I arrived in Guadalajara on New Year’s Day. It was clear, sunny, and quiet. Since then, I’ve been getting settled and getting to work.
I’m actually staying in Zapopan, in a neighborhood called Altagracias, which is near the Universidad de Guadalajara’s growing suburban campus. The neighborhood itself is light industrial – lots of warehouses and the like – and my apartment is in one of those sad buildings you often see in warehouse areas. It’s very quiet, and safe in part because there’s no activity once the business day ends. The apartment itself (found through Airbnb) is quite nice and a good place to work. I’ve been doing a lot of reading, class prep, and setting up connections for research. Because so many people come to the area to work, it’s on all the bus routes, and I am finding that there are very, very few walkable neighborhoods in greater Guadalajara.
Since my arrival, I have signed up for a grocery store frequent-shopper card, bought miscellaneous items for the apartment at Bed Bath and Beyond, visited the Cathedral of Guadalajara, and attended a little party for El Día de los Tres Reyes, known as Epiphany in the US and the liturgical end of the Christmas season.
I have not eaten Mexican food (except, of course, that all food in Mexico is Mexican) in large part because there are no restaurants near why I live. There are many street food vendors in the daytime, but I am trying to avoid street food to avoid getting sick. Street food is a known danger, and I am not enough of a foodie to take the risk. Of course, avocados are about 20 pesos per kilogram with my Soriana supermercado club card, or about $0.40 a pound in US dollars. I pretend I’m a Millennial and have avocado toast for lunch.
This week, I am in Mexico City for meetings for Fulbright participants, and then I’m going to Cuernavaca to meet up with a group from my church in Chicago that is working with a parish there, so I should have more to report then.
