El Pueblo de le fiesta eterna

This past Friday, Danny and I took a day trip with his IMBA group to Tuxpan, a small town about 2 hours south of Guadalajara. Tuxpan hosts many fiestas throughout the year, but the one we attended this weekend was part of a festival celebrating San Sebastian which runs from January 20th to February 2nd each year. We woke up around 6:30, got ready and took the bus out to Tec, grabbed a quick breakfast and were on the bus by 8:45. The trip wasn't too long and we got to see more mexican countryside while we rode. 

early morning bus rides are not our thing

We pulled into town around 11am and could already see costumed dancers heading to the town center to start the parades We then exited the bus and made our way to the main street to watch the parade. There were children and adults who participated and they stomped their feet to create a beat as they danced through the streets of Tuxpan on their way to the churches with their saints statues in tow. Here's a sweet video I took of the whole procession: http://youtu.be/rmI4j8tVqr4

Archer guys

There were several groups of these guys with the deer horns, masks, and colorful hair. Each neighborhood's group has different colored hair.

The different types of dancers were the masked guys you see above, colorful rainbow-vested rattle dudes, archer guys wearing red costumes and peacock headdresses, and then children who were all dressed as scary goblin things. Apparently, the rainbow vests are recreations of the vests that Mexican warriors wore a long time ago. Originally, the vests were made of the skin of their victims and the more you collected, the more you were respected and feared.

Colorful rainbow vested rattle dudes

The guest of honor, San Sebastian himself

Once most of the parade had moved on, we explored the center of town, stopped into a pharmacia to purchase some desperately needed sunscreen (our faces were burning after just ten minutes in the sun), and some of the guys enjoyed some ice pops they bought off a street vendor. Anosh and Danny grabbed a sort of shrimp cocktail thing with avocado from a cart downtown.

Unsure of where to go exactly, we wandered the streets for a bit until we came upon a town square with a church and an altar and a LOT of locals sitting around. We asked in broken Spanish what the dealio was and were promptly handed plastic cups and served ponche which has mezcal, tamarind and, i think, a little guava. We were also told to help ourselves to food inside if we wanted any and then a band started setting up. Danny chatted up an old woman sitting nearby about the festival while we sat in the shade and enjoyed the ponche. 

And the party sort of continued on like that for most of the afternoon. We walked around to a few other neighborhoods who were doing the same thing. There was music and dancing and lots of food. They served a red soup which had bits of chicken in it and yummy looking tacos. People would walk around with huge trays of food and men with large containers of ponche would run over to you and fill your cup any time it was looking low. Several groups of locals, who probably don't see a ton of gringos, even approached us and asked for us to be in photos with them (a self-esteem booster that I strongly suggest). After drinking a fair amount of ponche, we decided to grab some lunch and sit in the shade for a bit. We found a pool hall and ordered some pork tortas from the owner who made them on a grill behind the counter. 

After pool and lunch, we decided to explore the main cathedral a little before getting back on the bus at 5 to head back to Guadalajara. 

Afterwards, the whole sunburned (and slightly buzzed) group boarded the bus and we rode back home to Guadalajara. All in all, it was an awesome day trip and a cool way to get to know the local culture and people. And also a great excuse for day-drinking. 

Don't Make Eye Contact With Vendors... It's all they need

So this week Sallie and I took it relatively easy since there's been a cold running around. I even had to stay in bed and skip classes on Thursday. That said, we still managed to go out most nights and check out new places around town. Our hostel is in pretty prime location and it doesn't take much effort to wander around downtown or on Chapultapec, a main avenue nearby, and find radical new places. One night we decided to check out a big market that runs everyday downtown. On the way we noticed that about 80% of the people walking around were carrying ice cream cones. This seemed odd until we noticed little soft serve stations about every 20 yards selling ice cream for 3 pesos... or about 25 cents, toppings and everything. Let it suffice to say that there are a lot of people in need of a gym membership around here. There were also a few helado storefronts and I couldn't pass up a pic with this one.

We eventually made it to the market--a three-story gianormous building with vendors selling everything you can imagine, literally EVERYTHING. Cow legs, questionable mexican candy, love potions, hundreds of crazy herbs and peppers, and a host of other things that we hadn't a clue what they were. It was a pretty intense experience walking the narrow isles, and with vendors and locals calling at us from all sides we felt quite the prey. After holding our breath through the room-temperature meat/seafood market we managed to find an exit. 

 Made it to a nearby square and had dinner in a restaurant overlooking Catedral Expatorio.

Sallie being a creeper with local street art. 

 Another evening after class we walked around El Centro and passed through Plaze de Armas when the local orchestra was playing. There's usually a group out there once or twice a week and the place is always packed.

Inside Catedral Expatorio

 I've been wanting to post more pics of the local trees because of how crazy colorful they are. There always seems to be trees in bloom with giant red or yellow flowers. There are also lots of orange and lemon trees.

 Friday night was Chris's birthday and a bunch of checked out a bar called Mosquito. The inside was pretty post-mod with dark lounge areas, cool low lighting, and a giant retro pic of Sir. Michael Jackson. We left a little early though when the music attained a pretty deafening decibel.

Me with Utsav and Kinjalk, two dudes from my program that are unfailingly a good time.

Saturday: Breakfast at La Provedencia. Cheap good eggs, fruit, and coffee and right on Chapultapec makes it a nice spot to wake up in the morning.

