This is the 3rd
in a series of five travel articles written about select locations in
Mexico. These select locations are Oaxaca,
Manzanillo, Guadalajara,
and Colima. More recently we have
written an article
on Xcalak located on the border of
Mexico & Belize.
Guadalajara
is city of about three and a half million people in its metro
area, with estimates of up to 5 million people including the
suburbs. Even though there are so
many people living in
Guadalajara, I
did not get the impression that it was a large city. For the most
part, the city has left their large historic district intact and the
new buildings are built in particular areas towards the outskirts. Guadalajara was established in 1530, just 38 years after Christopher
Columbus landed in the Americas.
Guadalajara is located at 5091 feet yet spring like conditions
prevail year round. It is far south enough that the latitude
provides a
moderating influence on the climate, despite its relatively high
altitude location. However, once every hundred years or so, it snows
in Guadalajara. Incredible as this may seem, it snowed when I was in
Guadalajara. Several days after this occurred on my travels throughout
the city and nearby towns, I could see terrible damage to the tropical
plants, such as the bananas, papayas, and mangoes. All the
bougainvillea's and other plants were clipped by the frost. What is
very nice though, is that several days after the snow, I was laying
out on the top of my hotel roof catching some rays on a 75 degree F
day.
Today Guadalajara, despite its feel of a small town is plagued with
terrible air pollution. Although not as bad as the air quality in
Mexico City, it has truly become a problem. I noticed the bad air
quality when I was in the historic part of town, but it did not really
effect me until I traveled to the outside of town and was enveloped in
a thick orange black cloud of pollutants. I was there in mid day and
the sun was almost blotted out due to this tremendous pollution. It
hurt your eyes and stung at your throat and the only way to escape it
was to continue driving for many miles outside of the main valley of
Guadalajara.
Part of the reason for the high pollution is that the citizens of
Guadalajara have the highest person to automobile ratio. There is one
car for every four people.
The historic section located in the heart of the city is surrounded by
six different plazas. These plazas are a great place to relax, walk or
watch people stroll by. You would never know that you are in a city of
5 million people when you are walking through these plazas. Many of
the streets in these plazas are cobblestone. There are always the ever
present street vendors selling their goods in these plazas.
When you are traveling in Mexico, things will go wrong, whether they
be with travel logistics, the food, language barriers, the amount of
time you want to see something completed versus what your guide, taxi
driver, restaurant server, bus boy, etc want to see it done, or car
reservations. These problems are especially exacerbated in large
cities. You can only plan on so much and make so many reservations. No
matter how much you plan and stick to details, these problems will
surface. You just have to expect them and try to be flexible.
For a city the size of Guadalajara and due to its spread out
characteristics, I would recommend using taxis or buses. Buses are
much slower and less expensive then taxis, but from personal
experience because of time restrictions and ease of travel, taxis are
much easier. Usually you can give a taxi driver the name of the
location (whether it be a hotel, restaurant, or attraction) and they
are usually able to find it rather quickly. If they aren't familiar
with the location, give them the name of the road that it is on, and
that should do that trick. Traveling with more then 5 people and using
a taxi could be a problem. I found that five people was about the
maximum limit for the small taxis. Any more then that would require
several taxis.
The Miguel
Hidalgo International Airport is located 11 miles southeast of the
main city center. There are many airlines that fly into and out of
this airport. Several airlines even offer direct flights to
Guadalajara to and from this airport.
Airport Transportation Services offers transportation to and from the
airport to locations in Guadalajara. A fee is paid at the airport to
the driver and is verified at a booth before departing. To use this
service call one of these PHONE NUMBERS 3-612-4278, or 3-612-4308, or
3-612-9339.
