travel blogger – Page 11 – Messy Suitcase Travel Blog

May 15, 2019November 12, 2019

Cristo Rey: The Heart of Mexico

Today we traveled to the corazon (heart) of Mexico to see the iconic statue of Cristo Rey. This imposing bronze statue of Christ the King, 75 feet tall and rising 8,461 feet above sea level at Mexico’s geographical center, looms from atop a mountain above the town of Silao called El Cubillo
del Cubilete.

Cristo Rey

The monumental Christ of the Mountain was created in art deco style by artist Nicholas Mariscal in 1944 to honor the struggle of Christians during a period of religious persecution in the early 1900s.

In the words of former Mexican President Vicente Fox, the statue serves as a “rebuke to the suppressors of religious freedom” who sought to quash the Church during the persecution of Christians in Mexico during the first half of the twentieth century.

A smaller previous monument was dynamited in 1928 by the anti-religious (and particularly anti-Catholic) regime of President Plutarco Elías Calles, as part of his mission to kill Christian rebels and destroy all Christian symbols during the nation’s critical “Cristero War” when state atheism was enforced. (Source: Wikipedia)

A Holy Shrine for Mexicans

Few Americans have even heard of Cristo Rey and El Cubillo del Cubilete, but to Mexicans, this is a holy place where many make a pilgrimage. At the foot of the statue is basilica in the shape of a globe where pilgrims visit throughout the year, especially in November, when Catholics celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. This elegant sanctuary, with its enormous crown of thorns encircling the ceiling and its gold-coated crown in the center, is one of the most visited churches in Mexico. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t stroll through it and take pictures because I was wearing shorts, which are
forbidden attire in the sanctuary.)

Sanctuary

Crown of thorns

Golden crown for Christ the King

Incredible Vistas

The 360-degree panoramic view from the base of the monument is truly spectacular. Guanajuato is having an extremely dry May, and we could see a number of forest fires in the distant mountains. In fact, on the drive to the shrine, we came within a few feet of one. Learn more.

Side Trips

On the way, we stopped to eat lunch on the covered veranda of a beautiful hacienda surrounded by grape vines called Jesus Maria, which served up wonderful wine, pasta, salads and seafood.

Our family and Javier enjoying dinner

We also visited the village of La Luz, where we stopped into the fascinating, ancient church named Maria de la Luz.

Because this is a big mining region, the crucifix had miners’ helmets, tools and rocks at its base.

Thank you, Javier!

The tour was conducted by Javier Salazar, general manager of Casa Estrella Wellness Center, where we are staying. He made for a very knowledgeable and sometimes devilishly funny tour guide!

By Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt

May 13, 2019

We have a new name!

“Life is Short, the World is Big” is our philosophy, our passion, our lifestyle, our motivation, our inspiration.

But as a blog title, it was just TOO LONG!

So we are in the process of changing the name of the blog to Messy Suitcase! After all, we are living out of a few suitcases stuffed into the back of our truck (along with three musical instruments, three cats and our youngest child, Lex, who is on a gap year from college). OK, we let the cats and Lex sit in the back seat, but you get the point!

Every few months, we pack up those suitcases — often with “help” from the cats — and head for our next destination, where we again live out of messy suitcases!

Connect to Messy Suitcase on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube — and watch for our YouTube channel to get a lot busier.

Thanks for supporting Bob and Lisa in our travels … because life is short & the world is big!

Do you recognize Ellie Smoit, the Adventure Cat, in our new logo?

May 7, 2019

Discovering Mayolica Pottery in Santa Rosa

We recently had the privilege of visiting a pottery workshop called Mayolica Santa Rosa, where a family business turns out breathtaking, intricate, handmade pottery lovingly
created with dedicated fingers and devoted hearts.

The simple two-story cinderblock workshop occupies one side of the street in
the ancient, dusty village of Santa Rosa, high on a mountain about 25 minutes northeast
of Guanajuato. A huge showroom is across the street. (Unfortunately, we were
not allowed to take pictures in the showroom, to prevent any thievery of their
designs.)

It’s not a place many tourists visit, especially Americans, and it’s their loss. Javier Salazar, the wonderful manager of the Casa Estrella, where we are fortunate to be staying, generously drove us and another couple, Carolee and Gilberto, up to
the village to see how pottery is made. The suites and apartments in Casa
Estrella are filled with beautiful pieces from Mayolica Santa Rosa.

