Guadalajara 2

For our second day in Guadalajara, we took the Turibus from Centro Historico out to Tlaquepaque, another section of the old town. It was filled with pretty typical squares, churches, arts and crafts shops, restaurants and tequilarias! Tequila comes from the city of Tequila in the state of Jalisco of which Guadalajara is the capital. After a bit of touring around, we stopped at El Parian for lunch. Allegedly, this is the world's biggest bar, and it's about the size of one city block with a big open courtyard in the middle. We had tortas ahogadas, which are a regional specialty sandwich of pulled pork on a french roll drenched in red chile sauce and are delicious!

Afterward we headed back to the house and went out to our faux-Valentine's day dinner at an awesome Italian restaurant. It was Superbowl Sunday and I couldn't believe how packed the bars were with football fans! Our morning news sports is typically filled with wrestling and soccer, so I was under the impression the most Mexicans didn't watch football.

 Nuestra Virgen de la Soledad

 Main square in Tlaquepaque

 El Parian - World's Biggest Bar?

 Luckily, no Moctezuma's Revenge for us after eating at Moctezuma Restaurant & Bar!

 Torta ahogada and margaritas!

 El Parian courtyard

That's a lot of cotton candy and balloons!

Guadalajara

Autumn had a temporary assignment for the last 3 weeks in Guadalajara, so I went to visit her over a long weekend. Guadalajara is the second largest city in Mexico, but it kind of felt like a small town compared to Mexico City. I had an interesting time getting to Guadalajara. I somehow confused my departure time and left work with only ONE HOUR to get to the airport, through security, and on the flight. Traffic was horrible as usual, but I somehow made it exactly as they started boarding. I arrived at the airport in Guadalajara with cash in hand for a cab to her house, but was short by 15 pesos! I always forget how expensive cabs are outside of Mexico City, so I had to make a deal with the cab company to pay when we got to Autumn's place. Luckily she had money to pay! By the time we got settled in, it was dark, so we decided to order pizza. This is always an adventure what with the over the phone Spanish. We asked the guard for a recommendation, and he told us that the pizza was horrible and we wouldn't like it, but gave us the number anyway. We decided to take his recommendation and ordered from a tostada place instead, and they were delicious paired with walnut and pinenut paletas (handmade popsicles) from La Michoacana!

The next day, we spent the morning getting to know Autumn's temporary neighborhood...finding Starbucks for internet, grocery store for supplies, etc. then ventured out to the Centro Historico where we toured the churches, squares and just wandered around. We were going to get tickets for the Tequila Train, but the ticket office wasn't open on the weekend, so we had to settle for pizza and beer back at the house.

Welcome to Guadalajara!

Central Cathedral

Inside the cathedral...notice the MASONIC pyramid eye above the altar!

Lunch at La Fonda de San Miguel Arcangel

...and it only took us about 2 hours of searching to find!

Molcajete filled with delicious tortilla soup!

More church-going!

It was Mexican Constitution Day, hence the three day weekend!

Miguel Hidalgo with a disrespectful bird on his head

Palacio Gobierno...aka State of Jalisco Legislature Building

Mural of Miguel Hidalgo fightin' Nazis and the forces of evil with a flaming sword and a bible!

- by famous Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco

Say Queso!

Cute-o!

1000 piece TV puzzle from my mom kept Autumn busy for the week before I visited.

She put it together twice during her stay!

The only other Saturn in Mexico besides ours!

Puerto Birthday-arta!

We celebrated Autumn's birthday with by relaxing on the beach, then a quick lunch with Suzan and Merlin from her office in Seattle followed more beach time. It was so great to see people from home...so if anyone is planning a Mexican getaway, let us know and we'll meet you there!

We capped off Autumn's special day with dinner at the River Cafe. The restaurant was really cool, located on an island in the river and a jungle-like setting. We had another round of mariachi Happy Birthday, and this one included a harpist! The food was awesome and the ambiance couldn't be beat.

Las playas!

Work gossip catch-up hour!

Jungle restaurant!

Happy birthday indeed!

I KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO ANOTHER DISCOUNT BREAKFAST!

Ok, so I forgot to mention that we were literally chased out of the hotel this morning by a crazy woman that worked at the Guest Relations / We ARE going to sell you a timeshare! desk this morning! The second we walked out of the elevator, she assaulted us with questions about what we were doing (going snorkeling), where we were going (to the marina) and what sort of presentation we would be seeing in order to get this fabulous trip for free (none, we paid for it). After politely declining her offer and walking toward the cab, this maniac-in-training resorted to screaming "I KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO ANOTHER DISCOUNT BREAKFAST!!! TELL ME WHERE YOU'RE GOING!?! I KNOW IT'S TO ANOTHER BREAKFAST PRESENTATION!!" Obviously, we noted this incident in our comment card later.

Anyway, back to fun! After snorkeling, we headed down to the old downtown and walked along the boardwalk until we found a wonderful beach bar with buckets of beer for 100 pesos (roughly $8.30)!!! We were overjoyed!

Don't worry, no discount breakfasts were eaten in the taking of this photograph!

Beach boardwalk

How do I get his job?

Coconuts!

I think beer should really only be served by the bucket!

There should really be more mariachis for hire around the world!
Happy Birthday in Spanish for just 60 pesos! It's almost free!

View from our bar table!

That's a big drink umbrella!

Other view from the table

Happy Birthday Eve!

We ended our pre-birthday festivities at Daquiri Dick's for a sunset dinner.

Aaaaahhhhhh!

Finally, a sunset on the right side of the continent!

First star!

Puerto Vallarta!

CAUTION! Your luggage may have shitted during the flight...

Or at least that's what the flight attendant announced as we arrived in Puerto Vallarta on Friday night. After dining on granola bars and the in flight snack of "cracker peanuts" (a peanut encapsulated in a crunchy cracker coating), we were starving and happy to be able to order American chicken strips at the hotel bar.


Welcome to Puerto Vallarta

Misty mountain morning!

View from the room

Saturday morning we got up early for a snorkel trip in the Marietas Islands. After a botched cab ride that ended up with us at the cruise ship terminal, we made it to the boat launch and were on our way. We weren't aware of this before going, but it is not currently tourist season, so we ended up with the boat practically to ourselves! Our boat-mates were two guys heading out for their final scuba certifications, Captain Emilio and guide-of-sorts...Nacho!

Leaving the marina

Waiting while we filled up the boat with gas.
Since Mexico is so well known for their stringent safety regulations, we weren't allowed to sit in the boat while they filled up the gas tank...but life jackets...? Who needs 'em?

PELICANS!

Hola Sr. Pez!

Nacho said that he fed these guys each day, so they would be extra friendly!

Too bad the only snacks that Nacho brought for this little fishy were onion and american cheese sandwiches with extra mayo...needless to say, our first stop afterward was LUNCH!

FISH!

Endangered Species File:
Blue Footed Booby
According to Nacho, that stupid bird that won't let us go on the island!

After we finished looking at the fish, Nacho decided to catch one, but all he got was the prop!

Bird Island!

Snorkling Part II

Schools of fish in the waves