30/04/08
I woke up with a fly buzzing in my ear and landing on my nose. Matt and I got up, said our goodbyes, and left at noon for Guadalajara. It took 5 hours to get to Guadalajara. Mostly an easy drive with maybe 2 hours of winding, slow mountain driving. We found our couchsurfer's house Orlando, but he was at work. He lives in a commune house setting. Similar to a dorm for grown ups. There are 6 rooms spread along the perimeter of a community outdoor area, living room, and kitchen. Everyone hangs out together and takes turns cooking and cleaning. We unloaded our stuff in Orlando's room and walked downtown. We went to an art museum, a million plazas with fountains and palaces. We settled in a plaza with a live mariachi band playing on stage in front of a huge crowd. Interestingly, mariachi bands and much of Mexican traditional culture originated in Guadalajara. We ate, found some street performers, and watched some kids playing music and dancing Capoiera. We got home at 11 and hung out with Orlando and the other roommates. There were like 8 people over. I met Ruth who rents out one of the rooms for an art studio. She's kinda really cute and funny. She told me what I should see in Guadalajara. She's super sick and has a bad cough, so we walked to Oxxo to get mango juice and talked for a while.
05/01/08
We woke up and went to a marketplace with crazy fruits called Yakas an the cheapest, gross tacos ever (5 for $10). I got two orders and a huge orchata for $10 more. We explored more and found another huge market where everyone sells the same things: guitars, leather crocodile shoes, panchos, perfumes, and food. We wondered some more and found a plaza and stopped to read at a shady bench. Found a bookstore and matt convinced me to buy 100 Years of Solitude in Spanish. That ngiht we decided to go see lucha libre in Guadalajara. We walked to the Arena Coliseo which was in a bad part of town. Everyone was staring at us unwelcomingly. We made it ot the Arena to find out it was not open on Thursday. We went back home disappointed. We got a group of us and went to a nearby taco stand. Matt and I had been talking about going out that night, so we invited Orlanda and Ruth and went to a music bar Scratch. They played blues, 60's, and James Brown. It was nice, but Matt and I wanted to dance-go out after spending our weekend in Chill Zacatecas. It was midnight, the four of us headed to a salsa bar Mutualista with a $15 cover and a live salsa band. At first we were all just standing around, waiting. Matt and Orlando went to get drinks and Ruth and I began dancing. Well she more or less taught me how to dance. Her feet were always moving twice the speed of mine. We danced all night. I joked that it was half dancing and half lucha, because the place was so full and we were constantly bouncing off other dancers. Matt danced with an attractive Mexicana until she asked to take a break and sit down. He couldn't stop and became fed up with her. They kicked us out at 2 am and we went home.
I woke up with a fly buzzing in my ear and landing on my nose. Matt and I got up, said our goodbyes, and left at noon for Guadalajara. It took 5 hours to get to Guadalajara. Mostly an easy drive with maybe 2 hours of winding, slow mountain driving. We found our couchsurfer's house Orlando, but he was at work. He lives in a commune house setting. Similar to a dorm for grown ups. There are 6 rooms spread along the perimeter of a community outdoor area, living room, and kitchen. Everyone hangs out together and takes turns cooking and cleaning. We unloaded our stuff in Orlando's room and walked downtown. We went to an art museum, a million plazas with fountains and palaces. We settled in a plaza with a live mariachi band playing on stage in front of a huge crowd. Interestingly, mariachi bands and much of Mexican traditional culture originated in Guadalajara. We ate, found some street performers, and watched some kids playing music and dancing Capoiera. We got home at 11 and hung out with Orlando and the other roommates. There were like 8 people over. I met Ruth who rents out one of the rooms for an art studio. She's kinda really cute and funny. She told me what I should see in Guadalajara. She's super sick and has a bad cough, so we walked to Oxxo to get mango juice and talked for a while.
05/01/08
We woke up and went to a marketplace with crazy fruits called Yakas an the cheapest, gross tacos ever (5 for $10). I got two orders and a huge orchata for $10 more. We explored more and found another huge market where everyone sells the same things: guitars, leather crocodile shoes, panchos, perfumes, and food. We wondered some more and found a plaza and stopped to read at a shady bench. Found a bookstore and matt convinced me to buy 100 Years of Solitude in Spanish. That ngiht we decided to go see lucha libre in Guadalajara. We walked to the Arena Coliseo which was in a bad part of town. Everyone was staring at us unwelcomingly. We made it ot the Arena to find out it was not open on Thursday. We went back home disappointed. We got a group of us and went to a nearby taco stand. Matt and I had been talking about going out that night, so we invited Orlanda and Ruth and went to a music bar Scratch. They played blues, 60's, and James Brown. It was nice, but Matt and I wanted to dance-go out after spending our weekend in Chill Zacatecas. It was midnight, the four of us headed to a salsa bar Mutualista with a $15 cover and a live salsa band. At first we were all just standing around, waiting. Matt and Orlando went to get drinks and Ruth and I began dancing. Well she more or less taught me how to dance. Her feet were always moving twice the speed of mine. We danced all night. I joked that it was half dancing and half lucha, because the place was so full and we were constantly bouncing off other dancers. Matt danced with an attractive Mexicana until she asked to take a break and sit down. He couldn't stop and became fed up with her. They kicked us out at 2 am and we went home.
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