Mexico Roundup

Here's a collection of the blog entries I wrote about my trip to Mexico last month.

Days One and Two: Arrival in Tlaquepaque
-Greetings from Mexico

-Afternoon walk

Day Three: Tonala and Tlaquepaque
-Monday in Mexico

Day Four: Tonala and the highway

-Tequila was not meant to be

Day Five: Guadalajara

-A different side of Guadalajara

Day Six: Tonala

-Mad shopping in Tonala

Day Seven: Lake Chapala

-Ajijic - at the other end of the backpacker spectrum

Where I stayed:

-Casa de las Flores in Tlaquepaque

-Casa de las Flores

Project Amigo:

-Trip to Mexico

-Project Amigo update

-Making a difference while on vacation

Mexican folk art:

-GIVEAWAY!!! Treasures from my Mexico trip

Assorted features:

-Tempting your tastebuds before dinner

-Details in Mexico

-Jalisco How-To

I'd like to thank all the great people I met for making my trip unforgettable. Thank you, as well, to everyone who read my entries. I'm looking forward to documenting my next trip for you!

Addendum 8/15/08: To get another perspective, see my friend Irene's blog, http://picturepoet-irene.blogspot.com/ -- particularly, her account of our failed trip to Tequila.

Jalisco How-to: Part I

If I have whetted anyone's appetite for a trip to Jalisco (that's the name of the Mexican state that Tlaquepaque, Tonala, Guadalajara, and Lake Chapala are in), I'd like to give you some tools to plan a vacation of your own.

When to go: the area has a spring-like climate all year round, so just about anytime is a good time to go. July is technically part of the rainy season; however, it did not rain very much while I was there. I found the weather very pleasant and could see why it's such a popular place to retire.

How to pick a place to stay: I, of course, recommend Casa de las Flores wholeheartedly. But don't just rely on my advice! Check out reviews on TripAdvisor to see what hotel or B&B would most appeal to you. What will really enhance your stay is if you can get personal attention from your host or the concierge, so they can help you plan trips and arrange for a driver or whatever else you need. Ask what services they offer! A driver can often double as an interpreter and for a relatively reasonable price take you wherever you want to go. Luis charged $20/hour with a minimum of 4 hours.

What to wear: as Stan at Casa de las Flores says, the biggest danger in Tlaquepaque is the uneven pavement and streets. So pack some sturdy walking shoes. I bought a pair of Keen Carmel sandals for this trip, and they worked fabulously. I wore short sleeved shirts and jeans for most of the trip, and I felt both comfortable and appropriately dressed. You can dress casually (neatly, though) like you would at home. Pack a sweater or light jacket for the evenings, though, when it can get cool. To not look like a target, don't wear flashy jewelry or an expensive handbag. I swear by using a PacSafe bag for peace of mind.

Language: basic knowledge of some common Spanish words and phrases ("Buenos dias," "Gracias," "Cuanto cuesta?" "Donde esta el bano?") will go far. In high-end restaurants and shops, people will speak English; however, be prepared to communicate in Spanish - at least a little bit - with vendors in the markets. Knowing numbers in Spanish is often necessary for shopping, but you can also gesture for the seller to write down the price on a piece of paper. If you have no Spanish whatsoever, don't worry! If you use a hotel like Casa de las Flores, for a reasonable fee you can arrange to have an interpreter.

Food safety: everyone knows you're not supposed to drink the water. You also need to watch out for ice and any fruits or vegetables that have not been cooked or peeled. But that doesn't mean you can't have fun and eat well! Here are my ground rules: I took chances (had beverages with ice or tried the pico de gallo) only at the best restaurants in town, where they catered to international tourists and well-heeled Mexicans. Prices there are still reasonable by American standards. Street/market food is generally safe to eat if is steaming hot, right off the stove.

These are some initial tips, especially geared towards those of you who have never traveled to Latin America. Stay tuned for some more!

Details in Mexico

I'm going to be wrapping up my coverage of my trip to Mexico on Monday. Before I do, I want to give you all a little bit more of what caught my eye while I was down there. Here are some my favorite pictures that I have not yet posted.

Statue of Pope John Paul II outside the very popular parochial church in Tlaquepaque

Outdoor seating at an El Parian restaurant in Tlaquepaque.

The outside wall of an artisan's workshop in Tlaquepaque

One of the amazing carved doors in Tlaquepaque

Part of a tile mural on Avenida Juarez in Tlaquepaque

Bilingual sign at the Liberty Market in Guadalajara

A very colorful restaurant and shop in Ajijic


Visitors on the shore in the town of Chapala

Tempting your tastebuds before dinner

First of all, thanks for the entries in my first giveaway! I will be announcing the winner of the folk art chicken later tonight! As for the other Mexican treasures, I have decided to wait a bit longer - once more people are back from vacations - to tell you about the items and have the drawings. So stay tuned!