 Later we headed to La Nacional, a new favorite also on Chapultapec. They specialize in Latte art and make some of the best coffee around.

They drew me a conejo, meaning bunny, or also the name of your biscept (cuz cock dudes like to make it jump ;) ). 

Latte art maestra in action.

 Sunday: went again to Av Vallarta where they shut down the road so people can bike and workout. This time we run and I decided that my new mission is to find authentic running huaraches.

After eating we went out for a stroll downtown. We expected most places to be closed because it's Sunday, but once we got closer to El Centro there was actually a lot going on. Unfortunately, the chess players that gather daily at Palacio Municipal next to Plaze de Armas weren't out yet, so I'll have to see how I fare against the local comp some other day.

Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres (illustrious men)

Templo de Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes. Mid-day mass.

Passed through a nearby market with more unknown merch. For instance the cups below that look like they are full of coco powder. No idea, none. 

Oh and in case you are in the market for an avian pet, they sell the birds next to the honey and underwear.

Afterwards we caught a cab and met up with Utsav and Isabel at Andares mall, the largest in the city.It was the first open-air mall I've been to and I gotta say I could get used to it.

Sallie super excited to model her new boots for me... with everything in her closet. 

Puerto Vallarta

This past weekend Danny and I went with a group of international students to Peurto Vallarta. They took a bus from Tec while we booked a separate bus trip through Primera Plus. The roundtrip tickets only cost us about 50 USD each and it was the nicest bus I had ever been on. They gave us free drinks, lunch (which consisted of a Chewy bar and a pre-packaged ham and cheese sandwich), and we got to watch movies during the entire 4 1/2 hour trip to the coast. One extra bonus were the seats that leaned back almost completely into a bed and the continuous WiFi onboard. On the way, we got to see a lot of the Mexican countryside which was mostly agave farmland, huts, and small towns with roadside markets.

The Corona truck pretty much says it all

We arrived at our hotel after taking a taxi from the bus station. There was a guard stand at the gate controlling incoming traffic and the entire hotel in fact was gated and secure (we had to wear blue wrist bands during our entire stay so that the staff would know that we were authorized to be on the property). By the time we arrived, the sun was setting and we sat our stuff down in the room and went out to the pool area to watch the sunset and order some food that didn't come in plastic wrap. We later met up with the rest of the group, whose bus had taken almost 6 hours (!) to get to Vallarta, for happy hour at the hotel bar. Afterwards, we all walked over to Xtine, a hot club almost right next door to our hotel, that closes and reopens every few months with a different name, but is always popular. We called it an early night, returning around 3 am, and walked back to the hotel.

The next day we woke up and played on the beach. We laid out for awhile and then a few of us went parasailing and rode on the banana boat. While laying out on the beach, we were constantly solicited by the people walking around and selling t-shirts, crafts, and jewelry. I guess it serves us right for staying in the Hotel Zone (one of the most touristy areas in Vallarta). Also, there were gringos EVERYWHERE! I seriously hadn't seen many white people since I'd arrived in Mexico, but you could tell that ours was one of those hotels who caters to tacky tourists who just want to speak English (and LOUDLY) and sip pina coladas all day and never leave the hotel. Next time, I think we'll stick to a hostel downtown. Anywho, the parasailing and banana boating was super fun and here are some pics:

I'll admit, it was probably pretty risky attaching ourselves to a parachute hundreds of feet in the air tethered to a boat in Mexico, but when I asked if it was safe, the guys assured me "Si, Berry safe." Good enough for me, hombre.

Danny and I, poolside

Me, enjoying one of the rare moments I wasn't asked to buy a bracelet or hat

Sick of the mediocre (and overpriced!) hotel food, we decided to venture downtown in search of a restaurant I had read about in the Frommer's book that Danny's friend, Joel (thanks buddy!), had given him before we left. 

We took in the sunset before leaving for dinner 

The restaurant is in downtown Vallarta, a few blocks off of the Malecon, or boardwalk, and is called El Arrayan. They serve traditional Mexican food and even make their own crispy tortillas. The place was very charming and we ate and enjoyed the live music.

Chicken Mole, live music, mojito, festive tablecloth.

After dinner, we walked to the Malecon to check out some gift shops. There were tons of skulls and skeletons for the Day of the Dead and plenty of Sombreros and tequila. Here's me with SkElvis:

Later that evening we went with the whole group of International students who had come along on the trip to a cool club called Mandala, which was right on the Malecon.

We left Mandala around 3:30 am (all the clubs would still be bumping for another few hours), found a nearby late-night pizza place to grab a slice, and then took a cab back to the hotel.

The next day we decided to check out downtown in the daylight before our bus left at 2pm. We walked along the boardwalk and stopped in several art shops. I bought a yarn "painting" and Utsav, a guy in our group, bought a beaded sculpture of a dolphin. Both of these forms of art are pretty cool and come from the Huichol tribe who live in the mountains and feature symbolism of their religion. Here's some examples i found online:

Downtown Vallarta was very pretty in the daytime. We had pork tamales for breakfast which we bought from two nice ladies who were running a food cart in front of the cathedral.

The Cathedral in Vallarta

Before long, it was time to board our bus back to GDL, but we had a great weekend on the coast.

Hasta la proxima!