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Eleytheria Journal: Road Trip to Guadalajara, Feb 1 - 5, 2005

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February 1: Guadalajara Road Trip! 20°53'07" N, 103°50'20" W

It is time for a road trip! We've been within 5 miles of water since we left in September (and only that far away since we were staying at Tournesol's time share). Since Puerto Vallarta is relatively near Guadalajara it seemed appropriate that we take a road trip. Taking the bus was an option, but it would have cost $40 per person round trip. Pam and Scott of Tournesol were going with us, and we were able to rent a car from Thrifty (through Expedia, I might add) for $19/day. The car would also give us more ease of moving around within Guadalajara. Since neither Abe nor I have driven in 5 months (and Scott has driven various modes of transportation only occasionally) it was kind of odd to be back in a car that wasn't a taxi. I haven't even been in the front seat of a car in 5 months (when we do have to take taxis, Abe ends up in the front seat so he can translate).

We rented a compact car from the airport but weren't sure what that really entailed. As Abe went to pick up the car, Pam, Scott and I waited in front of the terminal feeling like the children's book Are You My Mother? Is that the car (pointing to a punch bug)? Is that the car (pointing to a small Ford - smaller than a punch bug). Is that the car (pointing to an SUV - we weren't being unrealistic but wishful since we had too much luggage for such a short trip!). Abe finally pulled up in a Nissan Platina which is similar to the smallest Nissan you might see in the States. I started laughing thinking there was no way we were going to fit 4 backpacks, 2 laptop computers (yes, we both took a computer - as I write this journal, we're headed back to PV so they did come in handy!), 2 large rolling duffle bags, and 1 camera case. Surprisingly enough, the trunk was huge for such a small car. So was the glove compartment. We could almost fit the all our luggage in the glove compartment/cavern. Nissan was certainly generous with storage space. We're eating our knees as we sit in here. The legroom is so small but it does the job! And we're free again. As we drove off we were commenting that Abe was certainly brave to be driving in Mexico. And that we were quite brave to be riding with him after a 5-month layoff. Maybe we would be safer with Scott driving.

The drive is about 350 km (.62 miles for every km), through some mountainous areas. As we got farther away from the ocean, we started to smell more and more dirt. It's amazing how much we've forgotten that land smells so lush. We mostly smell salty, and sometime fishy air. The terrain is absolutely beautiful. We drove on a two-lane road for about 100 km until we arrived at a choice: pay $250 pesos (<$25 USD) to drive the remainder of the way on a well-kept, 4-lane divided highway, or continue on a two-lane, bumpy road for free for the remainder of the trip. We took the toll road as the doors of the car were squeaking a lot already from the bouncing road. We could be anywhere in the US by the looks of the terrain with one exception: blue agave plants. These plants started popping up about 100 km outside of Puerto Vallarta, and are the source of Abe and Scott's much-favored drink, tequila. There were fields and fields of them. We also began to see a little bit of sugar cane.

How can you be in Mexico and not visit the town of Tequila? Precisely. You can't. And since it's directly in the path to Guadalajara it's a fine time to visit. We stopped at 20°53'07" N, 103°50'20" W at precisely 21:50 Zulu, for those of you following us on a map.

The Mexican government has legislated that only certain parts of Mexico can grow the blue agave plant since only they have the proper growing conditions. This growing region is centered in the state of Jalisco, with the town of Tequila being the home of a major number of tequila distilleries. Tequila contains 18 major distilleries, including well-known Cuervo and Sauza. We were able to take a tour of the Cuervo plant (the first one that we found) that included tequila tasting (and you thought wine-tasting was inebriating) and a margarita cocktail.

The making of tequila is a fascinating process, with the entire agave plant being used in one way or another. When blue agave is planted, the hearts of the plants are approximately the size of an onion. After 8 - 12 years of growing, the plants are harvested and the stalks are cut off. The onion-sized heart is now upwards of 100 pounds.

Scott can hardly wait for the process to end so he can try some of the agave juice "tequila."

The center is cooked, cooled and mashed to extract all the juices. The pre-mashed pulp can be made into candy, but the majority of the center is squeezed to a pulp and are used in all sorts of ways: paper, basket-weaving, clothes, etc. The syrups from the squeezing are distilled and the better tequila is then aged in barrels to make four different types of tequila. The type is dependent upon how long it is aged - anywhere between 3 months to 15 years.