The sign over the door of the store

Visiting the Workrooms

The workshop is a high-ceilinged building with two large workrooms.
In the front room is the giant kiln, as well as shelf upon shelf of unfinished
pieces of pottery ready to be transformed into works of art.

The big white box on the left is the oven

We were amazed as we watched one man hand-draw a stunning, detailed design
onto a large pedestaled bowl. His name was Juan, and he was the only one entrusted
to design the pieces.

The artist at work

Up the stairs and in the large back room, the Area de la Pintura (painting area), several painters painstakingly
painted the colors within the lines of his design, carefully shading the pieces, which appeared
pastel and bleached until after they were fired in the huge oven.

Before firing in the oven

The intensity of colors after firing

Mayolica Santa Rosa was founded in 1963, and is dedicated to
the manufacture of Mayolica Ceramics, a porous type of ceramics that originated in
Spain. It gets its name from Mallorca Island, which was on the trade route to
Italy. All the pieces are turned and decorated by hand. The business is
currently represented by the third generation of eight brothers.

Seen outside the door to the painting room

The sign outside the painting room says (in my bad Spanish translation): “Welcome to the Painting Area. Every piece that you admire and acquire is unique because each one carries part of the artist, since it is delivered with a feeling unique for its creation, with the best quality.”

Visiting the Showroom

The entrance to the showroom

This fresco, outside the family’s home next door,
is a great example of their work.

The sheer volume and quality of the pieces for sale in the
massive, two-level showroom is absolutely breathtaking. There were plates and
bowls, cups and saucers, pitchers and vases, fountains and pots, statues and
urns, tiled frescoes, and more. The intricate designs were derived from life in
Mexico: groups of fruit, flowers, village scenes, chickens and pigs, Frida Kahlos,
and many, many Catrinas, the reverential, skeletal image of death in Mexico.

UPDATE, May 26

I just discovered several beautiful pieces of Mayolica pottery in our apartment, Casa Estrellita, at Casa Estrella. (Watch for a blog about the amazing art in our apartment!)

And I found this beautiful tile wall art by Mayolica Pottery in the fitness center at Casa Estrella. Enjoy!

May 6, 2019

The Herradura Tequila Express

(Even
though we have moved on to Guanajuato, we still have a few blogs from our life
in Tlaquepaque to post. Enjoy!)

Living
in Tlaquepaque, we were less than 50 miles from the birthplace of tequila, the
town of Tequila. So of course we had to visit and become acquainted with Mexico’s
most famous alcoholic beverage!

What is
Tequila, Anyway?

Tequila,
a type of mescal made from the blue agave plant, was first made in the 16th
century. Mexican law states that tequila can only be produced in the Mexican
state of Jalisco and in limited number in three other states. Tequila must be
40% alcohol (80 proof) in the US, but in Mexico it’s usually 38%.

There
are over 100 distilleries producing over 900 brands of tequila, and many conduct
tours and tastings at their haciendas.

We
decided to splurge and signed up for a day trip on the Herradura Express, a
special train leaving from Guadalajara to the Herradura Hacienda in Amatitan, a
town adjacent to Tequila. There were three classes of seats on the train. We
selected the middle-class ticket which cost $2400 MXN pesos each, or about $125.

We
Ubered to the train station, checked in and selected our seats. Even though we
had been told the train had been sold out, we had four comfortable seats and
a table to ourselves. There was a bar in our car, which was kept busy the whole
day.

Carlos, our bartender

Tequila on
the Train

We
were immediately served water, juice and a box breakfast. But once the train left
the station, at 10 in the morning, they switched to serving tequila-based
drinks. I can’t even remember what they all were or how many we had, but the
drinks were definitely flowing, including Margaritas, Tequila Sunrises, Horchatas
(a Mexican rice-based vanilla drink), White Russians, a coffee-based drink
called The Bull, and many more.

After
about 90 minutes or so of traveling amid a breathtaking landscape, including fields
upon fields of blue agave, we arrived in the tiny pueblo of Amatitan and
transferred onto buses for the short ride to the Hacienda Herradura. We got
into the English-language tour and were off.

