Tonala is quite a contrast to its neighbors, Tlaquepaque and Guadalajara. Driving along the cobblestone streets, one is aware of a different life. It's a town of working people with few restaurants, homes, stores that would cater to tourists or the more middle class. It is known for making ceramics and folkart and providing huge Thursday and Sunday markets. After hearing so much about these tianguis (markets) of Tonola, we were drawn to visit Tonola, only about 10 minutes drive from Tlaquepaque.
Kilometers of small booths filled the sidewalks, streets, open fields, and central plaza. Almost everthing imaginable is available to buy. Small food stalls offering popular Mexican foods, baked goods, nuts, sweets, were well patronized. Many shops carried traditional familiar folkcraft from Mexico: basketry, clothing, bracelets, necklaces, ceramic ware, metalware, housewares, patio light shades, and so on. Very few shops offered quality design work that is present in Tlaquepaque. Several large pieces of pottery and light shades for our patio were most tempting, except they were too large to carry home.
It would be easy to spend days and still not see the major part of this Sunday market. I'm sure there are antiques and other treasures, if one only knows how to locate them After three hours of exploration we were ready to eat, but could find nothing more than taco and chicken stands in the entire central part of the city.
Reluctantly. we returned to Tlaquepaque to look for a restaurant. Since restaurant fill rapidly in Tlaquepaque around 2:00 pm we wanted to beat the crowd. El Patio on Avenue Constitucion was a wonderful choice. How we enjoyed the afternoon: sitting in the open air next to a beautiful fountain circled with flowers, entertained by dancers from Jalisco and a talented female Mariachi band, quarreling parrots, sweet people, and delicious food and drink.
Wonderful dancing as you see here!
 |
| Our Hangout |
As we were walking back to our B&B we passed through the Parian (central plaza building), we found more mariachi groups and dancers performing there to enjoy. Our little journey to the highlands of central Mexico has been a source of inspiration for us to continue visiting more regions of this fabulous country.
No comments:
Post a Comment