Guadalajara and Tla-que-WHAT?

With Lolly in Chacala visiting, we wanted to plan something especially fun and different. 

It came up that we wanted to take a short trip to Guadalajara soon to visit the LDS temple there and see the city. When she got excited about the idea, we immediately delved into planning and scheduling to take the short 3 hour trip the week before she flew home. 

We had some great advice from a friend in Chacala who had visited Guadalajara just weeks prior. 

During her first week there, she stayed in Tlaquepaque. She explained it as a sort of suburb town that got surrounded as Guadalajara grew, and is now encompassed by the city. She explained it as a nicer part of town where they have an amazing Centro (town square, usually next to a Cathedral, where it's open and lots of people hang out there in the evenings), and lots of galleries where they showcase the local artisan work. 

Her second week she stayed in Tonalá. She told us that Tonalá is more gritty and ghetto, another town that got swallowed up by Guadalajara, and is where most of the artwork is actually made.

She told us that downtown Guadalajara is crazy! That is where they have the largest market in the world. 

So after a bit of online research, we decided to follow her suggestions and focus on the two artisan towns, Tonalá and Tlaquepaque (pronounced: T-la-kay-pa-kay), which are only about 10 minutes away from each other. And we headed off...

The Bed and Breakfast that we found was absolutely perfect for us. It was only 2 blocks away from the Centro in Tlaquepaque. The bedroom was small and rustic and the grounds were filled with beautiful gardens. The breakfasts were off the hook, delicious! It was The Hotel Rosa Morada

TRAVEL TIP: Upon checking out, the manager offered that many places in Mexico will give a discount for a client paying with cash, instead of booking online and paying with a credit card. He insisted that for our next trip, we call him directly to place the reservation. We tried it with another place we recently stayed and got an awesome discounted price! It probably won't fly at the Hilton but if you choose a privately owned place it's worth calling the hotel directly and asking if they have a cash discount available. 

Once we checked into our hotel the first thing on our list was to visit the temple. We didn't have any of our own temple clothes with us and they don't have clothing services there! But Jade had called ahead and the temple worker told us they would track down some clothes for us to borrow. 

Driving through town the temple sort of snuck up on us! It's not on a big hill like it is in many places in Utah. It's sort of small but it was unmistakable as temple property, perfectly manicured and majestic. 

The workers were unbelievably nice and helped us get outfitted for our session. It was absolutely terrifying to leave the comfort of Jade's Spanish abilities and head into the women's dressing room with Lolly, where none of the workers knew almost any English. Luckily, they were patient with me and we got everything we needed. The lent us clothes they usually have set aside for the missionaries. 

The session was beautiful and we had an amazing time. The love and holiness in and around the temple was overwhelming and I realized how much I have missed it since leaving Vegas. And it's always fun to go to the temple with Lolly and Jade, seeing how happy and proud she is of her amazing son. I am one lucky girl!

We had a quick photo session and afterwards headed back to our B&B. On our way, Lolly exclaimed, "They've got Thrifty Ice Cream here, 7-11, and roundabouts, it's like we're in Summerlin!" 

Hahahaha... we must have been a while in the village, I think. 

Back in Tlaquepaque it was peak time to head out to Centro and get some delicious food! It was filled with different vendors and was such a pleasure to walk around enjoying the scenery.

I had my first real tamale, my first elote (grilled corn on the cob with mayonaise and chili powder), shared some potatoes with Lolly, and there was one heaven-sent man who made scones, filled them with the topping of your choice (my choice is always chocolate), and then rolled them in cinnamon sugar like a churro. Hello, AMAZING! 

How big do you want your piece? 10 peso piece? 15 pesos? This is a 10 peso piece, about 75 cents worth.

Filled with chocolate and cinnamon sugar, we hit the sack for an early morning of shopping. We had planned our trip around the Thursday Tonalá market. 

Bright and early we hit the streets. We had some ideas about some things we wanted to look for, but were mostly there for the experience. And WHAT an experience it was!

