Day 4: Tlaquepaque
David is a lawyer, which means that unlike most other Mexicans he doesn't have to work in the weekends. So the three of us went out for a little sightseeing. David is born and raised in Guadalajara, so he was able to show me a bit more than the usual touristic sights in the centre (which were exactly the things I had seen when I was here three and a half years ago).
We went to the suburb Tlaquepaque (or, as the Americans pronounce it Talkie Talkie). Guadalajara consists of five separate cities which have grown together (a bit like Paris) and each of these still has its own centre and its own identity.
Tlaquepaque has a very arty centre with lots of nice little stores with handmade souvenirs and gadgets - great nonsense to spend a lot of money on.
However, as much as walking around and looking at shops is, sitting on a nice terrace drinking beers is an even nicer pastime!
A couple of beers later we went back to the centre of Guadalajara where we had dinner in what is supposedly the oldest cantina (pub) of Guadalajara.
But these days things have changed a little and Miryam was allowed to go inside as well.
We had an improvised dinner here, sampling the house speciality: Tortas. This is a typical Guadalajara dish. Torta literally means pie, but rather than a pie, this was a piece of French bread filled with meat, onions and other stuff. And the house variety added a nice spicy red sauce.
We had a little stroll over the square in front of the cathedral, the famous 'square where everything happens' of my previous journey. Because of the approaching Christmas the whole square was decorated with lights, Christmas tree, some little food stalls and a bunch of Santa Clauses with whom you could have your picture taken.
I find the centre of Guadalajara so much nicer than that of Mexico City. It seems so much more friendly and the surrounding buildings and cathedral are much nicer and more colourful than the Zócalo in Mexico City.
At night we went to a bar/nightclub where they had live music and a happy hour offering two for the price of one. That is fun when you are out with three people, and unsuspectingly you order a two-litre pitcher and they give you two!
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