Guadalajara, Jalisco + Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico

Arriving in Guadalajara was definitely a big change from Cabo. Guadalajara is apparently one of the most Mexican cities and English was definitely not as widely spoken. It was a good experience but it is basically just a big city. We went to a few markets and tried some new food and one night went out to a salsa club. We were also lucky to make a friend at the hostel who could speak Spanish and did a bit of translating for us! If we had a bit more time we would have done the Tequila factory tour. Maybe it's good that we didn't because the tour leaves the hostel at 9:30am and gets back around 5pm.....that's a lot of tequila!

Awesome food!

 Tortas Ahogadas

 Markets

With a few translation difficulties we eventually made it to the bus station in Guadalajara to get a bus 4 hours east to a cute little city called Guanajuato. To my surprise the buses in Mexico are really nice, such a refreshing change from the Greyhounds in America. They even give you a little goodie bag for the bus trip with a drink and some snacks!

We finally checked into our hostel around 10pm and went in search of some food. Guanajuato is a small city but there is always something going on at night. There were bands playing and lots of different food stalls set up. When we got back to the hostel we just hung out and watched a movie with some of the guys staying there. We only had one full day in Guanajuato so the next day we headed out to explore the city with two English guys staying at the hostel. We went to Callejon del Beso (the Alley of the Kiss), to see the El Pipila statue (a hero in the war of independence) and the University of Guanajuato. The Alley of the Kiss is a very narrow alleyway where the balconies of the two opposite houses at the end are very close to each other. Legend tells that the daughter of a rich landowner fell in love with a miner and the miner rented the house opposite hers so that they could kiss from the balconies and keep their love a secret. When the father found out it was a tragic ending but now it is meant to be lucky if lovers kiss on the third step in the alleyway under these balconies. We got the funicular (cable car) up to the El Pipila statue and there is an amazing view of the city of all the little colourful houses. We then walked down the hill through all the little cute alleyways and checked out some of the shops. That night we headed out to some local bars with the English guys and some other people they had met. We packed up our stuff the next morning and headed back to the bus station to get a bus to Puerto Vallarta.

Guanajuato is a very cool place and it would have been great if we could have stayed a bit longer!

Alley of the Kiss

View of the city

 El Pipila

 University of Guanajuato