Good times in Guadalajara
Trip Start
Nov 06, 2009
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348
354
Trip End
May 28, 2011
Tlaquepaque, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
So whilst Chelo helped Danny empty her digs, Pepe showed us around Tlaquepaque and Guadalajara.
Tlaquepaque is a very pretty suburb of Guadalajara. It means 'place above clay land' in Nahuatl, and is reknowned for its ceramics and other artesanias (crafts).
We walked around the leafy Jardín Hidalgo (named after Hidalgo, the father of Mexican independence, who is honoured with a big broze statue in the centre of the plaza), visited the Museo de Ceramica, browsed in the many arts and crafts shops off the main street, and lunched on sopes and a tequila tipple at El Parián, an enclosed square in the centre of the town, divided up into several restaurants and bars where mariachis sing as one sups.
Guadalajara is a massive modern metropolis, Mexico's second biggest city, busy and bustling, but still attractive.
We walked around the centro historico, around the the Plaza de Armas, the metropolitan cathedral, the Palacio Municipal, Plaza Tapatia, Plaza de la Liberacion, Plaza de los Mariachis, Plaza Fundadores and Plaza Guadalajara.
We also spent some time walking around the 22 patios of the Hospicio Cabañas, a huge and beautiful ex-orphange set in a neoclassical building with a massive entrance hall decorated with murals by one of Mexico's most famous painters, José Clemente Orozco.
The huge domed ceiling is adorned with his 'Hombre del Fuego' ('Man of Fire'). A rather scary, but impressive, depiction of some poor sod in flames, considered to be one of his greatest masterpieces.
And when Chelo and Danny were all packed up we rounded off the day with a spot of cena and some margaritas.
Salud!
