A New Camera and Our Son Has Arrived

We mentioned last blog that our camera had crashed and we were intent on getting a different one. New ones are very expensive here in Mexico as they are all imported and for warranties sake we wanted to buy a new one in Canada. So one day we set off for the center of Guadalajara to try to buy a used camera. Certainly our first thought was the "black market" where all things stolen can be found for sale. We thought we might even get some good photos on our purchased camera. After a short visit with a very nice gentleman in the park in Guadaljara we soon realized that the "black Market" was not the place for two naive gringos to go so he phoned a friend and gave us the address for a pawn shop and told us how to get there. So two hours later, after one bus ride, a 2 km walk and 50 questions we arrived and bought a camera. There were no guarantees but so far it works and the photos are not too bad. It is a Panosonic and the cost was $58 Canadian. Then we had to buy batteries and a battery charger and that added about another $10 to it but now we are set, we hope.

And even better than that is the fact that Dennis, our son from Australia has arrived. He came last Sunday and Nancy and I went to the airport to meet him. We don't get to seem him so often so the month he will spend we us here will be so wonderful.

Just a photo of the inside of our apartment. It is really quite large and we like it a whole lot. It has a great wirless internet connection and good TV with a number of english news and movie channels.

This is the outside of our apartment in Tlaquepaque and those three windows are one side of our apartment. I love sitting out there as for most of the day it is in the sun. Nancy does not like it so much. It is just too hot for that girl.

The very busy center of Tlaquepaque with lots of benches and we will likely have tried them all (more than once) before we leave here.

These two little boys are in the care of their fathers whose jobs happen to be park sweepers. They are moving from one spot to another and the boys were happy to get a ride.

There are more than one bird seller in and around the park in Tlaquepaque. We wonder what animal rights people would have to say about this.

The central park in Tlaquepaque with the church in the background.

Tlaquepaque is well known for its varied and expensive handicrafts which we no longer need to buy. Our house has become a museum over these past 20 years with articles from around the world. This photo is from one of the many places that sell those types of things.

And here are more of the handicrafts of this area.

We were in the central park in Guadalajara, the weather was exceptional, birds were singing and there are smoochers in the park.

Every year we travel, Nancy's watch breaks and these two ladies are the happy sellers of a new watch.

One of the many markets in Guadalajara. This one is mostly known for electronic stuff but my they had lovely fruit and other things.

Dennis spied a lovely restaurant overlooking the park and here we had a most delightful lunch. It was a smorg of which there are many in this part of the world and we certainly did justice to it.

One of these first days, when we think we have enought time we are going to do a trip for a few days. There is a city north and west of here about 3 hours called Tepic and Nancy and I have never been there and people who have have said good things about it. And from Tepic, just an hour away is a small coastal town called San Blas. This particular San Blas was very famous in the 60's as a place to be. We are told it is not quite so famous now and is a bit run down. We will see.