Well, you may remember from several posts ago that the Virgin of Zapopan had begun her arduous trek around the Lake in the ongoing effort to insure that our water levels would reach optimal heights. Months have passed, rainy season has come and gone, and the lake has swelled although not to the miraculous levels we all (including the Virgin, I am sure) might have wished. We hold no grudge however, since she cannot be held responsible for global warming, poor water resource planning and fractious cartel hijinks on the south shore of the Lake which, no doubt, made her task more overwhelming. So, she has wended her way back to Guadalajara. What now? Of course, it's time for a fiesta! Yes, the Fiesta de Octubre.
This is the big time fiesta in the land of big time fiestas. For starters, they are not exaggerating. The fiesta lasts for a solid month. Every day, every night. It begins with a parade from the Cathedral in downtown Guadalajara to the Virgin's home church in Zapopan. The parade starts at midnight and features everything you would and wouldn't expect including, of course, the Virgin, charros, mariachis, folkloric dancers, multitudes of bands featuring tubas, floats with local beauties and less predictably pre-colonial Indigenous Dancers who may, or may not, worship exactly the same Virgin. Given that the parade started at midnight and that we are older than dirt, Michael and I decided to give it a pass. Our friend Robert was over and we were expressing our regret that due to the hour we had missed it. "Oh, you didn't have to miss it," he said," you could show up at 7 or 8 in the morning and it would still be going on full steam." Now, THAT is what I call a parade. Putting it on the calendar for next year. But that is just the beginning. Every night there are free performances in the main plaza in Guadalajara, a giant on-going fiesta/amusement parky/performance thing at the major auditorium and fair grounds and never ending fireworks.
Speaking of fireworks...This morning at 6 AM Michael and I were jolted from slumber by the sound of what appeared to be a 747 crashing into our house. But it went on longer than that would. Turns out it is time to celebrate...yes...another Virgin. We had been wondering why we were hearing an increasingly deafening crescendo of fireworks over the last week. Turns out, according to the Guadalajara Reporter, "Ajijic dedicates October to the "Virgen del Rosario" (the Virgin of the
Rosary), the town's most cherished spiritual icon". This dedication features the faithful gathering at dawn each day for processions and early morning prayer services held at the San Andres church where the antique image resides all month until her return trip to her home chapel on the north side of the Plaza. I'm telling you, these Virgins like to move around! Since dawn is now around 7:15 AM, we can only surmise that the 6AM fireworks serve as the town wide wake up call. Well, only 17 more days left in October. And then it's time for the Day of the Dead. And then the November celebration of Saint Andres-- the village's patron Saint (not to be confused with the villages most cherished spiritual icon). Apparently, from now until January, it is an endless series of events of both a religious and secular nature all of which feature abundant celebration and, of course, fireworks.
The Boy is Back in Town...
Alex arrived in Guadalajara on September 28th and will be with us until October 27th when he will move on to Vieques to seek further adventure. His entry to Mexico was amusing if not entirely smooth. Ever the considerate son, he purchased lobsters at Legal Seafood in the Boston airport assuming, correctly, that we missed eating lobster. The people at Legal Seafood assured him that people took lobster to Mexico "all the time". Well -- liars, liars pants on fire. The lobsters were very well behaved on the flight and Alex meandered through the entry point to customs where, predictably, the lobsters were subdued and apprehended. He pleaded that they were treasured pets capable of amazing tricks but the custom officials merely licked their lips and brutally removed them from his care. He is still getting over it. Welcome to Mexico.
