Guadalajara

Trip Start Nov 05, 2006
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Trip End Jan 14, 2008


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Flag of Mexico  ,
Saturday, January 6, 2007

After having driven in the third and fourth largest cities, promises of fame and fortune could not have convinced me to drive in the second largest city so hence today's entry...bus trip to Guadalajara!  This promises to be the most informative entry courtesy of some plagerizing from Lonley Planet Mexico.  I have to be honest that I wasn't too excited about another big Mexican city but after strong recommendations from several trusted advisors that Guadalajara was "a large beautiful city" I felt compelled to check it out.  We arrived at the bus depot in Ajijic, couldn't pass the height test for a free ride so we bought our tickets. A quick 45 minute ride placed us at the downtown bus depot.  A quick, slightly overpriced cab ride later (he wouldn't run the meter and I thought Laura was going to pull out a can of whoop-ass!)  and we were at the heart of the city. Guadalajara is a BIG city, so having only one day to explore it doesn't really do it justice, but fortunately for us, Lonely Planet includes a self guided walking tour of Guadalajara in their book Ajijic Bus Depot
Ajijic Bus Depot
 .  So after a quick bite at a street vendor (yes, we are eating off the street side vendors now), we started on our walking tour of central Guadalajara.  I will say that Guadalajara is the cleanest city I've seen in Mexico.  Trash is in cans and the state has smog checks so the air is pleasant even in the downtown areas.  We've included detailed captions of the sights with the pictures so you can all follow the day's tour.  Starting at the plaza de Armas, we hit the Palacio de Gobierno, the Cathedral (of course), the Templo de La Merced, the Presidencia Municipal, the Plaza de la Liberacion, Teatro Degollado, down through the Plaza Tapatia to the Instituto Cultural de Cabanas (a former orphanage and insane asylum, now a museum)  and ended up at the Mercado Libertad, a three story market selling everything from live birds to pigs heads and includes a food complex which takes up a city block serving everything from goat stew to sushi.  We ate the goat.  Our bus ride home proved to be a little more interesting.  We are still unsure whether the driver was drunk, drugged or just kept falling asleep but we were both ready to grab the wheel if the bus started to veer off the road.  That was topped off by a cockroach crawling up my neck (what sort of bus has roaches???)   so we hopped off the bus at the bypass outside of town and walked back to the campsite.  All together the day was enjoyable and I would recommend visiting Guadalajara to anyone planning to come to Mexico.  Maybe avoid the Chapala bus line though.
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