3 Day Luggage

My luggage finally arrived last night at 10:30 after I had given up all hope of ever wearing anything different again. So, now that I've taken a shower and put some new clothes on, I feel like a new person. Yesterday, before my luggage had arrived, I contacted Delta and explained to them that I had been waiting for my luggage for three days. They told me there was just nothing they could do for me - not even a lousy coupon for Burger King or anything. I'm beginning to get this really weird sensation that the customer isn't always right...hmmmmmmm....Anyway, the guy on the phone kept telling me that he understood my anger and my feelings. I would tell him that I really wanted to wear different clothing and be able to venture out of the house and he would say "I understand, ma'am". Finally, I had to ask/yell(?) "Have you been wearing the same underwear for three days? If not, I don't want to hear that you understand!" I felt a little better after that.

To console myself, Pepe brought home some of the most wonderful tacos from this place called El Brodis. They were Birria tacos. Birria is a Tapatio (the word for things from Guadalajara) specialty. Goat in kind of a spicy tomato sauce. Yummy! The tacos were just the right amount of crunchy and so yummy. This morning, they were making Churros in front of the church, which they do every Sunday. They squeeze them out of this thing that looks like a giant caulking gun, into a very large bowl of hot oil. When they are fried up, they dredge them in cinnamon sugar and you eat them hot and fresh holding them in between pieces of wax paper. When you are done, you throw the wax paper away without looking at it, because if you did, you would realize that it is stained with grease to the point where you can almost see right through it.

Last night, we bought tamales from the guy across the street who makes them on Saturday and Sunday nights. One kind had chicken in a red sauce that was a bit spicy and the other was made with chicken and a green sauce that was really mild and rich. Jack ate a little bit of tamale (called them 'malees) but it was a little too spicy for him. El Guero (the son of Vero and Jos) came back with a bowl of french fries and this creation called a salchipulpo. A salchipulpo is when you cut a hot dog in half and then cut legnthwise almost into quarters, leaving it intact just at the end. Then, because god knows there isn't enough fat in a hot dog, you deep fry it and the little ends spread out and curl up a bit and it looks a little bit like an octopus which is what pulpo means. So, it's a sausage octopus. Jack seemed to like that a lot.

Jack is having a great time playing with his cousins and aunts and uncles. He's been getting to drink Mexican chocolate milk, called chocomil which he just adores. I usually order orange juice when we go out because they squeeze it right there when you ask for it and it is so sweet and wonderful. I took some video today of Pepe's mom and sister making enchiladas and then I ate a bunch of them and I think I may never eat again I'm so full.

The weather here is wonderful. It gets hot in the afternoon, but not unbearably so and then in rains and hails! at night and cools everything down. We spend most of the time sitting out in the front patio where the breeze comes through and it's just heavenly. I think I could live here. Two big problems with Guadalajara: graffiti and trash. If something could be done about either one of them, the quality of the city would be greatly improved.

I have got to get some work done, so I'll sign off for now, but there's more food and wonderful things to see. I'll upload pictures a couple at a time and give more mouthwatering descriptions as I experience things. Wherever you are, enjoy!