Scenes from Guadalajara

These are some of the folks that truely make Guadalajara special.  Though many of them don't speak English and our Spanish is limited, it's easy to tell they are kind and warm-hearted people. We are thankful for their fellowship as we try to settle into our new country.

 Guadalajara is an interesting city. It is the second largest city in Mexico, just behind Mexico City and followed by Monterrey.  It is a busy metropolis and a major Mexican busines center. The population is 7,000,000 with 4,000,000 living in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara.  The photo above was taken from a new motel/office building downtown, where the immigration attorney's office is located. Everywhere we look we see new construction, so we conclude that the economy must be healthy.

 We feel fortunate to be staying at the Quinta Don Jose, a boutique hotel located in a touristy neighborhood.  The city is made up of 4 municipalities: Guadalajara, Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, and Tonala. We are in Tlaquepaque. With it's clean, narrow streets and colorful streetmarkets, it has a nice appeal.

Here we are having dinner at our hotel with our friend Nico and his family.  He is an artist and his wife is an elementary school teacher. We have sure appreciated their kindness and advice as we navigate new language and culture.

A street market near our hotel.

We had hoped to be in La Cienega by now, but because of timing with our immigration papers and car shopping, we are still here in the city.  The upside is just having more time to check out the markets and be with the friends and workers here.

Guadalajara is said to be the birthplace of the world famous Mariachi bands and also the home of the Mexican hat dance.  Not all of this music is what we consider "pleasant" to listen to, but we discovered the best one yet at a restaurant called The Patio just a short walk from the hotel.

The boys experienced professional hair cuts for the first time ever when we found this old fashioned Mexican barber shop.

 A pleasant surprise greeted us as we followed Nico to the edge of the city Sunday evening.  On the north side of Guadalajara, concrete houses and streets and iron gates give way to this breathtaking mountain view. A peaceful break from the bustling city. We walked along this path for several miles before returning to the city for a late supper. Good to get a little exercise!

We recieved word today that all of our resident cards were approved and will be ready to pick up on Thursday! Three weeks sooner than we expected! Buying a used car here without a Mexico bank account has been a bit more of a challenge. But we trust the right things will work out in the right time.