Guadalajara continued

Instituto Cultural Cabañas or The Hospicio Cabañas a World Heritage Site, is one of the oldest and largest hospital complexes in the Americas.

The complex was founded in 1791 by the Bishop of Guadalajara in order to combine the functions of a workhouse, hospital, orphanage, and almshouse. The chief attractions of this site are the murals by Jose Clemente Orozco, one of Mexico's most iconic muralists and a native of Jalisco. I'll devote an entire post to him. The buildings have their own charms.

Needing a break and feeling hungry, I went to the Mercado Liberdad for lunch. This place is reputed to be the biggest mercado in Latin America. I'd seen enough giant mercados so went directly to the restaurant section in search of a good, inexpensive lunch and was immediately set upon by viciously aggressive restaurant touts who all but wrestled me into a seat. I resisted their charms and found a quiet, unassuming seafood place where I ordered camerones del diablo, spicy shrimp, that were disappointing and expensive. Sigh. My restaurant choice pattern was staying consistent. (I have a habit of spending an inordinate amount of time selecting a restaurant in a new city and invariably making a bad choice)

After lunch and a beer I went back to the Instituto Cultural Cabañas to see more, then wandered slowly homeward.

Father Hidalgo breaking the chains of colonialism with his Grito, cry for independence.

The two buildings on the left are devoted exclusively to the sale of jewelry, a staggering amount of jewelry.

Back to the airbnb for a shower, check the email and off again.

Another long walk to a site not worth visiting and my usual protracted search for dinner. I finally wound up at Tomate again for more tacos al pastor driven largely by an ever increasing need to pee. Not a good experience this time. I ordered my tacos but they were out of the kind of beer I like and, sorry, the bathrooms are out of service. Oh dear. I expressed my urgent need to the waiter and after about 15 minutes he let me in. I just rushed in, leaving my iPad and other belongings figuring I'd just be a sec and there were a lot of staff around, a calculated risk. But when I came out, I was accosted by a young Mexican woman who scolded me quite vehemently about leaving my stuff. "Never, never do that here!!" I suppose it was well intentioned but I was really not in the mood and was quite put off by it. After six months of travel I feel like I know what I'm doing for the most part and, in any case, I just wasn't in the mood for being scolded. But I had my lovely home to look forward to. So it was with dampened spirits that I returned there to get through the night. It seemed a bit quieter there at first but just as I was starting to nod over my book, a loud conversation commenced in the kitchen just outside my door. That went on periodically for a while and finally quieted for good around midnight. I was very happy when the time came to leave in the morning. That was the only time I saw Luis Enrique and I had to call him to get him to come for the key handover.

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