A Plate Of Meat Product

Guadalajara isn't realy a town for tourists, unless you are someone who thinks packing up the family and heading to Detroit sounds like a fun time. That isn't to say it isn't an interesting city though, and people come from all over Mexico to shop for things you can't get elsewhere. This means stuff like frying pans, cooking pots, restaurant supplies of all kinds, you name it. A by-product is a huge flea market that covers blocks and blocks. Parked in the streets in front of the market are all kinds of buses that must run regular trips from smaller towns so people can shop. The luggage holds are just jammed with stuff that they are bringing back.

After spending a morning wandering about the place but finding nothing I could use I stumbled upon a set of swinging doors and figured I would check out what was on the other side. Bar Man has never met a set of swinging doors he hasn't liked.

Swinging Doors


On the other side was a classic Mexican tavernaro, just a bricked-in area in the back where an old lady was frying stuff up, a couple of refrigerators, one of which held beer, and a few bottles of tequila on a wooden shelf.

This didn't look like a place I was really interested in grabbing a bite to eat, but I had worked up a bit of a thirst so I ordered a beer. It came with a plate of something I can only describe as pink, moist, and meat-like in appearance with toothpicks sticking in it. I would have avoided it completely but the waitress presented it with such enthusiasm and then watched expectantly to see if it would meet with my approval. I had no choice but to try it.

Bar Man With Beer And Meat


Think baloney, old room-temperature (and in Mexico the rooms are quite warm) baloney, sprinkled with vinegar. Yummy it wasn't. I did manage to smile my way through a couple of pieces, and encouraged her to continue to serve it to other gringos who might be foolish enough to enter their premises. Bar Man does what he can to promote tourism and good will.

Later I wandered along a desolate stretch of discount auto-part and plumbing fixture stores and who knows what else to Guadalajara's pride and joy of a park. It really wasn't too bad, large cages of parrots like you see in a lot of restaurants, a butterfly enclosure that had, by my count, about six buterflies, and a bird house with about the same number of birds.

In the middle of the park, however, I did stumble upon the archealogical ruins that the park had been built around. A "genuine" pyramid and maus0leum of some type.

The Ruins


This was an exciting find indeed. Although the two buildings were locked, I was able to peer through the windows of the mausoleum where I could see the bones of what I presumed to have been a rather large ancient warrior decked out in the garb he was interred in.

Bones Of A Fallen Warrior


All in all it was a wonderful day. I returned to my hotel room shivering with excitement, a slight fever, and a bit of diarrhea. It just doesn't get any better than that.