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!