Romance in 'The Pearl of the West'

   Despite the uncharacteristically poor weather (a week straight of rain and clouds), Sallie and I managed to have ourselves a charming little time here the past few days. We had been looking forward to brunch at a popular spot 5 minutes walk from the hostel called "La Cafeteria," and it was every bit as good as we'd hoped. The lattes were the best we've had yet, the people were friendly, and there was even a cool little boutique upstairs where Sallie found herself a pretty choice dress.

Out front they brought us coffee while we waited to be seated. Really wouldn't mind if this idea caught on more.

As is typical with most mexican dishes, the huevos rancheros came drenched in sauce.

Going away party for Jose Luis, aka 'Goy', with a bunch of friends from the beach trip. Goy is leaving to NYC for 10 days to see his girlfriend. Wish people threw me a going away party every time I left town for a week and a half. This was back at the restaurant La Tequila if you couldn't tell from the giant wall of tequila behind us.

Since we arrived Sallie has been looking hard to find productive ways to occupy her time while I'm at school. First she looked around at possible jobs thinking maybe working at a cafe or hotel would be fun. But alas not speaking spanish proved to be a big obstacle. So she thought, "hmm... what kind of job would let me speak english??" English tutoring! Right!?... Wrong :( . Unfortunately it was too late since the school term already started and it would take 4-6 weeks to get certified at the language institutes. So since figuring this out she has been looking for a way to study spanish. Most places were way too expensive, but she finally found an excellent place in Tlaquepaque, a very nice town on the outskirts of GDL. The school is called the Guadalajara Language Center and offers classes for 2 hours a day for 4 weeks, and it runs at around $350 USD. All the reviews said that for the quality of the training the deal is a steal. So at 7:30am on Monday Sallie donned her bookbag and set off for the 50min-1hr bus ride. She found herself in class with 2 Canadians and an American for a grand total of 3. Her teacher's name is Luz, meaning 'light' in spanish, and is very skilled in bringing floundering foreigners to some level of fluency in a very short time. Here are some shots around Tlaquepaque:

WARNING: Sappy romantical stuff ahead...

El Dia de San Valentine was a much more popular holiday here than expected. At school they had a big fair with lots of nifty gifts like elaborate homemade chocolates, chocolate fountains, chocolate covered fruits, and  well, I guess mostly just chocolate.  Most local stores and restaurants also had amped-up  Valentine's Day specials, and I was generally impressed with the amount of effort the city put into the event. Sallie went to a local papeleria to get paper to make me a card AND envelope. Don't ask me how. We took pictures and hung out with the hostel guy, Moises, and his girlfriend before going to Cocina 88, a highly-recommended restaurant within walking distance.

Way too excited to wear my new shades.

 

After enjoying fish for the first time ever on the past beach trip, Sallie has been looking for more opportunities to try out her new-found seafood taste. Ours came fresh and in a mango sauce. Again she wasn't disappointed.

But cheese for desert. Really Mexico? It's down-right impossible to have an entire meal devoid of cheese here.

 The rest of my card from Sallie. Note the two heads sticking up from the bottom. Isn't my gal just a doll? 

We thought the LCD screen on the bill holder was a bit extreme but still pretty cool. 

After dinner we headed to El Centro and asked the cabby to recommend a good place for coffee. We then grabbed some drinks and found a horse carriage around the corner that would take us on a nice tour of the city. $200 pesos for 35 minutes was very reasonable. We knew it was very touristy of us, but figured our pride would allow it on Valentine's Day. It ended up being very fun, and I'd definitely recommend it to visitors whenever the urge strikes them.