Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara (FIL)

On Friday, Paulina took the kids and me to FIL -- "What's FIL?" you're probably asking. I found this description on www.fil.com.mx. :

"Founded in 1987 by the University of Guadalajara, the Guadalajara International Book Fair —FIL— is the largest market in the world for Spanish language publications. Over 500,000 people visit during the nine days of FIL, immersing themselves in books and taking advantage of one of the most important cultural festivals in Latin America. A few statistics will give you an idea of FIL's importance: 26,000 square meters of exhibit space, with more than 1,600 publishers representing 39 countries; a cultural program offering over 600 hours of events, which averages about 50 activites per day; and nearly 300 book presentations. In all, FIL brings over $10 million dollars in economic benefits to the city of Guadalajara."

When FIL was first mentioned to us, I wondered what would be interesting for us at a book fair for Spanish language books. Well, this is no ordinary book fair, and we found plenty of reasons to be interested at FIL! First, I have never seen so many books in one place in my life, and while the majority of the books there were in Spanish, every other language was represented, as well. Each of the larger publishers had booths the size of retail stores, and there were also countless booths with smaller publishers. Then there was the FIL Ninos area, which was entirely dedicated to children's publishing and educational materials. We bought a storybook/CD, which was narrated by the woman in the photo with Ella and Maisy. Yes, I'm a sucker: Dress up like a fairy and pose for a picture with my kids and I'll buy whatever you're selling.

The Bus

Today, the kids and I took our first bus ride in Guadalajara. To anyone who has lived in a big city, this may not sound like a big deal, but this is a huge city where we don't speak the language well, and we don't know the city or the bus routes -- we could wind up god-knows-where. Our Spanish instructor, Paulina, however, is a native here and has the bus thing down, so she offered to take us. If you have the time (and can figure out which bus to get on), this really is the way to travel! Maisy and Ella were free, and it cost 4.50 pesos each for Addison and me. That's about 90 cents to go where we want, which is way cheaper than a taxi. And just in case the crazy GDL drivers start to freak you out, you can take comfort in the fact that every bus is equipped with an image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe or the Virgin Mary to watch over you. Of course, I had to photograph the experience, and I suspect everyone else on the bus was wondering what was so cool about the bus that this gringo lady had to take pictures.

The Happy Fish

I have found my favorite little roadside taco place in Guadalajara thus far, The Happy Fish. It's located on the other side of Univa, where we take our Spanish classes, so today I also snapped a few photos of the campus as we passed through on our way to eat lunch. I'm including a picture of my burritos de camaron (shrimp), but the picture does not do this meal justice. They prepare your food order on the grill while you watch, and then you take your plate over to a condiment bar (for lack of a better term). Now this is no ordinary condiment bar, as it contains four different salsas, chipotle sauce, aguacate, grilled jalapenos and onions, cole slaw, cucumbers, limes, and a whole host of chile sauces. So I don't know if the fish are happy, but we sure are!

Trompo Magico

This morning, we visited a children's museum, Trompo Magico. What a great place for kids! It's gigantic, with opportunities for imaginative play, as well as science, music, art; you name it! We will have to go back, as we only had time to explore the area for the smaller kids, and there's also an area for the bigger kids (which looked really interesting for adults, too!).

p.s. We figured out how to allow you to make comments without having to be a registered user. So for those of you for whom this has been an obstacle, you may now comment away!

Tonola

On Sunday, the front office lady at our apartments, Adriana, and her fiance', Gabriel, invited our family to visit Tonola, where there is an enormous street market. I realize that in every posting we talk about how fabulous everything is, but it's true, and this place was no exception! There were blocks and blocks of street vendors selling everything from art, furniture, and dishes to clothing, toys, jewelry, and food. I think you could find anything at this place! It's really too bad that I'm limited on what I can take home, because I found so many things I'd love to buy (although Trent would tell you that's a good thing). There was also a blown glass factory in the market, and you can see the glassware being made right there; this was very cool to watch.

Tequila, Jalisco

Today, Oscar took our family on a personalized tour of Tequila. We started the day's trip with a stop at one of Guadalajara's famous street-side taco stands for breakfast.

Wow! What a treat!! There's nothing like a GDL taco!!! I've never tasted Mexican food like this, it's simply the best. BTW, technically a taco is anything you put in a soft corn tortilla.
Next, we drove about an hour (65 km) northwest of GDL. Along the way we enjoyed the mountainous views and saw lots of native blue agave crops (also known as "maguey" by the locals).

On the way, we stopped at a roadside market to have a taste of what makes this place tick -- Tequila. The drink we had was made with the juice of 2 limes, 1/2 grapefruit, 1/2 orange, Squirt soda pop, ~ 1 teaspoon of Sea Salt, and a couple shots of Tequila. Again, simply wonderful.
Casa Herradura ('herradura' means 'horeseshoe') is the first major plantation/factory on the way into town. The distillery was founded in 1870, and it still contains all the historic equipment, which makes for a very interesting tour.

Finally, we stopped at a roadside stand for something called "cimota," which is similar in taste and texture to a potato. As everything else you eat around here, it's best with lime, chile, and salt.

