Mercado Libertad - Guadalajara, Mexico

Hola! My apologies for a rather long absence however I've been busy - traveling to a spa in Mexico with my mum (rio caliente), horseback riding in the volcanic region around Mount Tequila, dining in a treehouse while watching exotic birds like the vermilion flycatcher eat watermelon from a rustic feeder, swimming in my birthday suit in 114 degree mineral water heated by the lava in the volcano, watching shooting stars at 7 a.m. on my walk to yoga class. You see, I've been busy and I'm exhausted!

One day we broke away from the mellowness of yoga, vegetarian food, quiet walks and to bed at 8:30 p.m. and visited the glorious colonial city of Guadalajara. I lived there before, back in the summer of 1992, when I was in University and I took the summer to learn spanish and live in Mexico. It's an enormous city and it can be rather overwhelming. Having a destination to go to, explore, and enjoy makes it more manageable. We decided to spend the first part of the day at the Mercado Libertad in the historic centre of Guadalajara and then take a taxi over to Tlaquepaque which is a vibrant pedestrian strip of artisan shops and colonial courtyards full of folkloric art.

The Mercado Libertad (also known as San Juan de Dios) is one of the largest combination indoor/outdoor markets in Latin America. It was built in 1958 over the original Guadalajara Tianguis from pre-Columbian times so the three leveled market stalls over look the interior open air circle. It is a maze of guitars and banjos, crafts, wooden toys, fake jewellery, leather goods including shoes, hand embroidered peasant blouses, sombreros and cowboy hats, textiles and a floor full of food. I wouldn't eat a morsel of anything in that market but I did buy things to take away and cook with, notably dried chiles. I also bought a bag of toasted fava beans in chile powder.