Thursday, November 23, 2017

Day 1 in Autlán, Mexico


After driving for more than 3 hours, I was very excited to see Carlos Santana on the welcoming "Autlan" sign at the entrance of the town. This town of 60,000 people happens to be the birthplace of legendary musician, Carlos Santana.  Comparing to the many tiny villages we passed by on the way here, Autlán has everything - a beautiful mural leads to the church on top of the hill, a historical city hall, a rodeo ring, a museum, a university, Santana Plaza, night markets, and countless shops all over the town.


The first we did was hiking up the hill in the morning. Along the way, we saw a donkey, chickens, roosters, and several dogs. One dog followed us for a while.  There were many Giant Cactus trees. When we reached the top of the hill, we were able to see the entire town. There is a church on top of the hill.  I was told it will be all decorated and looking festive in the next few weeks for Christmas although it looked a bit run down at the moment.

City Hall

The City Hall is quite impressive. It says 1810 on the building, so I assume it's over 200 years old. I went inside and looked around. It has a lot of offices and people applying for passports, paying bills, applying for marriage licenses, etc. It's a lot bigger than El Cerrito for sure.

Plaza De Toros Alberto Balderas is the rodeo ring. Although my friend told me that they no longer practice traditional bullfight, inside of the plaza has many paintings and photographs past bullfights and matadors. I think some traditions are better left in the past. I was told that rodeo is the main sport at the Plaza these days.

I was quite surprised to see many point of interests in this town since there was very little information I could find on the internet. This town is definitely worth a visit.


Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Chapala, Mexico


Back in May this year, I used over 15,000 miles on my Capital One Visa card plus $95 to purchase a roundtrip ticket to Guadalajara, Mexico. A former co-worker of mine turned to her hometown Autlán, after the company we worked for was sold.  She had frequently invited me to go visit her. After six years, I finally arrived at Guadalajara Airport at 6 a.m.  I was a little worried about getting in touch with my friend even though my cellphone carrier, Cricket, indicates that SMS and calls are included while traveling in Mexico and Canada.


The phone certainly worked. Before we headed to Autlán, we stopped by Chapala, which is just 30 minutes away from the airport, for lunch and some sightseeing. Chapala is a little resort town next to a lake. It's a popular destination for American retirees as the weather is in mid-80's all year round. There are plenty of souvenir shops and street food vendors at the outdoor market.  I had my first elote (corn) ice cream cone. It was very refreshing and not overly sweet. I enjoyed every bit of the ice cream cone.


Prior to my trip, I was concerned about consuming water. Everything on the internet still indicates that tap water is not safe to drink, and travellers need to avoid ice as well. Although I wanted to be careful, by now I already had a tamarind drink with my lunch. I couldn't possibly turn down some homemade ice cream. I wanted to try everything!