We found a field to park in for only 20 pesos for the day, which was incredible because there was absolutely no parking ANYWHERE else that we could see. The parking lot was right across the street from this lot full of vendors. This seemed like a more permanent part of the market and was much more organized and had wider walkways. 

Did I mention it was raining? Yeah, that was fun. At least it stayed cool out.

Then we ventured out onto the street. The side streets off the main highway were completely shut down and full of vendors selling everything from fine art and furniture to hand-blown glassware to Bonzai trees to funky homemade cleaning products. There were pirated DVDs, candles in every shape and size, cheap kitchen appliances, beautiful pottery, crappy pottery, hand-sewn lace table runners, and everything in between. 

Jade and I were contemplating a dish set so we checked out nearly every Talavera store in town.  

Tonala is known for being like a homeland for artistic types. Everywhere you look you see things like these... It's so beautiful!

We walked around Tonalá for 4 hours before we headed back to Tlaquepaque. We tried our first Tortas Ahogadas (sandwich bathed in salsa). Then we decided to check out the galleries there and ended up walking around for another 3 hours straight so of course I got another churro that night. Totally deserved it, too. 

Jade's brother Tom suggested we check out a Lucha Libre fight while in the city and Lolly and I got SO excited about it but sadly, there wasn't a fight till Sunday. Next time, for sure. 

The next morning we actually went back to Tonalá for some more shopping. We found this great ceramic store where we got to meet the guys in the back painting their clay! Their stuff was gorgeous. Lolly loved the style and got some really great pieces. 

This place (below) didn't look sketchy enough to deter our curiosity so we went in. It was the top floor of an unfinished building, boxed up by chain-link fence, full of... wait for it... more crap. 

Yep... crap of every shape and size.

If you can believe it, we actually went back to Tlaquepaque and walked around some more, finishing off our shopping, picking up those last things that we had said, "If I can't find it anywhere else I'll get it here." Those things were in the galleries so they were usually just a little bit more expensive. 

All in all we got some really great stuff and made some incredible memories. These are a few of our great purchases. The bottom right picture below is a Wise Man in the nativity we found. 

As we headed out of town, we committed some of the beauties of Guadalajara to memory, like their great arches and bridges.

And the greenery, even this tree on the highway that someone calls "home." 

As we approached the first toll on the highway back home there were people standing by selling toll passes. Jade and I have been wanting to look into them to save us money on the drive home. We stopped to talk to the guy but our line was moving fast so he kept talking faster to keep up. It was quickly our turn to pass and the guy was almost sweating from trying to keep up with us so we met him on the shoulder on the other side of the toll so he could give us his speech. 

When they were running our credit card one guy asked how many people we had in the car. We didn't know why he was asking and we were a little nervous that it would change the price of our pass or something. But then he ran into the building and brought us back 3 ears of piping hot corn for the drive home! 

Our good luck soon passed, though, and we hit a seriously torrential rain storm in the mountains on the drive home. It was one of the worst I have ever experienced, making me unbelievably grateful that Jade always drives. It started light, off and on. Then these little waterfalls appeared all around. 

And as soon as we hit the narrow roads of the mountain we could hardly see in front of us. The raindrops were huge and heavy and we were driving through the clouds. The lightning and the roadside waterfalls were beautiful.

But Jade got us home safe and sound, with our lives and our valuables still in tact. 

Some tropical adventure and a little R&R with the family

The time was fast approaching for Lolly and Dane's visit (Jade's mom and brother). Jade and I looked forward to it all summer. And they were excited to get in some much needed tropical adventure and R&R.

We had some awesome plans and everything was falling into place perfectly.

Dane had exactly 9 days in between summer and fall semester. He had been working his butt off every day this summer to master O-Chem to get him one step closer to med school. 

Since Lolly had quit her job she wanted to stay longer than the 9 days that Dane would be here. By some stroke of luck we somehow found an opportunity for her to house-sit for another friend of hers here in Chacala! So she decided to stay about a month. 

When the day finally came, we picked them up from the airport in the early afternoon and headed immediately to do the first thing on Dane's list, to get some dirty street tacos. 

