind of looked like a Sears of something, but it was completely crammed with jewellers, watch-makers, bling-slingers, makeup sellers, and DIY accessory shops. All the doors are guarded by steely-eyed security guards with pump shotguns, so I guess it’s the safest place in town other than under my bed back in the hotel.
This is a parking garage, with plants in the outside walls.
Go figure.
By now, our feet are REALLY throbbing, so we tottered off back to the cathedral square, where Deb spotted a second-floor restaurant that looked out directly on the cathedral and had a bathroom. Up we went and shared a plate of cecino, which is thin-sliced meat fried crisp and served with guacamole, refried beans, and taco chips. Pretty interesting, and washed down with a couple of beers to ensure it stayed down. Then it was off to the hotel for a serious nap (we’re seniors) with only about thirty stops for photo opportunities and further shopping spurts.
Deb resting her feet in front of the municipal hall – I think…
They’re starting to all look the same!
The cathedral from our restaurant table.
Evening eventually showed up, and we wandered back down to the Cathedral Square, as it’s got a pretty nice sidewalk restaurant where you can listen to live music and soak up the ambiance along with some beers. Caught the obligatory Nighttime Shot Of The Cathedral, and it was time for the walk home, and we’re bunked in for the night.
Obligatory evening shot of the cathedral and fountain.
Tomorrow is Tour Day; we’re going to Tonala for shopping (yay!) and a bus tour of the city centre. Should be fun.