The good doctora and I are celebrating our 10th Anniversary… the Opening Ceremony of which took place last night in Tlaquepaque and was nigh on perfect. As we ordered our tequila and dinner the heavens opened; the cloudburst stopped just as the sun was setting and with the view down towards the city being pretty much due west, it made for a gorgeous sight. Back home v. soon. It’s been magical as always.
Search Results for: Tlaquepaque
Marimba en Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico
The Marimba is the huge xylophone type instrument that is often shared between several players at the same time. Usually one of the musicians has the scrapey wooden thing (Comment if you know the name, maraca?) and wanders round collecting tips. Then they carry the whole shebang somewhere else and start playing plinky plunky versions of classics like Cielito Lindo and La Bamba. *edit* Nope, they’re not maracas. Google turned up this page on how to make your own marimba though, happy hammering!
Tapatían Fototour #3- Tlaquepaque
So now that’s 3 successful Fototours. We started off at 10:30am in Tlaquepaque’s town centre and ambled over to the Centro el Refugio. There;s a torture exhibition on at the minute and we all went in but cameras weren’t allowed. An inauspicious start, but the building has plenty to offer photographically. The torture implements were suitably grim and well presented. What stood out most was man’s inhumanity to woman, that the Spanish inquisition employed much worse things that the comfy chair, and that out of a lot of nasty ways to go, being strapped upside down, legs apart and slowly sawn in half has to be about the worst. It takes a while to die from it because the blood runs to your head or something. Anyway given that I hadn’t had breakfast yet it fair took my appetite away for an hour or two.
Next up was the Pila Seca administration building where we took the first group photo and admired the bright orange arches while the temperatures slowly rose and shade became non-existant. Wandered around the boutiquey overpriced craft shops and into the ceramic museum where they had some nice miniature scenes of mexican life. Then on to sample fresh tejuino and ceviche tostadas from El Cables, street seafood purveyor bloke, and finally a few cold beers in the Parian. Lovely. The next tour will be governed by whether it’s bucketing down with rain or not. The rainy season is estimated to be 2 wks away and I, for one, will greet it with open arms…
Here’s my favourites from yesterday. All the photos of Tlaquepaque and Gwod from yesterday are at Flickr… or click the “more” link below for a Flash slideshow.
Tlaquepaque… Ajijic… Tonala… Tequila… Guadalajara
The John and Jennifer Mexican Tour 2007 continues in fine style taking in local sights, learning exotic vocabulary (“pinche”, “tahona”, “abarrotes”) and honing the use of the pinche subjunctive… I wish pinche telmex would hurry up and double our bandwidth as promised a month ago so I can upload the dozens of pictures without slowing down the interweb to a crawl though…
So in summary (cos it’s getting late, I’m knackered and tomorrow morning there’s a potential breakfast meet up with Ian and family, and the following dates / days might not be quite right…), Sunday was Tlaquepaque for better than average crafts with prices to match followed by a meatfest BBQ on the “lawn”. Monday was rejigging flights and a quick look at Chapultepec’s cows.
Tuesday was Ajijic for crafts and lakeside wandering and breakfast, followed by furniture hunting in Tonalá (a failure, forgot there’s no market on Tuesdays there…) but fun all the same. Evening meal in MaComeNo, highly recommended italian place in Avenida Americas.
And today: mum, dad and me went to Tequila and were v. happy to discover that El Columpio was open for visitors, that’s the olde worlde distillery where they make tequila using centuries-old techniques (so old that they don’t / can’t be bothered to qualify for their product to be labelled Tequila…). A v. friendly bunch there and Cofradia also gave a fine tour through their new museum and cellars. We added another 4 litres to our well stocked bar today…
And while these photos were uploading I read a fine article written by one of my heroes, Simon Pegg, about US/UK humour found via the always interesting Separated by a common language maintained by an American linguist living in England:
Photos will accumulate in my Flickr set here…
Todo con medida…
Nada con exceso…
All adverts for alcoholic drinks in Mexico have to have a government safety warning on them somewhere. Corona has gone with ‘Todo con medida’ literally ‘All with measure’. There doesn’t appear to be any law on the relative size of the warning to the rest of the ad though.
This was taken after a rainy morning stroll through Tlaquepaque a lovely neck of the woods. Still loving it here.
Brunswick pt I
When you’re writing a blog and you’ve lost momentum, added to the general inertia is the realisation that whatever you’re about to write is probably going to be sitting on the front page for yonks. I’ll try and update regularly enough to knock this off onto page two soon, but I’m not feeling massively inspired right now, so here goes nothing.
I’ve been reprimanded by my own mother (Hi Mum!) for not keeping her up-to-date with the goings on round our way at this blog. “It all seems to be just photos and I’ve seen them before”. So here’s an attempt to assuage my critics.