We found a random place in Bucerias and even though they couldn't get our order straight and ended up bringing us a few extra shrimp tacos and ceviche tostadas, the awesome food was the perfect kick-off for our amazing week. 

We ended our first day having more tacos right on the beach in Chacala watching the sunset. 

Our plan was to only spend a couple days in Chacala and then head down to Lolly's timeshare in Nuevo Vallarta. We made good use of our time and made some fun memories in the rural jungle. 

We ate at some of the great places here in the village. Our pizza took an hour to make and we saw that the young guy running the place had to run next door and buy all the fresh ingredients for the veggie pizza we just ordered. 

We took them to Tortugas beach.The conditions were really unusual from what I've seen there before but it was actually perfect. The water was extremely low and we could walk out to the surf break, saving our arms for paddling into waves. 

Lolly is overcoming her fear of water and she was so comfortable and confident in the water I taught her how to duck dive under waves and she body boarded a wave on Lupe! Check out her boys being helpful and taking good care of her. 

They got to attend our branch on Sunday in Las Varas and meet the Branch President and his family. I think that was one of Lolly's favorite parts of the whole visit. 

We were all ready and excited to check in to the Flamingos. This is where Jade and I spent our honeymoon three and a half years ago! It was so fun to be back and make some great memories with his family. 

When we asked Dane what he wanted to do he said he would be most happy if we could surf every day. So that's what we did. And when we got back to the resort and hauled our boards all the way up to our room from the underground parking lot... we'd sit by the pool or on the balcony and play cards. 

We had an amazing view from our room of the pool and the beach. We surfed 6 our of the 7 full days they were here at 4 different surf spots. We got some sun, some great street food (my favorite was the tacos al pastor and chocolate filled churros), got a little bit of a break from the mosquitoes and got to enjoy air conditioning! 

When it wasn't street tacos it was healthy home-cooked meals in our room and green smoothies. Lolly added some piña colada mix a smoothie one day and invented the "Greeña Colada," (patent pending) the most delicious thing ever. 

We all got minor surfing injuries but we saw some amazing beaches. We slept in our car when we woke up too early for surfing, skim boarded, and Lolly got hit on by a disgusting old white man with a giant hole in the butt of his shorts that he called "air conditioning."

Jade and Dane both bought ipads from Mexico Craigslist and Lolly paid $3 for a little bag of M&Ms (resort prices, yuk!)

Dane found out he aced his O-Chem class, got the news that he got a job he had really wanted, caught the best and longest wave of his life, and kicked some butt at cards. He was having a pretty lucky week. We made a quick trip to the Mega for some celebration Tres Leches and Sangria. What we should have done is buy a lottery ticket. 

There were some terrible crowded waves and there were some amazing waves that we had all to ourselves. Looking back, my favorite memories will be the waves and the evenings on the patio as the sun went down and it started to rain playing the card game Hand & Foot. 

We had a really incredible time and the time flew by far too quickly. We took Dane to the airport and enjoyed one more day at the timeshare before heading back to Chacala with Lolly with more adventures in the works. 

Warning: Baby Turtles Sometimes Cause Cuteness Heart Attacks

One of the most amazing and unique things we have been able to do here this summer happened one day a few weeks back. 

We found ourselves with no swell so no surfing could be done. It was a cloudy, rainy day and Jade and I were felt like doing a little exploring. 

We had often visited Playa Tortugas to surf there. But the road we took required crossing the river on our surfboards and we knew there was another road that lead there. 

So we ventured out to see what it was like. I was curious if we could take it to get to the surf faster. That was definitely NOT the case. But it was the perfect road for a leisurely afternoon drive... mostly. 

The drive we usually take goes straight to Platanitos beach and then we have to head up the mountain and park, which takes about an hour from our house. About fifteen minutes before reaching Platanitos we made the foreign turn on the road that leads directly to Playa Tortugas. 

It had been rainy and the roads were all dirt. There were puddles that covered entire roads and fields but luckily the main road was not too muddy. 

