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GUADALAJARA |
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Capital of Jalisco and second city of the Mexican Republic,
GUADALAJARA has a reputation as a slower, more conservative and
traditional place than Mexico City, somewhere you can stop and catch
your breath. Many claim that this is the most Mexican of Mexican cities,
having evolved as a regional centre of trade and commerce, without the
imbalances of Monterrey's industrial giants or Mexico City's chaotic
scale. Being less frenetic than the capital, however, doesn't make it
peaceful, and by any standards this is a huge, sprawling, noisy and
energetic city. Growth has, if anything, been accelerating in recent
years, boosted by the campaign to reduce Mexico City's pollution by
encouraging people and industry to move to the provinces, and its
partial conversion to a sleek metropolis has resulted in a hike in
prices and some sacrifice of Mexican mellowness in favour of a US-style
business ethic. However, enthusiasm for the new has not replaced
affection for the old and it's still an enjoyable place to visit, with
the edge on all other big cities of Mexico for trees and flowers,
cleanliness and friendliness. It also remains a great place to see
something of traditional and modern Mexico, offering everything from
museums, galleries and colonial architecture, to magnificent
revolutionary murals by José Clemente Orozco, to a nightlife enlivened
by a large student population.
Parks, little squares and open spaces dot Guadalajara, while right
downtown around the cathedral is a series of plazas unchanged since the
days of the Spanish colonization. This small colonial heart of the city
can still, at weekends especially, recall an old-world atmosphere and
provincial elegance. The centre is further brightened by the Plaza
Tapatía , which, driven straight through the heart of some of the oldest
parts in the late nineteenth century, manages to look as if it has
always been there. It creates new sight-lines between some of
Guadalajara's most monumental buildings and opens out the city's
historical core to pedestrians, as well as mariachi bands and street
theatre. Around this relatively unruffled nucleus revolve raucous and
crowded streets more typical of modern Mexico, while further out still,
in the wide boulevards of the new suburbs, you'll find smart hotels,
shopping malls and modern office blocks.
The City
Any tour of Guadalajara starts almost inevitably at the Cathedral . With
the Sagrario, or sacristy, next door, it takes up an entire block at the
very heart of the colonial centre , which is bordered by four plazas |
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