The tequila tasting consisted of small portions (thank goodness!) of the three youngest types of tequila. We certainly could all taste a difference between the youngest (not nearly as smooth) and the older. The margarita cocktail was mixed with Cuervo's own brand of margarita a mix and made for a very tasty treat. Abe was not tipsy from the tequila tasting, but just to be on the safe side before hitting the road again we had a tasty dinner at Cuervo's restaurant.

Guadalajara was a mere 50 km further than Tequila. On the road again. Back to the top.

 

February 2, 2005: Day One, Sightseeing in Guadalajara

We arrived in Guadalajara around 9 PM. We checked into the hotel (recommended by someone Pam met at the hospital while Scott was having parts removed) and got settled. It's a quaint hotel with two stories, balconies to the street, a small dining room and bar. Scott and Pam had made an appointment with one of the local schools for the blind for the 2nd, with Abe to accompany as a translator. Sometime during the night, Abe got a little bit of Montezuma's revenge. Hard to believe with his stomach the way it is, and we couldn't figure from what, but there it was. Abe called the school to reschedule, and went back to bed. The rest of us went exploring.

 

Our first stop was a couple of blocks from the hotel at Metropolitan Cathedral. This Catholic church is absolutely enormous and a work of art. I'm always amazed when these huge, impressive buildings were built in 1500's - 1600's since they had none of the luxuries of builders today. As we walked up to the church, two things struck me: vendors selling things directly outside the church and the beggars sitting on the church steps. The vendors were selling rosaries, religious pictures, candles, but also non-religious items such as postcards and trinkets. Perhaps the church allows them to sell in front in turn for a portion of the profits? In front of this cathedral, there were about 6 vendor sites. The beggars were another shock. So far in Mexico, we have maybe seen 3 beggars in total. These were in places of high tourist visitors, and the beggars were seen on the main tourist drag, not where the locals would congregate. All 3 that we saw never said anything, they just held out their hands with very sad eyes. This is a far cry for us coming from San Francisco where beggars are everywhere and sometimes very aggressive. In front of the church, what was disturbing was that the women (no men) on the front of the steps had no less than 1 child sitting with her begging as well. One young mother had two toddlers and was nursing a third baby. I'm not sure if the church allows these folks to beg, or whether they get asked to leave periodically. Just inside the church was a man (obviously homeless) sleeping on the floor. We were to see much more begging and homelessness on our visit here. There's more pictures in the Guadalajara Photo Album.

 

We then walked to a Mercado. In the traditional sense of the word, a Mercado is a market with all sorts of vendors selling whatever they like. Items can range from food to clothing to trinkets. Abe's grandmother would go to the Mercado every morning to pick up that day's groceries. This Mercado was relatively large compared to the one we saw in La Paz. It was two stories high and quite a range of items that we'd not seen before. Pam and I were a little taken aback by the pigs legs (not just the feet, but from the knee down, complete with the skin), the pig skins (entire hides), and the meats being sold in general. Scott was so excited to see something new and was snapping loads of pictures. There was also a food court of sorts. None of us have been very nervous about trying street vendors, but something about the feel of the food court said we shouldn't try any of the goodies. Many of them had flies landing on the food, and where sweets were being sold, bees. Everywhere we've been to date has felt extremely clean, even if a bit run-down. Not so with this Mercado. We took a quick tour, through some of the rows, and made our exit.

The rest of the day consisted of lunch at McDonald's, walking around the various downtown shops, and buying Abe a balloon. I was trying out my negotiating skills on the gentleman selling the balloon. Not because I didn't want to pay 4 pesos for a balloon, but because I need the practice of haggling. Besides, it's expected. But this guy wasn't buying my haggling. So we paid the full price, and went back to the hotel to check on Abe. Still down for the count. Back out again. Pam and Scott were gracious enough to run into a department store with me so that I could buy a nice pair of pants for the visit to the school. I had jeans, but that didn't feel quite right. And living on a boat, the nicest things that we own are t-shirts and shorts that don't have a diesel stain on them (becoming fewer and farther between). There just isn't the need for the clothes and where are we going to keep them? Spare parts and provisions are more important.

