Children are Expensive

We’ve spent about a week here in Guadalajara. When we first talked about coming here we didn’t think we wanted to spend any time here as we both remembered it as a hard place to get around in and lots of smog. Well the smog is still here but a lot of the construction on roads is over with and the traffic is pretty smooth moving. As long as you watch the one-way signs. We were on a road yesterday that it was impossible to make a left turn off of. The only way to go left was to go right, right, right and straight. Speaking of yesterday, Sunday was an important day for several girls and boys. It was their First Communion. How do we know – the girls were all in very pretty long white dresses and veils and the boys were splendid in their white suits with vests and ties. And of course the rest of the family was dressed up too. We could not get near the main plaza downtown. There are several churches in that area and traffic was intense. All the parking lots were full. Also we found several main streets closed to automobile traffic so thousands of bicyclists, roller skaters and skate boarders could use them. This was only one of the streets blocked - the big cathedral is in the background. We finally gave up and came back to the RV to just relax the rest of the day.
Before giving up we did revisit the big market place – only bought DVDs this time. Got 14 movies for US$16. In English with Spanish subtitles. Watched Julie/Julia and Bill said who ever translated the movie in Spanish was NOT a Spanish speaker. I even caught some weird translations – so they had to be bad. One glaring item – in the movie was an amount 1500 – in the translation it was 5000. Pretty good movie though. Oh – I forgot to mention – gasoline and diesel have both gone up again. Now gas is 8.04 pesos a liter. That’s almost 2.60 per gallon in US. Might as well travel in the US. This will really hurt the Mexicans. Lots of complaining going on in the papers. About the First Communion – having children here in Mexico has got to be expensive, especially girls – first the Baptismal clothing which is gorgeous! This isn’t a good picture as it was through a window but you get the idea. Then First Communion and then, if a girl, her 15th birthday – that is a huge function with attendants and then the wedding. The girls parents pay for everything.
Back to the market – this picture is for you Gil – we looked but didn’t see any of your blood still on the ground. Also for children are these fancy Mariachi type outfits. And finally here is a picture of the coat Bill got. The video is on the main open space in the market. You can hear the roosters throughout the market place.

Will try to post more on this city later. Today will be out last day with Internet for a while, at least until we get to Queretaro - whenever.