October 6 2008 Page 3

The Almost Twice Weekly Newspaper for the Jaltemba Coast

The Many Facets of Guadalajara

By Tara Spears

            Guadalajara sparkles with historical splendor, blending neoclassical, gothic, and modern architectural styles that reflect its roots yet embraces the future. This second largest city in Mexico offers contemporary amenities, a thriving international business and industrial center, impressive museums and world class cultural fine arts, excellent shopping, professional sports, quality medical care, and five major universities.  Whatever your interests or needs, this urban jewel of Mexico can satisfy them.   

History:  

             The geographic attributes that appealed to the Spanish explorers in the early 1500s favored the continued growth from a colonial settlement to the present day expansive metropolis.  Its altitude of 1,600 meters (5,200 feet) envelops the city with a mild, spring-like climate.  Guadalajara’s strategic location connects it to the Pacific coast and also to the vast resources of the interior by a web of good highways and the Don Hidalgo international airport.  This accessibility has made Guadalajara a natural commercial and industrial hub. The city planners had the wisdom to create a good internal street and highway infrastructure that facilitates residential, industrial, and tourism travel throughout the city proper and its suburbs. By designating urban zones, both comfortable neighborhoods and expanding commerce grew in harmony.  A melting pot of cultures, Guadalajara’s ethnic composition reflects this merging diversity: Criollos-people of European descent; Mestizos-mainly Indian and Spanish descent; Amerindians-the native Mexican Indians; and in the last 25 years, gringos from all over the world have settled in this area. All residents of Guadalajara are called Tapatio in Spanish.  

            As the capital city of Jalisco, and due to its vigorous industries, Guadalajara is the prosperous site of many transnational and international companies. The city is world renown as Mexico’s most important high tech capital for its leadership in software and information development. Guadalajara’s strong electronic industry is acknowledged as Mexico’s Silicon Valley.  This economic power interacts with the extensive government center: there are consulates of 41 nations as well as the Mexican judicial courthouse and governor’s palace.  Five major national banks have their headquarters there.

            To help you get around this huge urban city, there follows a short summary of  some of the distinctive area attractions.  The public transportation system is affordable and reliable. There are also taxis everywhere that enable the visitor to comfortably navigate the city.

•  (1) Sector Juárez -- southwest central Guadalajara, with plenty of shops and 2 malls (Centro Magno and Plaza las Torres, encompassing the Minerva and Chapultepec commercial zones.
• (1) Sector Hidalgo -- northwest central Guadalajara, a largely residential area encompassing the financial district and the country club.
• (1) Sector Libertad -- northeast central Guadalajara, a largely industrial zone. The southwest part of the sector is pretty close to the historic downtown, there is a traditional market (Mercado San Juan de Dios) and Plaza de los mariachis where you can find the traditional Mexican music.
• (1) Sector Reforma -- southeast central Guadalajara, also a mostly industrial zone. Parque Agua Azul, a large park with many trees, an auditorium and a lake inside similar to Central Park, lies there. On Saturday mornings there's a street market, the Tianguis Cultural, where you can buy alternative apparel and articles for youngsters such as spiked belts, black trenchcoats, military uniforms, used books and trading cards for a fair price.
• (1) Centro Historico -- the historic downtown. Most of your time will probably be spent here. It is filled with colonial era buildings. It also boasts several important mural paintings by Jalisco-born José Clemente Orozco, one of Mexico's most important artists.
• (2) Zapopan -- is both a large municipal region comprising much of the western edge of metropolitan Guadalajara and the small old town center of Zapopan northwest of the Minerva-Chapultepec area. Zapopan the region comrises several shopping malls (Plaza Patria, Plaza Galerias, La Gran Plaza, among others), the Mercado del Mar (Sea Market) where you can eat fish and seafood for a reasonable price, as well as downtown Zapopan where you can find many bars and cantinas. Right south from the downtown there are rich neighborhoods, night clubs such as White Lotus and Bossé, restaurants, three private universities (Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Tec de Monterrey and Universidad del Valle de Atemajac - UNIVA) and several shopping malls (Plaza Pabellon, Plaza del Sol). Zapopan actually is the largest municipality in the State and has several parks (Los Colomos, The Country Club) and a forest (La Primavera)
• (8) Tlaquepaque -- south and southeast Guadalajara, offers an old town Tlaquepaque area with a Mexican village setting. It has an important shopping district as it is a main arts and crafts center within Mexico. The old town offers many interesting restaurants, galleries, a regional ceramics museum and a "Premio Nacional de la Ceramica" (National Ceramics Awards) museum. There is a large variety of shops where you can buy local pottery and handicrafts. "The Parian" is a square building in the heart of its downtown that houses a collection of 17 restaurant-bars and at the center has a traditional kiosk where mariachi groups and singers play for patrons. It's a great place to enjoy a cool drink on a hot day and listen to good music in a very Mexican setting. Tlaquepaque is about 15 minutes from Guadalajara's downtown and about 20 minutes from the airport. A private university, the ITESO, lies on southern Guadalajara.
• (4) Tonalá -- eastern Guadalajara, where you can also buy handicrafts. There a huge park, the Parque Solidaridad. (Click on the ‘colonial cities and towns’ link at the bottom of the first page on the Jaltemba Sol for photos.)