Back to the hotel for a dinner check on Abe. Is he well enough to sit with us for dinner? Not really, but since we thought we'd play a bit of cards before heading out for dinner, he'd sit with us for that in the bar of the hotel. We've learned a new card game, Oh Hell, and it's now our favorite. We got involved with the games and never left. The bar was completely empty all night, but had two guys working. They were so attentive and kept bringing us munchies to eat - crunchy chip-like things, grapefruit and oranges with salt. When they heard us comment to each other about the salt (none of us cared for it much), they brought new plates with no salt. We got so involved in the games that we ended up ordering pizza to be delivered. Abe didn't have any, but the rest of us enjoyed a very good dinner. And shared the remainder of the pizza with the bartenders. They seemed ecstatic. We closed the bar down and played one last game in Scott and Pam's room. Abe had retired a couple of hours earlier. This game is additive! Back to the top.

 

February 3, 2005: Our visit to the School for the Blind and Deaf (click for their journal about the visit)

One of Scott and Pam's objectives as they sail around the world is to visit as many of the schools for the blind as they can. They believe it's a great opportunity to show kids that even though you may be blind or visually impaired, you can still accomplish so very much. Both Abe and I wanted to tag along if they would have us, to see what such a school was like and to watch how the kids received the news of Tournesol's trip. They were more than happy to take us along, and Abe offered to play translator for them. Neither of us had ever visited a school for the blind in the US, and didn't know what to expect from one in Mexico.

We arrived a little bit late because we'd had trouble finding the place. Even worse than our previous adventures finding businesses, it seemed in Guadalajara it was a bit worse. Street signs are small, black signs on the sides of the buildings sitting on the corner of two streets. Even with his great vision, Abe had to be almost on top of the sign to be able to read the street name. Only at major intersections was there a large sign hanging over the center of the street. And the numbering is quite confusing to a visitor. We learned later that streets are numbered according to what business or buildings on there now. If anything new is added, numbers are issued based on what numbers were last handed out. So 1560 could be on the 1500 block or it could be five miles down the road after 4899. We made it though, and as Abe dropped us off, I was laughing at the fact that here I am being in the lead jaywalking for two people with white canes. There were no pedestrian walkways to be found, so we hopped across. Nothing like setting a good example, eh?

We met with a couple of administrators first. They were a little apprehensive it seemed in the beginning, because all they knew was that Scott and Pam were sailing around the world and wanted to visit the school. They weren't sure why. Was it to criticize their methods? They soon warmed up as it was explained that they were just trying to show that amazing things can be done (my words, not theirs), even if most people would say it couldn't happen. We learned that the same problems exist in Mexico as in the US in terms of low employment rates and funding. There was a guide dog agency some years back, but was closed due in part to lack of resources. Scott and Pam both worked for the Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco and have intimate knowledge of the issues surrounding the blind community. I think the administrators were pleased to have two professionals of which to ask questions. It seemed they were both surprised that the low employment rate was an issue in the States as well. It seemed that they expected the government took care of giving jobs to everyone.

We visited the computer lab where they have about 10 computers and one with a Braille reader. This is a small strip at the bottom of the keyboard that prints in Braille what is typed on the computer. Very nifty. It was there that we met an amazing young woman. I am so sorry to refer to her this way, but none of us caught her name when she was introduced. She is deaf and blind. She is headed for a different school (it sounded almost like a prep school to prepare for college) where she hopes to learn to teach piano to deaf children. She and Abe were conversing via the Braille reader, and having quite a gabfest. Her brother is also deaf and blind. They communicate with each other by tapping off Braille letters on the first two fingers of the hand. The letter "I" for example is made of the third and fourth dots (Braille is two columns of three dots each.) They signed "I" by tapping at the bottom of the index finger (in the position for three) and at the top of the middle finger (in the position for four). Their hands flew as they "talked." This was new to Pam and Scott as a method of speaking among the deaf/blind community. They are familiar with hand signing. This entails making the sign alphabet in the palm of the listener.

At this school the deaf (they have some deaf-only children here, too) and deaf/blind are also learning to speak. I believe this young lady, her brother, and a third young man had a small fraction of hearing, as they were all wearing hearing aids. When we met the Director, she said it was so much easier to teach them to speak if they had even a fraction of hearing. The young lady we first met played two songs on the piano for us. We clapped when she finished, the Director (who we met on our way to the concert) translated for us, and the girl spoke, "Thank you." Not Gracias, but Thank You. She also wants to learn English at her next school. I was struck by how alone an existence a deaf/blind person must live. Not necessarily lonely, but very limited in the interaction. It always must be a one-on-one interaction: you conversing with the person signing in your hand. The other thing that struck me was how amazing this girl was. She was so positive and excited at her prospects of being out in the real world. What amazing things she will accomplish. People have expressed to us how amazing our sailing trip is. I think it is nothing compared to what this girl has and will continue to accomplish.

