Mexico Guadalajara Travel
– My New Language Study Adventure Begins:
Studying Spanish in Guadalajara
There are two things that I am very passionate
about: traveling and learning languages. I like
to combine both of them where I can and at least
once a year I try to go on a language study trip.
Learning languages is simply one of the best ways
to immerse oneself in a culture and get to know
the country and the people as an insider.
Spanish is my favourite language and I have had
the opportunity to study Spanish in 2005 in Cuba,
at the University of Havana, and at two different
language schools in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in 2006.
Being on a tight budget I was looking around again
for another language study destination, and since
I was going to use my Airmiles for the flight, I
had to choose a close destination. After some substantial
research I ended up with Guadalajara, Mexico’s
second largest city, a place I had wanted to visit
for a long time.
The cathedral of Guadalajara
Guadalajara is located on the west side of Mexico,
in the state of Jalisco, about three hours inland
from the Pacific coast. With around 4 million inhabitants,
Guadalajara is a centre of business and technology
and has the highest GDP per capita in Mexico. A
2007 survey called “Cities of the Future”
by FDi Magazine designated Guadalajara as the highest
ranking city in Mexico, and indicated that it has
the second strongest economic potential of any North
American city behind Chicago. Due to the concentration
of companies in the electronics and information
technology sectors Guadalajara is also often referred
to as the “Silicon Valley of Mexico”.
Guadalajara is a very dynamic and growing area,
and tourism has become one of the city’s major
economic factors. Referred to as the “City
of Roses” or “Mexico’s Pearl of
the West”, Guadalajara boasts many monuments,
parks and attractions. It is also known as the birthplace
of mariachi music, and the surrounding area is the
centre of Tequila production. With its location
on the western side of Mexico, the Pacific Coast
is close by and several other colonial cities are
easily reached within a three or four hour bus ride.
View towards the Hospicio Cabañas, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
This was perfect for me because I was planning
to spend about nine days in Guadalajara while I
would spend the remaining time on weekend excursions
outside of the city. After doing some extensive
research on weekend excursions from Guadalajara
I settled on a getaway to the historic mining city
of Guanajuato, and also planned another weekend
trip to the city of Morelia and surrounding Lake
Pátzcuaro. Both of these cities are designated UNESCO
World Heritage Sites, and I was looking forward
to experiencing three major Mexican cities on this
trip.
My new adventure started very early on the morning
of February 3 when I got up at about 3 am to get
ready for my drive to Toronto’s Pearson International
Airport. On the plane I sat beside a nice older
Canadian gentleman who was telling me he was traveling
to Melaque, a Mexican town on the Pacific coast
that has been attracting a large number of Canadian
winter vacationers. He was also flying to Guadalajara
and planning to take a four-hour bus ride to his
destination to reconnect with some old friends.
Downtown Guadalajara
Mexico has an increasing number of destinations
that attract American and Canadian retirees and
expatriates who want to get away from the cold northern
winters. First and foremost among these retirement
destinations is San Miguel de Allende which boasts
about 11,000 to 12,000 foreign residents, followed
by Ajijic in the Lake Chapala Region, located less
than an hour from Guadalajara. I was planning to
make an excursion to Ajijic to explore the topic
of “living / retiring in Mexico”, and
to do so I had set up an interview with a recently
retired Canadian teacher who has relocated to Ajijic.
Although I am still very far away from retirement
age, the topic of retiring or simply living abroad
has fascinated me for a long time, and on this trip
I was going to spend more time researching this
topic locally. My friend Carol had set me up with
a friend of hers, Greg Clarke, a retired Toronto
teacher, who was willing to meet me and talk about
his new lifestyle in Mexico. I was looking forward
to this excursion.
Sunset on Lake Chapala
After a brief stopover in Mexico City I arrived
in Guadalajara at about 5:30. Wouter Stut, the owner
of the Guadalajara Language Center where I was going
to study Spanish, came to pick me up at the airport.
The weather was horrible; it was cold, clammy and
raining cats and dogs. During our drive, I learned
a little bit more about Wouter: now in his 30s,
he originally hails from Holland and used to be
a computer programmer. He came to Guadalajara seven
years ago and shortly thereafter started his language
school.
The Guadalajara Language Center offers courses
of all levels in both English and Spanish, and hosts
a large number of foreign language students throughout
the year. It is located in Tlaquepaque, a former
artist’s village that is now part of the municipality
of Guadalajara. Tlaquepaque is a very safe and scenic
area and I was looking forward to studying Spanish
here.
Downtown Tlaquepaque
I was frozen to the bone by the time we arrived
at my local abode, a family homestay that was literally
two minutes from the language school. I would have
been hard pressed to find closer accommodation,
and Graciela, the family matriarch, welcomed me
to her house. The language school offers several
different accommodation options, from homestays
(stays with a local family) and luxury houses, to
bed and breakfasts to shared or private apartments
and hotels. I had chosen the homestay option because
this would allow me to practice my Spanish after
school and immerse myself more deeply in Mexican
culture. It is also a very reasonable option in
terms of cost that might cost between $20 to $25
a night, depending on whether you choose a house
with a pool or without.
Wouter helped me set up my wireless Internet connection,
and after setting myself up, I walked across the
courtyard to the house of Graciela’s daughter
Claudia who also hosts international language students.
I got introduced to Claudia’s three year old
nephew Kiyoshi who was just singing a very well-rendered
version of Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”
(“A Little Night Music”). I immediately
felt part of this family-oriented environment.
Mariachi sculptures in Tlaquepaque
Claudia invited me to sit down and offered me to
have dinner with her other two language students:
Michael, a young man in his 20s from California
who was staying in Mexico for five months, and George,
a retired American health care administrator in
his 70s. The four of us had an interesting conversation
in Spanish around the dinner table while we enjoyed
Claudia’s home cooking: chicken soup and “gorditas
de mantequilla”, which are essentially fried
dough pockets with melted butter on top.
Well, my first day had been a success: I had reached
Guadalajara safely, got set up with my local family
and even had a tasty evening meal and a Spanish
practice around the dinner table. I was already
excited about my next day in Guadalajara, keeping
my fingers crossed that the weather would improve
and I would get to enjoy my time in Mexico.
