welcome back to run the atlas! today we're talking about Guadalajara. as you've seen on our channel
we just got back from a trip to guadalajara i published a vlog series a link up above
and there were so many things i wish i would have known before visiting this city i was
completely shocked by many different things including the weather the culture getting there
and many other surprises so stay tuned to the end so that you can plan for your
trip now why visit guadalajara. this is mexico's second most populous city
after mexico city and the 10th largest city in latin america and it's known for its traditional
iconic mexican culture including mariachi music and tequila production. so if you're looking for
that really authentic mexican experience in your travels this is a great place to come now before
you go you're probably wondering do you need to speak spanish and, necesitas hablar espanol.
the culture has limited english it's not like cancun or puerto vallarta so definitely know
how to introduce yourself ask directions order food that kind of thing you will find some people
who speak English particularly if you're staying in an American chain hotel but there's not a big
international crowd here so english is not widely spoken. so next is the weather. so guadalajara is
known for its very hot climate but it also has a rainy season and that happens from late june to
september. we visited in june and there was a huge tropical storm it completely flooded the streets .
yeah actually there is now yeah that's a river next tower would be higher than this
yeah i was really shocked by this but after the rain dissipated the city was completely empty and
it was magical it was very cinematic so definitely prepare for a mix of hot and rainy weather
especially if you're visiting in the summer. i mentioned guadalajara is a very large city so
there's a historic core which is called centro historico then there's also a business district
you want to make sure that you stay close to the center of the historic core we stayed at the
doubletree hotel this was the perfect location i highly recommend it it overlooked the 16th
century buildings the beautiful square it was also reasonably priced at around 50 us dollars
per night guadalajara does not have kind of that small town pueblo magical feel it's very much a
large bustling city it's not as overwhelming as mexico city with all of the different districts
and traffic but there is a lot of traffic don't get me wrong just be prepared for a very sprawling
city so driving and getting around so in order to get from the airport the guadalajara airport
to el centro it can take anywhere from 30 minutes minimum to about two hours depending
on the traffic during our visit it took about an hour to get there there was a very long taxi line
you notice that driving here is a little bit challenging so if you're renting a
car be prepared for a lot of roundabouts many different lanes are merging together so that's
something to be aware of. if you have a three or four day weekend planned that's a perfect
time period to visit guadalajara getting there from california if you are in the san diego region
you're in for a treat because you can use cbx this is the cross border express this is
very unique to san diego because it enables you to park on the united states cross over
a special bridge across the border and utilize the tijuana airport so your flight becomes
a domestic flight meaning you get much cheaper rates and you also don't need a coveted test
before visiting however you do need to fill out a health form so be prepared for that
as well you don't need a vaccination as of right now and using the cross-border express made
our travels to mexico very easy couple caveats with that first is aeromexico
cut their direct flights to guadalajara our flight got canceled and we got routed through mexico city
if you're not connecting direct it can add much more time to your trip our trip went from two and
a half hour flight to about seven hours of transit so bring your masks and just be cautious of covid
they are still working through some of the coveted issues in mexico right now so one of
the major things you're going to want to do when you visit guadalajara is visit tequila
this is the region in jalisco where they grow tequila this is intellectual property of mexico
it cannot be grown anywhere else so it's very special to visit this region it's also protected
by unesco what's magical about visiting tequila is that the entire landscape is blue you'll notice
the entire fields for miles are just covered in blue agave it's something i've never seen before
it was very picturesque tequila is a region that's 55 kilometers away from guadalajara
so it's a great side trip you don't need to stay overnight we booked a tour through Viator
which i'll link down below we took basically a private tour guide and he spoke english there's
many things to note though before you book this tour be sure to load up on a very big breakfast
now in this region you're gonna notice two major items on the menu there's birria
which is a stewed meat usually goat meat and then there's also
tortas ahogadas these are drowned tortas and they're covered in like a tomato sauce this is
perfect food to eat before or after drinking or a night on the town in tequila guadalajara is known
for its very spicy very saucy foods we notice there's not a lot of really healthy "Comidas
Saludables" it's more like stewed meats really heavy saucy foods if you're looking for healthy
foods or you're vegan or something like that this region will be a little bit more difficult
and you'll probably have to spend more money trying to locate restaurants to meet your needs.
be sure to book that side trip to tequila when you're taking
the tequila production tours and you're visiting the agave farms
please note that they will pressure you to buy tequila the blanco is just very
it's very strong so arriba abajo!
when you're visiting tequila the people dress up pretty fancy as well they have the charo
culture and you'll see a lot of people wearing kind of the western outfits the boots and the hats
the girls will be wearing like really nice dresses makeup a lot of heels you know a lot of people
are doing celebrations here definitely leave like the beach attire that you'd bring to cabo at home
so about tequila we learned a lot of things about tequila production and one of the things to note
is tequila has to say 100 agave on the bottle because some of the tequila factories will use
sugar or corn and ferment that and they'll mix it with chemicals and it's not real tequila so
they're able to kind of get around that one of the most well-known tequila factories that
you can tour here is jose cuervo they have a train which is no longer in service right now
but there is a tequila train be on the lookout for that when or if it reopens my personal favorite
tequila is Patron which is not open to the public and it's located in the highlands and that's
something i didn't know until i got to tequila a little bit more about guadalajara and centro
the central historico you'll notice that a lot of the buildings here were built in the 16th century
so it's really beautiful you'll see the gothic cathedral the captain it's really beautiful
illuminates at night they also have an area called the cabanas which is really beautiful as well
it's turned into a museum but beware that there are closures and also beware of entry fees
because that can get pretty expensive another thing to note about el centro the centro historico
is that you'll see beautiful historic buildings like unesco world heritage buildings right next to
like a modern structure built in the 70s you'll see a church like this right next to very new
construction so it's just a mix like there's no real zoning so that was interesting as well
we felt pretty safe traveling around the historic core it's very tourist friendly you'll even notice
they have horses and carriages and ride through the city so it gives it a very magical almost
like Spanish fairy tale feel it's very beautiful one more thing to note about Guadalajara is that
it's also very close to circular pyramids called Guachimontones i hope i'm pronouncing that right
but it's a unesco world heritage site and these are the only circular pyramids in the world
there are some rounded pyramids also in mexico city and it's really special to see them one
thing i noticed is up close they were a little bit smaller than i originally thought they would
be and also our guide told us that they had been completely reconstructed basically archaeologists
visited the site they basically took it apart it was overgrown there were trees growing in it
and they took it apart and reconstructed it based on historical facts and historical paintings
on what they thought it looked like so that's why it looks so perfect and perfectly rounded
it's because it's been reconstructed so that was something that i thought was really interesting
and this was also the first and only time i've been able to hike to the top of a pyramid i was
not able to do this in Egypt i was not able to do this in any other part of Mexico except for
here so be sure to visit Guachimontones and with that i hope you get a chance to visit guadalajara
very soon this is a very magical and traditional city it will give you an experience unlike any
other in mexico it's very unique and one thing i really loved about it more than anything was the
landscapes with the blue agave so be sure to bring your camera because you will love those landscapes
thank you muchos gracias and be sure to like and subscribe as we publish videos every Saturday