Fun in the rain

It rained almost all weekend and every time we left the house, we forgot to bring the umbrella. We had a very nice and eclectic weekend.

First, on Friday night, we went out to dinner to celebrate the first paycheck since arriving in Guadalajara! Yea! We had some excellent mole enchiladas and sopes de pollo. The lighting was very low and romantic, so the pictures turned out horrible.

We went to see the parade of the International Mariachi Festival, on Saturday. It was a lot of fun (and free!) and Adolfo posted some of the pictures on his site. (Check out the picture of the Mariachi de Estocolmo, sound it out, that’s right it’s the Mariachis of Stockholm!) There were mariachi groups from all over the world. Mostly, the geography was focused on the Americas, with California making a nice showing, and included Costa Rica, Cuba and Venezuela. In the middle of the parade, as you can see in the photos, it began to downpour! We took shelter under a tree in the plaza in front of the Templo San Francisco de Asis.

Later that night, we met up with some of the people Adolfo works with and went to a new bar in town. It was very nice; there were a couple Parisians and another guy who spent some time in Boston and New York. We got home very late.

Sunday was spent mostly recovering. It was cold and rainy most of the day. We didn’t have hangovers, since we had about 2 drinks in the 5 hours we spent at this bar. But, coming from California, we are unaccustomed to the smoky bar. I had a scratchy throat most of the day and my eyes felt like they were covered with sandpaper. We drank tea and had soup.

Sunday evening, we went to a café to meet with one of Adolfo’s high school friends. It was very nice and two hot chocolates made my throat feel much better. We had a very nice conversation about literature, the importance of reading, among other things. (He’s a fan of Oliver Sacks and has been reading War and Peace over the last 3 months.) Also, this friend is not an architect, a rarity among the friends, so the conversations are more even and less focused on one subject.

It was a very nice weekend, even if there was no time for Tortas Ahogadas. Next weekend, we are planning to go to an art exhibit opening and perhaps return to the same bar (as it is next to the art museum).