7th - 9th December - Guadalajara

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 18^th 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 :-).