Adventuring with MaryLou: 12/05/23

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

November 26-28. Final Days

November 26, 2023. Tonala—A Humongous Market

November 27-28, 2023–and beyond

I read in two different places online that on Sundays, there is a HUMONGOUS market in Tonala. So, after some Google “misunderstandings” we came upon the right bus. An hour later we arrived at the market in Tonala. I can’t begin to describe how truly huge this market is. It goes on for blocks and blocks and blocks. One can find anything and everything there. Think Amazon everything!

One must also battle incredible crowds of people. Suffocating, large masses of people moving along from stall to stall; from street to street to street. Here’s a photo of a statue on a street intersection. This depicts how one needs to plow through the market.

Here’s a pic of me at a side street—not the real market street. I’m taking a little space to breath.

Now, I have to say “‘Oh, no!” because I don’t have any pictures of the actual market. I bought a lot of stuff and so did Michele.

Wait!!! I found one photo. I think it says it all about how I was feeling…

OK, enough. I did like the market and the shopping overall. So much stuff! I’m glad I got this experience.

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After an exhausting day of shopping, we hopped back on a bus and spent another hour returning to Guadalajara BUT we didn’t return to the hotel. Michele discovered that she’d left her jacket at the Ramen restaurant SO we just stayed on the bus to the restaurant. We weren’t sure when to get off cuz Google told me one stop and told Michele another stop. Sneaky Google! We did get off at roughly where we needed to. In order to expedite the getting of the jacket, Michele used Google Translate to say, “I left my jacket here yesterday.” (Or something like that.) So, with phone in hand, we entered the restaurant and met the same young man who recognized us from day before. Michele read from her phone… “Ayer dejé mi chaqueta aquí.”

WEEELLLL!!! I don’t know what she really said, but the young man burst out laughing…guffawing, really. She turned her phone around and showed him the message. Then we followed him to the kitchen in the back. We were all laughing along by this time. After retrieving the jacket, Michele asked the young man…and another one…to tell us how to say in Spanish, “I left my jacket here yesterday.” The words and pronunciation we got back were better than Google could ever produce. After a final little giggle, we thanked them profusely and left. So there, Google!

We ended the day at the church square where I had a tamale. No tomatoes, no salsa, no chile. We talked to a young man from San Jose who was there studying Spanish. He took one look at my “no jitomate, no salsa, no chile” and very aptly said, “You’re in the wrong country.” How true—as far as food is concerned.

The next morning I woke up with Montezuma’s Revenge and spent the morning tossing my cookies—or maybe I should say …my tamales. I felt I was in the wrong country for sure. But I still love Mexico overall. Monday was a lost day.

Tuesday, I said goodbye to Michele in Guadalajara and got on a bus for Morelia. On Wednesday, I flew back to Spokane, leaving Michele to have another week of adventures. In Denver (5-hour layover), I was joined by my great-niece, Sarah who came to cold, gray, snowy, icy, dreary Spokane for a few days.

There’s no place like home.

November 25, 2023 Adventuring in Guadalajara

Saturday was busy. We started out at a restaurant named “Chai.” We were greeted by fellow patrons who encouraged us to join them in a morning delight of tequila and coffee. Here’s our fellow diners. They were later on joined by some other women.

We decided to go to the Artisan Market. We asked Google to get us there but Google left us on a corner of nothing. We wandered back and forth, here and there. We finally asked someone for directions. We were sent back and forth, here and there. We asked again. We were sent back and….. OK, OK. We never got to the Artisan Market. We think it must be next to the “pet cemetery” and Google was up to its tricks. We did find a flea market though.

Oops, no pics.

We decided to go to a neighborhood called Colonia Americana. Here’s a recap…

We went to a church with a beautiful garden, a stunning interior and a wedding in progress.

We went to a museum exhibiting posters related to old classical movies. Somewhat interesting. The really best part of this stop was the troop of Boy (and Girl) Scouts who were in town for some kind of scout thing.

We saw lots of wonderful murals…

In this next one, you can see Michele talking to the man planting irises.

