Hey all - its been a few days, and I have some more free internet, so that warrants an update.
Last time I wrote I think was after I had just arrived in Guadalajara. I had spent the night in a field and then found the hostel in the city. The hostel was amazingly clean and gorgeous. I had a room with 6 beds, but only one of the others was occupied. I quickly met Stacey and Nick, two Americans from Bend, Oregon, who are in Mexico for a few months. We talked a bit before I headed out for a tour of the historic centers for the day. Thats when I got to see the church with all the nice boxes for the saints.
That night, I hung out at the hostel with Nick and Stacey and one of the guys who worked at the hostel, humberto. It was nice and relaxing. I also got to meet my roommate, Carlos. He has been staying at the hostel for 2 months now, and is the self-proclaimed "Most Handsome Guy in Jalisco (and surrounding areas)." Jalisco is the name of the state Guadalajara is in. The motto there was "Jalisco is Mexico," because most of the famous traditions Mexico is known for originated in the state of Jalisco.
The next day I saw some more of the city, which is ridiculously huge, and only got bigger as I was there. The city is full of churches and museums, and most were very reminiscent of Europe. At night, Nick and I and Carlos headed to the main Cathedral to take some pictures of everything lit up. By chance, an all female Mariachi band was playing by the cathedral, and we got to sit in on a great free show. It was actually my second free show of the day. When I tried to visit an art museum downtown that is recognized as a UNESCO heritage center, I found it closed due to a telethon that was raising money for it. I saw 2 bands play there, and I also saw about 8 different kinds of cops there for security. There were city cops, state cops, federal cops, some form of military, some kind of SWAT type unit, and another unit of baseball catchers. These guys were seriously more heavily equipped than hockey goalies. I don´t know what they were expecting to go down at the show, but it must have been big. While watching the ridiculous amount of cops file past, and being the mark for free money that a white guy is in Mexico, a young girl approached me and asked if I would donate some funds to her in Jesus' name. I said no, but she was persistent, and when I finally asked her if she understood spanish, she got serious and offered sexual services for a mere 10 pesos, which is the equivalent of a dollar. When I burt out in laughter, though, I think it offended her and I blew my chances. Blast!
The next day I checked out some of Guadalajara\'s parks and some more sites. The parks in the city are beautiful, and well worth the visit. Carlos and I headed out again that night to go to the Cathedral for an organ concert, Catholic style. It was awesome. It was extremely dramatic and powerful, and I was impressed with how many people were out, but the city was very lively every night I was there. We headed to a bona fide Mexican Cantina from there that is famous for a bicycle it has hanging up behind the bar. The story is some guy came in on his bike loaded back in the 1920s to take a leak and left without the bike. Apparently it´s been up there ever since. The cantina was a cool experience. Carlos and I headed back with a couple of beers to the hostel where the private security guard hooked us up with some meat and beans and other ingredients for some dinner, which Carlos cooked up. The three of us sat and talked hunting, fishing, and languages (Carlos knows 5 himself) and ate and headed to bed.
This morning I packed up and talked to a couple of the new guests in the hostel, one of whom was from DC. I said goodbye to Carlos and headed for the bus station. It´s practically impossible to hitch hike out of big cities, so I decided to go the easy route today and take the bus. Getting to the station made me realize once more how ridiculously big Guadalajara was. I think I would have needed a solid month to even get started in that place. I got my ticket to Guanajuato and cruised in style. Coming into the town here was cool as hell. The whole town is a UNESCO world heritage site, and its main streets are all underground, hence the sunject of the email. I will stay here a few days and then head to Dolores Hidalgo, the small town where my Mexican friends live. Until then, you can check out some of the pics the Texan Violators posted on their site of our fishing excursion at http://www.southboundtravels.com/days-12-14.html.
Last time I wrote I think was after I had just arrived in Guadalajara. I had spent the night in a field and then found the hostel in the city. The hostel was amazingly clean and gorgeous. I had a room with 6 beds, but only one of the others was occupied. I quickly met Stacey and Nick, two Americans from Bend, Oregon, who are in Mexico for a few months. We talked a bit before I headed out for a tour of the historic centers for the day. Thats when I got to see the church with all the nice boxes for the saints.
That night, I hung out at the hostel with Nick and Stacey and one of the guys who worked at the hostel, humberto. It was nice and relaxing. I also got to meet my roommate, Carlos. He has been staying at the hostel for 2 months now, and is the self-proclaimed "Most Handsome Guy in Jalisco (and surrounding areas)." Jalisco is the name of the state Guadalajara is in. The motto there was "Jalisco is Mexico," because most of the famous traditions Mexico is known for originated in the state of Jalisco.
The next day I saw some more of the city, which is ridiculously huge, and only got bigger as I was there. The city is full of churches and museums, and most were very reminiscent of Europe. At night, Nick and I and Carlos headed to the main Cathedral to take some pictures of everything lit up. By chance, an all female Mariachi band was playing by the cathedral, and we got to sit in on a great free show. It was actually my second free show of the day. When I tried to visit an art museum downtown that is recognized as a UNESCO heritage center, I found it closed due to a telethon that was raising money for it. I saw 2 bands play there, and I also saw about 8 different kinds of cops there for security. There were city cops, state cops, federal cops, some form of military, some kind of SWAT type unit, and another unit of baseball catchers. These guys were seriously more heavily equipped than hockey goalies. I don´t know what they were expecting to go down at the show, but it must have been big. While watching the ridiculous amount of cops file past, and being the mark for free money that a white guy is in Mexico, a young girl approached me and asked if I would donate some funds to her in Jesus' name. I said no, but she was persistent, and when I finally asked her if she understood spanish, she got serious and offered sexual services for a mere 10 pesos, which is the equivalent of a dollar. When I burt out in laughter, though, I think it offended her and I blew my chances. Blast!
The next day I checked out some of Guadalajara\'s parks and some more sites. The parks in the city are beautiful, and well worth the visit. Carlos and I headed out again that night to go to the Cathedral for an organ concert, Catholic style. It was awesome. It was extremely dramatic and powerful, and I was impressed with how many people were out, but the city was very lively every night I was there. We headed to a bona fide Mexican Cantina from there that is famous for a bicycle it has hanging up behind the bar. The story is some guy came in on his bike loaded back in the 1920s to take a leak and left without the bike. Apparently it´s been up there ever since. The cantina was a cool experience. Carlos and I headed back with a couple of beers to the hostel where the private security guard hooked us up with some meat and beans and other ingredients for some dinner, which Carlos cooked up. The three of us sat and talked hunting, fishing, and languages (Carlos knows 5 himself) and ate and headed to bed.
This morning I packed up and talked to a couple of the new guests in the hostel, one of whom was from DC. I said goodbye to Carlos and headed for the bus station. It´s practically impossible to hitch hike out of big cities, so I decided to go the easy route today and take the bus. Getting to the station made me realize once more how ridiculously big Guadalajara was. I think I would have needed a solid month to even get started in that place. I got my ticket to Guanajuato and cruised in style. Coming into the town here was cool as hell. The whole town is a UNESCO world heritage site, and its main streets are all underground, hence the sunject of the email. I will stay here a few days and then head to Dolores Hidalgo, the small town where my Mexican friends live. Until then, you can check out some of the pics the Texan Violators posted on their site of our fishing excursion at http://www.southboundtravels.com/days-12-14.html.
posted by b-$moov at 5:59 PM
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