Life in Guadalajara: The early Days

We made it, and wow is there so much already to tell! Guadalajara is so big and just like Los Angeles it has many smaller towns within its boarders. We actually live in a city called Zapopan. It is very green here and there are trees and grass everywhere. Last night we found out how it stays so green, we had the craziest rain/thunder/lighting storm. Our windows shook so much I thought they might break, and the lightning was bright not even our cutains could block the light.Yet today it is sunny and beautiful! No drought here!

Now, lets talk about our house. We live in a small coumminity of houses (More like condos) that are all connected. If we look out our bedroom window we can see into three other neighbors windows. We have a small livingroom/dinning room area that also holds our kitchen. If you go upsatirs that is where you will find our bedroom, bathroom, and very large closets! The house did come fully furnished but sadly is missing a few key items. The biggest surprise for us was finding out our little casa does not have an oven, or a coffee pot. EEK! So we are on the prowl for an inexpensive crock-pot, toaster oven, and coffee pot. Luckily just down the street is a Walmart! Our little casa also has a very quiant back yard space. We have an orange tree and its fruit is so delicious. We have only met one of our neighbors and they are very kind and we hope to get to know them more!

The food! Well Adam is very happy here because the food is what he craves always. There is a Taco stand about 1min walk away from our house every night. We went and got some the other night and it was delicious! Adam is in heaven because he gets to eat all the Carne Asada and steak his big stomach desires! As for me at the Taco stand they make this one kind of taco called the gringo. It is a flour tortilla cheese melted onto it and then steak grilled onions and salsa. Amazing! My taste buds are going to have to change a bit while we are here, but we did buy noodles and cheese so I could have a small taste of home every now and then.

Our first excursion into the city was yesterday. We visited downtown Zapopan and boy did we have an adventure. We took a bus to get there and it was easy enough to catch the bus to downtown. It picked us up from near our house and dropped us right by the Basilica de Zapopan. The Basilica is amazingly beautiful and very old. The construction for this building began in 1689 and didnt finish until 1730. It is awe inspiring. We wandered around and saw so many amazing sites. We saw a historical arch that cataloged the history of Zapopan. A chinese food resturaunt! We got ice cream that was so refreshing and cool and then we got lunch and a little street cafe. We will never be eating there again. Adam got his carne asada and I got the cheese encheladas. His was good, but mine tatsed like it was made with bad unrefrigirated cheese. I felt awful for this, but I couldn't eat it. So there is one lesson learned. Our next lesson of the day was a much more depressing one. We waited for our bus and we got on and we were talking about the days adventures and looking at all the sights when the bus stopped and the bus driver said we had to get off because this was the last stop. Adam and I got off the bus and looked around and with a bit of angst we realized we were no where near our house. We had to walk four miles to get to where we needed to be and then we caught another bus for a little while and finally reached our home. We were later told that the only unrelaible bus was that one we got onto. So we will be finding other ways to get to downtown Zapopan.

Well there is so much more to say but the day is already half way done and we want to explore as much as we can! We will be back in touch soon!

Adios mis amigos!

#zapopan #buses