Bunnygoespop in Guadalajara

Guadalalara? Guadahara? Guadalalala? Easy. Say Gua.. then rapidly flick your tongue up and down in your mouth. There! You just did it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvKVqY3iqdw

Guadalala is infamous because many Americans go there. They go for walks where they shouldn’t and then get robbed, kidnapped, shot, etc.. A guy in our group was escorted back to the hotel twice by police /army men with machine guns, because, take a guess, he went for walks and tried going into alleys which were clearly not seen as any of the Gringo’s business.

But if one sticks to the tourist approved places, Guadalajara is just lovely. If Mexico city is New Delhi, Guadalajara is Indore (my hometown). There is not as much to see as in Mexico city, but much more to feel- the food, the old cars, the clothes, the struggle yet the self pride, the ability to enjoy life no matter what, and the warmth, of the people and of Mexico.

I particularly loved Guadalajara because of this Mexican family (4th degree connections who in no time felt like 1st), who took me around, cared for me, and introduced me to…Mexico!

That’s Alfredo and Moreila with their two month old baby.

Actually I got the opportunity to go to GDL on business. We were staying at the nH collection, which is DIE hotel in the city centre (ja ja, I know its das Hotel, but that just sounds.. ugh.. German). The art inside the hotel is very artsy but the view from the rooftop terrace is “Godly” as one would say at IITB (undergrad lingo)!

On the day I arrived, Alfredo and Moreila took me to La Chata, where we had this meagre meal. Pollo in mole sauce (made from cocoa beans and many other spices), some other things whose name I don’t remember but salivate at the thought of it, and sweet rice water. Yum!

Then when we were in Tlaquepaque, we ate Tostadas at Chai, which is a very stylish restaurant/cafe which used to be some rich guy’s home, with a mixture of modern lighting but old doors and railings and a must visit just for its decor.

The award for best sandwiches in the world goes to these Tostadas!

 

My company also took us to fancy places to eat – presumably where the ultra rich of GDL dine. Even the waiters there looked chique. The floor in the restaurant had the same pattern as the plates. So did the neckties of the serving men (waiters), and so did the napkins. It was uncheckerable (sounds better if you say that in a French Accent).

But honestly I prefered the food at a much more down to earth place shown below more than the pretty and fancy restaurant shown above, with its run down feel, cheeky humor, AMAZING guacamole and seriously good margheritas.

Besides the food, there is also a lot of history to devour at GDL. I got to learn a lot, most of which I have forgotten, but it felt wonderful at that time, from the very eloquent guide at free walking tours Guadalajara, called Nachos (Ignacio). We went into the big church at the square, where the Spanish made the saints with brown skin – to look like the traditional gods of the people in the 1500s and make it easier for them to adopt Christianity.

 Everything looked much prettier up close (like below).

Then Nachos also took us to the town hall where one of the most iconic murals of Mexico by Orozco exist. Apparently this picture is the History textbook cover in schools in Mexico.

The church and state existing together, providing the backdrop for our modern Mexican history lesson/tour:

Below: Super important guy in Mexico, who was also in that mural above, Costillo, he’s everywhere.

During this tour and the others, I also noticed how hard people were working for very little money. One of my colleagues got a shoeshine in 1.5 USD! And the shoeshine guy worked so hard, plus he made the shoes look brand new !

Then there was the guy who sold shoe laces, and the old guy who really wanted to sell me a torch that could be connected to the phone micro USB port. I do not think he had an idea that phones have a built in torchlight nowadays – I felt so sorry for him. Then there were the talents. The young student string orchestra and the teenager who played the saxophone. The violin guy in the video below was also at the same spot during the day, playing alone.

Then one of the days my company took us again to another rich people restaurant which had a very impressive decor, Mexican dancing, and tourists taking pictures with the Mariachis. These guys made Guacamole and other salsas fresh infront of you, almost like Bhelpuri. 

The company also made us do what rich people would do and feel good about themselves. We painted the outside walls of a primary school as community service, and the number of children we actually interacted with? 0. Nada. See the bunny in the corner in the picture? Yep, that was me.  We did a pathetic job but it felt good #socialwork.

Here are some random pictures while walking to a very very special Karaoke bar in a very very shady neighbourhood, where I stopped taking pictures out of fear of looking like a goddamn tourist. The locals thought I was Mexican. Like when we went shopping, the shopkeepers spoke to me in Spanish and in broken English to my colleagues, and look at me for translation, and I would shrug and answer in German(?), entschuldigung, kein Espanol, the first foreign words that came to my head.

Shopping at the jewellery mall. Literally, it was a mall only for silver and gold (silver is local apparently), and security guards with automatic rifles.

 

 Then Alfredo and Moreilia also took me to Tlaquepaque (read as la ke pa ke), which is a town right outside GDL, and a shopping haven. Colours take a new meaning here. Look at those blues, look at those oranges, and look at those pinks. Do they even make paints of these colours!

And underneath these colours were more colours, small shops selling beaded jewellery and other things, and the shops selling copper.

I was so swept away, I finished all my pesos. Literally, I didn’t even have money for a Tequino, which is the made of fermented corn, and is the most refreshing hydrating drink after a shopping frenzy. Alfredo had to buy me a glass 😂.

Everyone who goes there gets a photo here. 

So I did too.

The following picture of the slowly moving image of a pretty lady on the church wall,  sums up Guadalajara for me.

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From Gdl, I took a 40 dg Celsius plunge, and went to -10dg C in Chicago. Chicago to Milwaukee to San Diego to San Francisco. Came home, started breathing, and made this. The North America adventure was a success.