Why You Should Visit Guadalajara

I’ll be honest, my first impression of Guadalajara was not great.  I visited the city twice in the past but only in taxis at night between bus trips to and from Querétaro.  This weekend was a good reminder that first impressions can be wrong. 

After a great Peace Corps training on monitoring and evaluation (and I actually mean that in a non-sarcastic way), I set off with mi amiga Alana to get a feel for one of the largest cities in Mexico.  Guadalajara has an international vibe with amazing art, public parks and plazas.  More than once I found myself asking “where am I?” as I passed upscale nightclubs reminiscent of New York, trendy restaurants straight out of Portland, pedestrian malls á la D.C., and restaurants and boutiques to rival any cosmopolitan city in the world.

  One of many lovely squares.

  Me and Alana at los arcos.

  Cool art in a public square.

  So many beautiful old buildings.

 So much cool, creepy art.

Rotunda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres.

We visited the Ex-Hospicio Cabañas with murals by José Clemente Orozco.  It didn’t feel right to take pictures of art in such a tranquil space, but you can see them in all their glory as taken by other people without my moral righteousness (and better cameras – just Google “Cabañas murals by José Clemente Orozco”).  Las Cabañas is huge and beautiful, with multiple courtyards and galleries showing beautiful pieces in different artistic mediums.  This includes the room I’ve affectionately titled the “Mexican Vogue” room.  The high-fashion photos with exposed body parts and makeup were cool but a jarring contrast to the dark and fiery murals in the main hall.

 

Buildings and art at Ex-Hospicio Cabañas. 

We also visited Musa, a free museum that had a great exhibit on art, politics, and the environment.  I enjoyed the wall of newspaper that the artist had encased himself in and then ripped his way out of, a modern puzzle piece exhibit, and an amazing outdoor art piece by Javier Marin.  If there had been a small reproduction of that giant head, I would have purchased it in a heartbeat.

 I love this giant head. 

I finally took a picture of one of the murals; don't judge me.

We tried to visit the Mercado de San Juan de Dios, one of the largest traditional markets in Mexico, but to be honest, it was overwhelming.  Saturday afternoon was a wee bit busy in there and it was wall to wall DVDs, speakers, clothes, shoes, watches, jewelry, kitchen pans, sound systems….  I have no idea what the other 99% of the market holds because we only made it around one level before we had to escape for sunlight and air.  We passed numerous food stalls on the way out, including one with a cow skull with limes in the eye sockets.  The city was just brimming with art.  

 View from the mercado.

  Art and a pedestrian avenue near the mercado.

Although I enjoyed all of the centro district, my favorite street was Chapultepec.  It had the best cafes, fountains, sculptures, handmade crafts, and a pedestrian mall for a long leisurely walk.  It also had a huge gathering of hipsters and I felt extra cool by proximity. 

  Trendy bar near Chapultepec.

  A great pedestrian mall.

  Art on Chapultepec.

Guadalajara has every mode of transportation you desire.  We didn’t make it in a horse drawn carriage or on one of the community bikes, but we did ride city buses, electric trolley buses and Uber.  We got stuck in a flash flood in our Uber for about an hour with two nice people from Mexico and China who showed me how to play Pokemon Go.  Although I was increasingly concerned that I was stuck in a car with rising water outside, we eventually backed our way down the street to higher ground.  Lesson learned: do not go anywhere near a low point in Guadalajara after a rain.  Or only ride in the big city buses as they were able to make it through the deep water – and make our little car float with the force of their waves.

  View from our Uber during a flash flood.

 I waved goodbye to the family on the right after our hour together.

On the 5-hour bus ride home my bus broke down a mere 80 minutes from my town.  It became evident that we weren’t moving again after our driver left with a big piece of metal never to return and then the bus stopped running on its own.  I eventually saw the driver sitting in the shade down the road talking on his phone.  Someone finally went out to talk to him and returned to tell us that we needed to wait for another bus.  I joined the driver in the shade and tried to interpret what was being said about our next steps.  I deduced that there were three options: 1) we were going to wait 30 minutes for a gang of taxis to get us, 2) we were going to wait for a bus going to a different town to pick us up and take us to that town, or 3) we were going to wait 3 hours for the next bus to my town.  What actually happened is that the bus to another town arrived a little over an hour later and took us to an intersection where the woman behind me told me I needed to exit, and I joined 7 other people in 2 shared taxis to make it the rest of the way home.  Although this was not one of the options I interpreted, I decided it was close enough, so I’m basically rocking Spanish now.

If I haven’t convinced you to visit Guadalajara yet, consider this: if you are a friend or family member, you can also see me!  And my awesome Spanish will totally get us where we need to go and we can order food and buy stuff.  Also, Guadalajara is the birthplace of mariachi music and tequila.  That ought to do it. 

