Gary’s Birthday 2 – 1/2015

August 19, 2015

So now you’re looking at news with a slight time delay. Following our visit in San Diego and with our truck and car safely stored at our friends’ home, the next day we found ourselves sitting in the waiting room at the Los Angeles airport. What a zoo, except no monkeys and elephants. We ended up in a section that was being rebuilt. It looked like something in a third-world country. By the time we got through security we had also missed all the overpriced fast food shops so the only thing edible was in coin-operated vending machines. I think a ham sandwich, a salad and a glass of bad red wine cost about $50 bucks for two! We did score one of the three tables. It gets better.

After a comfortable flight on Aero Mexico we waded through the process of renting a car and headed for the cute hotel we had stayed at years before. The San Francisco Plaza Hotel was a perfect location, walking distance to downtown Guadalajara with all its gardens, museums and government buildings, and just a few blocks from the main giant open market and perhaps most importantly, the Mariachi Plaza.

Cousin Carol and her husband Doug arrived on a later flight so we had our welcome ceremony in our room with a glass of box San Ramon wine and chips & salsa. A Walmart (yes!) was just a few blocks away. Carol & Doug appreciated that we are experienced budget travelers.

In the morning after coffee in the beautiful garden patio beneath the rooms, we donned our walking shoes and headed for town. Guadalajara is one of the most beautiful cities in Mexico, famous for its plazas, cathedrals and old colonial buildings. By chance as we entered the Teatro Degollado, the concert pianist for the evening, Jorge Federico Osorio, was warming up with a little Brahms. It was like a private performance just for us.

After a couple of visits to other government buildings to gasp at the incredible murals, it was siesta time and we knew where lunch was waiting. The giant three-level Mercado de San Juan de Dios (also called Mercado Libertad) has an array of tempting little food stalls to die for. After wandering through the isles of vegetables and butcher stalls, we found the perfect place to introduce Doug to his first Pozole, a very typical spicy hominy and pork soup.

Before heading back to our rooms for a short nap we picked up some fresh fruit for breakfast the next day. As expected, the selection of papayas, mangos, guayabas (guavas) and other tropical fruit was amazing. The question of “What do you eat in Mexico?” was easy to answer. Everything!!

: Welcome to the LAX waiting room for Aero Mexico. We did score one of the three tables to enjoy our $50 vending machine dinner.

: The old Hotel San Francisco Plaza was a perfect location and romantic taste of colonial Guadalajara.

: Carol & Doug appreciated that we are experienced budget travelers so box wine and chips & salsa from Walmart was a perfect late night snack.

: Granola and fresh fruit in our rooms and then coffee in the patio with birds chirping in the background was a nice welcome to Mexico.

: Our first stops were Plaza de Armas, the main square of Guadalajara’s historical center and Plaza de la Liberación. Both are always great places to watch people.

: The ever-present shoeshine stands made us wish we were wearing dress shoes.

: Guadalajara’s Cathedral, directly north of the Plaza de Armas, was worth a peak inside. Construction of this cathedral was ordered by Philip of Spain and began in 1568 when Bishop Pedro de Ayala laid the first stone.

: This beautiful church is part of the Guadalajara Cathedral’s complex.

: The Plaza de la Liberación was built in 1952 by Ignacio Diaz Morales to remember one of the most significant events in Mexico’s history: The abolition of slavery. Here the monument of Miguel Hidalgo is shown breaking the chains of slavery.

: The Teatro Degollado was inaugurated in September 1866, breathing life to the city through its innovative artistic beauty.

: Concert pianist Jorge Federico Osorio was warming up with a little Brahms. It was like a private performance just for us.

: We marveled at the frescos on the theater’s ceiling. The ornate skylights and even the doors were masterpieces.

: In Guadalajara’s government palace famed muralist Jose Clemente Orozco painted several masterpieces including Miguel Hidalgo, the father of Mexican Independence brandishing a fiery torch at shadowy figures representing oppression and slavery.

: The magnificent murals in the government buildings and museums are always amazing.

: Orozco paintings in the State Congress chamber on the second floor depict Hidalgo signing the decree to abolish slavery in Mexico, and below, Benito Juarez is shown signing the reform laws.