Guadalajara in 32 hours (or less)

Another weekend has come and gone, an all too short reprieve from "The Hokey Pokey" and "I'm a Little Teapot." I've often wondered what would happen if I got sick or lost my voice, as most of my 5-hour day involves singing and yelling at children. Well, I found out. For some undetermined reason, I lost my voice this weekend and am slowly gaining it back. If you spoke to me on the phone, it might evoke images of a 90-year-old woman puffing on a long cigarette and swilling her whisky tumbler with decrepit hands as she screams at a soap opera. That's what I sound like.

In other news, after an article-writing marathon on Thursday and Friday, I hopped on a 7-hour sleeper bus to Guadalajara at 12:20 Saturday morning. To my Mexico readers (i.e. Laura), I highly recommend the ETN bus. It was about twice as expensive as a regular coach bus, but with half as many seats and twice as much room. I popped in an Ambien, tied a scarf around my eyes and passed out for the ride.
After stumbling off the bus with a prescription drug hangover, I caught a small bus then metro ride to my hostel, where I met up with Karra. The genius at the front desk had no idea that I'd reserved our room online the night before, so we got in a sassfest that was eventually resolved after I checked my bank statement online and saw I hadn't been charged. He did fun things like play 50 Cent all day and forget to stock the bathroom with toilet paper or, you know, man the front desk. Either we both hated each other, or I hated him and he was unsure how to handle it.

My main reason for traveling to Guadalajara was to interview with the English-language community newspaper there, Guadalajara Reporter. We're still in talks regarding me starting in July, which essentially just depends on a "yes" from me and good timing on the part of the reporter I'd replace, as I can't start until school's out.

Before I met up with the editors, Karra and I explored the city's historic center, which is absolutely beautiful. Lots of old churches and buildings, tall arches, open plazas, lavender trees and a sunny sky. Before my trip I'd heard various times that Guadalajara is a much more "Mexican" city than the rest, having been the birthplace of mariachi and tequila; however, my 1.5-day research suggests otherwise. The city seemed kind of empty of these qualities I expected from it, and it had a much more suburban feel than Mexico City, with its less-condensed stretch of newly constructed restaurants and office buildings. With a tiny two-line metro and buses reaching fewer areas, my first impression is that it's much more driving oriented as well. The lack of 1960-make VW bugs was also disconcerting, and the sheer invisibility of street vendors left me disoriented and woozy.

At night, Karra and I met up with a few of her Aussie friends for pizza and to sample caustic cocktails at a cantina. Through the white saloon doors awaited a table of friends and plates of snacks - complimentary with your booze - including peanuts, boiled potatoes, sketchy orange corn puffs and styrofoam-esque jícama fruit.

Sunday was a slow day, as we mostly just walked around the historic center again and enjoyed the art galleries and music stages that had been set up for the day. We walked along the main thoroughfare, which each Sunday is closed to cars and open to bikers and pedestrians, just like D.F.'s Paseo de la Reforma. Short on time, we ate lunch in the bus station, a surprisingly delicious cheese torta.

Dinner came halfway through the return trip, when our bus pulled over to the side of the road. Hungry passengers filed down the bus steps as we surrounded a man selling tamales (tasty corn mush with a cous cous-like texture) from his steaming vat, mine served on a bun and mixed with bell peppers. Most of my dinner ended up in the bus seat/all over my lap as it missed its way to my mouth.

It's hard to say if I actually like Guadalajara as a city, because I love Mexico City so much and feel that leaving is the equivalent to my parents making me transfer schools halfway through high school. As for now, I'll be putting off decision-making and eating another bowl of Corn Flakes.