Monday, August 06, 2007

Jalisco pt. 1 (Guadalajara)




Well as you may or may not know, last Friday I traveled from Merida to Guadalajara via Mexico city. The trip itself was ok… although there were a few delays and I had to spend a few hours waiting in Mexico city… but no worries, there was free wifi =)

Anyway Guadalajara is a very neat city, it is very interesting and quite large… although it does not feel quite as huge as I expected. It is a lot more organized and sensible than Mexico city, although I guess that is not saying all that much. Guadalajara also seems to be quite a bit safer than Mexico city… again not saying very much, but in general people seem to be pretty easy going and relaxed.







The downtown area is really huge and very beautiful; there are four main plazas full of cathedrals, theatres, galleries and all sort of neat places to visit. In a way the downtown reminded me a bit of Madrid, just that cleaner. Being in Mexico, there is of course an infinity of stands and kiosks offering all sorts of yummy things to eat and drink.

Pozole and Tortas Ahogadas are the most emblematic dishes of the state. Pozole is a sort of corn stew thing with meat and veggies which is very recognizable all over Mexico as something particularly “jalisquense”. A torta Ahogada is a species of baguette sandwich which is served in a kind of soup. The bread does not really get soggy because it is much more dense than a regular baguette… and it is really very very good (I have had many since I got here only 3 days ago). Another highlight of the city is the very large “San Juan de Dios” market. Again it is full of hundreds and hundreds of great places to eat, artisans, and for some reason quite a few business that seem to only sell birds, not poultry, birds… like parrots and stuff. Personally I am not wild about seeing all those birds in those little cages… but oh well, I may go down latter an buy some and set them free (I hope they survive)… they cant be very expensive.


Anyway that’s it for this update, ill be posting really soon about my trip yesterday to the Tequila distillery on the “Tequila Express”… so watch out for that.

No comments: