Via Recreativa

With a population totaling almost 5,000,000 in Guadalajara and the surrounding municipalities, the city's streets often resemble parking lots: Cars, buses, motorcycles, pedestrians, and the occasional bicyclist are all over the place. Every Sunday, however, everything changes.

On Sundays, the city of Guadalajara and the neighboring municipality of Zapopan close an entire network of streets to vehicular traffic from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The program is called, "Via Recreativa," and I think it's a great way to see the city. Enforcement is strict: Employees or volunteers are posted at all intersections to direct traffic, and even residents along the route are issued special placards for their vehicles so they can leave their homes in their cars.

There are also several locations along the route where loaner bicycles are available for free, but there was not a place near Paulina's house, so we opted to walk.

There is even a place to have your bicycle repaired or get a drink of water.

We enjoyed the freedom to stroll the streets without dodging cars and buses. As we walked, I marveled at the way this city is transformed each and every Sunday. Normally, it's nearly impossible to cross a street around here: Amazing as this may sound to most people living in the U.S., it seems the worst place to cross the street in this city is at an intersection. I have spotted two or three crosswalks with signals in the entire city, and those were in El Centro GDL. Not a city I would usually consider to be pedestrian- or cyclist-friendly, Via Recreativa allowed us to see Guadalajara in a completely different way.