lucktraveler57 2.0

 The expats were taking my Travel Buddy to a charity rummage sale on Saturday. I decided I was too shaken up from the fall the night before and it would be better if I spent the day resting and enjoying the lovely environs of the guesthouse. Plus, after spending over 40 years in retail, a little shopping, as a recreational activity, goes a long way with me. At one point, lounging on a rattan couch on the roof deck, I encountered one of the owners. We had a lovely chat about this and that and nothing at all.  The sound of church bells ringing and roosters crowing combined like music. I enjoyed the view of cathedral spires and domes as they appeared to cling to the steep hillside by willpower alone.  I wrote, I did Facebook vacation photo dumps and enjoyed time, at many points in our lives an all too precious commodity.  I get a call. It is my Travel Buddy. He is sounding slightly panicked. He is lost. He has been going around in circles for 45 minutes. It is an easy e...

When we returned to the guesthouse we found the owners, another couple, a woman who is a neighbor and another neighbor, who, with his wife, is renovating a fixer upper in the area in the pool. The neighbor  was fun and charming with a genuine smile I never saw leave his face on the two occasions I spent time with him. He and his wife own a repurposed coach house in the Ukrainian Village, a neighborhood of Chicago. I, along with other young (at the time), bohemian, urban pioneers had opened the area in the early 90's. Attracted by (at the time) by modestly priced living spaces. There is no way I could afford to live there now. My Travel Buddy and I changed into swimsuits and joined them. The company was delightful and we all expressed how we looked forward to seeing each other at the Sunday evening party that was being hosted by the owners of the guesthouse.  Afterwards we dressed, walked to the home of the Canadian expats, whom we went to dinner with and while coming home....w...

 Prior to the "the incident" we had spent the day exploring the remarkably beautiful city of San Miguel de Allende. It is a place that has been on my bucket list for a number of years. After a long anticipation I am happy to say that it did not disappoint.  In the historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage site, exquisite 18th century churches and houses line steep, hilly cobblestone streets.The shade of tree laden plazas provide places of respite from the heat. Centuries old structures have been repurposed into shops and art galleries. One could spend hours roaming, overwhelmed by the age, history and detail. I began to edit what I photographed as everything seemed worthy of being committed to the art of the camera. There are many places in the world that bear the description of being tourist traps. Some are truly worthy of being visited. San Miguel de Allende is one of those places. 

 There was no food on the bus so we had to skip lunch. Like a hungry child I was getting grouchy. We decided to eat at the first place we came to, a tiny, 2 level, outdoor Italian restaurant.  As we were finishing our meal a group of 3 sat at the next table. We discover they are a married couple and their friend. They have a home in San Miguel de Allende where they spend 4 months a year. The rest of the time is spent at their home and houseboat in Toronto. They invite us to sit with them. My Travel Buddy converses with the wife, I discuss politics with the husband, a yoga instructor, 2 years my senior.  The next night they invite us to see their house before taking us to a small, family run restaurant near by them. It is the type of place where one can experience truly authentic local food.  Walking back to the guesthouse in the dark disaster strikes. I stumble, on what we later discovered was a slightly sunken manhole cover, and go down onto the cobblestone street, ...

 With the preview of the Festival of Lights the night before as a send off from Guadalajara, we prepared for the next stage in our journey. After a final meal at  our new favorite breakfast spot we gathered our bags and were off to the bus station for the 5 hour ride to San Miguel de Allende.  Once outside the city we passed tiny cattle ranches and fields of blue agave, the succulent that is used to produce tequila. As we rode we realized how much of a desert this part of Mexico is. There is agave, agave and more agave. The blue green leaves are ubiquitous in the region.  Suddenly the bus stopped amid an area of desolate fields. We sat and sat, eventually the driver bypassed the traffic by using the shoulder of the road. The route began to twist and turn in a seemingly arbitrary manner. It appeared that the driver was making it up as he went along. We passed through a tiny town, A huge gay pride flag is painted on one wall. As the saying goes, we are everywhere,...

