Guadalajara - Day 3

View from hotel roof

We had our usual light breakfast with Coffee from an Oxxo convenient store and fresh pastry from a bakery.  We took our time enjoying our breakfast sitting on a bench and watching the people of the city walking purposely to start their day.

We then returned to our room for a round of hand clothes washing.  We had refined our drying method from using clothes hangars over the window to hanging the clothes from the hotel washing lines on  the roof, one flight of stairs up.

Sculpture in Plaza Tapatia

We then walked to the museum and found it closed at 11 AM even though our guide stated that it would be open at 10 AM.   We then found our way to the information center, where there was surprise that the museum wasn't open.  They made a phone call and learned that the museum was closed for the day for renovation but would be open tomorrow, so this represented a reverse transfer of information.

Artwork outside of Instituto Cultural

Brenda with friend

We then walked down the Plaza Tapatia, which leads to the Instituto Cultural de Cabanas, a building that dates from 1805 and was used as an orphanage and home for invalids for 150 years.  The building has many pillars, archways and courtyards.  It's most famous attraction is a mural by Jose Clemente Orozco, which is claimed to be his best work.  Brenda and I spent over 30 minutes viewing the paintings, often while laying on our backs on benches provided for the purpose.  The paintings are complex and full of details which would take many hours of contemplation to fully appreciate. 

Guadalajara Cathedral

Note baroque candle sticks

The crypt below the altar

Brenda looking uneasy inside crypt

We then walked back up the Plaza which is an amazing concourse full of shops, street vendors, water fountains, and offshoots of other pedestrian areas.  We picked a place to eat that offered a special of Mexican grill for two and 5 beers thrown in for 250 pesos.  We were served a splendid dish of various meats and vegetables, a side dish of salad, tortillas, and 5 Indio beers in a bucket of ice.  We managed to eat most of the food and drink four of the beers before staggering back to our hotel room for a nap.

Lunch

Dome at Insituto Cultural

Brenda in deep contemplation

Brenda's mealtime story 2: The meal described above and pictured  contained some Mexican specialties. One was Nopales, a cactus also known as Prickly Pear which we often saw growing wild in Baja.. It has flat spiny 'leaves', or pads. It is prepared for cooking by first removing the spines, then removing the skin with a vegetable peeler. Ours was small pads, grilled and I think lime and a little olive oil had been added. Although I have seen freshly prepared Nopales in the supermarket, this was the first we have tried. We both liked them. They were soft and had a pleasant flavour.

At about 5 PM we took a stroll up Madero street with the goal of getting a close look at some interesting looking buildings that we had seen from the hotel.   While Brenda and I were standing at a corner looking at some buildings a brightly dressed man approached us and insisted that we go inside of the building next to us.  Inside was a large dance floor, and band stand, with a long bar at the rear.  He and a colleague who hailed from the Cabo area of Baja led us into a side room to meet some of his friends, and we found ourselves in a scene from The Buena Vista Social Club.  There were 6 or 7 older men around a table, probably playing dominos or some other game.  For all we knew we could have been in Havana.  We were then taken to the bar where the man insisted that we have a drink on the house to toast the building.  I was presented with a generous neat serving of the smoothest tequila that I've ever had.  Brenda had hers mixed.

It turns out that this is a widely known center of Cuban music and dancing.  The place is connected with the University of Guadalajara and has cultural ties with Cuba, which regularly sends their musicians.  Three times a week the joint is jumping with top quality Cuban music and jam packed with dancers.  The next music night is Thursday and Brenda and I are tempted to stay in Guadalajara one more day in order to experience the evening.  The music begins at 11 PM and runs until about 3 AM, and we were advised to get a table in the old bandstand area at 10.30 PM before the place fills up.