La aventura continúa

I was so happy that I'd found the secret to making diacritics on the Mac, and then discovered that it didn't work with the 'ú' - somehow decided I wanted a German umlaut. So that quest continues, too.

Anyway - we're still here in Guadalajara. After a fairly leisurely morning yesterday, we inadvertantly discovered that the regionally famous Zoológico Guadalajara was not open on Tuesday, the day we'd originally planned to visit. We rapidly reworked the plan and jumped into a taxi for the 30-minute trip across town.

I'm not big on animals in cages, but I have to admire the work this zoo does to preserve endangered species and participate in efforts through breeding and releasing to increase the population of many animals that really don't exist in the wild at all otherwise. It's not a bad place; clearly under some renovation as some exhibits are modern and spacious, while others have animals contained in steel wire cages. It was an interesting way to spend the afternoon, and also a great opportunity for the Kid to run around over the absolutely massive grounds, burning up some energy stored from the previous day's 8 hour bus ride.

As I told him as we were leaving the zoo, "You'll have a great story to tell your friends for years to come, about how your mom brought you to the Zoo in Guadalajara with no idea AT ALL about how to get back to the hotel!" Yeah, the kid knows me well, and wasn't really disturbed by that reality. As we exited the zoo grounds at closing time, we did see "sitio taxis" - taxis that are identifiable, regulated, and assigned to specific sites for pickups - much safer than street taxis. But what's the fun in a $17USD taxi ride back across town when there's the adventure of the Guadalajara bus system for $0.75 US? (And that's pricey compared to Mexico City!)

I've yet to figure out if there's really routes here, or if there's just "ideas" about where the buses travel. I think a route system exists, but it's a mystery to most people. You look at the signs on the front of the bus - sometimes printed, sometimes painted on with what looks like shaving cream or soap - and identify a location that's near where you want to go, or from where you can find your way home. The buses up at the Zoo all had "CENTRO" as an option, and from the Cathedral, I can find most anything.

So we hopped on board the bus. I asked the driver for the number of a bus from downtown that would get us to Plaza del Sol, a mall which is very near our hotel. He pondered that for a few minutes before calling us up - "109". Cool. But not long after that, a woman reached over and told me that going to el Centro was silly; I could get off when her family did in a block or two, and catch a 258 directly to the mall from that same bus stop.

And it worked! About 45 minutes later we arrived back at the hotel, with plenty of pool time for the kid to spare.

Today was considerably less adventurous, as we went to the local campus of my employer for a couple of meetings. I'll spare the details; they'd only bore you, and I'm still on sabbatical after all. Suffice it to say that I really enjoy the opportunity to meet with my colleagues here, and the afternoon went well. As my Facebook status states now, how do I manage to work here more often?!?!

That's a question for a later date. For now - bedtime. Tomorrow's Tlaquepaque, Plaza del Sol (kid needs jeans), and maybe Zapopan. Wednesday - back to Mexico City!