Pretty darn fabulous is my first impression!

The home of Tequila? Big tick in that box! Home of mariachi? Hmmm … Take it or leave it. The Mexican capital of money laundering? Adds a certain “je ne sais quoi” to the flavour of any city. The most attractive people in Mexico? Hmmm… I’ve heard that one before! There’s a pattern emerging. It seems to be a “second city” thing… But anyway, if it’s true, then a HUGE tick in that box! Who wants to be surrounded by fuglys? And… They have “after-parties” here and a mini-weekend club night on Wednesdays! Big, big tick!
In all seriousness though, I only just arrived this morning so I can’t say too much but my first impression of the city is really positive. While it lacks the visual first impression punch of Mexico DF, it’s got a really nice mellow, friendly, low key vibe to it. And the people here are super nice. I just bought something in a convenience store and as I approached the counter, the cashier said “hello” and asked me ever so earnestly, “How are you?” Like Sally Jessie Raphael interviewing a woman about her mastectomy. I’ll pause here for a minute so you young kids can go and Wikipedia Sally Jessie Raphael. That was a blast from the past!

The night flight to here on Delta was interesting. Vastly different to the night flight on Aeromexico to DF I took last year. Whereas Aeromexico felt quite calm, the flight attendants were serious, I didn’t look out of place and it could have been a flight anywhere in the world, Delta was … well, er… Let’s just say, if there had been chickens running down the aisle, it wouldn’t have looked out of place. I stood out like a sore thumb and the flight attendant responded to every passenger request with, “What’s up, baby?”.

I don’t understand why they always board people with disabilities or who need assistance first. To me, it would make more sense to board them last so they can sit outside where it’s more comfortable for longer. I guess it depends on the flight and the airline, but Delta Five-Seven-Three from LAX to GDL was certainly no joy ride.

Anyway, as luck would have it I had two specially assisted people sitting next to me. Let’s call them Mama and Papa. I don’t know what Papa’s problem was… Probably just that he was married to her. Mama, amongst other things, looked like she had just fled from the set of the Mexico’s The Biggest Loser in a wheelchair. It had taken all the flight attendants to lift her up and pour her into the seat and wedge her between the arm rests. She now formed a human barricade in that row of seats. Then when I arrived and tried to get to my seat, Papa and Sonny-boy couldn’t wedge her back out. I stood firm though. I was getting my window seat whatever it took. Mind you, there weren’t actually any spare seats anyway had we not been able to un-wedge mama. But we did and we eventually took off and got to Guadalajara.

I’m staying in a kind of loft apartment… This young architect by the name of Miguel has designed and built four small loft apartments on the roof or a building. I’m not exactly sure what the business is down below but the apartments are pretty cool and so is Miguel. This a view from the apartment…

And this is the building from the street…

I didn’t really do much today. I’m going to explore and take more photos later. I spent most of the day just lounging around eating tacos and drinking Tecate beer. From what I’ve seen of the area where I’m staying… And I’m in Centro… Actually a little bit left of Centro… It’s got a kind of Surry Hills-before-the-property-developers-and-yuppies-moved-in vibe to it. I like!

More tomorrow.