The Tequila Volcano

Agave plants

The Tour

First
stop was walking by some blue agave plants, which we learned take 8 years to
mature to the point they could be used for tequila. Next, we watched a Jimador use
a coa (a wooden-handled cutting blade) to strip the leaves from the plant to get to the heart,
also called a pina because it resembles a pineapple, which is used in the
distillation process.

The Jimador with his coa chopping off
the leaves of the blue agave plant

We saw the row of ovens where the pinas are baked. Next, they are squeezed repeatedly to get the agave juice, which is distilled and then fermented in giant barrels. The pulp is removed and used for other things such as candy and even furniture.

The ovens

A pile of pinas

Tasting

Next
we walked through an ancient section of the facility that is no
longer used, and led to a tasting cellar. Tasting glasses were neatly laid out on
tables.

A bilingual talk was given on the “correct” way to drink tequila:
Swish the glass in a circle to check out the “legs” of the liquid. Breath in
the scent. Breath in through your nose, hold it, sip tequila onto your tongue.
Swallow. Breath out through your nose. Finally, emit an “Ahhh” and empty your
lungs. We started our tasting. To the best of my recollection, we tried 5. We
could taste the differences, particularly the smoothness, between the various categories
of tequila:

“Blanco”
or “plata” is a white spirit, unaged and bottled or stored immediately
after distillation, or aged less than two months in stainless steel or
neutral oak barrels. It is used in cocktails.
“Reposado” is aged two
months to a year in oak barrels of any size
“Añejo” aged one to three
years in small oak barrels
“Extra Añejo” is aged a minimum of three years in oak barrels.

Our favorite was
reposado.

The Barrel Room

After the tasting,
we were led into a huge room in which they kept empty barrels in which tequila
had previously been aged. Herradura has a program where a restaurant or bar can
come to the distillery and purchase an entire barrel for $10,000 USD.
This yields 240 bottles at a per bottle price of $40. The distillery will then
customize bottles of the tequila from the barrel for the purchaser, and the
purchaser gets to customize the top of the barrel.

Lunch … and more
Tequila

By this time we were
ravenous and finally made it to lunch, where we sat at a long table and they served us even more tequila. I sat next
to a guy from St. Louis who had been doing work in Las Vegas and on a whim
decided to fly down to Guadalajara for a few days. He knew a bit about tequila
and told me to ask for a specific high-quality tequila. I did. It was the good
stuff and very smooth. He was asking for them two glasses at a time. They
served a delicious lunch of chicken, potatoes and vegetables, and we were
entertained by a Mariachi band and some folkloric dancers.

Mariachi

Folkloric dancers

Of course, we needed
a souvenir, so we went to the tequila stand they had conveniently set up and
purchased 950ml of one of the Reposados for about $25 USD. We had been told
that they would engrave our bottle for us, but unfortunately, the engraver
called in sick that day. That was probably a good thing; otherwise, it would
have been difficult to part with the engraved bottle and we definitely don’t
have room for it in the truck. (Later note: It does fit in the truck and we are
saving it.)

The Trip Home

It was time to go,
and we loaded onto the buses for the trip back to the train. Once on the train, the cocktails continued to flow until we arrived back in Guadalajara at around 8 PM.
To our complete surprise, neither one of us were feeling any effects of the
non-stop day of drinking, although there was one group on our train that was
definitely loud and raucous on the ride back.

Cocktails on the trip home

All in all, we had a
great day. It was pricey but the experience was worth it!

May 1, 2019

Leaving Tlaquepaque & Guadalajara

It’s time to leave Tlaquepaque and move on to our next
destination, Guanajuato.

We’ve been here nearly 4 months, a little longer than we
planned to stay in any one place, but wanted to have a familiar, reasonably accessible
place for Aryk to call home on their Spring Break from Keele University in
England.

With only a few days left, we’ve been going over our lists
of things we wanted to do here and we’ve whittled it down to just a few.

We’re Sad to Go

Both Lisa and I are feeling a little sad about moving on.
There is a lot to like about Tlaquepaque and Guadalajara. We love Tlaquepaque’s
colorful, artistic character. We love its relaxed, friendly vibe. We love living
within easy walking distance of the TLQ town square, Jardin Hidalgo, and all of
the energy, activities and food options there. Lisa has recently started making
Mexican friends.

