Sat 15 Oct - Tlaquepaque

Saturday, today, we went into neighbouring Tlaquepaque.  This is a favourite haunt for all of us when visiting Guadalajara.  There are very good restaurants with gourmet and classical mexican food.  The main attraction, however, is the town's art galleries and shops.  We visited the Museo Pantaleon Panduro museum which had an amazing array of local art.  Andy remarked that it wasn't a museum if the things in it aren't hundreds of years old,  so I had to explain that an art museum is usually not like a history museum... my brain cells were a bit pushed here, maybe the margarita from lunch?


We ate gourmet mexican cuisine, serenaded by local artists singing La LLorena and other beautriful songs.  I had a seasonal specialty called Chiles en Nogada - which was a slightly spicy local chile stuffed with a sweet pork, apple and raisin mixture and topped in cream and pomegranate seeds.. mmm.  Justin had half a cow in the form of a dish called arrachette(?).  Andy ate a 3 cheese soup, which he said was delicious and Dad had fish tacos served in compartments like fajitas.  While we were eating, a group of USA handball contestants were seated alongside a group of Chilean contestants and their friends and family. 


As we walked around the 2 side-by-side cathedrals, we saw several weddings lined up, with one in progress.  Obviosuly a very good day to get married, though not sure why, possibly just because it was a Saturday? There were so many glamorous and also over-the-top outfits it was hard to say who was in a wedding party and who was a guest.  The one that stood out the most was a wedding group that pulled up in a black pickup, with a group of boys in black suits and blue ties riding in the back... the bride in a huge blue gown was very happy to pose for a photo.  Their excitement rubbed off on us, leaving a good mood as we walked on.


Another highlight was walking into a courtyard where youth groups of traditional dancers were performing.  We 6 sat in the front row, feeling like the show was put on just for us.  The dancers were beatuiful in their (many) elaborate costumes.  We felt bad leaving about an hour later as they were still carrying on.  But it was dark and the boys aren't cultured enough to make it through more than an hour of dancing and we didn't want to push our luck on their good behaviour ... So we called it a day, ending a lovely day out.