Mexico: Guadalajara and Tlaquepaque

As I was reminded by a TSA official at Reagan National Airport that I needed to sign my unused passport to validate it, I realized it's been 22 years since I was last out of the US and Canada. Our 12 day trip to visit my daughter Nora in Guadalajara began with a series of little mishaps, (setting off for the wrong airport, Ina having to bandage the hapless Uber driver after he slit his wrist breaking the handle on my new suitcase, then directing him turn by turn to National since he couldn't follow the GPS directions), then settled down to an easy two stage flight for my first real vacation since 2011. 

Nora and her close friend and roommate Monica met us outside of customs Thursday night and whisked us across the sprawling megalopolis to drop our bags at their apartment then treat us to our first Mexican meal, tacos like we've never eaten at a busy neighborhood joint. Bedtime came late.

While Nora was in class the next morning, Monica took us to breakfast at an outdoor cafe near University of Guadalajara, and we realized we would be going home needing to lose a pound or two ... a short walk deposited me at the back of a massive stone cathedral with my sketchbook while Ina discovered the university's wonderful art museum, where we saw a brilliant contemporary exhibition of paintings by a modern Mexican surrealist juxtaposed with a breathtaking Orozco wall and dome mural from the 1930s. 

Swinging by the apartment to pick Nora up, Monica drove us through the Friday afternoon rush hour to Tlaquepaque, a neighborhood of restaurants, shops, and galleries featuring traditional Mexican artisanal crafts. After a fabulous meal in a large courtyard, serenaded by mariachi, we waded through the streets as dusk fell and vendors and contestants assembled their Dia de los Muertos booths along the narrow sidewalks. Another cathedral riveted me to a stone perch for one more sketch before we headed home at the end of a perfect first day in Mexico.