Last weekend was the beginning of college football season, so I dutifully sat on my couch and watched every single game that was available from Thursday through Monday. Actually, I will do that most of the rest of college football season…just until January. My dear wife Judy has no such affliction, so she decided to go on a tour of Guadalajara. But her trip did give me an excuse to insert one of my favorite Mariachi tunes:
Our Spanish language teacher, Gabriel González, is starting a new tour business called Mexplore (note to local expats: check out their Facebook page for further info. His first trial-run was a day tour of Guadalajara. The tour did the greatest hits of the Centro (downtown) area of Guadalajara, including:
This church which features a continuous exposition of the (huge) Blessed Sacrament above the altar;
A park honoring “illustrious citizens of Jalisco” (the Mexican state in which Guadalajara resides), which includes a rotunda where the ashes of some these citizens are interred;
This bronze relief representing the original settlers of Guadalajara;
The original Cathedral of Guadalajara from 1549;
The Museum Cabañas, a former orphanage which is now decorated full of stunning murals by José Clemente Orozco, a unique artist known for his mix of stark realism and visionary symbolism;
and the iconic current Cathedral. This walking tour also took time out for a lunch break at a typical local restaurant, and visited the literally endless Mercado Libertad, which could easily take a day by itself!
That said, the tour took all of nine hours, including travel time to/from lakeside, and was a big hit. I hope to make a future tour, perhaps for an evening of Lucha Libre!