Hello Guadalajara!

Friday, Jan. 2, 2015--Guadalajara, Mexico

Christmas is over in San Antonio.  I took down my tree and decorations on Dec. 31.  On Jan. 1, I entertained Nurse Grethe visiting from Denmark for the past 2 1/2 weeks for the last time by taking her to a musical at the Cameo Theater in San Antonio.  We saw The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical, a rather irreverent musical comedy based around characters occupying a run-down mobile home park.

Grethe caught a flight at 6:00 a.m. today, and Wes and I took a flight at 11:50.  We arrived here in Guadalajara at 13:55.  San Antonio has been cloudy, occasionally rainy, and colder than normal (more like typical Danish weather) during the time Grethe was visiting.  Now we are in sunny and warm Guadalajara!

We were lucky at the airport.  We could not find any information about alternative ways to get from the airport to downtown.  Occasionally there was a reference to a bus, but there were no details about it other than it was often said that it ran only every hour.  As soon as we left customs, we found an airport information counter (for airport information, not city information).  But the young man there was very friendly.  He directed us to the bus and said it should be here within 15 minutes.  As soon as we got to the stop at the end of the terminal, the bus was there and took us on as passengers.  We were downtown and to our hotel having taken only maybe 15-20 minutes longer than a taxi would have taken.  Our bus cost a total of 10 pesos, but the taxi would have cost 340! 

Wes picked out the hotel--the Portonovo Plaza.  There was a nicer one for just a few dollars more, but he thought this one had a better location.  Also, he liked that this one has a buffet breakfast, whereas the other one had only a continental breakfast.

We are just south of the hold historical center of Guadalajara.  We walked to there and started exploring.  The streets were filled with Christmas shoppers, since gifts are not given here in Mexico until Jan. 6--Three Kings Day.  Along with the shoppers were lots of entertainers--acobats, a man dressed as a transformer, a man dressed as a silver (all over including his skin) cowboy, TWO Santas, etc.  Most popular (as judged by the lines) were an ice skating rink and an ice hill to sled down on using a tire innertube. 

We stopped at a small outdoor restaurant and had a late lunch/early dinner--pork ribs with green sauce, rice, beans, and tortillas.  The pork was tender, and the sauce left a tingle in our mouths. 

As it got dark, the Christmas lights came on in the many plazas in the center of town.  We walked through the plazas enjoying the atmosphere.  We stopped and sat on a bench in one beside the Cathedral.  Eventually, it became too cool, so we headed back to the hotel for the evening.  For some reason, we are both exhausted even though it is only 20:00!