A normal Saturday

This past Saturday was for me a special one, the last one before my so long-expected vacations to my beautiful native country, Belgium. This will be the first trip for me and my newlywed husband, For him it might be a slight nervious trip because he will finally meet his parents-in-law and has been preparing himself as never before, not only learning English, but also buying clothes for the very cold weather in February and, most importantly, buying local gifts for the loved ones.

We looked for several options for each one of them and finally got the following souvenirs. The plastic and colorful bags for my grandma, mum, sister and beloved 4 year old niece. I already look forward to receive their picture actually using the bags to go to the supermarket!

The lion puzzle is for my nephew, Leon, which means lion in Spanish, The two plates are an example of "Huichol art", elaborated by the Huichol and Coras who dwell in the Sierra Madre Occidental. Beautiful figures representing the gods of the sun, rain and others. The small hand painted clay cross is another example of real Mexican folk art. This one we bought for my 81 year old grandpa.

And specially for my dad we bought some real Mexican herbs and special mixes for Mexican cooking. He really adores to cook so these spices might give him a total new inspiration for some great meals! I will certainly let you know what he makes from it!

So, now we only need to get all of this stuff with all the clothes in two small pieces of luggage and get on that plane to arrive to my favourite country, my amazing family, that I miss so much! But nevertheless, it is too amazing to get to know so many new things in another country, that I would not exchange anyone's life for mine here in Mexico (at this moment). Who knows where the wind will bring us?!

Where the sun rises...

Have you ever been to a market that joins food, wood and sisal aromas? Tonalá, which means "where the sun rises", is the place-to-be if you look for any kind of local handcrafts, typical Mexican "food" (I will explain the term food later on) or decoration for your home. It is a turistic place, but not too much!  

Colourful skulls

Why "food"? Well...Mexico has a wonderful culture and great food. And in my opinion that might be the reason you can find a lot of food options in most of the public places, including streets, parks, malls, etc. The food you can normally find close to a market or church is very diverse. It goes from "churros" (yes, the Spanish ones) to "guasanas" (green beans full of natural folic acid), from "tejuino" (a corn drink made by the Tarahumara and Tepehuán Indians of the Sierra Madre in Mexico. Tejuino is made from corn kernels which are soases, then ground up, boiles and left to ferment naturally with wild yeast) to all kind of natural soda's with all kind of flavours (lemon, strawberry, tamarindo, etc). I will certainly write another piece on the food only, this one was meant to be about the market but I think I got a bit distracted because of the food...  

Tonalá has the best options of gifts or souvenirs you can find in Guadalajara. The only thing you will need to overcome is the crowd. The market has only a very small path in the middle where the traffic rules for walking tourists and locals are very clear: keep right, don't stop, and if you stop, make yourself as small as possible to let the other's get through. You will find some stands with wooden kitchen equipment, porcelain decorations ítems in all kind of colors, picture frames, candels and a wide variety of blown glass, which is one the specialties of Tonalá. There are fabrics that you can visit where they explain the process and how they colour the glass. 

In just a few words...Tonalá is worth the visit, although you should be prepared to be patient and have the ability to deal with a mass of people. But once you get through that, you will find treasures at bargain prices.