We visited classrooms, with the kids having a chance to ask any questions. It's universal anywhere, I think. Most of them were shy and didn't have much to say. We think that the kids had been warned we were coming, because as we got to the higher grades (school only went through 6th grade. After that, the kids are integrated into a regular school) the kids were being encouraged by the teachers, "you had so many questions earlier. Go ahead and ask." Scott made some of them in 5th grade laugh when he told them that the geometry they were learning is what they were actually using in sailing. It actually is used in the real world! The last classroom we visited was 6th grade for deaf children. They don't sign much, if at all, and are required to speak. A couple got up and asked us our names, where we were from, etc. Then the teacher made each of them stand, and asked them a question about geography (what they were studying when we got there). How many countries in North America stumped on young boy. None of us adults knew the answer either, and when we left the classroom one of the administrators said he had no idea either. Some things aren't as relevant once you're out of school.

A number of items stuck us about this school, although Abe seemed to remember that some of these may not be unique to this particular school, but the same over most Mexican schools: the kids were very well behaved, they addressed us all in proper form, had great discipline, great posture, and they seemed to learn more at each grade than in the States. A lot of this has to do with the fact that many children don't go to 12 years of school. So educators try to fit as much in as quickly as possible in order to educate them to the maximum possible before the kids leave school. The biggest thing that all of us noticed was that all these kids exuded extreme confidence in themselves. It seems that that will serve them better than most anything else. All of the teachers except one, and all of the administrators are sighted. This is not unusual, according to Pam.

It was an amazing day. Overwhelming in some ways, a large part due to relying on Abe to translate. Half the day was spent listening to Spanish, half getting Abe to translate what Scott and Pam were saying. He was bushed by the end of the day, to say the least. We're just so glad that we were allowed to come along. Scott took all the pictures at the school. Please go to here to see their pictures. Back to the top.

 

February 4, 2005: Abe's first day exploring and a new Punch Bug record

Now that Abe was mostly back to healthy, we thought we'd explore more with him. But first to the French Consulate. I had heard that in order to get a year's long visa for the French Polynesian it took quite a bit of time. And the only French Consulate that was close to the water was Guadalajara. It took about 35 minutes to get there. Along the way, we decided today was the day to see if we could beat Stacy and Steven's (my niece and nephew) record of 69 punch bugs in a day when they visited San Francisco in 2001. Oh my word. We counted, and counted and counted. 198 punch bugs, with a few missed, I'm sure. Pam kept count as Abe and I called out the bugs from afar, and she and Scott counted the ones up close. But the 198 bugs were not in a day. They were achieved in 35 minutes on our way to the consulate. We had to stop we were getting too tired to continue. And we couldn't hold any conversation because it was a constant barrage of, "Yellow bug, blue bug, white bug. That white one there? I saw a different white bug. How many is that, Pam?

It was a quick trip to the consulate (once we got there) and mostly consisted of calling someone in Mexico City to ask there. The day was gloomy, and it was lunchtime by the time we were up, around and finished at the consulate. We were driving by a mall at the point when someone saw the Chili's restaurant, and we thought it would be quite fine. So we parked and ate at Chili's.

We had planned on visiting the cathedral (for Abe), the Instituto Cultural de Cabañas (another recommendation by Pam's hospital contact), a bigger Mercado and the Mariachi Plaza (where the Mariachi bands had their first beginnings). It was to be a busy afternoon. But during lunch, we started talking about the movies. We were in a mall with a huge theater, and it seemed like the day for it. Pam and I were going to see Spanglish while Abe and Scott saw Aviator. For the second movie (I know, it's sick), we got back together and saw Meet the Fokers.

The mall that could be anywhere in America.

By now some of you may be saying to yourself, "Self, why do they go to McDonald's and the movies and Chili's and eat pizza when they're in the middle of such a great variety of new things? Why don't they go there?" That's a very good question. We spend most of our time now exploring new things, trying new foods, visiting new places, mapping out new cities or towns. Most everything is new. It is a great comfort to have some things familiar at times. We know McDonald's will taste the same here as it does in the States. We always liked going to the movies when in the States, and it's nice to be able to continue that a little bit here. We like the newness and the exploring. But some days it's just nice to have something familiar.