Brunswick’s a small town. Now the students are back its population has swelled a bit, but basically it’s a high street with a park area, a few restaurants, music shops and a dvd rental place. All surrounded by a few streets of housing, a river, forest and then the sea. One of the most popular places was an ice-cream shop that had a queue from opening to closing time but despite the evident sky-high demand for frozen dairy products it’s closed down ’til next spring. Without wanting to be slanderous, I’m guessing it’s some kind of tax evasion/ money laundering operation. It’d be perfect, Who’d suspect an all-cash ‘mom and pop’ lolly emporium? I would. On our tour of Portland, ME, t’other day the guide mentioned that somewhere nearby there’s lobster-flavoured ice cream to be had. Everyone except Sally made a that-sounds-less-than-delicious face. It probably tastes better than tutti-frutti mind.
If you like seafood, it abounds. If you don’t like seafood, it still abounds. It’s pricier than we were led to believe but that might just be because the entire Maine economy is based on tourism (and blueberries. And toothpicks.) and it’s still high season. I’m no expert, but I have it on good authority that it’s quality stuff and can assure you that it’s a fine source for all your omega oil needs. And sodium. And vinegar. We’ve been working our way round the restaurants. My favourite as of yet is El Camino (their website– warning: MySpace). It does a fine line in (almost) Mexican food and the decor looks like something out of From Dusk till Dawn. Though the food is not the most ‘authentic‘, the music in the background was straight out of a proper cantina’s jukebox and I reckon I recognized a fair few of the decorations as coming directly from Tlaquepaque/Tonala.
We were a bit worried when we arrived that the town centre was all that was on offer in terms of entertainment and supplies. It’s lovely and all that but sometimes you just want to see a film that features Seth Rogan, aliens or 3D glasses, or you need to buy furniture that isn’t lovingly hand-crafted by Maine’s finest carpenters. Soon after exploring we found all manner of malls, superstores and a cinema a few minutes drive outside of the ‘city limits’. Squint a bit and you could be in Downey, CA if it weren’t for all the trees and the general absence of police helicopters circling. There’s a Borders book shop that stocks Word magazine too, which makes me happy. Trader Joes is sadly absent from Maine but there’s one 10 minutes from Boston airport and it’s looking like we’ll be there on a regular basis. I mustn’t go on because according to some forum or other that DrSita read before we got here, one sure way to piss off Mainers is to complain about the chain stores they don’t have.
IKEA’s another one.
Talking of IKEA, my office is full of built-in shelves. I have enough stuff to fill about 2 of them. DrSita has several hundred books so she chose the office upstairs. With no shelves. That’s what I get for not charging enough for my heavy-lifting/removal services.
How’s Atticus you ask? Well he’s settled in nicely. We don’t have much of garden and it’s not fenced but he appreciates the carpeting indoors. It provides the necessary traction for tight turns, rapid acceleration and provides pleasing acoustics for his frequent barking fits. He’s also happy to have a fair few areas where he can run unfettered in the countryside and keep the squirrels on their toes. If squirrels have toes. Claws? Talons? Anyroad, he’s content striking poses for the camera all around the coastline and defending his reduced empire from the likes of pizza delivery boys, Bowdoin college maintenance crews and his old nemesis, the postman.
That’ll do me for now. Personally I never read posts as long as this, unless they’re written by Stu who never fails to delight and entertain. Right now it’s all text. I’ll spend the next 10 minutes punctuating it with pretty pictures. Maybe I can fit some bullet points in. I’ll try and write again soon, I’ve been pretty busy of late a-localisin’ and a-webdesignin’ and it shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. Which is a good thing.
Thanks for reading this far. And Mum, I expect a comment now. In Spanish please. Using the subjunctive. Twice. Only if you have time between walking Ramble/Jed and Welsh Society bureaucracy though 😉
Guanatos: Día 3
[flickr]photo:2534426906[/flickr] [flickr]photo:2534434322[/flickr]
Breakfast in El Colibrí, once again molletes… They’re bread rolls cut in half with cheese and frijoles on ’em with the option of salsa mexicana and chorizo. José went for some kind of egg based thing as you can see. Then he went to work and I went to complete the orders received for artesania from Tlaquepaque.
You’ve two options if you’re after Mexican arts and crafts, one is go to Tonalá right on the outskirts of town where everything’s made and there’s lots of cheap shops selling less than perfect stuff, or Tlaquepaque which had its centre recently renovated and is awash with pricey boutiques. I went to t-paque because there’s a bit more to photograph, involves less walking, is slightly closer to the centre and also has a tequila shop where I knew I could get Sita’s 7 Leguas Blanco. I got some jewellery, and something that conformed to Monica’s request for “something metal you can put on the wall”.