So, we have been having fun introducing Alex to the ways of Mexico. We have yet to venture too far afield but this week will head for Yelapa. This is a small town on the south coast of the Bay of Banderas which is reachable only by boat. It is 4 and 1/2 to 7 hours away depending on who you believe ... so Mexico. It is near Puerto Vallarta but hopefully lacks everything Puerto Vallarta possesses. We did take him to Tequila and Guachimontones -- a trip we now know we will not repeat with future visitors. Tequila is a famous for ... of course. It is also famous for the Tequila Express which is emblematic of everything that is wrong with Tequila. For approximately $50 USD tourists can board the Tequila Express train with roving bands of Mariachis and several hundred other tourists whose entire mission is to get completely obliterated by Tequila in as short a period of time as possible. Which is generally about 20 miles beyond Guadalajara and still 20 miles from Tequila. Once there, the now inebriated visitors are led to the Cuervo Distillery. For a sizable additional entry fee, they are allowed, if their vision still permits, to observe how Tequila is made and they are then siphoned (no pun intended) into the exorbitant gift shop where they can purchase, yes, even more tequila. Herded once more on to the train, they are tortured by blaring Mariachis and regurgitating drunks all the way back to Guadalajara. We, seasoned expats that we are, spared Alex this trauma and merely drove to Tequila, but that was bad enough. When we reached the Cuervo distillery we learned that entry would be about $20 USD per person, no tours were available for over an hour and they were all Spanish. We looked at each other. "Ah, forget it," said Alex. "I saw the tour on the History Channel last year."
On to Guachimontones ... This is an archeological site featuring round pyramids built by an obscure group somewhat related to the Aztecs at about the same time as the Mayans were doing their thing (peak around 400-800 AD). Michael and I had been there before and found it somewhat interesting. I mean they don't know much about them but, hey, round pyramids (?) that's kind of cool. However, they have improved the site. This is what that means in Mexican speak. They used to have a parking lot from which you walked about 50 feet over level ground to reach the site. They have now erected a new, beautifully paved parking lot, complete with attentive parking attendants. It is about a half mile from the site down a hill with a grade of about 25%. There is no water, no benches on which to rest during your torturous ascent nor defibrillators en route. The pyramids of the Nile, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Angor Wat...nothing is worth this trek. But we did it. Panting in the scant shade of a partially excavated round pyramid Alex opined, "Well, it's not Coba or Tulum." Sometimes it's difficult being a parent.
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| View from Guachimontones to the town and lake below |
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One of the round pyramids of Guachimontones
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A much more successful trip was made to Tapalpa. Like Mazamitla, Tapalapa is at about 8,000 feet and has a very alpine feel to it with many pine trees and cool mountain breezes. The architecture is very distinctive with all the houses and buildings being white adobe with red tile roofs. And the local food is delicious. So we ambled on up to Tapalpa one day, had a marvelous lunch and then set out to see the wildflowers. Like in the desert, once the rains stop all the wild flowers come out. October is the big month around here. And it is pretty spectacular. Whole fields covered in cosmos. Zinnias are wild flowers here. There are a zillion that I don't know the names of. Here, pictures truly are worth a thousand words so I'll stop.
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Looking up from the plaza in Tapalpa
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A building showing the architecture of Tapalpa
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Another Tapalpa building
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The wildflowers outside Tapalpa
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More wildflowers
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And even more wildflowers
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Wildflowers looking like an impressionist painting
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The abundance of wildflowers is almost overwhelming
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Even more wildflowers!
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Why are these people smiling? .... Because of the amazing display of wildflowers!
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Of course for some the wildflowers are just an eating treat.
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Just can't get enough of those ... wildflowers!
One last note:
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I had completely forgotten this from our trip to the colonial cities. While Michael, Stanley, Eduardo and I were sitting at the bar in Queretero watching the Democratic Convention, an old guy came up and asked Eduardo if he wanted to do something with this strange looking machine. He politely declined and resumed watching the TV. "What was that?" I asked him. "Oh, he just wanted to see if I wanted to be hooked up to it to see how much of an electrical shock I could take" he said calmly. "What? A guy strolls the Plaza seeing if you want to be electrocuted?" I asked. "Yeah, well it used to be a big deal but nobody does it much anymore. Guys would be drinking and they'd each do it to see who could take the biggest shock without like, you know, screaming or something. But, not a lot of guys do it anymore." See, we ARE evolving.
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| Michael & our gardener, Frederico, who took Alex & Michael on a three hour hike up the mountain above Ajijic. |
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| A view of Ajijic and Lake Chapala from the mountain. |
And so, that's it for now. We'll post again after our trip to Yelapa. In the interim, have fun and let us know what you are up to.
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