 

On the way home from the movies we found a Starbucks. Of course we had to stop. This place was packed and hopping. Abe found out that it was opened in October (the second in the city), business was booming, and they were adding 2 more in the spring. The crowd was mostly under thirty and very hip - just like the feel of the city. A venti mocha (my favorite) was $43 pesos. When I last bought one in San Francisco it was $3.55, but I think prices were going up soon. So the price is very close to US prices. We sat and enjoyed our drinks and played a couple of games of Oh Hell. Nice way to end the day. Abe's first day exploring was spent doing the familiar. We'll get to it all tomorrow before heading back to the boat. Back to the top.

 

February 5, 2005: Visiting all the places we didn't yesterday before heading home

We woke up at a decent time to check out of the hotel and to pack the car. We then went to the cathedral for a quick visit before walking to the Instituto Cultural de Cabañas. What an interesting place. This used to be an orphanage in the early 1800's designed by a Spanish architect, now a cultural institute with museum, theater and school. It has 23 courtyards, loads of small rooms. It's a beautiful building and was great to just walk around. Abe said he rather enjoyed pointing out interesting architectural features of the the building. Very nice architecture. In the 1930's, Jose Orozco painted murals in the main chapel. There are 50 some-odd murals on the ceilings and domed walls, all of them dark. I got a very disturbing feeling walking into the room because the paintings were a bit sinister. Abe listened to the tour guide for a bit, translating that the paintings were about the dark side of what some believed to have taken place during the orphanage days. The murals were beautiful, but dark.

Next on the agenda was the Mercado. This is a different one than we visited while Abe was sick, and much larger. This was a three-story building with much more to choose from. This Mercado felt cleaner than the other, except for the food court. This food court didn't feel very clean, either. Even thought Scott wanted to try some huacheta (rice drink), we didn't stay to eat or drink. We trailed through stalls with boots, shoes, wooden children's toys, silk flowers, jewelry, electronics, traditional Mexican candies, sugar cane, tons of chatzcha (trinkets), clothing, food courts and huacheta. We even saw a couple of stalls with DVDs for sale. These were obviously pirated movies as National Treasure was one of the selections and this hasn't even been released on DVD yet (we don't think). The other giveaway that these were pirated movies was the fact that the prices were very low. One movie for $30 pesos. They were cheaper the more you bought. The biggest surprise here, though was a goat. We were walking along down one aisle with clothing and trinkets on one side and meat/grocery stalls on the other. I looked to my right and saw a whole goat, butchered and hanging by it's hind feet. The head was still on, skinned like the rest of the animal. I just wasn't expecting it. Scott got a picture of that, too. He said at the end of this trip, he'll just have a whole bunch of pictures of dead animals. It's something that we're not used to in the States. But like the pigs in the other market, each part of the animal is used. There is no waste.

After the Mercado we went in search of a Torta Ahogada, translated as "drowned sandwich." This was the last recommendation by Pam's hospital friend. It's a sandwich on very hard hoagie, drowned in a wonderful sauce to make the bread soft. We weren't sure how to eat them (fork or pick it up, goo and all?) and asked for help from the proprietor. He was more than willing to help out.

I look like I'm guilty of drowning the sandwich myself.

After lunch, I bought my first sheets of toilet paper. That sounds odd, I know. But what was unique about this adventure was that I bought toilet paper before going into a rest room. There was a lady sitting outside the door. For $2 pesos, she handed me a folded bit of TP for my trip inside. The bathroom was in the basement of a parking garage and I wasn't that hopeful of it's cleanliness. But when you have to go... It was a bit run-down, but perfectly clean. And that's been the case in most all the bathrooms we've been in. Even at the rest stop on the way up to Guadalajara. Most toilets don't have the seat, much less a lid (it's just the bowl), but they are clean, the floor is clean, the bathroom doesn't smell bad. Much better than a lot of the public rest rooms in the States. The smell alone could knock you down in some bathrooms in the States. So I took out my 2 pesos and bought my first bit of TP. What a moment!

The entire trip was a load of fun (except for Abe being sick), and so glad we took advantage of being so close. It's nice to be away from the water just for a change of scenery, but it's also nice to be headed back home. The boat hasn't seen much of us lately. It's time to pay attention to her again. We'll leave on Monday (we have to stay to watch the Superbowl!!) for Zihuatanejo to meet Brian and Shelly, neighbors from San Francisco. Can't wait! Back to the top.

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