New Years Eve and a Trip to Guanajuato

We think we mentioned in our last blog that we had to change apartments for two weeks as someone had already booked our big apartment for these two weeks when we booked for 5 months. It is much cozier but the internet is much, much faster so rather than taking two days to upload our photos, today it took maybe 10 minutes. What a difference.


Our apartment front yard is the parking lot for the restaurant that is part of these apartments and it is also the playground and backyard for the family that runs both. As a result, when we are here (and at other times also) we get invited to all family celebrations. We turned down a Christmas invitation but accepted a New Year's Eve.


It was a BBQ with all the family and many friends of the younger children. In this photo, Juan Carlos is starting the BBQ and it took a while. Remember the days we got to light BBQ coals. What he is using are really not BBQ coals as we know them but charcoal, hand made not too far away from here, and it is tough to get started.

And Olivia's s0n, Rudolpho, was the chief cook. Mexican steak and refried beans and salsa and guacamole and of course, tortillas. It was yummy.

Just part of the crowd that attended. Nancy and I were by far the oldest and the soonest to go home. I got up at 5:00 AM and it was still going on.After 3 weeks of no dancing or mariachi music at the Parian, the powers that be, decided they needed to catch up, so for two weeks straight, every afternoon and evening there was mariachi music in the Parian. And sometimes there was dancing also. You have seen many photos like this but this one was special to us so we have included it.

The Parian had large crowds for the Christmas season so the decision they made was a good one. This photo is just one very small part of the complex called the Parian.

After New Years, Nancy and I were talking about taking a small trip, we thought to San Miguel Allende to visit some friends there but that did not work out so we decided instead to go the Guanajuto. Olivia and Juan Carlos had never been to Guanajato so decided to come with us and what a great trip we had.

Guanajuato is a World Heritage City, very old, very beautiful, very hilly and 500m higher than here so it is 5 degrees colder. We needed extra blankets at night and coats and long pants the rest of the time.

It is still Christmas holiday time here in Mexico and Guanajuato was packed with Mexican visitors. This is a photo looking down the street from one of the main parks.

And this one is looking up that same street from the other end of the park.

There were many restaurants to choose from and this one was our breakfast restaurant the first morning.

And this is the hilly Guanajuato from a view point that was gained, not by walking, but a funiclar, that was pulled up the hill by a cable.

A couple of years ago we had some photos in our blog of these same mummies that were still at the mummy museum we visited as part of a tour. The soil here mumifies bodies so to keep the books balanced, the city digs some of them up and puts them on display and we pay to see them.

This is a photo from the window of the bus so a bit blurry but it shows just one of the many streets that are just like this. Very narrow and very steep.

This church, called Valancia, was built by the mine owners, Both gold and silver were mined in this area.

Coming down the stairs from the church. Ron, Olivia and Juan Carlos

Part of our tour was a visit to a silver mine and a walk down into the tunnels. This is the beginning of a long hike, first down and then up many, many steep stairs.

And finally at the end of the tunnel or as far as our guide would take us. It was a hard journey.

Another part of our tour was to museum that displayed many old torture instruments, mostly from the time of the inquisition. The rest of the photos show some of the methods of torture and death. They speak for themselves.

This one is a bit interesting as there is a trough that was filled with water at the bottom of the wheel that the head would pass through and often held there.

An interesting holdiay from our winter home. We were happy to get back to Tlaqupaque and get warm again.

We are here in our small apartment for a couple more days and then get to move back to our real home away from home. It will be nice.

From the Lens of Barb's Camera

It seems as if everyone in the world is uploading photos on Blogger, as we started uploading photos yesterday afternoon, and working partly through the night, we just finished and it is 9:30 Christmas morning. Uusally it takes an hour to upload 20 photos. My it was slow.

Our last photo on our last blog was of Barb (Nancy's sister and her friend Diane). That was 3 weeks ago and they went home 2 days ago. It was fun to have them here.

The following photos are all Barb's and her interpertation of what was important and beautiful in Tlaquepaque and surrounds.

And for sure the most important things were the cook and the dishwasher. The first photo is of the dishwasher and the second one is of the cook.

The cook was quit sick for about 10 days of that 3 weeks (we took her to the doctor and got her some medicine), and only now is she back to her normal self. But even being sick, she still managed to get us all fed.

