On our first day in Gudalajara we
visited historical downtown with Jenaro and his family. After we got
through busy Sunday traffic (it seemed that traffic in Guadalajara
was always crazy and too busy) and got some refreshment in the
chocolate shop, our first stop was in cathedral. The highlight of
this church was mummy of small girl which was brought here from
Vatican in 18th century and even though it looked pretty
dead and plastic to us, it's hair were still growing (at least that's
what they told us).
Another attraction was quite
unexpected, we came to the main street just in the time when huge
parade of motorcyclists was getting ready to go. In front were some
crazy custom motorbikes (for example: in shape of a dragon which
belched out real fire and smoke) and then hundreds of other
motorbikes of all different shapes and types and drivers came. The
parade seemed to be endless and so noisy that we left before the end.
Then we passed through main plaza and from Spanish part of town to
natives' part (in the time of Spanish colonization
these two parts were strictly separated with something like Berlin
wall). Small difference in architecture and much more stands
with Huicholes' crafts and cheep plastic stuff from China. One guy
stopped us and asked what was more important for us, technology or
nature? Than he gave us small pack of sunflower seeds and told us
that we should plant it somewhere. And then he showed us his palm,
awaiting some “donation”. :-)
We also visited one
of Guadalajara's main cultural attractions
- “Hospicio Cabanas” - former hospital, now gallery. We
liked how locals can use their old buildings. In Tepic they changed
old prison to residence of local government. Here in Guadalajara they
changed old hospital to gallery (and quite expensive to visit, the
ticket costs 70 pesos if you are not resident). The main attraction
is big hall, with walls and ceiling painted by some famous (and
probably deeply depressed) artist Jose Clemente Orozco. The guide
told us that this painting represented
history and reality of Mexicans. Dark, but
very interesting and quite true, and the optical illusions were
amazing (which is another reason what makes this piece of art so
important and valuable).
Our last stop was
on the local market place called San Juan
de Dios. It was already late, but various
stands were still open. It's incredible how many different kinds of
fruit are here that we've had no idea they existed. Jenaro patiently
answered all of our questions like “what is this?”, “how do you
eat this?”, we tried some exotic fruits and fruit candy, of which
they offer huge diversity. We also
tried “Tepache” - local drink, served in plastic bag with straw.
Local markets are amazing, you can buy there literally everything.
Christmas is coming, in some parts of the markets you must turn crazy
if spending there longer period of time – all that blinking,
flashing, 'jingle bells' and 'Rudolf the reindeer' melodies played by
cheep plastic Chinese stuff all over again and again... We liked a
stand where old woman was selling dried herbs of all different kinds,
it was like medieval pharmacy :-). The sad and quite noisy part of
the market was where small cages with almost all kinds of singing and
/ or colorful birds of Mexico were. Kids running, screaming and
jumping over the piles of garbage in front of closed stands etched in
the atmosphere of the place.
On the way home we
stopped to eat dinner in restaurant which sells specialty of Ciudad
Guzman - tostada as big as plate (and the plate was much bigger than
an ordinary plate) with mountain of meat, cheese and vegetable on it.
Our choice was mix of all ingredients, so we had a lot of meat and
cheese and also some more exotic stuff like pork legs and skin, which
was a surprise for us (but with a lot of salt and lime it wasn't too
bad). For 60 pesos it was very rich meal and we had some troubles to
finish it :-).
The evening we spent
talking about Mexico and Slovakia. Jenaro and Griselda were very
interested in hearing about history and life in Slovakia, so we told
them everything we could in Barbora's Spanish :-).
The next day (Monday) we
went to the town with Griselda to do some shopping. We needed to buy
brake pads, spokes and pump. So our first steps led to the bike shop
and then to a local marketplace. This marketplace was something
spectacular. So big and full of fresh products of all kinds. We came
there to buy some fruits and vegetables and found a huge hall only
for that. Life in the marketplace was fascinating, so many people,
but we felt safe and it was really interesting just to observe what
was going on. There was a lot of wisdom in it. I think, you can learn
more about country and people from marketplaces than from any museum
or gallery. This place showed art of living right here and right now
:-).
Another amazing
experience was local shop selling everything in bulks, from dried
fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds, spices, nuts, candy,
chocolates or pasta to dog and bird food.
We bought so many things that I was really worried if we were going
to be able to fit it in our panniers and if we had enough money. But
it was very cheap, comparing to similar stores in US, we paid about
ten times less (just my opinion), for full shopping bag of dried
fruit and seeds (we also got cocoa beans which taste like 100% dark
chocolate) we paid 200 pesos. We really fell in love with this shop,
it was good example how unnecessary all those products sold in
supermarkets and wrapped in several plastic packages are. If they can
sell everything in bulks here, then it must be possible everywhere.
And you pay only for what you really want to buy, no hidden surprises
behind colorful wrapper.
In the evening we
showed to Jenaro and his family some pictures of Slovakia. They were
impressed and said they would like to visit it one day :-). We
continued with inspiring eye-
and hearth-opening conversation until late night (or early morning?
:-)) hours.
The last day with
Jenaro and his family we were mostly working on internet and on
bikes. Martin had to repair our flat tires and clean the chains. We
also got the tube protectors so maybe it will help to prevent
punctures. Griselda cooked amazing Aztec soup for lunch. In the
evening Baška
went with Jenaro and Griselda to the town to visit another
interesting part of the city, called Tlaquepaque. The street with
colorful art shops and coffee shops reminded me of some streets in
Europe. This clean rich part of Guadalajara is quite in contrary with
typical Mexican streets. Jenaro explained us all the important
aspects of Mexicans and Mexican history on the Mosaic with painting
by Diego Rivera (it's copy, the original is in Mexico city). And we
had a chance to see a local traditional dance, in which the dancers
dance around a high wooden column, then they climb it, tide their
legs to the top part, which spins around and then they slowly “fly”
down head down, while still spinning around the column. The first
bungee jumping :-).