Shopping:                               Plaza Galerias

With a population of seven million people, Guadalajara was the first Mexican/Latin American city to build a mall that offered multiple stores under one roof with convenient parking.  Of the 38 malls in Guadalajara, nine provide air conditioning, ATM, escalators, elevators, restaurants and movie theaters in addition to the variety of stores. Listed below are directions to the malls that this writer has visited.

ü  Plaza Galerías, Guadalajara's biggest mall, located in the crossing of the Vallarta and Rafael Sanzio avenues. It houses Guadalajara's biggest multiplex cinema (20 screens) Across the street is Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Costco.

ü  Plaza del Sol, located near the crossing between the López Mateos and Mariano Otero avenues. Guadalajara's second biggest mall. The new Torrena Tower, slated to be the tallest building in Latin American, measures 336.5 m high and will be completed in 2009, is next to Plaza del Sol. Another shopping center, a smaller underground mall, Plaza Torrena, can be recognized by its white concrete dome located in the crossing of the López Mateos and Mariano Otero avenues. Park once and access all three shopping areas.

ü  Plaza Patria, enclosed by the Patria, Ávila Camacho and Américas avenues. It's a two-story mall with a sizeable assortment of stores, including fashion, electronics, and a supermarket.

ü  Centro Magno, located between Vallarta and López Cotilla avenues. It has a big, wide, closed space in the middle, surrounded mostly by restaurants, fashion, electronics and bazaar stores, with a cinema on the top floor.

ü  Tlaquepaque's Old Town District displays a huge assortment of Mexican arts and crafts as well as high end decorative traditional and contemporary home furnishings. All product qualities ranging from the finest ceramic, glass, pewter, etc, to traditional pottery created by many of Mexico's Great Masters is on display and for sale.

          Guadalajara’s diverse cultural offerings include a fantastic array of 189 museums, art galleries, and cultural centers, with the Guggenheim Museum to open in 2010. Added to this are six distinct newspapers (the Guadalajara Reporter is in English), 50 radio stations, and five major auditoriums that provide symphony, theater, and concert performances year round. There is such a wonderful variety of festivals, performances and exhibits to choose from in this jewel of Mexico, that you could go to a different one every day for a month without repeating.

         For the sporting enthusiast, there are eight golf courses, twenty tennis courts, and too many lovely parks for joggers to list.  Guadalajara is home to three professional soccer teams, each with its own stadium.  The traditional Mexican sport of bullfighting is enjoyed weekly by thousands at one of the three large bullfight rings. 

         Whether you visit Guadalajara for business, recreation or vacation, this city has it all.  A cosmopolitan jewel that is grounded in its rich past yet eagerly embraces the future, Guadalajara offers shopping, excellent medical care, and a wide variety of cultural options besides a plethora of casual dining and nightlife.  As a fast-paced urban alternative to the laidback, beautiful coastal Riviera Nayarit, Guadalajara is unsurpassed.