There are so many things I haven't documented about my trip to Mexico yet, and one of which is the food! Here are some favorites:

This was my first meal of the trip, at El Patio in Tlaquepaque. I had squash blossom soup to start out, and it was divine. The waitstaff brought a host of items to the table before I even got that: greasy (but delicious) tortilla chips, various salsas, bread and butter, and a plate of cucumber, mango, and lime slices. I had fresh-squeezed lemonade to drink.

This place was good, and it featured performances by female mariachis. However, they didn't give me my bill after I asked for it several times over the course of 45 minutes!


Wednesday's breakfast at Casa de las Flores was Eggs Florentine. The eggs themselves were just gorgeous! Stan showed us how to poach them in plastic wrap.


After our aborted trip to Tequila, at least my new friends and I were able to have a great lunch. This is the table at Casa Fuerte in Tlaquepaque. I loved the elaborate guacamole display. And check out the pats of butter in the upper left corner wrapped tamale-like in corn husks!


This was one of my most favorite meals, at the Secret Garden cafe in Ajijic. French toast stuffed with cream cheese and pecans and the most divine fruit salad: succulently ripe mangoes, papaya, and red grapes.

Mmmm...it was a delicious trip. An interesting thing about Mexico is that, like in Spain, they eat their main meal at lunch, between 2 - 4pm. I got used to that, and with the bountiful breakfast in the morning and the dessert in the evening at Casa de las Flores, lunch was the only meal I purchased each day!

GIVEAWAY!!! Treasures from my Mexico trip

It's finally time for the first Gonna Make a Change giveaway! I got the idea for this from my dear blogger friend, Tricia at Sisterly Shenanigans, who does fabulous giveaways for her readers every once in a while.

I have some small treasures I purchased on my trip to Mexico that I will be giving away to a few lucky Gonna Make a Change blog readers. All you have to do to enter the drawing is leave me a comment on this entry or tomorrow's! On Thursday evening, I will pick the winners at random and will post the results here.

So without any further ado, here is the first giveaway item: a folk art chicken handmade by the famous Ortega family!

The chicken is about four inches tall and is signed.

I visited the Ortegas' workshop in Tonala and took these pictures.

Shaping the clay and sanding fired pieces.

Their kilns.

Pieces drying in the sun.


Chickens waiting to be painted.

Hard at work with their pet, the dog and their muse, the duck.

The magnificently colorful painting area.

I will mail the winner of the drawing this beautiful, miniature piece of Mexican folk art. But you have to write a comment in order to have a chance at winning!

Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I will unveil another giveaway item from Mexico!

Project Amigo update

As I blogged earlier this month, before I went to Mexico, I emailed Stan, my host at Casa de las Flores, if I could bring down any donations for local charities. (This is something I didn't even know was possible until our trip to Guatemala this year. From now on, I will be finding out about what donations are needed and how to give them whenever I travel to a developing country.)

Stan directed me to Project Amigo. So, in my suitcase I packed a backpack and some children's clothes that my mom and I purchased over 4th of July weekend. These I gave Stan before I left. Now, I just got an email from Susan and Ted, who run Project Amigo.

We got a call from La Casa de Las Flores on Friday advising us that a visitor had left behind a mochila and clothing for Project Amigo. We picked them up Saturday afternoon, and are back at our computers today to say thank you.

It’s a great quality pack that we think we’ll give to our high school senior who is intent on going to medical school when he finishes high school next summer. (Eight of our high school scholarship recipients are finishing up a month in Utah – they’ve gotten to ice skate, play in the snow, camp in Yellowstone, visit canyons, caves and lakes, do a “ropes course” at Utah State, and so much more. And our future medical school student is part of this group. He’s having the time of his life...)

The clothing in the pack will go to littler kids. We have a project at a migrant labor camp in the town of Queseria where the families of sugar cane cutters live – some permanently, and some come and go with the cutting season. The workers there know the story you experienced on your way to Tequila all-too-well – the strike at the mill. There’s a sugar mill in the town of Queseria, and the workers are brought in to cut the cane in late November (when the rainy season stops). Last November there was a strike at the mill, the workers had been brought in, but there was no mill to take the cane to – therefore no cutting of cane, and no wages. No wages meant no food. (Visit: http://www.projectamigo.org/VOL.htm and click on December 2007 work week.)

When you next visit Mexico, we hope you’ll add Colima and Project Amigo to your list.