We’ll miss the regular routines that drive the city — the water guy’s cries of “a-gUAAAAA!,” the Zeta Gas truck’s song, the ringing bell of the trash men, the double chiming of the church clocks in Jardin Hidalgo every 15 minutes around the clock, the early-morning cacophony of dogs and roosters, the music in the streets (whether a Mariachi band or a single hombre singing acapella), the busy mercados (marketplaces) and tianguis (pop-up markets) with countless people in your face trying to sell you their products.

We love all of the activities available in Guadalajara and
the fact that a subway from our neighborhood to Zapopan, on the other side of
Guadalajara, is scheduled to open sometimes in 2020. And with a new road under
construction, Guadalajara could soon be just two and a half hours from the Pacific
coast.

There are some things in Tlaquepaque that aren’t perfect. The running, bike
riding and our apartment are barely acceptable, but our home’s location has been perfect
for accessing the town square. We’re definitely going to miss being here. We’ve
even started discussing that this area may be a place we want to come back to
and spend even more time getting to know, perhaps living in Guadalajara proper.
But first, we need to experience more of Mexico.

In the meantime, we’re busy revisiting our favorite places
and restaurants for one last time.

Our loyalty to Guadalajara won us GDLt-shirts
at a promo event in Lake Chapala last weekend!

Today, it’s on to Guanajuato!

April 18, 2019

Getting Our Mexican Temporary Resident (Residente Temporal) Visas – Part 2

Due to the gas crisis that was occurring in Mexico when we
arrived, we were delayed in the city of Leon for a week before finally arriving
in Guadalajara. Then we wanted to jump right in to language school, so it was
almost 3 weeks before we finally made it into the immigration office in
Guadalajara.

Step 3: Visit the
Immigration Office in Mexico

We found the Mexican Immigration page online, downloaded the
in-country immigration forms we needed, and filled them out. We dutifully made copies
of our passports and had more passport photos taken at a (rather pricey) photo
studio in Tlaquepaque. We then arrived at the Immigration office a few minutes
before it opened and showed the greeting staff the forms. They gave us a ticket
and showed us where to sit. We were quickly called up to a window and showed
the woman our paperwork (no English spoken there). She didn’t like my paperwork
since, as I had been warned at the Mexican Consulate in Denver, I needed to use
my full and complete name for everything. (Lisa, who had filled out the online forms,
had not been aware of this.) I was sent to a computer kiosk to refill it, not a
pleasant experience, as everything was in Spanish and a line was forming behind
me. Nonetheless, I was eventually successful. Lisa joined me in the line to
redo hers for another picky reason.

Back at the window, we were given another document that we
needed to immediately take to a bank, where we would pay approximately $200
each, obtain a receipt, and return to Immigration.

Step 4: Pay the Fee at
a Local Bank

We walked a few blocks to find a bank, took a number, and sat
in the waiting area. Mexico is basically a cash society, so people go to banks
with cash to pay their bills – water, electric, cable, phone, and, in our case,
Immigration payments. There’s almost always people waiting in the chairs. When
our number was called, we went to the window and showed the form we were given.
The Immigration woman told us that the receipt we got from the bank had to have
our names EXACTLY as they were on our passports. The bank’s system wouldn’t
allow the hyphen in Lisa’s last name (Hamm-Greenawalt), so she is Lisa Hamm
Greenawalt in Mexico.

Step 5: Back to
Immigration

Returning to the Immigration office, we waited until the
woman who had previously helped us was available, and gave her our receipt. She
took that, along with our copies and the Immigration permit we got at the
border, and told us that we would get an emailed approval in one or two weeks.

Lisa and Lexie got their emails in a week. We emailed it to
Lisa’s Mexican friend in Evergreen, Gabriela, to confirm that the dense
legalistic language in Spanish said we were approved. She said yes!

But mine didn’t arrive until a week later, causing a bit of anxiety.
We were each given an official Mexican identification number called a NUT, for
Numero Unico de Tramite.

But we weren’t finished.

Step 6: Photos and
Fingerprints

We now had to go back to the Immigration office again to get
our fingerprints taken and give them photos, since they deemed that photos we
had submitted earlier in the process were slightly too big. So we got a new set
of photos taken (in the designated “infantil” size), and scheduled to take
another morning off from language school to finish the process.

