Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Hunt for Mariachi


Yesterday was a fun day of class, as we toured the city a bit and learned Spanish along the way. We met a cool Mexican artist who currently lives in Brooklyn and teaches mural painting to kids: Jorge Rojas
We also visited one of the food markets downtown- so many beautiful colors and enticing smells (even the meat smelled good to me).

Cocinera tending to a hunk of meat- for tacos pastor.

Miel (Honey)

Last night Josh and I went on an adventure of sorts to try and find a mariachi performance in the colonia (neighborhood) Echeverria. For the next week or so there is a large mariachi festival in Guadalajara with performances throughout the city, and according to a website, Echeverria was the place to be. We took the metro, then bus, then walked for a bit and reached the neighborhood and started asking around: "Where is the mariachi party?" No one knew a thing about it. They were probably thinking, crazy gringos...
Finally we were told by an elderly man that the festival we were seeking was probably in the center of the city (close to where we live). We returned to the city and by golly it was. It seemed that only the elite Mexicanos were allowed into the event, but telling the guards that we were Americanos seemed to do the trick. Next thing I knew I was sitting by a nice couple who gave me a tequila drink, watching Josh run around taking photos of the mariachi performance. The music was absolutely thrilling. Afterwards we stopped for dinner (which is usually around 10 pm in Mexico) at the tamale stand.

No comments: