January 23, 2009

Where do I start with our journey from La Peñita to Lake Chapala, Ajijic, Guadalajara, and Tlaquepaque……at the beginning? Carole and Grant needed to go shopping for a pool cover, and a coffee maker for Ada’s new coffee shop. Guadalajara may be the place to find it, so we were pleased that they could come with us, and we took two cars.

Carole guided us to the picturesque town of Ajijic that is hard to pronounce and is full of more Canadians and US people than Mexicans. Bea, Carole’s mother, tells me, later, that 30 years ago many retired military people settled on Lake Chapala, paying only $10,000 for property and getting a maid and gardener for 250 pesos a month. They could retire there on their military retirement pay and live well. We hired a guide to take us touring. He took us to a house with everything you’d ever want that was for sale, by owner. They were a nice couple from Canada that has to sell for health reasons. The house was a beauty and they wanted $339,000 for it. It seemed a bargain for what you can get in the states, but it makes me wonder if it is the same property that 30 years ago sold for $10,000.

First we had all checked into the hotel La Nueva Posada in Ajijic, right on the lake. It was very old Spanish with wonderful outside-inside dining areas and old paintings, fixtures, plants, and rock construction. The hotel was Carole’s find of a previous trip and she is the true discoverer of adventure……. finding a wonderful bead shop, at the same time, across the street with the colorful hand-beaded figures we had seen before….only these were (some of them) two and three foot long beaded leopards and parrots. Our Mexican guide with his van drove us around Ajijic and Jocotepec, touring through the gated communities and the Hot Springs spa and giving us two 20 minute stops to explore. The architecture and art continue to fascinate me. The combinations of old brick, rock, towers and balconies in downtown are an example set for artistic builders and even for amateurs like us.

The three couples then drove north to Guadalajara. We stayed in an old hotel in the middle of the city. It was the original hotel of the matadors. Many famous matadors and officials have stayed there. The Hotel Morales started as a rooming house at the end of the 19th century and became known for several decades as the bullfighters’ hotel. Again, it was built of rock and tile, but in an elegant businessman’s way with a big fountain in the lobby. The waiters that served in the restaurant were all well schooled and the food good. The entire staff was very professional. One nice thing was that our room was very quiet.

It was fun exploring the suppliers with Carole and Grant as they found the pool cover they needed and the coffee making equipment. The coffee supplier gave us espresso to taste and recommended different supplies for Carole to look at. With their half English-half Spanish dialects and hand signals, we all learned a lot about coffee machines and different mixes and brands to use.

We took a double-decker bus tour of downtown Guadalajara and another to Tlaquepaque, the village that retails the wares made in Tonala and around the world. My favorite town so far is Tlaquepaque with it’s cave-like stores of wonderful treasures like glass, tile, wood, and leather. We bought some glasses although they say we can get them for less at the factory stores in Tonala next week on our ladies shopping-spree trip.

Guadalajara is at 5,214 ft elevation and cooler than the coastal areas where we have been living. It is the capital of Jalisco and has a population of over 3 million, so we only scratched the surface of places to see. The monuments, markets, murals, shrines, and grand plazas gave us an ever changing view of old Mexico. The market must be the biggest in the world and we have seen many, even Barcelona’s and Brazil’s are in competition. A double steeple of yellow tiles tops the Cathedral de Guadalajara. The cathedral sits on one side of the Plaza Tapatia with its great open spaces, decorated by grand fountains spewing gallons of water. On the opposite side is the Teatro Degoliado, a classic theater, opening in 1866 with its columned façade and marble frieze depicting Apollo and nine muses. We could only peek inside of it and get a fleeting view of the gilded and muraled stage set. I especially enjoyed the story of the Monumento a los Niño’s Heroes and the Plaza de los Mariachis. We hiked through the plazas and market later on our own and came home yesterday. It is not a long ride back to La Peñita on the coast again, but we were all happily tired. What a country!