 The Guadalajara zoo is considered the best in Latin America. I had visited it on my first trip to the city. On my second trip the owner of the guest house where I was staying suggested visiting the aquarium. As it is a low key activity, and indoors, it was remarkably hot during our stay, I suggested it to my Travel Buddy for our final day in the city.  Using GPS, which became invaluable on this trip, we walked the mile and a half from our hotel stopping en route at the breakfast restaurant we had enjoyed so much 2 days earlier, again marveling at the machine like operation. The aquarium is not expansive. Nor is it small. As in the story of Goldilocks, it is just right. Signs in English and Spanish provided details of the different species on display. There is one section where a collection, of mostly larger fish, surround you as the tank forms a tunnel visitors walk through. Manta rays are in a shallow tank with clear sections making for great photo ops. We happened to be the...

 Jose Clemente Orozco was an early to mid 20th century artist and muralist not well known to many. His work is often angry and always full of emotion. We were going to view 2 of his works, a mural at the University of Guadalajara and, perhaps his most well know work, the interior of the historic Museo Cabanas. After viewing the almost overpowering mural in a lecture hall at the University we discovered that the museum had borrowed a number of works on paper by the artist from the Cabanas collection. It was one of two special exhibitions. The other was a retrospective of artist I was unfamiliar with but plan to research more throughly, Ernst Saemisch. After the Museum we visited a 19th century gothic cathedral which sits next door. It has a towering steeple in it's center constructed of stained glass. The sunlight illuminating the colors of the glass as it passes through them is indescribable. It is considered by many to be the most beautiful church in the city. Photos cannot do it ...

 I've eaten lunch at the same restaurant on each of my visits to Guadalajara. We noticed that throughout the historic area of the city there was a massive amount of construction fencing, which included a fountain which usually creates a lovely vista from the restaurant. The waitress informed us that the Festival of Lights, usually a February event, had been rescheduled due to a soccer tournament and was being held instead the upcoming weekend. all the construction was the extensive set up for it. Although we wouldn't be in town then we did get a sneak preview our final night as they tested the light displays and the orchestra rehearsed. A lovely soprano voice was practicing Mozart's Ode to Joy in Spanish, a first for me. 

 The silver mart in Guadalajara is a 3 story affair with stall after stall after stall of silver, gold and costume jewelry. It is bewildering and overwhelming. Case after case after case of bracelets, rings, chains, necklaces, pendants, it might give one with a weak heart palpitations.  A particularly well muscled man in a snug fitting tee shirt was presiding over one counter. I was tempted to ask him to take his shirt off and try on a chain himself so I could ascertain how it would lay. Another handsome, hunky fellow assisted my Travel Buddy with a piece while I took a phone call from home hoping my sidelong glances at him while I was on the phone were subtle.  We shopped, we spent, and then proceeded to the mass of stalls of another market nearby.  I was even more bewildering and overwhelming. It would definitely give someone with a weak heart palpitations. Tee shirts, toys, leather goods, spices, a riot of goods on either side of the narrowest of aisles. Concern a...

 As museums are closed on Mondays we planned a walk to Guadalajara's Centro Historico. We started by taking our morning coffee and tea, which we prepared in the room, at a small table in a courtyard 5 feet from our door. It was a ritual repeated the following mornings of our stay. It is only one of a number of courtyards and public spaces which abound in the lovely, venerable hotel.  On the way to the old city we stopped for breakfast at a restaurant that we assumed, due to the half block long lines we witnessed, was probably pretty good. We got in that morning, no waiting, and an adorable waiter took our order. We used the remarkable Google translate tool to assist us in ordering. Watching the employees deliver food, clear tables and perform the myriad of other tasks necessary in food service was amazing. It was like watching a machine. 2 waiters on a subsequent morning were literally racing each other down the aisles to the pick up station laughing the entire time. The food,...

