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.

Tonala - making plaster vases

Again this should follow the two posts below it but..... Then we came across an area where they were making the plaster vases we saw for sale all over. There was a big “pit” area with terraced “shelves” all around it. And zillions of vases - some raw some painted. In the pit the vases were being made. On the terraced areas they were drying and being painted. Had no idea they could be made so quickly. First the plaster was mixed then poured into plastic molds with rubber liners. The molds were in two pieces strapped together. The plaster poured in through a hole in the bottom. Then the men would pick up and rotate the molds for a short time, then add more plaster and repeat the rotating. They did this several times. I guess depending on how thick the vase had to be. Then they would release the straps, take off the plastic mold pieces, remove the rubber lining and there would be the vase. It was then cleaned off by hand and set out to dry. Later they would be painted. Very quick and very efficient. Just a very short video of the rotating

Tonala - Glass Making

This should be after the post below it but didn't want to keep adding to the one - was afraid I'd lose it. Also we stumbled on to a couple of interesting “factories.” The first one was a glass works. It was all open to watch. Several men work there and it was a sight to see. They were pulling rods out of the ovens and walking around with the red hot balls of molten glass on the ends of the rods. Then swinging the rods around to get the glass to shape into a tear drop. How they kept from running into each other and or burning each other is a wonder. Took some pictures and a short video of it. The hot glass on the end of the rod, just out of the oven. Getting ready to swing the glass to shape it. Getting it's tear drop shape Cooling down What they were making