Well, I said goodbye to the jungle laden coast and made my way inland through low, dry, hills covered in agave fields to Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco. What a change on many fronts! First off, Guadalajara (GDL) is a huge city with a population of around 8 million people making it Mexico’s second largest. Very different from the sleepy beach town I left behind four hours prior to arrival. Structurally, the city is built fairly low and spread out with most of the buildings around 3-5 stories and only a few notable skyscrapers scattered throughout. In some respects it reminded me of LA but overall it was more densely built and there were notably more people walking the streets and getting around via public transit. I was lucky enough to have two contacts in the city— a guy named Ricardo who I had met in San Jose del Cabo at the very beginning of my trip and my college buddy Berny’s (from Guadalajara) younger brother Jesus (aka Chuey)— which made navigating and the whole experience exponentially better. More on that to come. I exited the bus station to busy sidewalks, honking horns, and rush hour traffic. I crammed into a colectivo (cheap local busses that are sometimes privately operated) with my pack and made for my hostel along with the evening commuters.
I dropped my bags at my hostel and almost immediately headed back out the door to meet up with Ricardo who I had made plans to get a couple of beers with on my first night. Ricardo showed me a few cool bars in the neighborhood I’d be staying in and we ate (I think) my first non-Mexican food meal since the beginning of my trip in the form of a very good slice of pizza.
I spent the following two days exploring the neighborhood my hostel was in and walking all around the city working my way through an awesome list of recommendations from Ricardo and Chuey. My area was adjacent to a few universities and full of coffee shops, restaurants, bars and a steady stream of people walking around at all hours. On my first day full day I woke up feeling, admittedly, a little sluggish from the previous day of travel. Ok, maybe the beers and mezcal played a small part as well but I digress. I mustered the energy to walk a couple miles to breakfast to try a local specialty called birria at a place highly recommended by Ricardo. After a long haul with coffee in hand, I came to a little stall with about five bar seats at the back corner of a mercado and had what I have to say is my favorite meal of the trip so far! Birria is a stew typically made from goat served in a shallow bowl with a stack of tortillas and toppings on the side. Basically, a make your own taco or enjoy broth plus meat kind of situation. The birria having breathed some life into me, I spent the rest of my day on a self-guided tour of some buildings designed by a famous architect from GDL— Louis Barragan for you architecture nerds.
During my first couple of days in the city Chuey invited me to join him and nine of his friends on a weekend trip to his friend’s house in a mountain town called Tapalpa— about two hours drive from the city. After some brief consideration, fervent encouragement from Berny that Tapalpa was a must see, and some reshuffling of dates, I jumped at the opportunity to go have a unique experience off the typical backpackers trail. And what a great decision it was! Not only was the town and it’s surrounding area beautiful but the hospitality and welcoming nature of Chuey’s friends made it an absolute highlight of my travels so far. Chuey picked me up at my hostel and we headed out to he and (formerly) Berny’s house for a late lunch before picking up friends and driving out to Tapalpa. So interesting to be in your longtime friend’s home without him being there but I suppose that’s the beauty (and fortune) of having friends from different parts of the world. We made it out to the house after a pit stop for a mountain of groceries and started our weekend by cooking quesadillas and playing games for the evening. The rest of our weekend was spent in much the same way. We cooked big breakfasts in the morning and ate out on the deck while enjoying the view. Afternoons were spent reading, playing board games, cooking more delicious meals. In the evening we went into town so that I could see some of the sights and try one of the local specialties— a pomegranate liquor called ponche. It was fantastic to see a place that mostly only Mexicans frequent and to spend a significant amount of time around Mexicans my age, asking questions and trading stories about our day to day lives in our respective countries. I arrived back at my hostel in Guadalajara on Sunday evening feeling grateful for the generosity of people who were essentially strangers 48 hours prior.
My little jaunt into the mountains meant I decided to stay a couple of extra days back in Guadalajara to see more of what I had quickly found was a very cool city. Among other things I was told that the Lucha Libre shows on Tuesday nights were an absolute must so on my final night in the city I made plans to check it out. While I haven’t had a huge desire to see any professional wrestling (as an adult at least) the word on the street was that the Lucha show was entertaining, funny, and an all around good time. So, you know, when in Rome I suppose. A group of people in my hostel were planning to check it out as well so we all met up at a bar to try pulque, another local specialty which is basically a fermented agave drink (tastes a bit like cider), and then head to the Luchas together. Somehow, we managed to get nine seats together only a few rows back from the ring in a pretty packed arena. The show went down as advertised— theatrical, a playful amount of raunchy, and full of grown men in spandex and masks.
Safe to say I wrapped up my time in Guadalajara with a bang. Next stop on the trail will be further inland to Michoacan as I (slowly) work my way toward Mexico City. Already I've seen a distinct cultural difference from the coastal and inland cities and I'm very excited to begin to see the nuances as I begin to compare one inland city to the next.