Every Adventure Needs Someone to Live It

It recently occurred to me that as someone who does not have a car or access to a good public transportation system, I really get to go a lot of places.  That’s partly because there are lots of opportunities to visit the countryside for work, and partly because people here are just really welcoming.  Take this weekend, for example.  I headed out to a local mushroom festival with my coworker and his family for a leisurely stroll in the woods to find fungi.  I’m not a fan of eating mushrooms – not because it’s against my “morels” (hey oh!) – but I’m always game for a walk in the woods and I love the artistry of a good mushroom.    

 Spongy mushrooms. 

  Red mushrooms. 

  Basket full of mushrooms. 

  Mushrooms everywhere.

There was a huge table of mushrooms on display at the festival and a lovely photo exhibit for our project that highlighted the beauty of places, people and traditions in the region.  After a torrential downpour that turned the streets into rivers and made me cold for only the second time in 5 months, two of the best tostadas I’ve ever eaten, and a meet and greet with a craft brewer, I hitched a ride home with my friend Maria and a new group of people.   

 

 Table full of mushrooms. 

 Photo exhibit. 

 Celebration of mushrooms. 

 

Sunday my coworker and his family took me on another adventure, this time to a small pueblo in the mountains for a fiesta with dancing horses, a ride-up bar for horses and people, lots of happy people and a mariachi band.  There were many beautiful horses which everyone wanted me to pet.  I did the best I could but I know those horses can smell my fear and I believe that we are in mutual agreement that we’re better off as distant acquaintances.  Another storm rolled in as the mariachi band started playing and I headed out early in yet another person’s car. 

  Dancing horses. 

  Doing my best to pet a horse (photo by Cindy). 

  More horses outside the ride-up bar. 

 So many horses. 

  Storm rolling in. 

 Waterfall on the soggy drive home. 

This weekend I ate tostadas with some kind of meat, and rice and cabbage with some kind of meat.  I’m pretty sure the meat was pork both times, but to be honest, people often ask me what I had to eat and I have no idea.  If it looks good and it’s not picante, I’m game.  For dinner this week, Alicia presented me with four different types of tamales: sweet tamales, tamales with meat (let’s just assume it was pork), tamales with chicken and tamales with chiles and cheese (my new favorite food).  I keep thinking that I’m going to keep a log of all the amazing food that I’ve had to eat here and provide photos, but a) I usually remember that when I’m done eating, and b) I don’t like it when people post photos of their food.  That said, please enjoy some photos of food.

  My favorite thing that my host mom makes; I'm pretty sure this is a breaded zucchini soup.

 

  Tamales! 

  Salad (ok, this is not special for Mexico but you can find great salads here). 

 Fruit at a community event. 

All the recent rain has reminded me of Seattle and made me long just a tiny bit for a good hike in the Olympic or the Cascade Mountains.  Facebook keeps sending me my “memories” from the past and yesterday I got one of a camping trip I took to Mt. Rainier this time last year.  It was on that trip that I decided that a) I was happiest when camping, hiking and spending time in nature, b) I was tired of camping alone, and c) that I wasn’t ready to wait to have a full life until it was time to retire.  Shortly after I returned from that trip, I applied for my current position with Peace Corps.  Although I would totally be up for a camping trip to Mt. Rainier right now, it’s good to see how much has changed in a year because I took a leap.  In the wise words of Ms. India Arie, “every adventure needs someone to live it”  J  

  My view out on the trail this time last year. 

 The mountains are always a good place for reflection. 

The Sound of (no) Silence

This past week was brutal with a cold that I thought was never going to end.  I ransacked my Peace Corps medical kit looking for solutions for a high fever, severe ear aches, a sore throat, and a lethargy that was so extreme I had to rest after using all my energy to open my medical kit.  I ended up lying in bed for most of the past week, which gave me lots of time to observe the sounds of my town, so let’s talk about the good, the bad and the weird sounds of life in Mexico. 

Some beautiful, and quiet, places. 

It’s a never ending joke in my family that I have bionic hearing as I always listen to the TV and radio with the volume super low (I can’t help it if the rest of you can’t hear it at level 7).  I live in an idyllic pueblo of approximately 8,000 people that is super tranquil.  However, there’s a road that runs through town that takes people to the coast so there’s a fair bit of traffic, and it’s hot, so the doors and windows are always open.  That means that my sensitive little ears have experienced a bevy of sounds that compose the current soundtrack of my life.

The good noises:

• Horses walking on the stone streets (which is by far the best sound ever)
• Music playing at the central square
• The best mobile gas-selling truck jingle in town 
• Kids laughing while they play
• The sweet sound of rain that visits us almost daily

Noises that are different:

• Vendors riding by on bicycles with large umbrellas and trailers selling ice cream, corn, etc. while honking a horn. 
• Trucks driving by with loudspeakers selling water, gas or fruit, or collecting used appliances and other items. 
• Cars driving by with loudspeakers announcing community events and meetings, or sales at local stores. I can tell you that every 2 weeks an eye doctor from Guadalajara will be in town to see patients until 3 PM on Sundays. I know this because I heard the announcement enough times over the weekend that even I eventually interpreted the Spanish. 

