Tlaquepaque

Tlaquepaque is an area of Guadalajara that has numerous galleries, upscale shops and restaurants, and a lovely pedestrian-only area surrounding the central plaza. If we want to buy things we go to Tonala, where the artisans and fabricas are, but if we just want to wander and look around it's always fun to go to Tlaquepaque.

There are lots of statues and sculptures, some historic and some just fun.

Self-Portrait?

This mariachi sculpture was at the entrance to a series of restaurants surrounding a central plaza.

We had a nice lunch at one of the restaurants and had fun people-watching.

Brian ordered Chiles en Nogada which is a special Mexican dish. It's a poblano chile stuffed with spices, ground beef and I don't know what else, and has a sweet nutty sauce on it. It's topped with pomegranate seeds, which are in season for a limited time, so it was nice to see it on the menu. We've heard it referred to as the national dish of Mexico because it has the colors of the Mexican flag - red, white and green.

We enjoyed wandering around and were quite surprised to find an ice skating rink in the middle of the plaza. Lots of special machinery and coverings over the rink. There were quite a few skaters and they looked pretty good out there.

We were just in time to see these female mariachas performing. Very enjoyable!

Although we prefer making our purchases in Tonala, which seems to eliminate much of the middleman, Brian did find a Huichol woman in a sidewalk stand and purchased a mask from her (keep adding to that mask collection!). All of the beading is done by hand, one bead at a time.

Brian purchased another interesting addition to his collection at the Cooperativa in Chapala. The masks are on a roof tile.