Hiking in Ajijic

Yesterday (January 28), we joined the Ajijic Hiking Group for a 2 hour hike.  This is an amazing group of people, dedicated to hiking and to others going along for the ride (so to speak).  Every week they hike on Tuesdays and Saturdays, beginning at 8:45 at a location not too far from our abode.  They set up multiple hikes each hiking day:  3 short hikes (usually about 2 to 2.5 hours), a couple of intermediate hikes (3 to 4 hours), and a couple of longer hikes (more than 5 hours).   Yes, lots of hikers!

We chose the shortest and easiest hike, but easy isn’t really an appropriate term.  The path was narrow and rocky and the climb was about 500 feet, not too bad, except that we are already at 5000 feet above sea level.  I was puffing, but the view was spectacular, especially from the top.  Our group had a leader and six people (including us): one from Cleveland, his granddaughter, a woman from DC, and two people from Canada (lots of Canadians in the overall group).

We talked about many things, including good restaurants, where people were living, how so many Americans came after the dot.com crash, how the Canadians started coming after that, and then when Trump was elected, there was another influx of Americans. . . .

Unfortunately, on the way down, I bent over to grab a tree branch to step down a particularly steep “step,” and I twisted my back.  I didn’t slip or do anything unusual, from what I could tell, but oh la la — what a backache.  For awhile I thought it might be a trip-ending injury.  I am doing a bit better today (meaning I can sort of walk around our house).  We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.  Damn.

But here are a few pictures from the hike, previous to the back issue.

Some of the large group when instructions were being given and people were deciding which hike to go on

Harold, getting ready to hike

Our group — the “chapel hike”

The way up

The chapel at the top

We made it!

We met this guy on the way down.  He was knocking some red bean-like things off a tree.  You open the pod and there are oval-shaped “peas” in the middle.  He gave us each one of them.  They were good, sort of like edamame.

All was good until my back twisted :-(.  Grrr.  Hiss.  We probably won’t be able to hike with them again. 

Orozco mural in Government Palace in Guadalajara

We had traced some of art and murals of both Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco on a previous trip to Mexico City (and even before then), so we were excited to see the Orozco murals done in Guadalajara.  When he painted these murals, he was quite elderly and could barely see, so it was hard to imagine how the painted them when his face had to be so close to the wall.  The paintings are immense and scale up both sides of a large stairwell with a curved ceiling.  It’s hard to imagine. . . .

The dominant image of this huge mural — entitled “The People and It’s Leader” — in the Government Palace is the white-haired Miguel Hidalgo brandishing a flaming torch which seems to move as you move from one side of the painting to the other.  His eyes also follow you.  Well, some people claimed his eyes followed the.  I couldn’t really see it myself. . . .  Hidalgo was the individual who ignited the independence movement in Mexico, so the symbolism of his brandishing the torch is not lost on viewers.  His intent seemed to be two-fold: to liberate the down-trodden from the forces of religion and politics.

The work is divided into five parts, moving from left to right as one views the mural from the top of the stairs: the dark forces, fratricidal struggles, Hidalgo, the victims, and the contemporary circus. 

This picture gives you a sense of the ceiling work as you descend the staircase. 

The view to the right — contemporary circus

This is the scene beneath Hidalgo — the victims

A second Orozco mural can be seen in the government palace.  It is again a scene with Hildago, but this time he has a pen in his hand and is signing the document giving independence to Mexico, but he is writing in red blood, signifying all who died during the struggle for independence. 

Orozco is made somewhat immortal because his statue appears in the Plaza de la Rotunda which includes statues of many of the heroes of Mexico and Jalisco, including people who distinguished themselves in arts, science, education, human rights, law, and politics.  Orozco’s statue is one of 24 statues.

Tlaquepaque — January 24

After our tour of the historic center of Guadalajara, we went to the artisan village of Tlaquepaque, a suburb of Guadalajara.  This community had three things that made it a delight:  wonderful restaurants, several with mariachi music; street musicians; and sidewalk shops and stores carrying the work of artisans from all over the country.  It is apparently the largest grouping of Mexican artisans in the country.

First things first — we headed to a restaurant.  The choice we made was Casa Luna.  It was a good food choice, but the atmosphere was as good as the food.  We were in an outdoor, open-ceilinged patio, and within the area, there were three huge “trees” made from pieces of wood.  Each tree was decorated differently, one with castanets, one with butterflies, and one with hearts (probably seasonal).

The food was good too.  We had a heart of romaine salad stuffed with avocado.  Delicious.  We both had the chicken poblano mole for our entree.  I’m not a big fan of mole in the US, and I guess I won’t order it again here, but it was tasty.

Yes, there’s a large chicken breast buried in that sauce.

The drinks were also special.  Someone at another table bought a drink that came in a glass bulb which was steaming like it was dry ice.  Then when the server took off the bulb, the steaming whatever it was was very fragrant and the smell wafted through the entire restaurant — smelled like marijuana.  There also was a group of volunteer workers at the next table, and the servers went from one person to the next with a long silver leaf which they pointed into the person’s mouth.  Then another server poured a bottled drink — probably tequila — into the leaf and it trickled into their mouths.  Great fun to watch them all.

