Guadalajara
Last update: 01/22/2008
Place of life
All About
The spa is under development and if you like, we will keep you posted.
FOR INVESTMENT, SPENDING TIME, LIVING OR JUST VISITING.
Guadalajara, Mexico - Just Do It! CONTACT US
Guadalajara (the State of Jalisco) is the original home of the mariachi bands, the well-known popular song, Guadalajara, and the even-better known Mexican Hat Damce (Jarabe Tapatío; tapatío means ``from Guadalajara''). This cheerful mariachi music, alternately strident with its brass instruments and romantic or sentimental with its violins, can be heard everywhere from early morning on, in shops, on the radio, and in restaurants. On Friday evenings at 7 o'clock, following a long-standing custom called Callejoneada (strolling the streets), a band of mariachis and dancing couples tour the main streets around the Cathedral, followed by a crowd of locals and tourists. They stop to give a short performance in the main square and another in the patio café (or cantina) of the Hotel Francés in nearby Maestranza Street.
On Sunday mornings at 10 a.m., in the central Degollado Theatre, there is a performance of Mexican Ballet Folclórico. About half a kilometer along the pedestrian mall to the east of the Cathedral is an enormous open-air market, San Juan de Dios and, a $3 taxi ride away, others in outlying Tonalá or more up market Tlaquepaque (both previously independent towns, now absorbed into the rapidly-expanding city). In all of these (and other) markets you can find a full range of stalls or shops selling Mexican and local crafts of all kinds, colours and prices, but mainly cheap souvenirs. In the open-air markets it is OK to haggle a bit, but not in the more elegant shops of Tlaquepaque. In addition to these colourful street markets in central Guadalajara, on Sundays there are Mexican cowboy shows (Charreadas), bullfights (in season) and, gulp!, cockfights. (No, I didn't go.)
Everywhere you go, people seem genuinely friendly, including waiters, taxi drivers (very reasonable in their pricing, usually agreed on before setting off for the destination, and not expecting a tip) and shoeshine men (70 cents per shine). Food, at a variety of levels of restaurants is either very cheap or at least inexpensive, with a meal at the best restaurants not costing much above $15, unless a bottle of foreign wine is included. For this reason, there is not much point in trying the cheap and very basic tourist meal (menú turístico or comida corrida) offered by some restaurants and hotels unless you are extremely short of cash, or masochistic. In more modest establishments, the usual precautions with water and vegetables have to be taken in order to avoid Montezuma's Revenge, but there is a huge variety of Mexican foods with exotic Aztec and other names like huanzontle, mixiote, chilaquiles, huitlacoche, or birria which may be sampled with care. If, after a few days, the hundred and one ways of preparing corn pall on your taste buds, or elsewhere, try the many other Mexican items on the menu.
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From deserts to gardens
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The Desert Blooms, the Gulf Waters Refresh, the Air sustains, the food nourishes, the quiet relaxes, the nights bring sleep |
Meet people from all over the world
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We chose the RUSTIC design because there is an example of early Mexico right outside the SPA. You will find the quaintness, the age and and friendliness of the pueblo overwhelming. We have tried to capture the Early Mexico ambiance. | ||
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For a qualified guide Anthony de Lima, 19, qualified life guard, experience in volley ball, kayak, canoe, sailing, fishing, kiting, hiking... An all round good guy proficient in English, Spanish and Portuguese Appalachian State University
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Content copyright Paraclete Foundation. Inc. (California) 20007
