pity there's no sound.

I just saw a baby driving a car

What can I say?
It was wearing a nappy.

The baby had its hands on the steering wheel and what I can only assume to be the father was holding on to the baby.

Driving restrictions are non existent, sure, but babies can't drive. For starters, their arms aren't long enough to reach the indicator.
Oh, wait, that's right. Drivers don't really indicate either. It's a redundant feature on the Mexican Car.

I wish I'd have taken a picture...

Ajijic by the lake

about an hour from Guadalajara lies the largest inland lake in Mexico - Lago Chapala.
i went on a sunday bus trip to one of the small towns by the edge of the lake called Ajijic (a-hee-heek) (are my phonetic hints getting annoying yet???)

it's a quaint little community now mostly comprising wealthy Canadian and US retirees and expats. american accents musings about mexicans, tips, public transport and real estate was my soundtrack for the day. no, it wasn't really that bad. the only downside was that most shops caters for the older traveller... ie. sensible canvas shoes and baggy clothes of natural fibres.


it's strikes a beautiful balance between urban vibrancy and drowsy rural life. the place is great for tourists but of course the youth living here haven't much to do and nowhere to go. Mexico has a very young population and you can notice there are lots of young kids and babies around. i mean, the money generated by tourism isn't extreme and most of the richer shops are foreign owned which ensures the place looks pretty but doesn't really contribute to the local economy.

anyway, so i didn't spend much due to limited funds, but stole some scenic shots from the town and then paid my $2.50 to get back home...

Facts from the vault

hi all,

i've started classes now and am finding the lecturers so, so enthralling and knowledgable.

my mexican culture and society class is particularily enlightening which is where i've garnered this quick factfile of this latin country.

• minimum wage in Mexico : 50pesos / 8 hour day ($5 australian dollars)

• 40% of mexicans earn minimum wage (unofficially the figure is more like 70%)

• there are more millionaires per capita in Mexico than in the USA

• millionaires in Mexico are wealthier than their north american counterparts on average

• Mexico's last president was simultaneously the president of the PEPSI corporation

hard CORN porn

adventures in Tlaquepaque (t-LAH-keh-PA-keh)

mummy and i decided to travel to a quaint little part of town called Tlaquepaque.
we were bowled over by beauty of the buildings and really great crafts of the local artisans.

tlaquepaque again

these taken in the pottery museum. some of the pieces were whimsical and playful - colourful and sometimes rather naively made.





the obligatory food experiences. we ate in such opulent haciendas where you would enter into a lush, cool leafy courtyard and the food was pretty cheap considering the extravagant surroundings.

this is the B & B we stayed in overnight. (nothing at all like the overbearing and overly-frilled Montville style lodgings). look closely and you can see our bedroom window in the centre of the picture. we overlooked the breakfast courtyard. ah, so sad to leave...

so this is how Tequila is made, folks...

we went for a bus trip to Tequila - it's about an hour from where uni is - and took a tequila factory tour. the agave plants take 8-10 years to mature before the 'pinas' - pineapples - can be harvested.

...and this is how they used to make it

the old brick factory is actually a UNESCO heritage site. it looks something like an ancient torture dungeon and is extremely damp and cool inside in comparison to the scorching humidity outside. the surrounding landscape is mountainous and rather lush... not much like a desert really.




(ok, i don't know how authentic the donkey is (or for that matter, the grinning hired mexican man complete with sombrero and red cravat posing next to the ass), but everyone on the tour was having their picture taken with the poor animal and the flashes were startling it, so i felt compelled to find a different angle)

more of the same from el centro historico

Guadalajara in all its glory

here is some sort of important historical quarters. i really cannot tell you what it is as the guide spoke spanish exclusively. it's been a bit difficult to communicate here with my limited spanish. i hope not to be eternally doomed to eating cheese sandwiches because it's the only thing i know "mi quiero un bocadillo de queso, per favore?"

something for the tourists...

it's very humid and wet here. the vegetation is verdant and green and it feels as though it's christmas time because of the weather.

these kids were trying to palm off neon stickers for some ludricriously inflated price. instead i tried haggling with them in the cathedral. i wanted to take their picture in exchange for a few pesos. they're pretty savvy street kids because they refused my offer and moved on to some other conspicuious group of tourists.

"...south of the border, down mexico way"

it's my second evening in Guadalajara, and having achieved all my goals for witnessing the stereotypical mexican ways of life, there doesn't seem much else to do...

1) shifty mexican man with pencil moustache
2) fields of maize
3) el nino (boy) coaxing donkey with stick
4) a local wearing cowboy hat and poncho (admittedly, the poncho was a black garbage bag, but it still counts)

when i arrived, it was positively teeming with rain and the guttering in the city must be atrocious because the streets were flooded. the taxi driver seemed unfazed so i believe it to be a regular occurrance.

the roads are completely nuts. being a motorist is dangerous enough, but when there's no pedestrian lights on a 6 lane intersection and buses are literally driving on the footpath centimetres from ones feet (i can only assume this is some sort of generous welcoming practice for 'gringos' because i haven't yet seen a near-death-autobus-graze befall any Guadalajarians) you take your life in your hands.

there's little pavement to be seen but rather informal walking tracks cutting through long grass and around trees. the more adventurous will walk on the highway dodging motorcycles and wooded utes filled with rowdy mexicans travelling to... well, i don't know where exactly.

what i've tried thus far, the food is great. although i've had to resist the tempting treats from the roadside food stalls emanating aromas of rancid meat and stale oil - often this is because mecahnics and sellers of fine foods will occupy the same patch of ground.

so, it's all extremely exciting and other-worldly. admittedly, my middle-class australian sensibilities are being tested. i feel bratty and a bit precious wandering around the streets.
i'm living in such a privilliged environment with brand new kitchen and bathroom facilities and drinking bottled water while it appears most people in the area live in a situation much removed from mine. and here i am, tapping out these musings on the keys of my new laptop... hmmm.

we'll see what tomorrow brings...
claud

i'll post some photos next time, i promise