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06/09/05 - 06/11/05 Guadalajara, MX (Photos) Exploring Guadalajara's historic downtown, and also checking out modern malls and movies |
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In an attempt to escape the humidity, mosquitoes and frustration of our absentee workers in PV, we decided to leave town and ended up in Guadalajara, where it is even hotter, but not humid, as if that makes it any better! At least we did manage to escape the mosquitoes...
After looking around a bit, we found ourselves a fine hotel, Hotel La Rotonda, near a lovely, grassy plaza right in the middle of the centro historico. Our room was large, light and airy. It even had a newly remodeled bathroom and a small balcony with a view of the cathedral all for about $50 USD per night. We're thinking we scored. So what's the catch? This room was hot as Hades! The ceiling fan was spinning at about 10 rpm and even with the auxiliary floor fan the hotel staff provided, it was an oven in there, especially during the 95 degree sunny daylight hours. And the Slurpee machine at the 7-Eleven down the street was broken! Aarrrrggghhhh! But when life hands the Brookses lemons, they make limonada (ok, technically that would be if we were handed limes, seltzer water, sugar syrup, and ice...but you get the idea)!
After breakfasting at Dunkin Donuts (okay, 7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, I know it sounds like we might as well be in the U.S., probably because we feel the need to mention every American chain we end up stopping at, which is pretty infrequently), we spent our first full day in Guadalajara wandering around the historic district taking in various tourist attractions, such as the Instituto Cultural Cabanas, a beautiful old building full of cool, breezy courtyards. During the hottest part of the day, we enjoyed (perhaps too strong a word) a buffet comida (late lunch) in an open-air restaurant overlooking the Plaza Rontonda near our hotel. We decided that we needed to get out of the heat for the rest of the day, and what better way to do that than by going to the movies! The multi-screen cineplexes in Guadalajara are, you guessed it, located in the big modern shopping malls (shopping malls? how exciting! says Caroline). So off we went, to the mall, where we enjoyed the latest Ashton Kutcher flick (well, the latest in Mexico, anyway), "A Lot Like Love," in blessed air-conditioned comfort. If you are like Caroline (or Scott, for that matter), you would never willingly agree to see an Ashton Kutcher movie. He seems to play the the same character in every movie: a complete buffoon. Well, that's how pathetic the movie selection here is. But we love going to the movies and so we just take what we can get (9 times out of 10, something we would never even rent, let alone see in the theater). This movie was a real surprise. Caroline loved it and even Scott found it to be decent entertainment. Ashton K. was actually good and played a very likable character in this movie. You've got to see it to believe it, I guess.
Guadalajara, although big (10 million people is the figure we always hear), seems manageable if you take it in pieces. Due to our knack for getting lost on even the simplest of errands, we've ended up doing quite a bit of driving around the city. From what we've seen, much of Guadalajara looks like a city you might see in California. There are, of course, sections of poverty (and wealth), but much of the city appears to be rather middle class. Many chain businesses in the areas of town that we saw, although we passed only one Starbucks (but saw another being built). The taco carts and other street vendors seemed to be replaced by 7-Elevens (of which there are tons!). This is a pretty broad generalization since we spent most of our time in the touristy historic district and wealthy Centro Magno area, but in other towns it's these touristy and/or historic parts of town that have the most street vendors.
Day 2: more site seeing and then, what?! Off to the mall....again?! This time we went to check out the humungous indoor/outdoor Plaza Del Sol. This place was something else! Multiple department stores (one even had a tiny Old Navy store inside of it) and endless clothing and shoe stores. It was almost like being in southern California, except that none of the stores had familiar names. The store that stood out was the Fabricas de Francia. It's like a large version of any nice, new Macy's or Marshall Field's. On the top (fifth) floor, they had an impressive selection of electronics, computers, giant plasma TVs, and motorcycles. We find that they sell motorcycles and mopeds just about everywhere - grocery stores, strip malls, department stores - you'd think we'd see more of them on the street.
There were, of course, lots of food stands and restaurants as well. We sampled the frozen yogurt cones at Danny-Yo. Scott got the "natural" flavor and Caroline tried the pina (pineapple). They were so gross that Caroline threw hers in the trash after two licks. Mexican frozen yogurt actually tastes like...yogurt, not at all like the yummy, super-sweet frozen yogurt in the US. Eeeewwww! How can they eat this stuff (although Scott seems to be developing a taste for it)? We finally found the mall directory and spotted a Dairy Queen to replace Caroline's cone.
Over margaritas and ruso micholada (like a bloody mary mixed with beer - better than it sounds!) on the plaza that evening, we decided to travel on to Patzcuaro in the morning, since it didn't look like our supervision would be needed at the condo for several more days and we were tired of the big city (and heat). Besides, we'll be back sooner or later. We decided that we're not really tied to Puerto Vallarta anymore, with the exception that we left a pile of our stuff in storage at the last hotel we stayed at (Casa Andrea). So we can just spend some time traveling around Mexico and head back to PV for a short visit when it looks like they're ready to finish up. |
Caroline photographs Palacio de Gobierno
Mariachi for Muchachos (mini mariachi suit) |