We again arrived at Immigration right before it opened, got
our tickets and were shown to a different set of seats. Lisa went to one window
and Lexie and I ended up going to another. They accepted Lisa’s photos and took
her fingerprints, giving her one small napkin to get the purple ink off her
fingertips. They also accepted Lexie’s photos, but not mine. They said the
white background, which looked pale gray, was too dark and I needed to get new
photos again.

First we went to the bathrooms to try to scrub the
fingerprint ink off our fingers! In the Men’s Room, a man sprayed my hands with
some solution and gave me paper towels, so I was fairly successful. Lisa and
Lexie didn’t get the same treatment in the Women’s Room so they had to work
harder, and Lexie’s fingerprints were purple for a day or two.

Then we went in search of a nearby place to get photos taken,
found one a couple blocks away, and went back to the Immigration office with
the new pictures. Success!

Then they told us to
come back in a week for our Temporary Resident (Green) cards.

Step 7: Temporary
residents!

A week later we went back to the Immigration office a third
time. Once again, very efficiently, we got our numbers, got called to the final
issue and signed for our Green Cards.

Finally, six months after the first visit to the Denver
Consulate and 6 weeks after we crossed the border, we held our Mexican Green
Cards in our hot little hands! We were officially Temporary Residents of
Mexico.

Celebrating the success of the process and our new status as temporary Mexican residents!

April 8, 2019

Guachimontones – the Round Ruins

Today we visited Guachimontones, one of only circular ruins in the world.

You’ve most likely heard of Tulum and Chichen Itza, but Guachimontones is unique and surely the most interesting place you’ve never heard of! Located just an hour outside Guadalajara, this prehispanic archeological site made for a wonderful day trip.

We dug out our hiking floppy hats and slathered on sunscreen, because we knew it would be an active day spent outside on a mountain top in relentless sun. Even so, since we got an early start, the weather was surprisingly pleasant.

We paid just 590 pesos apiece ($30) (plus lunch and tips) to be picked up at our home in Tlaquepaque and driven more than an hour northwest of the city, far into the countryside to the village of Teuchitlan, to experience the ruins and learn some history during a free guided tour (both Spanish and English versions are available).

We ended up getting a private tour because the bus was full, an added bonus! Our driver, Hector, spoke English well but agreed to speak Spanish during the ride up to help us practice.

When we arrived, after driving through the village of Teuchitlan (where Hector said the main industry is sugar cane), we walked up to the Visitors Center and watched a short video in English that described Guachimontones. We learned that the site was constructed between 350 BC and 350 AD and served as the base for what is called the Teuchitlan tradition. The population reached about 40,000 people at its peak.

The people of the time, perceived through their own works

Beto shows us a social scene

We then set off with a guide named Ivan (and about 30 other people) to hike a quarter mile up a steep cobblestone road to the sacred grounds on the hilltop. There we found a series of temples built in concentric, stepped circular pyramids, each surrounded by a moat-like grass “patio,” which in turn was surrounded by about eight lower temple-like structures. The hill continued climbing, with more Guachimontones farther up.

Since we had chosen to take the Spanish tour instead of waiting an hour or two for the English one, we were a little at a loss to understand everything. Ivan said the central circular structure (the Guachi) is where the priests go, as well as people dressed in bird costumes, to appeal to the gods. , but we got to experience the music that they play during rituals (Bob was chosen as one of the musicians, with a drum that looked like a tambourine), learn a little bit of a dance, and climb to the top of an unexcavated “Guachi.”

There were also a number of ball fields where warriors competed with balls made out of animal skins, hitting them with their hips and shoulders Winners had the honor of having their skin cut open and pieces of precious black obsidian inserted inside, while losers could have their fingers or hands cut off. The “Messi” or “Ronaldo” (if you follow soccer) of the Teuchitlan world might have raised bumps of obsidian all up and down his arms! (We also learned that they wore little and woman tattooed their breasts, but that’s a story for another day.)

This ancient civilization thrived for about 700 years before being presumably wiped out by the Tequila volcano in about 350 A.D. The museum in the Visitors Center displayed incredible murals depicting life and events of the time, including the tragic volcano.

This picture from the Visitors center depicts the volcano

After the tour, which included some independent exploration, we headed with our driver Hector to the village by the lake below, where we dined in a lovely lakeside restaurant called Monte Carlo (the most expensive place we have eaten in Mexico, though lunch and drinks still came to only about $25).