This is Diane, eating breakfast. She is eating alone as she was not usually the first one out of bed.

A street scene of a very pretty building on a very famous street in Tlaquepaque.

More of the same street.

Just an interesting display of many things in a store.

Lovers, not in the park where there are usually lovers, but on the very same street that the last few photos were taken on.

And the picture taker. Barb but this time I had my hands on the camera.

Olivia's husband has a carriage and a horse to pull it, that he rents our for different occassions. First Communions, weddings, and just a ride around town are all part of his itinery. This photo is of his carriage that is stored in the entry way to our apartments.

We did a day trip to the center of Guadalajara and Santa here is the same as he looks at home.

One of the many parks in Guadalajara, looking at the main government buildings.

It is not as big as the one in Mexico City but it is pretty big. The photo shows part of the main market in Guadalajara. And you can buy pretty much anything though mainly it is meat and vegetables and fruit.

Another journey to Tonala, a big market suburb of Guadalajara, and an old busker on the street.

And from old to young. Kids doing what kids like to do on the street in Tonala

Another day trip to Zapopan, another suburb of Guadalajara. The arch is the main entrance to Zapopan.

And a pretty Bugambilia tree in Zapopan.

Back in Tlaquepaque, and once again they are presenting dance and music in the Parian on Friday and Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evening. Just one of the very pretty and accomplished dancers.

A different day and a different trip, this one a bit longer, to Chapala on Lake Chapala. It is a huge expat community. The next two photos are of the lake and the malicon along side of it. It really is quite beautiful.

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When we rented our apartment here in Tlaquepaque, oh so long ago, the dates from Dec 25th to Jan 8th were already booked so today, we have to move to a different apartment. It is not very far away, just across the street and we don't have a lot of stuff so it will be a quick move.

We will stay there for the first 8 days and then travel a bit, to San Miguel Allende, to visit some friends from Lethbridge who are spending part of their winter there.

Enjoying our Company

Our last blog was full of photos of celebrations in Tlaquepaque for the centenial anniversaries that are taking place in Mexico this year and we had hoped they would continue the following week and they did. Not so much here as in Guadalajara. The city was hopping the whole week and the crowds were just enormous but quite polite.

This first photo is a continuation of the celebrations in Tlaquepaque and just to show that all dancing is not folk dancing. This is one of a number of groups that were doing ballroom type dancing one night.

And on another night in our town, there were a number of bands playing, none very good but this one was particularly bad. About 25 young boys, as enthusiastic as all get out but we just had to leave mid concert.

For the second week of celebrations in Guadalajara, my cousin John Thorsten and his wife Arlene came to visit and got in on some of the festivities

These next pictures are really hard to explain as the whole week tells a story and the story is on this large chunk of story book that fell from the sky one night and gouged into the street. More of the story you can find on these two websites. The first site is in spanish but if you scroll down to the bottom there are a number of photos and a video.

www.bicentenario.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_contents&view=article&id=2089

This second site is in english and tells the story of the giant puppets. They were made in France and have travelled all over the world, telling different stories according to the cultures of the countries they visited.

www.guadalajarareporter.com/arts-a-entertainment-mainmenu-93/guadalajara-mainmenu-43/arts-a-culture/27929-beguiling-giants-appear-on-downtown-streets.html

There was a giant dog, maybe 2m high but with the crowds we had difficulty getting a photo of him. The next two photos are of the giant doll and the puppeteers who make them work.

There were thousands upon thousands of people and it was very hard to get around, even before and after the parade. We were glad to get back to Tlaquepaque when it was all over.

The uncle in this story was the giant of all giants, perhaps 20m tall and it took many, many puppeteers to make him work. It all was pretty amazing.

One evening we were in the center of Tlaquepaque and these 4 very wonderful university students wanted to interview us in english. It was an assignment from their english professor. They were so sweet and it was such fun.

Arlene and John left at 2:00PM last Tuesday and Barb (Nancy's sister) and Dianne (Barb's friend) became our second set of guests, here to help celbrate our 50th and get away from the wicked Southern Alberta weather.

There never seems to be a dull moment in the center of town. Last night there were maybe 30 "living statues" all over the town and this photo is one of them. We were a bit late as when we arrived they were all starting to undress and shutdown the performances.

A bit of a short blog this time but with all the company, there just are not enough hours in the day.