Yes, Michele came upon this man who was planting tiny irises in the dirt around a tree. He engaged Michele in conversation and showed her a 1923 silver dollar. Really! I came up then and took a look. It was in fabulous shape. Solid silver. We don’t know where he got it but he suggested that we buy it for about 400 times its face value. Hmmm.

For lunch, we opted for a genuine Ramen restaurant with little tatami rooms for one’s dining pleasure. We opted for the table and chairs. The service was great with friendly young men and women bustling around. The food was excellent.

After lunch, on our way back to the hotel, we came upon a street juggler. This man put his step ladder under a street light when it turned red. He juggled for the people in the cars waiting at the light. At exactly the right moment, he got down from the ladder, moved it to the curb and quickly went from car to car to receive his “compensation.” When the light turned green, he rushed back to his step ladder to wait until the light turned red again…and he started his routine all over again. Everyone works.

When we were almost home, we came upon what we called “the library of men.” We called it this because there were only men inside. They were sitting at tables, drinking coffee and reading books. Michele asked if the cafe & library was only for men. One man, a native English speaker, said, “No, courageous women can come, too.” Michele went back twice after I left but it was a different group of men. She thinks it’s a men’s club. Maybe a secret men’s club. Hmmm

That evening, we were on our way to a movie, when lo and behold, one of the streets was blocked off with a stage and some chairs. Three musicians were playing French and Italian music. What a nice serendipitous surprise. So much for the movie.

On our way back to the hotel, we came across the same church that we’d been to earlier in the day. Although we had walked and walked and walked to the church in the morning, it turned out to be quite close to our hotel. We decided that, of course, it (the church) had moved. Or we could blame it on Google. The square in front of the church was quite busy with a small amusement ride and food stalls and people just being outside in the warm weather. There was even another wedding going on in the church.

This church at night was stunning…

One table was laden with the most delicious cakes and desserts. It was a work of art. I wanted a piece of “pastel de tres leches” but didn't get any.

Families were enjoying just being out and about.

This day turned out to be great.

November 24, 2023 To Guadalajara

We took a bus to Guadalajara. It was about 3 hours of travel time. The bus, Primera Plus, was comfortable with lots of leg room and televisions at each seat.

When we arrived and checked into our hotel,we were sooooo hungry and sought out a place to eat. It appeared that restaurants were mostly closed or there weren’t any. We found a “torta” place and I had another greasy sandwich. OK, by this time in my journey, the food was not settling with me very well. I don’t eat tomatoes or anything spicy and everything else seemed fried with lots of bread. I was overwhelmed.

It was dark by the time we finished eating and we decided to go to the Cathedral at the central square. I must say that our first introduction to Guadalajara was not all that positive. I felt it was like a sensory assault. People! Lights! Noise! More People! Traffic! Loud Music! All at the same time. Later on, Michele and I came up with a list of adjectives for this first short evening in central Guadalajara.

Horrendous

Noisy cacophony

Screeching honks

Screeching music

Loud tenor

Visually overwhelming

Harsh discordant sound—continual

Every step jarring

And the Cathedral was very ordinary.

We did not return to the Central Square. Fortunately it got better after that evening.

November 23, 2023. Thanksgiving Adventures

Happy Thanksgiving! Sorry, not a turkey in sight.

We had a very relaxed time for our last day in Morelia. We mostly wandered. We found a market and had lunch.

We saw a small amusement park…

…and a man selling grain and beans…

We had a vague idea that we’d go to the opera at a Cultural Center but we weren’t sure where it was. We stopped in at a place called “UNAM Centro Cultural Morelia” —a part of the university with studies in several languages and cultural topics. They didn’t know where the other cultural center was, but they invited us in to see the exhibit they had. What a treat.

First, we saw a couple of rooms full of large stickers/posters about pollination. I know this seems odd but the artwork was very good and the juxtaposition of all the aspects of pollination on all aspects of life and social justice was intriguing. Here’s a couple of photos.

There was also a lovely exhibition of masks and the pastorales. This just added to what we’d already seen. There was some lovely children’s art, too. We even visited the university library— small but mighty.

After that little side attraction, we decided it was time for afternoon tea…er, coffee…er, chocolate. We went to a “chain” called Pachamama where the drinks are made from scratch once you order.