Learn more about Guachimontones here.

March 22, 2019

Daily Life in Tlaquepaque

I know you think our life is so glamorous now because we live in Mexico, but actually, it’s just life, only with different people, language, transportation and especially food.

This is a Day in the Life in Tlaquepaque:

6: 45 AM: (Or earlier, if the cats are hungry.) Bob and Lisa get up. Shower. Make coffee. Eat breakfast. Do homework. Pack a snack (Lisa – tangerine, Bob – banana).

7:45 AM: Lexie gets up, showers, eats, and packs Goldfish or crackers.

8:45 AM: Walk 7 blocks to Guadalajara Language Center.

9-11 AM: Morning Spanish Class with Monica.

11-11:30 AM – Break. Eat snack. Bob goes walking and exploring; Lisa often talks with Aryk or chats with other students.

11:30 AM-1:30 PM – Afternoon class with Edith.

School’s Out!

1:30-2:30 PM – School’s out! Lunchtime. The three of us walk two blocks to Jardin Hidalgo, the plaza in the center of Tlaquepaque, to search for a lunch that is late for us but early for Mexicans, who eat lunch from 2-5 PM. We have favorite puestos, or food stands – the Elote Truck for Lisa and Lexie, where Lexie gets yellow corn on a cob on a stick with butter (25 pesos, $1.25) , and Lisa gets an elote/chayote (corn and a delicious type of squash) combo with cream, manchego cheese and salsa (20 pesos, $1). Bob goes off to get a lonche, a plain meat sandwich on extraordinarily delicious bread. Lisa and Bob enjoy raspadas, which are fruit in syrup with crushed ice, and we find a shady park bench to sit and enjoy our treats.

Pineapple Raspadas

Elote truck at night

Elote/Chayote with crema and queso

There’s also a taco place we love underneath the big enclosed marketplace, where Lexie enjoys tacos blanditos (plain beef taco made with two flour tortillas) and Lisa orders molitas (spicy beef abd melted cheese on a fried corn tortilla, with salsa, lime, and onions).

Molitas

Tacos blanditos

Or we go to Quarto Kilo, a delicious hamburger chain with freshly BBQed burgers and spicy fries.

After Lunch

3:30-Bedtime: After lunch, we might peruse art galleries, do work in a coffee shop, go for a hike with the school director, go to the gym for a workout, write a blog, practice our instruments, go for a run, take a walking tour of Tlaquepaque, clean the apartment, take cats to the vet, drop off or pick up laundry from the local laundromat, go to the Mercado to buy fresh meat, seafood, bread and produce, stop into a bakery for breakfast treats, visit a mini-supermarket for sundries, walk to Wal-Mart or Soriana for groceries, or just head home and watch movies.

Getting claws trimmed

Salsa classes

GDL International Film Festival

Quiet Weekdays

School takes a lot out of us, so our weekdays are pretty quiet. In the evening we’ll eat out once or twice a week, or just pick up a pizza and bring it home. We might take a Salsa dance class (50 pesos), go into Guadalajara ($88 pesos on Uber) to walk around the Centro Historico or see a movie at the Cinemex, or hang out at home playing Pinochle or watching a couple of episodes of Gravity Falls on Netflix.

Gravity Falls

Transportation

Our truck sits idle in the driveway, as we walk everywhere in town and otherwise take Uber, which is dirt cheap in Mexico. Public buses are also close, so we don’t feel the need to drive.

Culture

We have had a chance to enjoy a variety of culture: Hospicio Cabanas (museum), Lucha Libre (wrestling), bullfighting, Atlas futbol, the Guadalajara International Film Festival, the Jalisco Symphony Orchestra, and lots of free mariachi music and Ballet Folclorico. We enjoyed the huge Guadalajara birthday celebration and the Herradura Tequila Train.

Getting culture in the city!

Cycling Sundays

On Sundays, Lisa and Bob hop on our road bikes and we ride 10-15 miles on the Via RecreActiva, which is basically major roads in Tlaquepaque and Guadalajara that are closed to traffic from 8 AM-2 PM so people can exercise. I call it obstacle cycling because of all the dogs, kids on big wheels, skateboarders and clueless novices we have to dodge around. Still, for hard-core cyclists like Bob and Lisa, it’s better than nothing.