 The remainder of the afternoon was spent in the colorful, colonial chaos that is Tlaquepaque on a Sunday. It is an area of grand homes built in the late 19th and 20th century that have been repurposed as shops, art galleries, bars and restaurants. We ambled into a courtyard where a Mariachi band was playing and discovered a small museum of Mexican ceramics. Admission was free so we spent a short time enjoying the displays of colorful pottery. The state of Jalisco, Guadalajara is it's capital, is a major producer of tequila. Tequila tours are a favorite day trip out of the city which terminate in the town of Tequila ,which consists of 2 modest cathedrals, a traditional bandstand, shops selling an astonishing variety of tequila themed merchandise and a commemorative statue. We tasted and purchased a reposado at a price I almost felt guilty about and watched the citizens of Guadalajara kicking up their heels and like us enjoying the sunny weekend afternoon.  We took photos with ...

 When the driver arrived he became our knight in shining armor. We were trying to get to the area of town known as Tlaquepaque. He informed us that it was both an area of the city and a county. He, understanding our true destination, ignored the GPS directions and drove us through the streets of Guadalajara towards the shop and art gallery laden area. We thanked him effusively. He told us what a pleasure it was for him to help us as it gave him a chance to practice his seldom used English skills, which, by the way, were excellent. We all but dropped to our knees and kissed his ring as we exited the car.  Across the street was an ATM, I was still peso penniless. Hoping for the best we walked up to a machine.We asked the gentleman at the next machine if he spoke English. He did. We asked him if he would help us out after he was finished with his business. He would. His business consisted of making multiple withdrawals and putting the cash from each one into a different pocket. I...

 For the sake of convenience we had breakfast at the hotel the next morning. We went out, ordered an UBER to where we thought we were going which turned out to be not where we were going. A guidebook had misled us.  We ended up by a beautiful, venerable cathedral. It was Sunday. There were a couple of black robed monks outside, the sounds of a mass emanated from within. We stood in the doorway, mindful of the service, and looked at the grand interior. We wandered through stalls outside the cathedral courtyard walls and started walking down a road that seemed right though we were soon to discover that it wasn't. We suffered several moments of total desolation and utter futility. I suggested we put the neighborhood in as a destination as opposed to a specific address. We got a hit, a driver would be meeting us shortly.

 What's travel without a little adventure, right....right? Our adventure began with the taxi from the airport. The driver told us what it would cost in U.S.dollars and we settled in for the ride to our hotel. Along the way a policeman on a motorcycle rode up beside the cab and asked the driver something in Spanish. The driver replied, gesturing to us in the back seat. The back window was rolled down, the policeman peered at us, the window rolled back up and we were allowed to proceed. Arriving at the hotel we tried to pay with 3 different credit cards, 2 of mine and one of my Travel Buddy's. All were declined. We paid him in U.S. dollars the amount we had agreed on, checked in and were shortly receiving fraud alerts on our phones. The cab driver had attempted to charge us over $400. The next half hour was spent on the phone straightening out the whole affair.  Next order of business, getting pesos. Nowhere in the vicinity of the hotel could we find an ATM that allowed translat...

 I don't recall how the idea formed. My Travel Buddy swears it was my suggestion to go to Guadalajara, he suggested San Miguel de Allende and we both came up with Mexico City. By the time all was said and done it was a 15 day trip. As soon as possible post tax day, my Travel Buddy is an accountant, we woke up exceedingly early on a Saturday morning and were taking off by 7:30. In the classic movie All About Eve Bette Davis utters the infamous line "Fasten your seatbelts everyone, it's going to be a bumpy night." Exchange the word night with flight and you get a description of the next few hours of our lives.  The 2 male flight attendants looked like they might frequent bear bars at home. I imagined plaid lumberjack shirts packed next to their polyester uniforms in their flight bags. The tiny bathrooms made me wonder how anyone of size could fit in them. Smaller than phone booths I conjured up an image of Superman attempting to change into his supersuit in them. I alwa...