Monday, June 9, 2008

Tlaquepaque and the Church Dance


So – It is pouring outside, which means the internet does not work. I am writing this now and hoping to copy and paste it in the morning.

What a weekend. Friday we went to Tlaquepaque with all the other exchange students studying Spanish at Autonoma. That was a lot of fun. We visited a museum and then a ceramic like shop. The shop was beautiful and the owner, Paco Padilla, was quite possibly the coolest man around. First, he makes these amazing ceramic pieces of art and then he tells us he is a composer and sings us a few songs. His voice was so soothing and no one really wanted to get up after he sang. We could have sat there and listened all day. He then took us to where all the artwork is done. He even began the painting of a plate, right there in front of us. He made it look so unbelievably easy, just the swish of a brush. Every piece is so unique that I could have spent hours in there looking at it all.

After Paco’s place, we headed to El Patio for lunch. Both Guillermo and Yolanda had told us that it was something you have to go to while you are in Tlaquepaque. They were right. Normally there is a mariachi of mujeres there but we were a little early. Still, it was the cutest restaurant. It was pretty much a huge patio. The horchata there was pink and had some yummy coconut flavor to it. I ordered sopes and they were fantastic. 4 sopes for 5 dollars – not too bad, considering how great they were. The waiters there were amazing as well. We only had about 30 minutes to get the ordering and eating done and they helped us do it. It was very nice.

For dinner Natalie and I hit up the Argentine Restaurant muy cerca to our house...I can't say I was that impressed. First they gave me a menu in english and instead of having the name of the food, it was some description that wasn't very helpful. They had no empanadas or gnochis - the 2 things I was craving. I ended up with another milanesa (this time with french fries - still craving the pure de papas con mis milanesas.) Nat got canalones with cheese and spinach filling. Really - the Argentine feel just came from the tango music playing in the background. We were also eating a little early, so no one was there - allowing our waiter to watch us like a hawk. That became a little uncomfortable.

Friday night was the 8 stake dance. Every single adult in Guadalajara was invited. We got there a little before the fiesta started – and we thought we were showing up fashionably late. It is always fun traveling in huge groups. I don’t know if the bus drivers love us or hate us. We took about an hour bus ride to the chapel and we were already an hour and a half late…Manuel was the dj and put on what I think he thought was American dance music. A lot of it was techno. Of course that is not what we were used to but we went out there and danced anyway. The single adults must have thought we were crazy and for a while we even scared them of the floor. Oh I wish you could have seen our performance of thriller at the dance. I wish I could have seen the faces on the members. All of the sudden we are breaking out crazy moves…it turned out pretty exciting.

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