Guadalajara

The drive from Zacatecas to Guadalajara was the most beautiful we`d yet made. The road ascended and ascended until it crested the top of the mountain, then curled and wound it`s way around and down, with each new turn exposing haunting new vistas of sun-drenched mountains and shadowed valleys.

Unfortunately, one side-effect of the curvaceous roads was slow traffic. With only one lane in each direction, slow-moving trucks gather herds of other vehicles behind them. The local drivers fearlessly attempt high-speed passes around 90-degree blind curves, sometimes even forcing oncoming traffic onto the shoulder of the road. (This is something I don`t think I`ll ever learn how to do.) So, although it was only a 300km drive, by the time we got to Guadalajara, it was well past dark.

I have a friend, Todd (a fellow tree-planter), who lives in Guadalajara, and who kindly offered to let us stay in his apartment even though he was on vacation somewhere in Africa. Todd is nothing if not thorough, so we had excellent directions but still managed to get ourselves lost - and being lost while I´m driving in a strange city always turns me into a maniac, so that was not a terribly fun experience...especially for Bryan. Eventually we arrived, only to discover that the phone number of the person who was to let us in had misprinted and was unreadable. With no way to re-check the email containing the phone number, we grudgingly headed off to find a hotel.

After getting lost again - again, not fun for Bryan - we finally found a hotel, only to get lost AGAIN trying to find parking - you can imagine how much fun the whole trip was by this time! Needless to say, it was a stressful night.

In the morning we finally managed to contact the right person, and get into Todd´s apartment. It was nice to have a whole apartment to ourselves instead of a dirty hotel room, for a change. And having a kitchen for a few days was great (as most of you know I love to cook). We stayed three more days in Guadalajara relaxing and exploring the town. We visited the historic cathedral, lavishly ornamented with gold, of course. El palacio federal, an historic government building was notable for two huge, dramatic murals decorating it´s arched ceilings. One of them, called "The Negative Forces", depicted Nazi-fascists, soviet-communists, and the church, all violently cramming their respective ideologies down the throats of a suffering populous. The other mural, called "The Political Circle", depicted a mob of radical peasants and indigenous peoples forcing a scared-looking politician to enact reforms in the wake of the 2nd Mexican revolution. I had fun imagining the looks on the faces of the politicians who commissioned the work when they saw the finished product.

After a few days in Guadalajara we were ready to head for Mexico City, known locally as el D.F.