So We Went to Guadalajara...

...and found a huge, sprawling metropolis that looks like every other huge, sprawling metropolis.

What did I expect?

More grass. Less sun. Diego Luna, perhaps???

Nimrod, Eileen, and I at a Cuban cafe recommended to us by a man who called us "Californians" and then said, "Oh yeah... you all want to party... this is a good place... smile, man... I take you myself if you want..."

There was writing all over the walls, and other than the incredibly high prices (we totally should have known) we had a good time. And... we are now experts in bargaining down prices... our ride to the Hotel Villa del Sol in a taxi was 130 pesos... our ride back was 50... "haggling" my friends... "haggling" is the term...

A church in Tlaquepaque... a suburb of Guadalajara that we visited on Sunday which is (admittedly) very tourist-driven, but that has beautiful arts and crafts and the "small-town" feel you get with artisan-friendly neighborhoods. Much like Lindsborg, actually...

Nimrod, Meghan, and Eileen in front of a church (I don't know the name) in Guadalajara... and I promise this picture isn't fake, although it does sort of look it... must be the "amazing" skills of the photographer who (you will notice) isn't pictured... =) This was right before we walked around the Centro Historico for seven hours... it was a long, very hot day...

Outside the famous orphanage in Guadalajara... we found statues that were really fun to play on... so we took pictures. I'll have to show the rest to those lucky few of you who actually want to see them... lol.

All in all it was a very nice weekend and I enjoyed getting to spend time with my friends from here... I think it is difficult to get to know an entire city in two days... but we saw quite a bit while we were there. It was a 3 1/2 hour trip both ways on a bus, and a lot of time finding taxis and other methods of traveling around such a large place... but it worked out, and we now know how to handle bargaining with taxi drivers (although we did have one who spoke a "little" of five different languages, and who was just the coolest guy...).

On the way home Meghan and I had a wonderful talk about spiritual matters, and then jammed out to early 90's love songs that were playing on one of the stations... good times. I took a taxi home, chatted with The Fam for a bit, and hit the bed... exhausted.

Traveling is fun... getting up at 7:30 the next morning wasn't... but hey... I survived, and I'm ready for a new week...!

Countdown: 13 days till departure time...