Friday, February 25, 2011

Part 2: Mexico Through the Eyes of Brian and Carolyn

Our apartment is sort of the center of all the other apartments and houses the mechanical for all the apartments. Water is by a pressure system and has been causing us some problems for some time but I have managed to limp it along and keep it going. That was until Brian showed up and he said "lets fix it" so about 10 blocks later and many questions in various hardware stores we bought a new pressure switch. And here we are, one engineer (my brother), one farmer/teacher (Brian) and one teacher/light holder (me) fixing the pump. It is fixed???? I am not sure yet but is heading in that direction. Just a few more very small adjustments. We are getting real close.

Carolyn thought she had died and gone to heaven when she arrived as Juan Carlos (Olivia's husband) has a horse and a cart that he uses every day to haul junk. Much different than her horse and carriage but wonderful to Carolyn just the same.
And for sure she needed a ride with Juan Carlos and these next three photos show part of that ride. He actually took her all around the block.






The Cathedral in downtown Guadalajara. It is very easy to get to the center of Guadalajara from here so we went more than once.

This is a very famous mural, painted by Jose Clemente Orozco in the Institute Cultural de Cabanas in downtown Guadalajara

A photo of the church steeples, taken through the arches of the previous mentioned building.

The Teatro Degallado, very old and very beautiful. David and Terry were lucky enough to have it be open when they were in Guadalajara and they got to see inside. It is not open to public often. And those people standing outfront are Gary and Andra and Brian.
Those same 3 people infront of an interesting sculpture in the Plaza Tapatio.
At the end of the Plaza Tapatia, we could see this huge tent like structure long before be got and and low and behold it was a skating rink. Outside in 30 degree weather. It was Saturday and the place was jammed with long lines waiting to get on. We doubt many of the skaters would have made the NHL.

Gary and Brian, sitting at the end of the skating rink on one of Sergio Bustamonte's famous bronze sculptures
It is always hard to take a photo in the inside of a church, mostly because of lack of light but here is an attempt at the inside of the Cathedral in Guadalajara.

A pretty girl (Andra) a pretty fountain and the front of the Cathedral,
There was a photo like this in Part 1 of these blogs but the girls are so pretty and the music is spectacular we thought we needed another photo. Sometime I am going to try to upload some of their music on You tube and if it works, we will send it to all of you.
A street scene in Tlaquepaque. Notice the school uniforms.

Once again, Juan Carlos and his horse. Every day he goes out, looking for stuff to haul and for one load he gets 300 pesos or about $25.

Wiring Mexican style. This particular group of switches and plug ins are used for the stalls that set up only on the weekend.

Nancy has favorite places to buy things in the market and this is the place where she buys her vegetables. It does not seem to matter how much and what you buy, the price is always 30 pesos, about $3.00

And these are cacti, of which Nancy makes and excellent salad that even I, the anti vegetable person, likes.
It seems most tortillas are made by hand, one at a time, but this particular machine does it automatically. The dough goes in at one end and the cooked tortilla comes out at the other.

Any of you that have butchered an older chicken that is female will have seen these. They are the undeveloped eggs, that in a few days, if the chicken was alive would be eggs you would use. Here these eggs are used, just like they look in this photo, cooked and eaten with the chicken.

The main market in downtown Guadalajara is huge and everything imaginable is for sale. This photo only shows a very small part of it.

And this one shows my favorite part of it. I am sure a whole square block of nothing but saddles and bridles and boots and anything imaginable that deals with horses.

No farrier for Juan Carlos when he has to shoe his horse.


Two blogs in one day is too much so we will quit for now. Our next blog will be with my brother Dave's photos.























Part 1: Mexico Through the Eyes of Brian and Carolyn

It has been a long time since we have sent out a blog, one reason is that we were short of pictures and another reason is that we have have a fair amount of company over this past month and I have been busy touring them and Nancy has been busy cooking for them.

My brother Dave came the 1st of Feb and his partner showed up about the middle of the month. Gary and Andra Bradbury and their daughter Emily and Carolyn and Brian Otto have just left after a week's stay and Jim and June Tagg came back from the coast and were around for a couple more days.

The problem with not having enough pictures changed immediately after Carolyn and Brian came, as Carolyn is a prolific picture taker and all through new eyes to the views of Tlaquepaque and the surrounding area. These next two blog are mostly of her photos, or her husband Brian photos

The first is a man roasting peanets and covering them with all sorts of good things in the market in Tonala

In Mexico and most other latin countires, the turning of 15 years old for a girl is a very special occasion and families spend fortunes on the celebration. These next three photos of some of the dresses that are available for the girl who turns 15.








The market in Tonala is large and very crowded and after an hour or so of exploring it, it is time for a rest and I have a favorite place to rest at a restaurant called MOA. This particular time a band of very old men came and seranaded us. There music ablities had long past but it was such fun and we tipped them well.





And not only our favorite waiter at MOA but the only waiter at MOA. They serve great cappaccino.

Gary and Andra and Kate checking out the central park in Tonala

And just some of the massive amounts of stuff that is for sale in Tonala,

Back in Tlaquepaque and doing our nightly walk about, we came upon a clown, doing his thing and soon he had many of our group helping him do his thing. The photo is not so good but if you look you can see Gary and Brian and I making fools of ourselves and getting great laughs from the crowd.

The beautiful and well stocked market in Tlaquepaque.


Other things besides veggies sold in the Market. It is the place we buy all our very good bread.

And chicken and eggs.

And fish. This is our favorite seller of fish and our favorite fish. It is called Dorado and it is great.

The basement of the market is filled with food stands. This one, one of maybe 50.


This is not in the market but a few blocks away and the butcher shop where Nancy buys all her meat

We did a day trip to Chapala, a gringo town on Lake Chapala and these are two old men sitting in the park. Many old men sit in many parks all over Latin America. It is the equivalent of the coffee shop in small town Alberta.
A rest time for all of us in Chapala


Not a rest this time but just good people and a beautiful bougainvillea tree.

And Emily and Andra, looking at beautiful (but not clean) lake Chapala

A while ago there was a photo of Bill and Lynette standing under this arch that says "a little corner of love". This time it is Brain and Carolyn, just as much in love.

Just a pretty house in Chapala.
Every day at 3:00PM and for one hour, a female Mariachi band plays and sings in one of the restaurants here in Tlaquepaque. Not only that but they sell Margaritas 2 for 1. The band is great and so are the Margaritias.

One of the many quite large and very wonderful suppers we have had at our apartment. They have been such fun with great conversation and friendship.

This blog will come in two parts and somewho I published the second part without writting on it so it will show up when you get this one but in a day or so it will also get some dialogue, Just be patient or just look at the photos.