Find the Dog (round 2)

Today we learned that the roof of your home IS a common place to keep your dog around here. We were out doing a little sightseeing, and spotted these two dogs on the roof of a house. Go figure.

Thanksgiving Dinner

A number of our friends have asked us what we did for Thanksgiving, so here it is: Nothing, and it was great. We had briefly toyed with the idea of doing a turkey and the fixings, but no one was in the mood to spend the day in the kitchen, and we also hadn't seen any turkeys in the grocery store. Since Thanksgiving is obviously not a holiday that's celebrated in Mexico, the kids had school and swimming lessons that day, and we also had Spanish lessons that evening. We opted to celebrate Thanksgiving with a seafood feast at La Ola ("The Wave") on Friday night, instead.

Downtown Guadalajara

Yesterday, we paid a brief visit to downtown Guadalajara. The architecture and history here are fabulous; I'm including a few snapshots to give you a taste of it. There's a state capitol building, churches, numerous monuments, a market, and more. It's a much larger area than I had expected, so it will take more time to explore it. We will go back for another -- longer and more detailed -- visit later.

Touring with Oscar

Yesterday, our new friend, Oscar, picked up our entire family and took us on a tour of Guadalajara's Zapopan area. First, we started off at a fish market where they bring in tons of fresh fish every day. We received our first cultural lesson for the day when we were parking: A man approached the car and asked Oscar if he wanted him to care for his car while it was parked. Pay close attention here if you ever plan to drive a car in Mexico -- ALWAYS SAY YES. If you don't, your car and all its contents are fair game for the criminals, and it only costs you 2 pesos (about 20 cents) to avail yourself of such protection. Oscar, of course, opted for the protection. We ate at a place right there in the market, and we had a feast of ceviche' and the seafood cocteleria that's pictured here: It's shrimp, avocado, onions, tomatoes, and cilantro, and it's served warm. YUM.

Next, we visited the Cathedral at Zapopan. A few more cultural lessons were had here. As we approached the cathedral, we saw people getting down on their knees and 'walking' on their knees all the way to the altar, where they would pray. Oscar explained that this is what people do when they are requesting something, like to cure their sick child, for example. We also bought fresh sugar cane squeezed with lime juice, roasted garbanzo beans, and ice cream from the street vendors outside the cathedral.

Then it was off to the local zoo. There were lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, Mexican hairless dogs, parrots, eagles, and more. All of these were within reach, if you were foolish enough to get that close.

We finished off the day with a trip to a roadside taco stand, where Oscar ordered up tons of food for us to try; things we wouldn't have known to order, but which were fantastic!

Date Night

On Saturday night, we had a teacher from the kids' school, Sara, babysit the kids while Trent and I went out to do a little exploring on our own. Sara doesn't speak any English, so it was also a good opportunity for all of us to work on our Spanish skills!

We had heard about a street called Chapultepec that has lots of coffee shops and restaurants, and where there is a street market on Saturday nights. What a great place! Anyone who has been to a resort town in Mexico knows about the tourist junk you can buy in these places, and also how pushy the vendors can be. Not here! There were lots of handmade crafts, all at very reasonable prices, and the vendors were the artists themselves.

First, we stopped at a place called Bananas for a Bandera. This is a popular drink here, and it comes in three parts which represent the Mexican flag. You have a tomato juice cocktail (basic ingredients are similar everywhere you go, but each place puts its own twist on it), tequila, and lemon juice. Some people drink it all fast, but you can also sip it, which is what we do.

Then it was off to walk around the market. While we were wandering, we met Oscar (the man on the left in the picture), who was handing out menus for a cafe' called La Salvia, and it looked good, so we decided to check it out. Again, this was a huge score. The food was terrific, and it was prepared right there on the other side of the bar from us. (As a side note, I had been reluctant to try a salad in Guadalajara at first, but I've had quite a few now, and so far, so good!) There was a man working at his computer next to me, and he does all the graphic design and advertising for the cafe'. His name is Sergio, and he speaks about at much English as we do Spanish, but we put together what little we each knew and had a great conversation.

We had a fabulous night out, and definitely plan to return to Chapultepec!

Find the Dog

Before you read any further, find the dog in the photo:



The kids and I were walking down our street today when we spotted this dog on the roof of a home. Now, I realize that open space around here is scarce, but this seems an odd place to keep your pet. Perhaps this is another cultural difference we have yet to appreciate. . .

Another Day in Guadalajara

Now that we're settling into a daily routine, I thought I would share a few more observations as we make our way around Guadalajara. One thing we've noticed is that this city is filled with fountains: they're everywhere! Also, Christmas decorations are going up all over the place, and the Christmas displays are quite large. We saw a huge Christmas tree being built in the square at a shopping area; the thing must be 50 feet tall!

One of the local grocery stores has the little kids' carts that the girls love to use. You may also notice in the picture that the eggs are not refrigerated, and that's how it is everywhere. Can you say, 'salmonella?'

Oh, and I got a picture of one of the mop and broom carts I mentioned before. The attendant for this cart was eating at a roadside taco stand and left his cart in the middle of the road. Still don't get how these are a profitable business. . .