 To contact the author:  terri_sprs@yahoo.com  Tara Spears

The Talpa de Allende Virgin Walks Jenny McGill - PVNN     Our Señora del Rosario is a twenty inch wooden figure which has become almost as popular in some parts of Mexico as the Virgin of Guadalupe.   Autumn is a very special time in the mountains of Jalisco. The summer rains have washed clean the faces of every leaf and blade of grass in the countryside. Imagine yourself taking a walk along a country road, portable easel, paints and brushes in hand. You might have a water bottle slung over one shoulder and a tuna sandwich in your fanny pack. You could be listening to the birds talking to each other, the crickets calling out or maybe it is your favorite music or guru on your Walkman attached to your belt. If you think you're surely almost in Heaven, you might be in the hills around Talpa de Allende, Jalisco. I'm not a botanist nor an artist so I can't tell you the names of all the wild flowers that are setting the hills ablaze with different shades of yellow, pink, oranges and lavenders set against the background of a jillion tones of green, which we look out upon this time of the year. Talpa de Allende is a festive town in this autumn setting, and the party gets started on the first Sunday in August after the twelve o'clock mass, when the Virgin of Talpa starts Her Walk. This is not The Big Walk that happens in March, but it is called Her Walk. Our Señora del Rosario is a twenty inch wooden figure which has become almost as popular in some parts of Mexico as the Virgin of Guadalupe. She is accredited with her first miracle in September 1644. Today she roams the country roads for six weeks visiting ranches; blessing the animals, creeks, cattle watering holes, corn and bean fields, and fruit orchards. She is accompanied by small or large groups of her faithful devotees. The size of her entourage depends on the culinary achievements of the rancher's wife where she will visit at lunch hour. An altar is prepared at each ranch house where The Little Short One, as she is affectionately called, will visit. The rancher's wife brings out her best table cloth to drape over a table, and decorates it with flowers plucked from her own garden or wild ones gathered in the fields. Candles are placed on the makeshift altar to be lighted when the little figure is placed upon it. The visitors announce their arrival by shooting rockets into the air as they approach. An adult member of the rancher's family will usually go out to meet the pilgrims and take the burden of the Traveling Virgin onto his shoulders for the final steps of the procession to the waiting altar. Normally, there will be one person to lead the prayers offered at each ranch house for that particular day. Once the prayers are finished, the rancher's wife offers refreshments to the travelers before they hike off to the next ranch down the road for a repeat performance. When dusk falls, individuals in the group stand vigil throughout the night. It is considered a special honor to have the Virgin sleep over at your ranch. The group changes constantly during this six week trek. Some drop out and others join in, but the routine remains the same until September 10th when the Virgin of Talpa is brought back to the cathedral where she is met by a previously selected group of women who have the honor of bathing the road dust from the image and dressing it in its new dress. The tiny dress with an accompanying cape is a sight to behold. The fabric is imported from France, and although it is more or less the same design that has been used for many years, the colors change from year to year, running in the pastel range. The dress and cape are hand-embroidered with silver and gold threads, and encrusted with precious and semi-precious stones at a cost of approximately $40,000 pesos. Families line up each year to participate in the cost of the new apparel. Salvador Aguilar, a young designer in Guadalajara, is responsible for the dresses of several of the Madonna's images in Mexico. On special fiesta days honoring the Virgin of Talpa, a carpet of flowers is carefully placed in intricate designs in the main plaza. This is definitely not a hap-hazard method of strewing flowers for her to "walk" over. Designs are copied from charts onto the sidewalks and areas of the plaza in chalk. Groups are assigned to certain areas and given boxes of flower petals to create the colorful carpet. There are secrets to all this pageantry that everybody doesn't know. Nuestra Señora de Rosario, the Little Short One of Talpa has her own Ladies-in-Waiting. Maybe only God and the chief priest know exactly how many replicas of The Authentic One are out there, but don't be surprised if you run across her in Sedona, Seattle, Puerto Vallarta or other parts unknown. La Autentica never gets down from her throne except for four days of the year, and that is to walk around the plaza. Her substitutes do the traveling. In no way does that take anything away from the magic of Talpa de Allende, Jalisco. The next time The Lady walks will be October 7th. That's her birthday. Longtime Mexico resident Jenny McGill and her husband moved to Puerto Vallarta in 1973, where she served as the U.S. Consular agent for 14 years. Her book, Drama and Diplomacy in Sultry Puerto Vallarta, is a poignant, riotous read describing the town, its people and her own resourcefulness when people needed her help. It is a portrait of a simple beach town and a quieter time, gone forever. The couple now resides in Talpa de Allende.

