City of Guadalajara
Mexico Day 7
My day was basically split into 2 parts - 1st the tour of the beautiful city sights, and 2nd, my amazing trek back to Edgar's place. The morning started off with breakfast at the Amorita Corazon (a place where I would revisit later in the day) with Pedro, and I had a lovely breakfast of omelette filled with chicken on taco chips, covered with tomato gravy (the mexicans are quite creative with their eggs). He then dropped me off at the Minerva statue to begin my walking tour of Downtown Guadalajara.
Minerva (Athena) statue
Guadalajara is a city with a strong Spanish influence, and it can be seen in the monuments and the many beautiful buildings within Downtown. It can also be seen in the people - a number of Mexicans I saw in the University looked like ang moh. But through observing the people in the city, this was not the typical look of a Mexican. Most Mexicans look like the darker skinned people that I had imagined them to be. It is a sad fact that the highly educated, the richer Mexicans are those that look like ang moh. I guess its because of their Spanish ancestry that there in that particular segment of society. But most of Mexico is still very poor, and it is very interesting to see very beautiful colonial buildings amidst some very dilapidated modern ones.
City Entrance Arch
From the Arch, I basically walked about 4 to 5km to the City center. But it was very interesting, cos I got to see Mexicans living out a typical Sunday morning. The highlight of the city was the Metropolitan Catheral, which was very beautiful. The picture here doesn't do justice to it. I didn't dare take any pictures of the interior of the church. I wonder if that's allowed....?
The side view of the Catherdral
I moved on to the next interesting building - The Governor's Palace. The best feature is the mural of Hildago (Mexico's founding father) painted at the stairway. Impressive!
The mural of Hildago
Next, I went to the famous San Juan De Dios market. I think Singaporeans will love it there. It is like a giant indoor pasar malam. Found a number of souvenirs to buy, and spent money even though I didn't have much pesos left, which would get me in a lot of trouble later.
San Juan de dios Market (right bldg)
My last stop was the Hospicio de Cabanas, an orphanarium converted into a museum. Unfortunately, it was closed early and all I could do was take a beautiful pic of the outside.
Plaza outside the Hospicio
The Trek back
It is amazing how much you can walk when you are travelling. I did that often in the U.S, but this time its more amazing cos I didn't have a map. Since I had time, I decided to visit the Zapopan Basilica. Thing was, Zapopan was in a suburb outside the city, and the roads had similar names to the ones in Downtown! So I walked for half an hour, trying to find the place.
I came to this another grand looking church, but it wasn't the Basilica. And after asking a few people in my broken Spanish, I was convinced to use my last few pesos to take a bus there. Doh! All I had was 10 US dollars, hopefully enough to get me back by taxi. But it was worth it. Mighty grand.
The Real deal
It was 4.30pm. Still bright sunshine. Take cab or walk? I chose walking. No map, no pesos, no Spanish. It started with just following the bus route back, but I got lost after 1 hour. I then decided to head for tallest familiar building. Amazingly, I came back to where I had breakfast.
Deja vu
Asking for directions was depressing. Nobody spoke English, and they all gave the impression that I was out of my mind trying to walk there. Every person would point to the bus stop. I had no pesos for bus, so I just followed the bus route. After 4 hours of walking, finally someone, instead of pointing to the bus stop, pointed along the street! It was nearly 9 when I got back. I must've lost a kg, but quite a memorable way to end off my Mexico Trip!
My day was basically split into 2 parts - 1st the tour of the beautiful city sights, and 2nd, my amazing trek back to Edgar's place. The morning started off with breakfast at the Amorita Corazon (a place where I would revisit later in the day) with Pedro, and I had a lovely breakfast of omelette filled with chicken on taco chips, covered with tomato gravy (the mexicans are quite creative with their eggs). He then dropped me off at the Minerva statue to begin my walking tour of Downtown Guadalajara.
Minerva (Athena) statue
Guadalajara is a city with a strong Spanish influence, and it can be seen in the monuments and the many beautiful buildings within Downtown. It can also be seen in the people - a number of Mexicans I saw in the University looked like ang moh. But through observing the people in the city, this was not the typical look of a Mexican. Most Mexicans look like the darker skinned people that I had imagined them to be. It is a sad fact that the highly educated, the richer Mexicans are those that look like ang moh. I guess its because of their Spanish ancestry that there in that particular segment of society. But most of Mexico is still very poor, and it is very interesting to see very beautiful colonial buildings amidst some very dilapidated modern ones.
City Entrance Arch
From the Arch, I basically walked about 4 to 5km to the City center. But it was very interesting, cos I got to see Mexicans living out a typical Sunday morning. The highlight of the city was the Metropolitan Catheral, which was very beautiful. The picture here doesn't do justice to it. I didn't dare take any pictures of the interior of the church. I wonder if that's allowed....?
The side view of the Catherdral
I moved on to the next interesting building - The Governor's Palace. The best feature is the mural of Hildago (Mexico's founding father) painted at the stairway. Impressive!
The mural of Hildago
Next, I went to the famous San Juan De Dios market. I think Singaporeans will love it there. It is like a giant indoor pasar malam. Found a number of souvenirs to buy, and spent money even though I didn't have much pesos left, which would get me in a lot of trouble later.
San Juan de dios Market (right bldg)
My last stop was the Hospicio de Cabanas, an orphanarium converted into a museum. Unfortunately, it was closed early and all I could do was take a beautiful pic of the outside.
Plaza outside the Hospicio
The Trek back
It is amazing how much you can walk when you are travelling. I did that often in the U.S, but this time its more amazing cos I didn't have a map. Since I had time, I decided to visit the Zapopan Basilica. Thing was, Zapopan was in a suburb outside the city, and the roads had similar names to the ones in Downtown! So I walked for half an hour, trying to find the place.
I came to this another grand looking church, but it wasn't the Basilica. And after asking a few people in my broken Spanish, I was convinced to use my last few pesos to take a bus there. Doh! All I had was 10 US dollars, hopefully enough to get me back by taxi. But it was worth it. Mighty grand. 
The Real deal
It was 4.30pm. Still bright sunshine. Take cab or walk? I chose walking. No map, no pesos, no Spanish. It started with just following the bus route back, but I got lost after 1 hour. I then decided to head for tallest familiar building. Amazingly, I came back to where I had breakfast.
Deja vu
Asking for directions was depressing. Nobody spoke English, and they all gave the impression that I was out of my mind trying to walk there. Every person would point to the bus stop. I had no pesos for bus, so I just followed the bus route. After 4 hours of walking, finally someone, instead of pointing to the bus stop, pointed along the street! It was nearly 9 when I got back. I must've lost a kg, but quite a memorable way to end off my Mexico Trip!
posted by Kevin at 8:00 PM
3 Comments:
I found your blog surfing blogger and really liked it! I'm glad you had a good time in Mexico. If you want to learn more about Mexican culture, I would recommend you visit this blog : http://www.geocities.com/jonclark500/weblog/index.html
It has a unique point of view from a Non-Mexican. And I say this is a good site because you know any opinion from a Mexican (including mine) will have a certain bias or partialism to it. :) keep on blogging!
I have bookmarked you and will read you in the future.
Thanks for reading dude. I don't know when my next trip to Mexico will be, but I hope to be able to blog more overseas adventures!
Hello! I've enjoyed reading abt ur Mexican experience. Nice picts too. Wonder whether you knew any Spanish since that would certainly come in handy! Keep up the good work. =)
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