This weekend was even crazier than the previous! Which is saying something. Man I love my family- when they get into activity mode they go hard. In one weekend (starting Thursday), they introduced me to so many new things, and I got to be a crazy tourist and take cool pictures (basically non stop). We didn't get to bed before midnight the entire time, the latest being 4 am. While I'm probably going to need the week to recover, It was absolutely worth it!
After arriving in Guadalajara on Thursday, it was basically a rotating door of family coming to visit. I don't remember anyone's names, just that as a whole, there is a
lot of family in Guadalajara. Apart from visiting a taco stand just down the street, not much else of note happened.
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| Despite the stand itself looking vaguely sketchy, they were actually pretty good! |
Saturday we didn't really start the day until 3 pm, when we went off to visit Sandy's mom. Which turned out to be in a graveyard. A lovely, flowered graveyard. But it was still a bit awkward for me as the whole family chanted (prayed) together for 15-20 minutes over her grave as I stood uncomfortably to the side. We then went to Andares (the gigantic mall for rich Guadalajar-ians) and hung out in Liverpool (quite similar to the Bay) looking at CDs, shoes, basically everything but clothes. Next stop: food. I was informed the restaurant we were going to belonged to the sister of Hector's mother and her son's family. We pulled up in front of what looked like yet another taco joint, but this one was instead boasting Japanese cuisine! Not gonna lie, I was a bit dubious of the quality of food being produced here. However, after ordering the Tepanyaki (following the advice of Sandy), I took one bite and fell in love. It was so DELICIOUS, and while the huge amounts of butter used may have negated the health benefits, I loved the fact there were vegetables in the dish (an unfortunate lacking quality in tacos). While my dish was cooking, the great-aunt noticed me staring (somewhat socially unacceptably) at the girl making sushi. So, she asked me if I'd like to try making it. What else could I do but get behind the counter and try it out? First you patted sticky rice into a rectangle, then put the filling in the middle. Then using a mat, you carefully folded the rice over the filling until it was completely surrounded- harder than it seems! After using the matt to make it a more aesthetically pleasing log, you then dipped it in flour, then egg, and finally panko. After the rolls were fried, I tried out cutting the logs into the little rolls. While my mum's sushi rolls were a bit dilapidated- cutting precise, intact rolls is more difficult than you'd think-the taste was still the same! Wendy, Sushi Master Level 1. For dessert, tried out the very traditionally japanese (or not) fried ice cream, which was equally delicious.
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| Finished sushi rolls and the sushi log before frying. |
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Mouthwatering :)
(PS I seem to be using yummy and delicious entirely too much as captions to all of the photos I take of food, time to go search thesaurus.com) |
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| I love how cheap food is here in Mexico! (Although it's not very conducive to keeping off the taco belly) |
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| Delectable |
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| Some expertly prepared sushi (Not by me, unfortunately) |
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| Deceptive, right? Appears to be your average taco hut from the outside. |
We returned to the house and relaxed for a few hours, digesting and watching TV, etcetera. Then, at about 11 I was told
Vaminos Wendy! Nos vamos en un rato! Which normally means 'get ready Wendy, we're leaving soon' (but this is Mexico, so it meant start thinking about getting ready). For what, you may ask? I wish I myself had known the answer to this question before starting out! For when I asked, the reply was to see the Virgin Mary of Zapopan. But that meant absolutely nothing to me. Being used to having not the foggiest idea of what was happening, (and deeming that with a flannel shirt, trusty Birkenstock sandals, and camera I was adequately prepared), we set off on an adventure. We walked for about 3 km before catching one very crammed bus to the centre of the city, which took about 25 minutes. All along the side of the road, street vendors were setting up their carts filled with various Mexican carnival food items and cheap souvenirs and figurines. I wondered why they were setting all this up along the highway, couldn't be a super high foot traffic area, could it? Well, I'd soon get an answer to that! After getting off the bus, we walked for a while through these huge crowds of people and around these various dancing groups holding up signs with the Virgin Mary on them. We made our way up to the cathedral, and were ushered inside. The pews on both sides were overflowing with people, and on the stage a man was singing beautifully towards a doll the size of two feet encased in glass, which my dad informed me was the Virgin Mary. We filed up to the front to pay our respects, and then out once more. We walked around the community for a little while so they could show me the primary concert hall and government buildings of Guadalajara. Here too, it was filled with street vendors, dancers and people having a generally festive time. Finally we started walking, heading for home. By this time it was about 2 am. By 2:30 I asked my mum if we were going to be catching the bus soon. She replied we had a little ways to go (meaning a long ways), and that it was a 13 km walk in total. WHAT? The fact that it was 2:30 in the morning, I was in sandals, and we had a 13 km walk ahead of us didn't put me in the brightest mood, I'll be honest. However, we got through it, and it was interesting looking at all of the things they were selling on the sides of the road. We got some roasted bananas with cream and watermelon at varying points on the walk to keep up our energy. (I also solved the mystery of the strangely inconvenient stall positions- we walked down the highway the entire way back to the house). Also, everywhere you looked there were the aforementioned dancers sleeping. My dad explained that they would be dancing the same route the next day in front of the Virgin Mary to show their faith. Every dance group had differently coloured costumes, and each was a family from various
pueblos around Guadalajara. Anyways, it was an experience to ay the least, and I can now say I made an early morning trek of 20 km in the name of the Virgin Mary. (This walk is to show your faith and gratitude for the Virgin).
