For my last weekend in Guadalajara, things took a turn for the worse at the hostel I was staying in when the owner decided to let it be overrun by a group of high school students on a school trip. These kids clearly weren’t 18+, and after being kept awake past 4 a.m. Saturday morning as they sat in the courtyard partying without regard for other guests all night, I decided to check out and move to a Holiday Inn Express near the airport, where I would catch my flight to Querétaro on Monday morning.

After getting a good night’s rest Saturday night, I made plans to spend the afternoon with a classmate from my teacher training program in the nearby city of Tlaquepaque, known for arts and crafts sold in the central shopping district along Calle Independencia. When I arrived I discovered a civic parade blocking the path to our meeting point at El Jardín Hidalgo, the central plaza of Tlaquepaque. I sent my friend a message to let her know I’d meet her after the parade was finished. It ended up being a pretty good parade, though I still can’t tell you what the occasion was. There were marching bands, civic organizations, politicians, law enforcement and other emergency personnel, and groups of students from area schools. It reminded me of civic parades growing up in my hometown outside of Kansas City.

After a while, the parade ended, and the police reopened the streets, so I proceeded to Jardín Hidalgo. It was a beautiful late September afternoon with lots of sunshine and fortunately no rain. Jardín Hidalgo is a beautiful central plaza with lots of beautiful trees and flowers adjacent to the Parroquia de San Pedro Apóstol, from which the city gets its official name, San Pedro Tlaquepaque. We took our time exploring the area around Jardín Hidalgo before finding out way to Calle Independencia, the main street along which you’ll find countless shops selling the most common touristy items to fine art unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else.

Our favorite place ended up being the least fancy of all. The Museo Regional de la Ceramica is an old villa with thick stone walls, inside of which many of the rooms house small art galleries displaying traditional Mexican arts and crafts. The building itself is quite old, probably dating the colonial era, with minimal efforts made to modernize or restore it. What was most interesting, though, was watching a weaver make cotton items on a type of foot-mechanized loom in a sun-sheltered area adjacent to the large central plaza and made a methodical rhythm as he worked. He laid each piece out to sell on a table, stopping to talk to interested buyers as he finished each item, before starting the next. Other parts of the museum included displays of traditional kitchens with stone wear used to mill heirloom varieties of corn into masa, corn flour, for making tortillasi .

After a while walking around in the sun taking in all the shops, we had worked up quite an appetite, so we decided to stop for lunch at El Patio Tlaquepaque, one of the nice restaurants along Calle Independencia. We entered into an open air courtyard with table shaded in sombrillas, which also served as rain protection in the afternoon tropical thunderstorms. We were serenaded by mariachis, native music from the state of Jaliso and Guadalajara in particular, as we relaxed in the shaded couryard and compared notes about our day in Tlaquepaque and our month or so in Guadalajara. We started with queso fundido, a dish of hot melted cheese and spicy chorizo, as an appetizer before enjoying chicken fajitas as our main course. We decided to pass on dessert in order to save room for nieves de garrafa, a type of ice cream hand made in small batches, just one of many delicious foods from Guadalajara. We’d passed a place called Nieve de Garrafa Mexicaltzingo in the morning as we meandered our way through Jardín de Hidalgo to Calle Indepencia, and we would not be denied!

Before we went for ice cream, we finished our stroll to the end of Calle Independencia where we discovered the Monumento a Los Niños Héroes, in honor of a group of teenage military cadets who died on September 13, 1847 defending Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle from invading U.S. forces in the Battle of Chapultepec during the Mexican-American War. It’s a group of life size statues without pedestals set such that the people walk freely in and around the monument, which remains a symbol of the national pride and resilience of the Mexican people, who over the last 500 years have endured the Conquest of Mexico by the Spanish, multiple invasions by the French, and a war with its neighbor to the north that resulted in the loss of 50% of Mexican territory when what is now the US Southwest was ceded to the US in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the end the war. I found the monument the perfect end to a perfect day, and a more perfect ending to the six weeks I spent in and around Guadalajara while I was in teacher training after moving to Mexico. I have yet to return to this wonderful city, but it will always be close to my heart for the experiences I had there and the warm friendships I made with its friendly Tapatios, as natives of Jalisco are fondly known. Make sure to take time out of your visit to Guadalajara to visit Tlaquepaque. It will be a highlight of your trip.

• artisans
• ceramics
• guadalajara
• jalisco
• méxico
• tlaquepaque