Thank you, again, for the day-pack and the clothing, and for the goodwill you put forth in our world.

Best wishes,
Susan and Ted

Casa de las Flores

Although I am very happy to be home with my husband, I greatly miss Casa de las Flores! This B&B truly is something very special. Since I didn't get a chance to post an entry just on my accommodations earlier, here is a more detailed account.

Here is my room. It had an extremely comfortable bed and a small sitting area.

There was folk art in the room, including these great pieces over my closet.

My room looked out on the lovely gardens.

Walking from my room, I went to the patio.

This was the site of breakfasts and evening desserts. Pictured below is Friday's breakfast: Chile Relleno - a chile pepper stuffed with three kinds of cheeses and bathed in tomato sauce.

Our host and chef for the breakfasts and desserts was the wonderful Stan. Here, he is showing us a special way to poach an egg.

Every other day, Stan would make a gourmet hot breakfast. The other days, we had a delicious selection of cereal, scrumptious yogurt with toasted pecans, breakfast empanadas, fresh fruit, and juice. Over breakfast was how I met Glenn and Sally last Sunday.

The best part about Casa de las Flores was the people I met, both the hosts, Stan and Jose, and all the wonderfully warm, interesting, and well-traveled guests.

One evening was quite chilly, and a bunch of us sat around the fireplace in the reception/sitting area. Everywhere you look there are different kinds of art.

I definitely hope to return, and I would love to keep in touch with the new friends I made. Here are Barry and Bill from Arizona, after we had dinner at El Nahual my last night.

My room cost about $111 USD total per night, and that included breakfast and dessert, as well as coffee, tea, and purified water available all day, use of a communal laptop or free wireless, and lots of great travel advice and personal assistance from the hosts and staff. The connections I made and the conversations I had, of course, were priceless. I know you can definitely find less expensive places in Mexico, but given everything Casa de las Flores offers, I think it's a heck of deal!

Ajijic - at the other end of the backpacker spectrum

I just got back from a day trip to Lake Chapala, where I visited the towns of Chapala and Ajijic (ah-HEE-heek). The lake is about 45 minutes away from Tlaquepaque, so it made a very nice trip.

First Luis, who was our driver for the trips earlier in the week, took me to Chapala. This town of about 10,000 inhabitants is the more Mexican of the two. On the shore of the lake, I watched as people set up food and souvenir stalls. Mexican tourists walked down the pier to wait for boat rides.

Then Luis took me to some of the neighborhoods in Chula Vista, between Chapala and Ajijic, where a number of Americans and Canadians have retired. I was amazed by the grandeur of a these villas and their fabulous views.

Finally, we went to Ajijic, a town of about 5,000 residents, where I was able to have a bite and walk around. This place is so relaxing! Imagine the conveniences of a backpacker town in Latin America (cafes and small restaurants with international menus and ambience geared toward Americans and Canadians), but yet more upscale because the clientele are retirees with money. Ajijic is artsy and whimsical and colorful.

The residents take pride in keeping it clean, as you can see signs all over town reminding people not to litter.


By the lakeside, there are an array of tables and grills for picnickers.

It was great to just relax on the pier, where there was a donkey at the bar for some reason!

There were some more fabulous villas right in town.

I stopped briefly at the Lake Chapala Society´s beautiful gardens.

I only had a few minutes before Luis was going to pick me up, but I did get to speak to a very friendly woman there. She had been a business owner in Granada, Nicaragua (a place I visited in 2005) for four years, but now she is in the process of moving here. She told me how much friendlier the people are in this area. And the society is a great community center. Apparently, there are up to 100 people meeting and visiting in the garden on any given morning. It certainly was a lovely place.

Finally, Luis returned me to Casa de las Flores. I got to meet his wife and four children.

It´s hard to believe that my vacation is coming to an end. There have been so many wonderful things I´ve seen and done here. But I will be VERY happy to see my husband soon!

Once I get home, I will post some more detailed information about my trip, so you can plan one of your own, should I have whetted your appetite for Mexico! I will also be posting more pictures, and of course, I will have my giveaway drawing! I hope to hear from you soon!

Casa de las Flores in Tlaquepaque

I´ve got time today for a bonus entry! I´m continuing to enjoy staying at Casa de las Flores, an outstanding B&B in Tlaquepaque, just outside of Guadalajara, Mexico. Last night, I met some great new people: Barry and Bill from Arizona and Penny and Susan all the way from Alaska. Unfortunately, Penny and Susan are already gone, but some new guests have arrived, and I hope to talk to them tonight.

Here are some photos of Casa de las Flores.

The indoor living room, complete with super-tall fireplace.

The path to my room.

A gathering nook.

View from my room.