Tlaquepaque (tla-kay-pah-kay)

It makes more than a week now that I have not posted a blog entry. For this, I apologize to all those people who miss me and to all those people who don't have any feeling about my whereabouts in relation to theirs but still enjoy reading the blog. I have a couple excuses: first, we are inundated with homework here in Mexico, which I suppose is to be expected when one is earning 7 credits in 4 weeks; second, life has slowed down a little, and there is a little less excitement, but this too is due to homework (tarea). Blame the professors. BUT! here is a blog entry to break the dry spell.
Last Friday (not to say two days ago, but rather nine), we ventured to Tlaquepaque, cruelly named by indigenous folk a while back. This is a little community on the south side of Guadalajara famous for its glass artwork and tent-rittered markets. To get from here very near to la isquina de Patria y Vallarta (the corner of Patria y Vallarta (streets)), to there, in Tlaquepaque, one takes a large, red bus amply named El Cardenal. This bus is owned by a private company, as opposed to the city, costs 10 pesos instead of 5, has much comfier seats, air-conditioning, and is as illusive as the Lockness monster. The first time we rode it was to get to the Central Station more than a month ago, and we walked to the corner and borded the bus after waiting for only 5 or 6 minutes. At the time we did not realize nor appreciate our good fortune. Since that trip, we have been unable to locate the Cardenal, though we have seen it pass by like a ghost at times when we had no use for it. After waiting for 40 minutes for the red beast, we decided to ask a cabbie if the bus was even running that day. He said in fact it was, but he would give us a very good price to go to Tlaquepeque--70 pesos. We got in the cab.
If I could go back in time, I wish I would have started a systematic documentation of the different cab-drivers we had here in Guadalajara. I would have titled the blog, "Taxi-Driver Roulette." This particular cab driver at first appeared to be very pleasant and sane. This changed after he asked us what we were studying in the U.S. Richard replied "biologia"--only a short stretch from "teologia" and the roar of the highway incited the mis-hearing. The cabbie immediately and enthusiastically announced that he was a Jahova's Witness and proceeded to explain to me all the signs and dangers of the apocolypse. Undeterred by my polite but obvious attempts to change the conversation, the cabbie showered me with explanations of who my real ancestors were, why it was important to begin taking the necessary steps to save my soul, etc. To my infinite relief, we finally arrived in Tlaquepeque and got out of the cab, but not before he gave us his number so that we could contact him should we need a ride to Tonola or needed help with our soul-saving.

There isn't much to say about Tlaquepaque, the town. Like all places in Mexico, there were dogs on the street, lots of churches, bars, etc. One interesting anomalie we came across was this horrible translation placed outside a church. If you don't speak Spanish, skip reading this. If you do speak Spanish, enjoy a good laugh as you imagine some monk dressed in a burlap sack manufacturing this really aweful English translation.

We also ate some ice cream. Richard got some Tequilla flavored just for the experience. I tried it and I would eat a small serving of it with gusto I think. After looking at lots and lots of artwork and glass goods, it started to rain harder than a cow pissing on a flat rock, and we were forced to herd ourselves into a restaurant that ended up being very tastey. The waiter took this picture of us. We left a pretty good tip. Korey and I had the personal goal of getting Richard real drunk in Tlaquepeque, but he resisted. However, later that night, we bought a bottle of Tequilla and watched Old School and half of American Psycho, and dutifully achieved our goal.
One of the woes of google blogger is that it is very easy to accidently deleted a foto once you have uploaded it. Each time I upload a photo (notice how I accidentally spelled photo with the Spanish "f" above) a blank space is inserted at the top of the entry. Sometimes, when I try to delete these spaces so too are deleted the photos that I have just uploaded, or perhaps one I uploaded previously. The whole process is a son-of-a-bitch that me da rabia (infuriates me). At any rate, that's what happened about 2 minutes ago, and while I waited for the photo to be uploaded again, I produced this commentary.

Sorry for the brevity and seeming incompleteness of this entry, but that is how I feel about Tlaquepaque as well. It didn't much float my boat. I'm glad I went, but I won't go again unless the apocolypse starts to rear its ugly head in the fashion described by the cabbie.