Marching Naked On the Nation's Capital Diego Cevallos - Inter Press Service go to original     Peasants belonging to the group 400 Pueblos, who fight for land rights for poor farmers, march naked in Mexico City in 2007. (AP   Mexico City - Dozens of indigenous people walking naked along a main avenue in support of their demand for land, or thousands of stick-wielding teachers blocking main streets at rush hour, are almost daily occurrences in the Mexican capital. On average, there are 250 demonstrations a month in the city. In the space of a year, an estimated 12 million people participate in protests in this sprawling metropolis with a population of 20 million. The city government, in the hands of the leftwing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) since 1997, refuses to interfere with "legitimate" social protests. The police must only act if there is violence, it says. From January to September this year there were 2,261 demonstrations in Mexico City, 63 percent of which were protests against the administration of conservative President Felipe Calderón. The rest targeted the city government or private groups, according to reports from the capital's Secretariat (Ministry) of Government. In 2007 there were 2,932 street marches. But not all of these were protests: nearly 500 were for religious, sporting or cultural reasons, according to reports obtained by IPS from city hall. The Transport Secretariat (Ministry) at city hall publishes regular alerts about marches in progress, on its website and in the media, so that pedestrians and drivers can avoid areas blocked off by demonstrators. Lawmakers and residents are demanding some form of regulation of these demonstrations, which cause a number of different problems. There are laws that impose sanctions on those who block main streets or avenues, but they are not enforced. The city's Law of Civic Culture states that preventing or hampering the use of the public thoroughfare, free circulation of traffic, or the action of persons in any way, without permission or due cause, is a misdemeanour punishable by detention for 13 to 24 hours or a fine of between 56 and 100 dollars. The law adds that due cause is understood to exist if the obstruction of roads or traffic is inevitable, necessary, and does not constitute an end in itself but is a reasonable means of expressing ideas, association or peaceful congregation. Studies estimate that the marches cause average daily losses of eight million dollars and thousands of hours of work. The traffic chaos they create causes pollution levels to rise sharply because of the exhaust from cars stuck in traffic jams. Some four million vehicles are in daily circulation in Mexico City. Demonstrations are held mostly in the centre of the city, where most government offices and the city hall are located. "The marches and 'plantones' (sit-ins, where demonstrators set up tents, usually in a public square) are valid forms of protest, but they have been repeated so often that they have become part of the scenery, and many achieve no result at all, other than making this already chaotic city even crazier," anthropologist Leonardo Fernández told IPS. The marchers' causes vary, and include demands for better wages, education and jobs, as well as protests against soaring crime rates or specific decisions by the authorities and calls for justice to be done in a specific matter. There are no studies indicating the extent to which protesters’ demands are met, but the demonstrations "continue without let-up, and no authority wishes to assume the cost of restricting them by means of some type of regulation so that they do not affect third parties," Fernández said. Opposition lawmakers in the Mexico City legislative assembly, in which the PRD holds a majority of seats, announced in April that they were forming a front to push for regulations to control the protests. The alliance is made up of President Calderón's National Action Party (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the Green Party (PVEM), and the small New Alliance and Alternative parties. A communiqué issued by the parties said that regulation is urgently needed, because of the chaos and significant economic losses caused by the demonstrations. They stated clearly that it is not their intention to curb freedom of expression. The opposition coalition proposes that marches can take place if they are authorised in advance and have timetables that do not coincide with rush hour. They also suggest that protests should not be allowed on fast roads or one-way streets. But the mayor's office and PRD legislators say this is unnecessary, arguing that the Law of Civic Culture already deals with the issue. A municipal decree passed in 2001 says that marches are permitted as long as they do not obstruct the city's primary traffic arteries. However, people who live in Mexico City know that blocking of major arteries at rush hour is a regular occurrence, and very seldom leads to any arrests. The Paseo de la Reforma, for instance, a central avenue carrying some of the heaviest traffic in the city, is constantly being blocked. Among those holding up the traffic on this avenue are 300 indigenous people from the state of Veracruz, who have staged an annual protest since the late 1980s. They camp out for two or three months at a time in a park near the Paseo de la Reforma. The indigenous Movement of 400 Peoples want their lands back, which they say the authorities unjustly took away from them. Their protests have been unsuccessful, but they still regularly strip to the buff and block the avenue, while the police merely stand by looking on. Thousands of public school teachers from the state of Morelos, adjacent to the capital, marched on Sept. 11 at rush hour through the city centre carrying sticks, causing traffic jams that stretched out for several kilometres. No one was arrested; on the contrary, the teachers' representatives were received at the presidential offices, where their complaints were heard. The demonstrators demanded salary increases, the dismissal of a trade union leader, and the reversal of a new government policy introduced by the Calderón administration which obliges teachers to sit academic tests and compete for teaching jobs. "Excessive use of marches has meant that demonstrators now blend in with the urban landscape. Even the lengthy 'plantónes' by the 400 Peoples, who march in the nude along Paseo de la Reforma, has lost all power to scandalise or send any kind of message. I don't know anyone who knows why they strip," wrote Sergio Sarmiento, a columnist for the newspaper Reforma. A survey by the Mitofsky International polling firm, which interviewed 400 people from different areas of the capital, found that one out of four respondents said they had been affected by at least one demonstration. Another poll, by the newspaper Reforma, said the greatest wish of Mexico City residents in terms of urban policy is that the marches should be regulated.

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