After eating, we wandered and listened to some musicians.  The highlight was the famous Mariachi Women who became stars when they competed on the Mexican Has Talent show (like the ones we have in the US).  A female musician was upset because none of the mariachi bands, all male, would allow her in the band, so she started her own.  Now they are famous.  They played one song in the street before they headed into a restaurant where they are regulars.

Warming up

There were four dancers too

The entire area was filled with artisans and artisan shops and also lots of unique sculpture art along the way.  We saw the perfect mask that we should have bought but didn’t.  Now we may have to go back to buy it because according to Rosie, our guide, there isn’t another place like this in Jalisco.

All in all, it was a great day.

Guadalajara historical center tour — Jan 24

We took our first excursion today through at group called Charter Club, which turns out to be run by a group of ex-pat Canadians.  We were a group of ten, and all of the others were Canadian.  We were all sympatico on this one-day trip to Guadalajara and Tlaquepaque.

The day had some stress since we’ve been having trouble with our door locks (the second day we actually had to call the person in charge to come and open the door).  Well, that potential crisis passed.  Then I couldn’t figure out the taxi transportation quickly enough, so we had to walk the 1.4 miles to Black Coffee, our meeting point across from WalMart.  We trekked along rather quickly, and arrived within 30 minutes.  We met several ex-pat walkers along the way, and the walk turned out to be quite pleasant.

So we boarded our bus and off we went.  Rosie, our guide and our driver, was a wealth of information.  The major portion of our tour was spent in downtown Guadalajara, and this posting will focus on our tour there.  Another posting will focus on the mural art of Orozco and a third on our lunch and shopping in the artisan town of Tlaquepaque.

First, the tour of the historic Center of Guadalajara.  Our tour focused on our trek around the area that was designed in the shape of the cross.  You can’t tell that when you’re walking it, of course, but from above you can see the cross shape.  In the center of the cross is the Guadalajara Cathedral, and the three top shorter sides all have park areas with fountains, statues, and various governmental buildings.  The longer bottom section of the cross includes more parks and the foot of the cross is the old and majestic opera building. The back side of the opera building is a commemorative sculpture of the founding of Guadalajara in  1542.

First, the Guadalajara Cathedral, also called the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady, is located in the center.  It has gone through many incarnations.  The first part of the present-day church was built in 1542.  Its many incarnations have been and still are being damaged by earthquakes, and currently, there is a slight tilt to the north tower and damage to the dome.  That said, it is a beautiful cathedral with gold leaf, silver, columns, stained glass windows, a German pipe organ — it’s all there.  Here are some pictures to give you a sense of the place.

Then, as mentioned before, the heart of the cross — the cathedral — is surrounded by several squares, each one specific in intent (like honouring heroes, etc.). Here are some pictures of those areas.

  Miguel Hildago is breaking chains from the Church and the elite.

As we approached the left part of the cross, we see the cupola in this area.

In the early times the women would go out every morning to cover the breasts of these female muses, all done in bronze.  Every evening workers would take off the “clothes.”  They painted the statues green, and thus they weren’t so lewd, and the covering stopped.  ?? 

We observed horse-led carriages - but this is the "horse-less" that we saw.

The opera house was beautiful.

The workman was cleaning up the statuary behind the opera house which signifies the birth of the nation in 1542.

Rose, our guide, talked about three things that are unfortunate in this large public area.  First, the area will never become a UNESCO Heritage Site because they have either torn down buildings and rebuilt them (in the style of ancient times, but not as replicas) or else they have covered the facades to make them look more modern.  She was very disappointed that the city was not paying more attention to the older buildings.  We are too.

Secondly, the effects of earthquakes can see seen.  During one of the earthquakes, a steeple on the cathedral fell, and they have had to be replaced.  The effects of earthquakes were visible when pointed out to us.

Thirdly, they have built an underground subway system under this entire area, and the area beneath the buildings is sinking :-(.  Thus, the buildings are sinking and tilting in some cases.  You could see several areas where they were trying to shore up the constructions.  Scary.

Here, the arches are being supported.

Note the wooden supports on the columns supporting the arches and the steeple.

The entire “historical” section of the city was beautiful, and it was delightful to see all the groups of school kids (all very well behaved), the workers, the tourists, and other visitors enjoying the areas.

  

Our first day of exploration — Jan 22

After the unpacking and drinking of the requisite coffee, we needed to get some food, and we wanted to do some exploration of the town, so off we went.  First, to pick up a bit of food at one of the large convenience stores and second to pick up some wine for Harold and some vodka for my martinis.  Done!

Then we started walking — delicately.  The “sidewalks” are rocky and are very hard to walk on, and at least for me, very hard on my feet (or at least one of them).  But we made it to the Malecon, the beautiful 1/2 mile walkway along the lake and we walked a small portion of it before we headed off to find the town Center.  Unfortunately, we headed in the wrong direction, and after a lot of walking on rough and rocky streets and seeing quaint little streets and some little shops, we decided to head back to our place.  At that point, I wasn’t so sure about Ajijic.  I was tired and hot and hadn’t seen what I expected the place to be like.