Finding an inclusive church with English services within a reasonable distance has proved impossible, so my Sunday sermons are found online at Lisa’s pastor brother Peter Hamm’s YouTube page.

We’re planning to do a lot more exploring starting next week, when school is done, though Lexie will be continuing to study during the second session, and Bob and Lisa plan to keep studying every day. But otherwise, there are galleries to visit and sights to see!

February 26, 2019

Bullfighting in Mexico

In the interest of experiencing as much of Mexican culture as we can, Bob and I attended a bullfight recently at Plaza de Toros “Nuevo Progresso” in Guadalajara.

We had to experience it once. We left after one bullfight.

It started out fun

It started out fun. Upon arrival, outside the stadium, we encountered a carnival of food, drinks and booths selling cowboy hats, candy, hand fans, bullfighter-branded seat cushions, and nieve garrafa (ice cream made in a canister). The building itself resembled a small Roman coliseum, and was decorated with image upon image of famous matadors. There was matador art and metal bull sculptures, balloons and cotton candy and, of course, tequila and cervesas. I saw a young girl in a bright red, traditional ruffled costume. Women wore high heels and white embroidered tops. Men dressed nattily. We were underdressed in our chinos and jeans.

The sport’s Spanish origins were evident in a tent outside,
where paella and wine were served by waiters
in an elegant setting before the bullfight started.

Photos of famous matadors were mounted outside on the stadium walls

Once we got inside, we took our places on the concrete seats with an excellent view of the round stadium. The show began promptly at 4:30 PM with matadors in gaudy, glittery costumes parading around the ring to the blaring bullfighting music that I recognized from the opera “Carmen.” It was festive and colorful.

The big introduction

Prepping the ring like the infield of a baseball game

Introducing the bull

But that’s where the fun ended

This is how the “competition” went down: Five or six matadors essentially ganged up on the poor bull, making a mockery of the majestic animal while the crowd cheered. First they taunted him to get him confused and angry, waving bright pink capes to lure him toward them and then scampering behind barricades.

It was a dance, as the matador drew the bull closer

Once they got the bull good and mad, the main matador, a peacock of a man in sparkly gold with a sword and red cape, arrived, posing and preening to roars of the crowd. He then performed a number of moves to trick the bull and make himself look important, pausing to soak in the crowd’s approval. The people all around us cheered every time the bull was tricked. (We were rooting for the bull.)

Next, a rider on a horse in heavily padded protection trotted around the periphery of the ring, raised a long, decorated spear and stabbed the bull in the shoulder, then yelped triumphantly as the crowd screamed, “Ole!” Soon the matadors were also stabbing the bull with smaller decorated sticks, and as the blood streamed down the back of the bull, the crowd again shouted, “Ole!” (I am providing no pictures of this.)

In the end, the chief matador had the “privilege” of slaughtering the bull with a brutal stab of a shiny long sword, and after the cheering was over, the dead bull was dragged away behind two horses.

It was truly repugnant

Bob knew I would have trouble dealing with the blood in this sport, but even he was utterly disgusted. Long before the first fight was over, he told me he was ready to leave. The stadium was only about ten percent full, so obviously Mexicans aren’t that enamored of bullfighting anymore either.

The entire scene
(Note all the empty seats)

Some Facebook friends have criticized us for attending the bullfight, saying “nice people” wouldn’t condone a blood sport this way and that we were legitimizing it by our presence in the arena. This is my response: If you want to experience a culture and truly understand its people, you need to be open to witnessing their traditions without applying your own preconceived notions. Bullfighting has been going on in Mexico for almost 800 years, and 500 years in Spain before that. Going one time to bear witness is hardly supporting the sport, which would have occurred whether we were there or not. That bull was still going to end up on their dinner table later in the evening.

And walking out after one fight is NOT legitimizing it; quite the opposite. We came, we saw, we left. Then we shared our observations with others to provoke dialogue. If we had cheered for the matador and stayed for the whole thing, bought souvenirs and come back excited to see it again, THAT would supporting the sport.

Bullfighting and football

We asked our Spanish teacher about bullfighting. She said it is the sport of Mexico’s “elite,” and we realized it had, indeed, been a flashy sunglasses and designer shoe crowd in the stadium. Which begs the question: Why does a society’s blue bloods go in for a bloody sport like this? Then again, why do Americans tolerate football and cheer when we know the sport rattles the brains of most of its participants, shortens their lives and batters their bodies? How are we any different, really?

