I am job. I mean, burnt. I can't decide whether it is completely awesome because I am finally in warm weather and so the toll of spending hours in the sun, or whether it actually sucks. I guess I'll find out when I wake up tomorrow.
I've spent the past couple of days at an absolutely GORGEOUS bed and breakfast in Tlaquepaque, which is kind of part of Guadalajara. It used to be a separate village, now it's pretty much an outer suburb. Ish. It worked out for the best though, because Tlaquepaque is beautiful, and because it's not in the city, it is nice and quiet. Not for the lack of people though, they are everywhere, even at night. Very little traffic and very few city idiots. You should see this B&B though, it is just stunning. My room has a gorgeous little balcony and there is a huge garden to relax in. There is a living room and all the rooms are painted vivid colours, and the owners are just gorgeous. They have an 8-month old daughter, who is the happiest little thing out. It's been hard.
The night I arrived here I met my first truly English speaking tourists, and also the owners of the B&B have excellent English. Sigh of relief. For the first time since I got here, I could have a conversation! Crazy. I met two couples from the States who have been coming to Mexico for 35 years. They have a big part in running an orphanage in Colima, a city about 3 hours south of here (for those that don't know, Guadalajara is about a 7 hour drive west of Mexico City). They have even adopted one of the children and Chewy (probably not how it's spelt, but it's how it sounds) has quite good English and is lovely. So, they drove from California (about a week) and have stayed here for 2 months overseeing things at the orphanage. All this, and they are mid-60s. I hope that I still have as much bounce as these four when I'm in my mid-60s.
Anyway, I sat out with them in the garden at the B&B for a couple of hours, then we went out to dinner. They took me to a small restaurant called 'La Mata Tinta', where they knew the restaurant owners, a Scottish guy and his Mexican wife, who is apparently training to be a chef for Four Seasons. I splurged and spent quite a bit of money - I had a large meal, a dessert, two cocktails and another drink, plus tips and taxes, I spent a whoppping $20. I know. It's not fair. I couldn't believe I spent 20 whole dollars in one go either.
It was a gorgeous night - they had a 4 piece band playing (half of a larger group), who played, world music? I'm not sure, it's hard to describe. I'll post a video on Facebook if I remember. But they were amazing. They had the most amazing violinist, my jaw just dropped when he played his solo. It was incredible. They also had a guy on acoustic guitar, another one a flute and other wind instruments, and a girl who played drums and sang. On one piece she even imitated a didgeridoo, and I couldn't believe that the sound was coming out her mouth. Stupid talented people. Pfft.
After tea we wandered around the streets and the square (the 6 of us) as they showed me some of the sights in town. There was a remarkable number of people walking around, but perhaps not overly remarkable considering it was a Saturday night. I even got to see some restaurant Mexican performers, which amused me no end.
Yesterday I retraced those steps and just wandered around Tlaquepaque. I think what really strikes me about Mexico is the colours. They have such beautiful, vivid colours adorning their buildings, and yet it doesn't look like a circus. I think that the rustic, peeling paint removes the potential gaudiness and just lets the buildings sit there in a mute vibrancy. Everywhere I go I just want to take more and more pictures of dilapidated, colourful buildings that have remarkable character. I'm trying not to, but you'll have to forgive me when I do.
I wandered around the main square for a while, which was absolutely packed with people. Buskers, people selling hand-made wares, beggars, children running wild with tacky toys they bought from the street-vendors....I even came across a pair of buskers who were singing with the people they were busking too. It just had such a lovely ambience, I didn't want to leave! But, work was beckoning. Before I left though, I had an awesome icypole that consisted of frozen strawberries in a blended frozen strawberry mix. It was great.
On the way back, I bumped into an elderly gentleman who sits outside his house on an old chair, watching Tlaquepaque go by. He couldn't speak a word of English, but he was just gorgeous, offering me his seat and showing off his house. We made a rough attempt at communicating for a while, and then he started feeling a little amorous so I left. 'Muy bonita, muy bonita'. Poor old guy just wanted some company.
I went out for dinner a little later, and had two bright-eyed kids bound up to me 'shoe-shine? shoe-shine?' I acquiesced, not minding giving these kids a bit of money. They were cheeky little buggers, nattering away in Spanish and giggling the entire time. I paid them a little extra than what they asked, then the cheeky brats had the gall to ask for more money for 'dinner'. I gave them another couple of pesos each and sent them scurrying.
After dinner I returned to the square to find it absolutely bustling, busier than it was during the day. You could only shuffle from one side to the other, waiting behind crowds. I only hung around for a bit, before deciding to go home and 'work'. By work I mean talk to Tess for 3 hours. That counts, right? Right??
Today I finally went into Guadalajara, taking the tourist bus again. Again, it is a fantastic way to see everything - it's time efficient and you get the history of the place from the audioguide. Amongst the sights I saw were the Teatro Degollado, not dissimilar to the Pantheon in Roma, yet another Catedral, a few plazas, and the Rotonda de los Jaliscienses ilustres (monument to illustrious Jaliscans). This has 17 columns in a circle and contains 98 urns with the remains of outstanding men in teh history of Jalisco. There are also a good number of statues encircling the monument.
I wandered around the city for a couple of hours on foot, just taking it all in and such. I realised when I got back to the bus that I was burnt as all F, so I decided to ride INSIDE the bus for the way back.
So here I am, back in my room and starting to feel the heat from my shoulders. Pout. I am back to MC tomorrow and then fly out to Chihuahua early the next morning, and I don't know when I'll have internet again. At worst I should hopefully have it in a week. Hope you're all well, don't work too hard.
Tlaquepaque/Guadalajara photos