I stopped by at la Mata Tinta, a cybercafe/restaurant run by a Scottish bloke (and his wife) who I met last year. He seemed to be thriving, getting the place ready for the forthcoming rainy season. I also took a taxi to the DIF (social security place) to catch up with a mate of mine from my photojournalism course. Nice to see him too and discover a different part of T-Paque, I couldn’t wander much because now it was getting to be the hottest part of the day and I was carrying me camera and lenses and awkwardly shaped wall hangings.
The taxi from Tonala to the centre took forever due to the construction of the Macrobus (or was it macrocamion) that’s causing delays all along the Calzada de Independencia built ready for the Panamerican Games in a few years time. Luckily the taxista had given me a price rather than have the metre running. I still got out of the taxi half a mile before my destination partly because of the heat, partly the traffic, but mainly because he’d started telling me jokes to pass the time… (¿Cuántos chinos hay en China? Ninguno, ¡puros lacios! Don’t even ask for a translation…)
So I checked to see if Anel and Claus were about at Amour Fou, sure enough they were. AF has now closed business but it’s still as hospitable as ever. We went for a swift pint in La Cava and then the plan was to head out to the middle of nowhere to see Aldo’s band plays some covers at the offices of Hewlett Packard, instead everyone’s plans changed and we met up with Jose, Javier, Hugo and co at Los Famosos Equipales and after that to a nearby fiesta on a roof.
And thus was last Friday. Good times. I’m having issues with uploading to Flickr with tags and suchlike, but here’s some of the set of Dia 3.
Sita’s birthday dinner last night was great btw. Shall put a few photos up soon. Thanks for the wellwishing
What’s that secret you’re keeping?
Colourful paint comes as standard in Tlaquepaque, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Pinturas Daltonicas Inc.
Chacala, Nayarit, Mexico
My new favourite beach town for those on a budget…
Chacala, is about 10 minutes beachwards from Las Varas and 3 hrs from Guadalajara and is absolutely gorgeous. We rented a house for the 7 of us with a pool and everything. Brought the BBQ and had 48 hours of no internet (though it was available), sun, sand, seafood and Pueblo Viejo. We arrived late afternoon on Friday, stayed in the pool all evening, cooking up a storm of hamburguesas and suchlike. Then Saturday, arranged to have people come and cook camarones al mojo de ajo and a la diabla around the house in the evening and explored the town on foot and by boat. Monica clandestinely baked sita a delicious chocolate cake and all.
On Sunday we came home and went to the Lucha Libre in the evening followed by the Famosos Equipales cantina and yesterday (Sita’s birthday) went out for breakfast, then Tlaquepaque then (and I’m going to spell their name wrong in protest of them not allowing cameras) a FANTASTIC Mexican/Thai fusion meal at Annnitttta liiii followed by imported Californian wines chez nous. Plenty of Chacala photos on Flickr, and as per usual my favourites below:
Two arrs uh noight, do er homework, then bout two arrs a noight…
The Zummerzet County Gazette, Taunton’s local rag is shoving the occasional video up on its website. Deathly dull each one, but 10 out of 10 for effort. So the this year’s Pullitzer for investigative journalism seems assured for “Are children watching too much TV?”…
In other news, Flickr PhotoTour #3 is in the planning stages. I’m not organising this one, I put up a poll to help Laura who’s in charge. Tlaquepaque’s looking like the favourite right now. It’s a shame, but the more imaginative suggestions were vetoed because they’ll look better after the rainy season (probably October at this rate…). Still Tlaquepaque’s got lots to offer photographically so it’s all good.
I’ve not posted since Saturday so here’s a summary: Saturday morning I walked to the Tianguis Cultural trying to find T-shirt printing shops on the way to no avail, took a few photos along the way:
Then in the afternoon went to see Spiderman III with Sita which is an overlong mess of a film, see the review here. After that, barbecued arrachera and Jose came round, then later Fernando, Ana and their dog, Tuna, whom Atticus tried to have his wicked way with. Makes a change from Jose’s leg…
Sunday, tranquilo, shopping, interwebbery, and checking out a new dvd rental place, Sala B, nearby which has a fine selection of films and no website. Yet… Grabbed An Inconvenient Truth (also reviewed) and Sita went for the truly, truly DIRE Sex and the City Season 4. One of these days I’ll publish a rant against that particular crime against good telly.
Monday, shopping for books, groceries, this that and t’other then making pizza from scratch and heading out to the airport for M and Sunny D’s triumphant return.
