Explore Northern Jalisco and Michoacán
Guadalajara dominates the state of Jalisco as its capital and main attraction, but outside the capital, the state is green, lush and mountainous. Tequila offers fine liquor, Laguna de Chapala has tranquil scenery, and mountain villages such as Tapalpa have fresh air and a more sedate pace of life.
Read More- Guadalajara
- Tequila and around
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Laguna de Chapala and around
Laguna de Chapala and around
At around 35km wide and 120km long, Laguna de Chapala, just over 50km south of Guadalajara, is the largest lake in Mexico. Its northern shore has long been a favourite retreat for Tapatíos, especially since the early years of the twentieth century when dictator Porfirio Díaz regularly spent his holidays here. Expats from north of the border, particularly Canadians, have also been appreciative of the lake scenery and even year-round temperatures. It is said that there are now around 30,000 such people living in and around Guadalajara, a sizeable proportion of whom have settled on the lakeside – particularly in Chapala and in the smaller village of Ajijic. Most of these snowbirds are retirees – during the 1990s, Laguna de Chapala was spoken of locally as being in the “gay 90s”, the joke being that anyone who lived there was either gay or over 90, but some are writers or artists manqués, hoping for inspiration, like Ken Kesey, or D.H. Lawrence, who wrote the first draft of The Plumed Serpent here.
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Paricutín
Paricutín
An ideal day trip from Uruapan, the “new” volcano of Paricutín, about 40km northwest of town, gives you an unusual taste of the surrounding countryside. On February 20, 1943, a Purépecha peasant working in his fields noticed the earth rumble and then smoke. The ground soon cracked and lava began to flow to the surface. Over a period of several years, it engulfed the village of Paricutín and several other hamlets, forcing the evacuation of some seven thousand inhabitants. The volcano was active for eight years, producing a cone some 400m high and devastating an area of around twenty square kilometres. Now there are vast fields of lava (mostly cooled, though there are still a few hot spots), black and powdery, cracked into harsh jags, along with the dead cone and crater. Most bizarrely, a church tower – all that remains of the buried hamlet of San Juan Parangaricutiro – pokes its head through the surface. The volcano wasn’t all bad news, though: during its active life the volcano spread a fine layer of dust – effectively a fertilizer – on the fields that escaped the full lava flow, and drew tourists from around the world. It is still popular, especially on Sundays, when the upwardly mobile from Uruapan come out to play.
The volcano is visited from the small and very traditional Purépecha village of Angahuan, where the women still wear heavily pleated satin skirts with an embroidered apron and a shawl. On the plaza, the church warrants a second glance. Built in the sixteenth century, its doorway was carved in the largely Arab Mudéjar style by Andalusian artisans (Andalusia was the centre of fine arts in the Arab world until the fall of Granada in 1492). The cross in the courtyard, on the other hand, is most definitely Mexican, complete with serpents, a skull and other pre-Hispanic motifs. In the street to the right of the church (as you look at it), across from the side gate of the courtyard, a door lintel has been turned into a kind of lava frieze of the volcano and church tower.
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Hacienda retreats
Hacienda retreats
For a completely different perspective on Jalisco, consider staying at one of the numerous well-preserved haciendas within an hour’s drive of Guadalajara. They are easy, if somewhat pricey, overnight escapes which offer a change of pace from the bustling city. Haciendas are ideal for those on shorter trips who want quickly and comfortably to experience a bit of the countryside, and learn a little about a different side of Tapatío lifestyle. The tourist office of Guadalajara (t33/3668-1600, wwww.visita.jalisco.gob.mx) can provide information on these and other rural homes and relaxing retreats. You can also go directly to wwww.haciendasycasonas.com, which has links to more than twenty such places.
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José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco (1883–1949) was a member, along with Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros, of the triumvirate of brilliant artists who emerged from the Revolution and transformed Mexican painting into an enormously powerful and populist political statement, especially through the medium of the giant mural. Their chief patron was the state – hence the predominance of their work in official buildings and educational establishments – and their aim was to create a national art that drew on native traditions. Almost all their work is consciously educative, rewriting – or, perhaps better, rediscovering – Mexican history in the light of the Revolution, casting the imperialists as villains and drawing heavily on pre-Hispanic themes. Orozco, a native of Jalisco (he was born in Zapotlan, now Ciudad Guzmán), was perhaps the least overtly political of the three; certainly, his later work, the greatest of which is here in Guadalajara, often seems ambiguous. As a child he moved to Guadalajara and then to Mexico City, where he was influenced by renowned engraver José Guadalupe Posada and where he painted murals from 1922 to 1927. His best works from this period are the series including The Destruction of the Old Order which he painted at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. Then followed seven years in the US, where his works included his mammoth The Epic of American Civilization at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, but it was on his return that his powers as an artist reached their peak, in the late 1930s and 1940s, above all in his works at Guadalajara’s Hospicio Cabañas and the University of Guadalajara.
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Gastronomía Jalisciense: Tapatío specialities
Gastronomía Jalisciense: Tapatío specialities
While in Guadalajara, you shouldn’t miss out on some of Jalisco’s culinary specialities. The most celebrated is birria, stewed beef or mutton in a spicy, but not particularly hot, sauce, and served with tortillas or in tacos from street stalls, bars and in markets. Roast goat is another favourite, often seen in the markets along with a goat’s skull (just in case you don’t know what chivo means). Pozole, a stew of pork and hominy (ground maize) is also popular, and typically found as a restaurant special on Thursdays. Rarely seen much beyond the city limits, there’s also torta ahogada (literally “drowned sandwich”), a bread roll stuffed with a filling of your choice (traditionally pork) then drenched with a thin, spicy salsa that soaks right through the bread. It’s a bit messy, but extremely delicious. And then, of course, there’s tequila, discussed more fully.
