Day of the Holy Kings

Breakfast is served from 7am to noon - so no rush this morning.  On our agenda today is to see some of the famous politically charged murals that are in Guadalajara.  We headed down Ave Juarez towards the historic district.  Stopping to take pictures along the way.

 Murals on buildings seem to be everywhere.

 We passed this statue of a famous person.  His furious look seems to be muted by the bird pooping on his head.  Perhaps he is saying: Get that dam bird off my head.

 Christmas decorations on the streets and in churches are still up.  So was this behemoth Nativity scene.

 These people were doing some kind of Conga line - maybe the macarena.  They wanted us to join.  Sorry - we have things to see!

Off to the Palacio de Gobierna. This Unesco listed building holds on of  Jose Ciemente Orazco's most famous murals.

 Here you can see about a fourth of the painting.  I love the lone janitor doing his job.

 More photos inside the building.

 In the main chapel is another mural.

 Another small area held this statue.  We met a family there later and they explained it was vital to their feelings of the revolution.

 There was a small museum there as well.  Part of it celebrated the making of Tequila.  These glass works represent Agave.

Here is the family we met.  The Grandfather is explaining about the statue which is to the right of the boy in the red shirt.

 

Finally had to break out the fish eye lens.

This is something like a wax or curio museum.  Do you recognize the guy in the red tie?

This little girls parents are to the left of her.  Later she stood inside the bottom circle waiting for someone to rescue her.  She got in but couldn't get out.

Another famous figure from Mexican history - reminds me of Joan of Arc.

This huge plaza near the Instituto Cultural de Cabanas held this wonderful fountain.

Children and teens were having a great time cooling off from the hot day.

 

Here is why we found out it was a holiday.  It was already 1pm and we were very hungry - but there were no places to eat anywhere near us.  We decided to go to the Institute Cultural de Cabanas and then try to find something.  But they do not allow backpacks in here and we were carrying valuable lenses and phones in our bags.  We were not comfortable leaving them, so kept on the food hunt.  We saw this pastry shop with a long line of people.  Must be good - and right now anything would be good!  The women in front of us was talking to her child in English.  So we asked her, What can we buy here?  Her answer:  Rosca de Reyes.  That was it - that was all they had.  Why?  Because today is the Day of the Holy Kings (the three wise men)!  These bread wreaths decorated with figs, quince, cherries on candied fruit contain a hidden figure of baby Jesus.  I didn't quite figure out what happens to the person who finds the baby Jesus - maybe they are crowned king for the day!

This random church was near the bakery.  It was decorated so over the top  I had to take a picture.

The women at the bakery had explained that there was a Mercado just a short distance back that had food on the 2nd floor.  So we headed back.

I did not take photos, but there was a ton of leather goods.  All the way from belts to boots to saddles!

We finally found the food area.  But every restaurant served the same thing - Tortas or sandwiches.  I had had one the night before and was not too fond of it.  Finally I spotted this place - they have tacos.  When I asked the man below if they had tacos, he said, of course they do.  They are crisp tacos filled with potatoes and beans.  Vinny spoke English.  He lived in the US in Virginia as a cabinet maker for awhile.  Would you like meat on top of that?  What kind?  Ham.  Of-course.  Would you like lettuce?  Yes.  Ops, probably washed in the local water.  Oh well, to late.  Hopefully this won't be a repeat of Vietnam where I got deathly ill.  It was very tasty.  And Vinny invited us to please come back again.

Another little food stand selling sugar cane snacks.

 Another part of the market sold birds.  I felt so sorry for them.  Some of them were flying against the side of the cages trying to escape.

Here is another memento you can buy at the Mercado.

While waiting to cross a street I saw this man in a wheel chair with his ventriloquist doll.  We have seen a variety of street artists - mostly musicians, but this was a first.

Down South - On the Road Again!

We decided to head somewhere closer to home this trip.  Mexico is close and relatively familiar.  We flew through Houston - and it felt like were already in Mexico.  Seems like everyone was speaking Spanish!  

I lived in Guadalajara about 47 years ago - teaching first grade at an English language school.  Our hotel is very near the old town.  When I lived here it was somewhere in the suburbs.  The little things I remember, like the tiny tortilla shack just around the corner from our apartment or the multitude of roast chicken restaurants I was fond of are no where to be seen here.  We arrived at the airport around 2:20pm.  Everything went smoothly - we had all the correct forms filled out properly, got some peso's, paid for a taxi and on to our hotel.  

By 4pm we had left the hotel and were off to find the tourist office as our hotel had no detailed maps of the area.  Mike had the location on google maps on his phone.  After walking about 15 blocks the map kept telling us we were really close to the tourist office.  But we never arrived!  We kept circling the same area - the map telling us we were getting closer - and then saying we were to far away.  A little grumpy by this time we finally gave up and started heading back to the hotel.  A short ways later we passed this open to the street restaurant.  Ah - Donor Kabab, just like in Turkey.  Oops - No, its tacos!  We got two taco's with the meat, and a quesadillas.  They were each about 3" in diameter.  Alright, we are having a snack not a meal.  Renewed, we got out our cameras and started to capture the sights.

There was at least one stand in every block selling fruit and I think some veges. 

The architecture is interesting - hopefully the light will be better tomorrow to catch it.

 We finally reached the Catedral de Guadalajara or Catedral de la Asuncion de Maria Santisima.

 And right next to it is Palacio de Gobierno.

 One of the toys that seems very popular here is this missile shaped balloon.  A father was throwing this one up in the air for his little girl to catch.

 Inside the cathedral.  Actually there were two sanctuaries - this was the smaller one.

 Here is the second, larger one.

 This is a memorial the revolutionaries who died.  It was built around 1952.  There are statues of the people who died around the outer rim.

 A picture of one of the sewing stores in the fabric district.

Then we stumbled upon a side street with murals.

A random building with very Arabic tiles.