Tuesday, August 2, 2016

TUESDAY TRAVELS

Guadalajara is the second most populous metropolitan area in Mexico with a population of nearly 4 and a half million people.

One of the municipalities surrounding the city proper is Tlaquepaque, a name which may strike a note of familiarity to those of you Gentle Readers who may have visited Sedona, Arizona.

A shopping area there is modeled after the architecture of the Mexican city.

When we lived in Guadalajara in the 1980's and 1990's, one of the favorite places to take visitors was Tlaquepaque, which was a center of pottery and the arts.

There are the usual street vendors in abundance, especially around El Parián and El Jardín Hidalgo, two plazas that are the heart of the city.

But there are also tony shops with high art, like the gallery of the sculptor and artist Sergio Bustamante.


(That one is for the ladies.)


I believe these were some of the works in Bustamante's gallery.


SWMBO posed with this lovely sculpture.


And I posed with this brass chacmool, a replica of a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sculpture that first appeared around the 9th Century.

I'd have loved to have taken him home but my appreciation far outstripped my income.

Then there was this svelte young miss.


After a morning spent browsing the shops with our visitors, we would usually repair to the indoor patio of El Fuerte restaurant for beer, food and a visit from the resident macaw, who would gladly perch on your arm for a photograph.


We always enjoyed Tlaquepaque as much as our visitors did.

And, unlike them, we could return again the next week.

10 comments:

  1. Wow. What a life. How could you bear to leave it?

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  2. what about ristaurante "Sin Nombre" or have I got that right? Lori

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    1. Yes, I thought about Dayton's place a lot today.

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  3. So, if I may be so ty,,imerous, or forward, to suggest you at some point tell us why you became expats for those years? You've said a lot about it, and some great pictures, but never why....why why why.....
    Anyway it the statute of limitations has some bearing, never mind. worry about that meself sometimes. Cheers,pal.
    Mike


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    Replies
    1. Two reasons: Republican presidents of the U.S. and a much, much cheaper cost of living which allowed us an early retirement. No problem with statute of limitations.

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  4. By all accounts you had a wonderful Mexican adventure.

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  5. The original seems better than the copy in Sedona...
    :)

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  6. I would have to have that big orange fish. Probably couldn't afford it though.

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