Our First Week

A different year but not a different location. Once again, we are in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico and this year we will stay for 5 months. At least we have our apartment rented for that long. Not much has changed except the color of our apartments as you can see by the photo below. The colors are brilliant and very showy on this very unshowy street.

This photo might be familiar as maybe we had it in our blog from last year but it is the back yard patio of our very spacious apartment.

Something new this year for us is that we joined a nearby gym for morning workouts. And what a gym it is, all the latest and best equipment and lots of it. And the cost is $25 a month for each of us. A bargain for sure.

At the same time we go, our very beautiful landlord, Olivia, also goes for a pilates class. It is very loud and enthusiastic.

And also very beautiful, but quietly working at her own speed, is my wife, Nancy

You saw many photos similar to these next two photos but we so enjoy it and if you see enough of them you will also. They are of folk dancers and they perform for us and many like us on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and evenings. Needless to say we don't make the evening shows

There was not only dancing on the stage but these two were putting on a great show for us, as their parents watched from close by.

She was so cute and so engrossed in what she was doing. Trying to match the dancers up on the stage.

The show takes place in a Venue called the Parian, a block square structure that houses a number of restaurants and a center stage. Most people that come, also eat, but there are a number of benches around the stage that are free and there is no problem with people coming just to watch the shows. Along with us, these folks are enjoying the show in the cheap seats.

All days and nights are busy on the streets but Saturday and Sunday nights are especially busy with so much activity. These next 3 photos are of break dancers, dancing to hip hop music, with tons of energy and athletic abilities. There are a group of them and they take turns performing.

There is one corner store on a very busy corner of Tlaquepaque that has maybe 10 of these types of mechanical riding toys for young children. Any time of the day or evening we go by, some are busy but this past Saturday night they were all busy. Such fun they were having.

And then there is the street food. We know that the main meal of the day for most people is in the afternoon and then in the evening we think they just come out and have their evening meal on the street. We don't eat it much (except sweet stuff, me) but it all looks good.

The first photo sugar cane.

And Tamales, cornmeal mush wrapped around, pork, beef, shrimp or whatever else, all wrapped in a corn husk and then steamed. Pretty tasty actually.

Lots of different foods here. You can see corn dogs and red stuff to the left are little fish from Lake Chapala.

And these are all sweet breads. They look great but we have never tried them.

And yes they do play bingo in Mexico. At least on Saturday night on the square in Tlaquepaque.

The weather is wonderful, we like it a lot and it feels like we have never left. People hail and hug us on the street and in the market and we like that a lot. They do remember us.