Guadalajara, Mexico's second city and capital of Jalisco state, is a lively funky place with a thriving cultural scene and many fine examples of colonial architecture. It's been called "the most Mexican of Mexican cities" and is home to mariachi, charros and the Mexican hat dance (which, alas, which didn't get a chance to see).
Although tourists were still thin on the ground, we met a cool international crowd in our hostel and hung out with people from Mexico, Argentina, Norway, Germany, Australia and the UK.
We managed to fit in a range of cultural activities during our time here, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Starting with the former, we saw several art exhibitions, encompassing paintings, photography and sculpture. A highlight was a retrospectve of Jose Orozco, an important Mexican artist renowned for his murals - often commentaries on social or political issues of the time. Rendered on a huge scale, with bold colours and often disturbing imagery, they cannot fail to leave an impression. We also enjoyed the surreal, slightly macabre sculptures by local artist Alejandro Colunga which lined the main plaza.
At the other end of the sophistication scale we very much enjoyed sampling the excellent tequilas of the area, watching the Copa de Mundial with the locals, and - best of all - going to see the lucha libre (that's Mexican wrestling for those not in the know). The crowd was as entertaining as the wrestling itself - throwing out a constant barrage of good-natured insults largely revolving around the words "puta" and "madre" (look them up). The wrestlers, most of whom had very big hair and very small pants, put on an excellent pantomine, the favoured attacking move of the night being the butt slap. The only real fight was between a camera man and a photographer, which was swiftly broken up by a security guard with a very large gun. We left feeling thoroughly entertained and slightly hard of hearing. As one British ex-pat put it: "The Mexicans have two volumes - on and off". We may very well be deaf by the time we leave!
Susie and Phil xx