Today is still unfolding… websites, translations… stuff…
Out of interest does anyone reading have a Canon Rebel XTi, and if so, what’s the standard 18-55 lense like? I’m researching my next digital SLR camera purchase…
Adios mamá y papá
Well, if you can fit more into 3 weeks that we did with my folks, then you have my admiration. From Ajijic to Zacatecas we did pretty well what with sight-seeing, gastronomy, celebrations, social events and even cultural “stuff”.
Yesterday we planned to go to Magdalena to see the opal mines, but the Guachimontones in Teuchitlán proved to be a full day out in themselves. They date from around 1,500 BC and since no writings have been discovered are a fairly mysterious bunch of ruins. For the equinox (incidently, clocks go forward tonight I think, well they do in the States anyroad, and Mexico tends to be in sync just to harmonise business hours…*EDIT* nope, 1st of April…) there’s going to be all kinds of celebrations over that way. Get there by heading out of Gwod towards Tequila on the carretera libre and taking the Ameca turn off, then about 2km after Tala turn off right at the Pemex, and follow the signs to Teuchitlán and beyond up into the hills. We’ll definitely be back if only to try taste the wares at the pulqueria on the way to the site…
So, here’s a very public MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS to Mum and Dad from Sita and me for what I hope were mutually beneficial holidays giving us the chance to see no end of places we certainly wouldn’t have had the funds to visit and all in the finest of company. Have a lovely time with Sally, Martin, Atticus and the buns and we’ll skype yas soon 😀
In addition to the hour+ of slideshows set to music DVD (available from all good record shops) everything’s backed up over at Flickr… Tulum and thereabouts here and then Weeks 2 and 3 (Ajijic, Tlaquepaque, Tonalá, Zacatecas, La Quemada, Tequila, y mucho más…) here.
The thing about blogging…
…is that when there’s not much going on then there’s plenty of time to post about what you’ve had for breakfast and the last movie you’ve watched, but when your life is full of excitement, travel, friends, family and fun then it’s hard to squeeze in the time to express what a marvellous time you’re having. This is one of the latter occasions.
Tulum and round that way was simply amazing. The cabaas we rented could not have been better located, the weather was perfect (ie. not too hot, breezy, low humidity and sunny) and all them photos you see of Tulum and around, well they’re definitely not photoshopped and have to be seen to be believed. Absolutely gorgeous. Needless to say I took 500+ photos and am whittling them down a bit before sending them all to Flickr and producing the all singing, all dancing DVD spectacular.
Mum and Dad have changed their return date so they’re here for another 2 wks which means we’ll be off on day trips and adventures near and far. Yesterday was Tlaquepaque, today Zapopan and Seattle, tomorrow the centre, Wednesday, Tequila… all is going v.v. well.
In slower times I might have posted about the oscars last night. The biggest argument for not dubbing events in Spanish you’ll ever see. But no time at all.
We had a bit of bad news about Atticus and Sita’s folks. They were attacked in the street by a pitbull on Friday night. They’re getting over the shock now and Atticus needed stitches and has to wear a cone but otherwise is doing okay. Martin saved the day by all accounts and Sally (and Atticus) handled themselves very well. It sounds like everything will be fine, but that was quite a shock. Speedy recovery to all concerned and thanks for handling it so well M & S.
On my ownsome
Have you seen the photos from yesterday yet? There’s a nice one of the girls… They all hightailed it over to Puerto Vallarta this morning, if the bus left at 9ish, they’ll probably be there by now. Unfortunately they left the camera, but luckily we’ve got Sally’s photographic memory and fine line in well-observed anecdotes…
I’ve had a great weekend, all in all. Tlaquepaque’s changed a lot since I was last there. For the better… We even managed to pick up the premium tequila that Sita promised to the winner of her feedback questionnaire which saves me a trip to Tequila. The car’s getting sorted out at the mechanic’s today so hopefully we’ll be mobile again soon. Me and this other bloke had to jump start it and it wasn’t having any of it. We had to push it about 500 metres on the flat before we gave up and they went for the tow-truck. I’ve already racked up 10,000 steps on the pedometer and it’s barely lunchtime…
Hopefully tomorrow’s Lucha Libre time again. Sarah & Mark, give us a ring as I’m not sure I’ve got your numbers.
And today’s link:
I Hate Cilantro – an anti cilantro community
In ’98 I couldn’t stand the stuff. And I wasn’t sure about guacamole neither. How things change… (Coriander in the queen’s english, btw)
Happy Easter
Quick post before heading off for the historic centre and Tlaquepaque. Last night we had a fantastic meal in Santo Coyote, perfect place for visitors to this fair city. Here’s a quick impromptu slideshow from there. 5 Stars. It’s going to be a permenant fixture on the restaurant list for our guests from now on. I’m uploading the pictures as I write, so check back in 5 minutes (it’s 11:15 now) and it should be there…