From the Lens of Barb's Camera

It seems as if everyone in the world is uploading photos on Blogger, as we started uploading photos yesterday afternoon, and working partly through the night, we just finished and it is 9:30 Christmas morning. Uusally it takes an hour to upload 20 photos. My it was slow.

Our last photo on our last blog was of Barb (Nancy's sister and her friend Diane). That was 3 weeks ago and they went home 2 days ago. It was fun to have them here.

The following photos are all Barb's and her interpertation of what was important and beautiful in Tlaquepaque and surrounds.

And for sure the most important things were the cook and the dishwasher. The first photo is of the dishwasher and the second one is of the cook.

The cook was quit sick for about 10 days of that 3 weeks (we took her to the doctor and got her some medicine), and only now is she back to her normal self. But even being sick, she still managed to get us all fed.

This is Diane, eating breakfast. She is eating alone as she was not usually the first one out of bed.

A street scene of a very pretty building on a very famous street in Tlaquepaque.

More of the same street.

Just an interesting display of many things in a store.

Lovers, not in the park where there are usually lovers, but on the very same street that the last few photos were taken on.

And the picture taker. Barb but this time I had my hands on the camera.

Olivia's husband has a carriage and a horse to pull it, that he rents our for different occassions. First Communions, weddings, and just a ride around town are all part of his itinery. This photo is of his carriage that is stored in the entry way to our apartments.

We did a day trip to the center of Guadalajara and Santa here is the same as he looks at home.

One of the many parks in Guadalajara, looking at the main government buildings.

It is not as big as the one in Mexico City but it is pretty big. The photo shows part of the main market in Guadalajara. And you can buy pretty much anything though mainly it is meat and vegetables and fruit.

Another journey to Tonala, a big market suburb of Guadalajara, and an old busker on the street.

And from old to young. Kids doing what kids like to do on the street in Tonala

Another day trip to Zapopan, another suburb of Guadalajara. The arch is the main entrance to Zapopan.

And a pretty Bugambilia tree in Zapopan.

Back in Tlaquepaque, and once again they are presenting dance and music in the Parian on Friday and Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evening. Just one of the very pretty and accomplished dancers.

A different day and a different trip, this one a bit longer, to Chapala on Lake Chapala. It is a huge expat community. The next two photos are of the lake and the malicon along side of it. It really is quite beautiful.

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When we rented our apartment here in Tlaquepaque, oh so long ago, the dates from Dec 25th to Jan 8th were already booked so today, we have to move to a different apartment. It is not very far away, just across the street and we don't have a lot of stuff so it will be a quick move.

We will stay there for the first 8 days and then travel a bit, to San Miguel Allende, to visit some friends from Lethbridge who are spending part of their winter there.

Enjoying our Company

Our last blog was full of photos of celebrations in Tlaquepaque for the centenial anniversaries that are taking place in Mexico this year and we had hoped they would continue the following week and they did. Not so much here as in Guadalajara. The city was hopping the whole week and the crowds were just enormous but quite polite.

This first photo is a continuation of the celebrations in Tlaquepaque and just to show that all dancing is not folk dancing. This is one of a number of groups that were doing ballroom type dancing one night.

And on another night in our town, there were a number of bands playing, none very good but this one was particularly bad. About 25 young boys, as enthusiastic as all get out but we just had to leave mid concert.

For the second week of celebrations in Guadalajara, my cousin John Thorsten and his wife Arlene came to visit and got in on some of the festivities

These next pictures are really hard to explain as the whole week tells a story and the story is on this large chunk of story book that fell from the sky one night and gouged into the street. More of the story you can find on these two websites. The first site is in spanish but if you scroll down to the bottom there are a number of photos and a video.

www.bicentenario.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_contents&view=article&id=2089

This second site is in english and tells the story of the giant puppets. They were made in France and have travelled all over the world, telling different stories according to the cultures of the countries they visited.

www.guadalajarareporter.com/arts-a-entertainment-mainmenu-93/guadalajara-mainmenu-43/arts-a-culture/27929-beguiling-giants-appear-on-downtown-streets.html

There was a giant dog, maybe 2m high but with the crowds we had difficulty getting a photo of him. The next two photos are of the giant doll and the puppeteers who make them work.

There were thousands upon thousands of people and it was very hard to get around, even before and after the parade. We were glad to get back to Tlaquepaque when it was all over.

The uncle in this story was the giant of all giants, perhaps 20m tall and it took many, many puppeteers to make him work. It all was pretty amazing.

One evening we were in the center of Tlaquepaque and these 4 very wonderful university students wanted to interview us in english. It was an assignment from their english professor. They were so sweet and it was such fun.

Arlene and John left at 2:00PM last Tuesday and Barb (Nancy's sister) and Dianne (Barb's friend) became our second set of guests, here to help celbrate our 50th and get away from the wicked Southern Alberta weather.

There never seems to be a dull moment in the center of town. Last night there were maybe 30 "living statues" all over the town and this photo is one of them. We were a bit late as when we arrived they were all starting to undress and shutdown the performances.

A bit of a short blog this time but with all the company, there just are not enough hours in the day.