Van and loud speaker announcing a weekend event. 

One of many roaming water trucks. 

Noises that are not my favorite:

• Trucks that roll by my window at 7 AM with what sounds like a jet-powered fan rattling a full load of metal (I keep trying to jump up in time to see WTH this is because it sounds like a hurricane).
• Celebratory “cannons” that shoot off at all hours for different celebrations, usually related to a church event or a special saint’s day.
• And last but not least, there are the birds that live in the tree outside my bedroom window.  I love birds and I work in the environmental sector but my least favorite way to wake up is to the sound of birds chirping – I’m a paradox, what can I say.

The rainy season has arrived with almost daily downpours and thunderstorms, which means the sweet sound of rain can always be found.  I love the smell of rain and the ability of a good thunderstorm to drop the temperature and the humidity for a few hours.  There’s only one downside to the rain and that is the flies. I’ve had flies buzz into my ears, my eyes, my hair… there were literally hundreds of flies in our office last week.  They were climbing on counters, computers, cups, walls, people, and even the floor.  We had two fly swatters in the office and a three country competition on to see who could kill the most, but it was never enough and the carnage was not pretty.

Points tally for our office World Cup. 

However, this week, a miraculous thing happened: Cindy, the other Peace Corps volunteer, installed two temporary screen doors, and I could have hugged her were I not worried I would transfer my viral germs. The difference in the office was like night and day.  Gone was the nonstop flapping of arms to shoo away flies, gone was the non-stop sound of plastic slapping every surface in the office, and gone was the massive fly graveyard.  Sure there were cannons shooting off in celebration of something again today, but I was not fighting flies, and that made all the difference. 

The power of a screen door. 

Music & Food

Sometimes a theme pops up in your life and keeps reappearing.  The past two weeks, that theme was music.  It started with a stop to say hello to Tere, a local woman who lives down the street and is frequently in this awesome store with traditional Mexican clothes downtown.  During the course of our chat she invited me to both go to the beach on Sunday with a large group of locals (which was so much fun!) and to attend a Zumba dance class with her the next day.  I got clearance from my boss to leave work early and had a great time dancing with lots of women in the lobby of the local municipal building.  I love dance and hip hop music, so I’ve found my people.

 The water was 80 degrees which made it possible to float all day long. 

  The only source of my beloved shade.  

Last week was a quiet one in the office as several people were out traveling so we rocked out to all the best hits of the Cure and the Smashing Pumpkins.  I could feel my teen angst-filled-self coming back to life with the music of my youth.  Who would have thought coming to Mexico would remind me how much I love the Cure?  Or that there was a Mariachi version of Close to Me? I also heard Funky Town in the office the other day and I have to wonder how prolific English language songs are in other countries where the Peace Corps serves.  Are volunteers in Africa also asking the age-old question “won't you take me to funky town?” or rocking out to Pit Bull at the local gas station? 

Last week I also joined a crew from the office to visit different people in the countryside and – don’t ask me why – but we immediately started listening to Frank Sinatra’s Strangers in the Night.  There is nothing odder, or perhaps more awesome, than rolling down the street in rural Mexico with Strangers in the Night playing loud for all to hear. We listened to that song 4 or 5 times before my coworker thankfully switched to traditional Mexican music. That’s when the next show began as the crew sang every single song and demonstrated the corresponding dance moves for each type of music.  I cannot fully describe the awesomeness of this performance but I can tell you that my face hurt from smiling and I can sing you all the words from Strangers in the Night when next we meet.  

 The church in Navidad.  

 

 

Giant plants and cool trees. 

 Short hike to a local river.

A 2-way-view selfie in Rancho Paraiso; I don't know why this is an option on my phone.

Last week I joined my family at a neighbor’s anniversary party, complete with another mariachi band and it was just as great as the first time.  Two nights later I went to a local church for a series of dance performances by groups of all ages in both traditional and modern styles.  I finally got to see one of the adult daughters in my family perform with her dance troupe and they were amazing!  The music was great, the skirts were twirling and I bonded with a woman on the bench next to me as she explained the geographic origin of each song. 

 Mariachis doing their awesome thing.

 

 Local dancers with lots of colors and great music. 

While out in the countryside last week, we also stopped to buy fresh cheese from a woman’s house.  We had to bypass several resting cows in front of her gate but the cheese was delicious and she insisted on giving us frijoles and warm tortillas, along with mango cajete.  This was another good week for food as my host mom made enchiladas, I ate lots of fresh papaya, pineapple and camarones embarazados, and I enjoyed an assortment of snacks at my neighbor’s anniversary party, including chicharrónes, boiled potatoes with spices, cheese cubes, crackers with cream cheese and a spicy marmalade, spiced peanuts, ham sandwiches and more.  Music and food – what more do you need? 

 Just some cows taking it easy.

Fresh cheese and mango cajete.