I can't properly explain this festival so here ya go if you feel so inclined- copied straight from Wikipedia
The Romeria[edit]
It is considered the third most important pilgrimage center in the country, after the one of the
Virgin of Guadalupe, and the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos. The Romería of the Virgin of Zapopan consists of a route 8 km in length, from the metropolitan
Guadalajara Cathedral, to the Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan.
At dawn on October 12 of each year a procession of lay Catholics,
pre-Columbian dancers,
mendicants,
priestsand
seminarians carries a statue of the Virgin Mary from the cathedral to the basilica. The figure of the virgin goes accompanied by more than 1,000,000 people.
[4][5] This festival involves most of the population of both cities and finishes with a
mass in the plaza outside the basilica. The event ends with traditional dances and evening
fireworks.
[6]
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| The massive amounts of people making their way to the front to see the Virgin Mary |
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| There he is, serenading the rather diminutive Virgin Mary |
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| Government building and a huge crowd of people |
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| A few traditional dancers I snagged a picture with just before starting on the trek home |
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| We had some energy boosts along the way in the form of flamed bananas and Lechera (made in this frightening furnace machine), and watermelon chunks (pictured below) |
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| The church close to the house- I was so happy to see it because it meant we were almost back home (where I could put up my aching feet!) |
We slept quite late to make up for the early morning bedtime, and then late afternoon we went to go visit Papa Hector's family. In the night time, we went to the
feria, which is in Guadalajara the entire month for the
Fiestas de Octubre! (This is a month long series of cultural exhibitions in Guadalajara, consisting of events such as concerts, ballets, dances, and carnivals!) I was pretty stoked to be at a carnival, I'd forgotten how fun they can be! First off, we went to two exhibits. One was titled
Your Body and was a big exhibit of preserved/ half dissected bodies and various body parts showing the muscle structures and composition. It was really interesting, (perhaps a bit creepy seeing a once-living partially dissected body riding a bike), but awesome nonetheless! The second exhibit was called Cri-cri. It was like an ultraviolet, mini version of It's a Small World in Disney World. You walked along a path listening to Mexican nursery rhymes, and to each side of you were slowly moving representations of these rhymes. It was pretty hilarious, I especially enjoyed the section with the gigantic gourds. After these two exhibits we walked through the concession area (the fried and greasy food menu doesn't change, although they add taco stands and sketchy looking spicy pizza stalls into the mix here in Mexico). We then tried out a few rides. My favourite ride was one where the arm spun around, while your seat flipped around vertically as well (I don't really know how to describe it better, just look at the picture and imagine). It was very tall ride, and so as you spun through the air feeling like any minute you were about to go flying off to a faraway pace, you got a really great upside down view of the city's skyline. I went on with my brave brother Hiram, and the entire time he was yelling while I was laughing manically (25% from fear, 75% because it was so awesome). After that me and my three siblings went on
Toros, essentially giant padded logs on a padded platform that moves and shakes while the log tilts. As a result, everyone was sliding off both sides the entire time, almost immediately after scrambling back on from the previous time- hilarious to watch! Everyone, that is, with the exception of the abnormally tall Canadian (or tall here, at least) who could touch the ground and therefore keep her balance. (Either that or my province's rodeo culture taught me more than I thought.) After walking around the grounds a bit more and encountering some extremely convincing knockoff clothes ( I bought a pair of $15 "Toms", Yay!), we headed home again. It was an awesome night, I had a blast with my family and I was pretty stoked that I got to experience both a religious festival and a carnival, all within 24 hours!
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| Posing with my cool glow in the dark flannel in front of giant boots |
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| Wendy the floating torso and the gigantic gourds |
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| Typical Mexican carny fare: salchichas (hot dogs) in various forms, fritas (chips), and refresco (pop) |
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| My mum and her chips, coated in various salsas and lime juice |
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More carny fare. Fruit/ veggies covered in spicy sugar, hot dogs and cucumber, and then little fried fish with lime (three from the left)
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| The best ride ever! |
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| The advanced version of your average bucking bronco at the bars |
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| Average Mexican carnival refreshment |
The next day we returned to the cathedral a few blocks from the house, where hundreds of feather-adorned dancers were showing off their artistic abilities. As you can see in the picture below, it was El Dia de Danzante, where all of the dancers gather in one area and demonstrate their skills to the beat of drums. It was a very loud, bright and festive atmosphere! I shamelessly interrupted some dancers with cool headdresses and asked for pictures with them, but there were so many! (They kind of put the Canadian indigenous headdresses to shame.) Everywhere you looked there were unique giant feather creations waving in the air. I've never seen anything like it before! I picked up some fantastic (and sizeable) souvenir shot glasses on the way out, to remember this wonderful weekend!
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| Some interesting candy (it tasted like cardboard to me, but at least the disks were pretty colours) |
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| I guess they start at a young age! |
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| The Bumblebee dancer |
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| This guy gave me a sassy, hip-shaking dance when he noticed me taking creeper shots of him. Also note the awesome crocodile head. |
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| So cool! And useful :) |
PS Happy belated Thanksgiving! I hope all you Canadians enjoyed your pumpkin pie and Turkey. I greatly miss fall flavoured baking, such as anything pumpkin. I'm buying a pumpkin in Walmart and am going to try making pumpkin pie from scratch, we'll have to see how that goes!
Thanks for reading,
Wendy
