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!