The “sidewalks” where we live

We rested a bit and after taking another look at the map of Ajijic, I realised we had turned in the wrong direction off the Malecon.  So after a cocktail on our beautiful patio, we struck out again for the REAL Town Center.  Quaint and quite wonderful it was.  Our destination was a Cocktail Bar that had trivia on Wednesday nights.  We were a bit late but a couple of tables allowed up to join them (separately), and our teams did well.  It was fun.  We have also learned some things about Ajijic in the past two days.

(1) First about the ex-pats at the cocktail bar.  Two leaders, one male and one female, and they did an excellent job.  I think they even made up the questions themselves, so they were in tune with what we all might know.  There were about 8 tables of 6 each, all expats and all around our age or younger.  There were three women at my table, for example, and they were all younger, probably by ten years The most surprising thing is that they had been there for 17 years, 10 years, and 8 years.  I was shocked.  They indicated that most of the expats who come to Ajijic stay, unlike the expats in Ecuador who seem to move around from location to location and country to country.

(2) Jorge, our driver from the airport, also passed on some info about the area from his experience having lived here for almost all of his life.  First, the palm trees.  You see a few, but not very many.  Recently, the palm tree weevil has infested the trees, and they are dying. Unfortunate.

A picture of the weevil from the internet.  People report seeing them on the sidewalks and even in houses., Happily, we haven’t seen any in ours!

(3) He also talked about the change from rural to city.  In the past, the lake was surrounded by mango groves which have all (?) been cut to make way for new housing.  While he appreciated the fact that the population increase has created new jobs for people, he also missed the beauty of the mango groves.  He also indicated that the people who sold them got an influx of money, but that at this point, they had minimal means to make a living.  They grew up as farmers and there wasn’t need for their kind of expertise any more.

(4)  Lastly, he talked about the lake.  I had asked if it was polluted and he said that it had changed immensely.  When he was young, you could swim in it and see the bottom because the water was so clear.  There also were tons of fish swimming right alongside you (or perhaps under you).  Now, the lake is very dirty, and it doesn’t get the same kind of use that it did in the past.  Also the kinds of fish have changed.  Now there are cat fish, tilapia, carp and a couple of other kinds.  He wasn’t sure of the names of the fish in English, but he didn indicate that some of the locals still fished and ate the fish, but that mostly people were eating fish from the sea.  In the past, the lake was full of white fish, but the tilapia changed that, and now there are no white fish.  The lake has gained some renown as a good bass fishing location, however.

So we are learning.

Arrival in Ajijic, unpacking, and our digs for the month

We had a long airport day!   We had airline snafus for both of the legs of our flight, which happily synchronized in timing somewhat so we were able to make both of our flights and get into the Guadalajara airport the night we were supposed to arrive, as opposed to going home to Pittsburgh to spend a night or to spend the night in Houston.  It was a couple hours later, but we still made it!

We arrived at the Guadalajara airport around 10:00, immigration was smooth, our luggage arrived (hooray), and our driver was there to pick us up.  He spelled our name incorrectly on the sign, but it was close enough!  We got to our apartment about 11:30 and Jorge showed us around and gave us some hints about the place.

We got a sense that the place was a bit more than we expected, and then we crashed.

The next morning — Jan 22 — I woke up looking at the most beautiful bedroom ceiling I think I’ve ever seen in a house — a huge curved brick arched ceiling with a wonderful cupola at the top with an orate chandelier hanging from the middle of the cupola.  I thought I might just spend the entire month in bed starring at the gorgeous ceiling.  But hey — we had things to do!

We got up and unpacked, trying to figure out the most logical arrangement for everything, and it was during this process that we became more aware of how absolutely architecturally gorgeous the place is. The ceilings are amazing, not only the bedroom, but also in a TV/family room, which also had some fabulous views.

The ceiling in the TV/family room

Then there was the rooftop patio with ever more spectacular views (we had our coffee there).

That’s the lake in the background

The view toward the houses behind us

A second view (on the other side) of the houses behind us

And some views in front of us

After some city exploring (more on that later), I crashed on the living room couch, stared up, and realised I could spend the month on that couch too — just looking up at the architectural beauty above me.

Those four. Brick expanses are all curved, and there is a skylight window over on the left.  You can also see the stairs to one of the bedrooms, and a second set of stairs to the rooftop patio.

The view to the living room from the stairs

Yes, the place is gorgeous.  Two bedrooms (come visit), three beautiful bathrooms, a laundry room, and everything else we will need for the month.

Ceiling above the dining room table

We have learned that these graceful curved brick ceilings are in this area only.  Amazing brick artisans!  Not sure if they still do this kind of work or not, but our ceilings look reasonably new.  We’ve seen a few others that are in rough shape.

Oh, and a nice entry too.

We definitely paid “gringo” prices for this place, which was bigger than we needed, but I rationalised.  I wanted a view of the lake and the mountains, since we look out at buildings from our condo in Pittsburgh, and I wanted to be within walking distance of the water and the Town Center.  All were achieved, but the pictures of our Air BnB place certainly did NOT do it justice.

The upshot — it will be a happy place for us for the next month.