And while we’re on the subject, who are we to say bullfighting is worse than American football? Some would say supporting football is OK because players make the choice to play, knowing the potential consequences, whereas bulls have no choice — they’re bred to be slaughtered in public and humiliating fashion. I don’t know what the answer is. Just putting that out there for thought and discussion.

One thing I do know: This is an experience we will definitely not repeat.

The Selfie of the Day was very somber.
We took the shot and walked out.

February 25, 2019

Rain and Futbol

We’ve been in Tlaquepaque for five weeks now, and haven’t seen a drop of rain – until last night, after we decided to attend our first outdoor sporting event in Mexico.

The three of us decided to go to a Mexican futbol – Americans know it as soccer – game. Guadalajara hosts two teams that play in the top Mexican league, Liga MX. I initially wanted to go and see the better team, the Chivas, but it turns out that their stadium is pretty far away from our apartment, not near public transportation and difficult to get an Uber from after the game. So we decided to go see Atlas play. They play in an older stadium, Estadio Jalisco, and currently sit next to last in the league.

Buying Tickets

We started looking online for tickets and the site we went to told us that there were less than 4% of seats available for last night’s game, with the cheapest tickets being in the $40-$60 USD range. I found that hard to believe, so we asked the owner of the language school, and he told us that unless the game was against the Chivas, we could get cheaper tickets at the stadium.

We decided to get to the stadium an hour early so we could get our tickets and hopefully avoid the crowds. Unfortunately, after waiting nearly 15 minutes for our Uber driver, we arrived later than we wanted and crowds were forming. We managed to find the ticket kiosk, got into a line, and buy tickets for really good seats for just $12 each. When we got inside the stadium, we discovered that there wasn’t assigned seating, and that our tickets were good for a fairly large section of the stadium. So we found three seats and settled in to watch the game, which was set to begin at 9 PM. I’m not sure why there is a 9 PM start, but that seems to be the standard start time. A little late for me, but I can make a special occasion out of it.

It was only then we realized a second difference from US events – smoking was allowed in the stadium, which was pretty unpleasant for Lexie and Lisa. Lisa was prepared with ear plugs for Lexie as the noise was pretty loud before the game. The game started, with thousands of empty seats, so we learned never to trust that online ticket site again. The noise also subsided a bit as people and the PA system focused on the game.

The First Half

The game was as exciting as any US football game, with lots of running back and forth across the field. Vendors walked through the stands hawking cervesas (beer), donuts, palmitas (popcorn) and an assortment of Mexican snacks, and half the crowd wore bright red and black Atlas jerseys.

In the first half, Atlas didn’t convert on several good scoring opportunities, but the goalie made some impressive saves. As the half came to an end, Lisa noticed that a light rain had started. Rain? We hadn’t even seen rain before in Guadalajara. We were sitting under an upper deck, so we stayed dry, but we saw drops plop onto the heads of people sitting a couple rows in front of us.

The Second Half

The second half was still scoreless, and we kept rooting for Atlas to hold on and tie the game, although the Tigres had a couple of scoring opportunities. Regulation time ended with the game still tied, but a late, very questionable (at least in my mind), call resulted in a penalty kick for the Tigres, which they converted to a goal 3 minutes into the 4 minutes of injury time. Final score: 1-0. It was a disappointing loss for our new team.

Uber Adventures

It was still lightly raining when we left the stadium. We tried to beat the crowd and inevitable traffic jam by walking a few blocks before calling Uber. Our driver was just four minutes away, but after keeping us waiting 20 minutes, and giving us a thumbs up that he was still coming, he unceremoniously cancelled on us, leaving us wet on a street corner in what was now a big traffic jam.. (Anyone know how to give a bad rating to shithead Uber drivers who ditch you and leave you standing in the effing rain?) We walked a few blocks farther down to a main road where we waited for another driver, along with two other groups doing the same thing.

We got back to the apartment a bit before midnight, a little soggy, but having had an enjoyable evening. We’ll definitely do it again. Go, Atlas!

(Lisa’s note: Rooting for the Atlas is like rooting for the Mets. Most people root for the popular, winning Chivas, Guadalajara’s version of the Yankees. But we prefer the underdog!)