We were enjoying our drive and until we splashed through a huge puddle and all of the sudden our wheel was making the most horrendous sound. It was a loud, sharp squeal that wouldn't allow us to move two inches without threatening our sanity. 

I knew we couldn't go on until we figured out what it was. I can't tell you how stranded I would have felt if I wasn't with Jade, the most amazing guy on the planet.

He pulled the car to the side of the road and proceeded to take the entire wheel off until he found the pesky rock that had somehow bounced up and slid its way down and was grinding on the rotor. 

I was swatting mosquitoes away and making faces at the bull in the field across the street. Jade quickly finished with the car and as we continued our drive on this empty dirt road we couldn't help but be reminded of home. 

It is so similar on the farms here to a nice summer day in Parowan or Enoch, Utah where the green fields go on forever to meet pretty blue skies. We decided that the livestock are prettier here, though. 

We continued on these roads for about an hour when we finally found a bend that wound toward the beach through fields of coconut trees that seemed to go on forever. 

When I thought I would never see anything but coconut trees again for the rest of my life, we stumbled on a tiny little quiet neighborhood which we immediately recognized as the houses we watched from our surfboards to make sure we weren't drifting too far in the current down Playa Tortugas. 

The houses there are big and roomy but far apart from each other. I didn't see any fences. It was completely open and welcoming. There couldn't have been more than 10 houses and they are nestled in this neighborhood between the coconut farms and a little Turtle Rescue operation. 

Apparently this beach is a very popular one for mama turtles laying their eggs. The rescue and their volunteers comb the beach every night from 9 pm to 1 am from June through October looking for little eggs to save from the predators that would otherwise enjoy them as a midnight snack. 

The baby turtle eggs are cared for on site in a large pen and when they are ready they are released into the wild by the same volunteers who saved their lives. Checking out the opportunity to volunteer was one of my objectives in coming to this beach that day. 

But the guy we talked to at the camp, Pasqual, said they usually want their volunteers to stay there, paying a minor fee for room and board, committing at least 10 days to the camp. 

I'd like to offer a day or maybe two at the most but living there for 10!? --Not in the cards right now. 

I asked if there was any way to just come down and help out some day and he gave me the director's email. 

Jade and I headed down the beach to enjoy a nice walk before we turned back for the two hours of dirt roads ahead of us. 

The sand went on forever, lined on one side by coconut trees, the other by deep blue water, as far as I could see. We ended up walking much farther than anticipated and stopped to take a rest before turning around.

When we had made the trek back toward our car (enjoying every minute of the beauty and solitude, obviously), we ran into Pasqual walking on the beach. He offered that he had counted up the baby turtles to release that day and they had about 115! 

He invited us to be a part of their release that would happen in about a half an hour. We jumped at the chance and he continued town the beach inviting another family that he walked past as well. 

I was ecstatic! My heart jumped when Pasqual walked down the beach toward us thirty minutes later with a styrofoam cooler full of these little guys...

I could hardly believe they were so small. He handed us each one turtle to release and dumped the rest on the sand in a line. 

These little guys will steal your heart quicker than a hot knife through butter. : )

For how small they are they have quite a long trek to the water too. 

It was one of the most magical things I've ever experienced. It was really fun to watch, too, because they would all get so close and then a wave would come up and wash most of them all the way back up the beach toward us. They'd have to start all over again pushing themselves along the sand with their tiny little fins. 

We cheered them on for a good 30 minutes.

I wish I could know how my little guy was doing now!

When they all made it safely into the water I said a little prayer for them. It was kind of sad that it was over but exciting to think of the lives some of them will have. I just wanted to hold another little one. They were so precious and tiny. 

Below is a photo of the rescue camp. The pen on the far left is the protected sanctuary where the turtles live until they are ready to be released. 

It was a day I will never forget. 

And if any of you are interested, I think they only asked for about $100 for 10 days of room and board to stay and volunteer at the camp and they also had longer options available. 

Hope y'all enjoyed the photos! Don't go having a cuteness heart attack!