Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos

Quite a tricky name to say this one.  I have been referring to this little town as Itchy Itchy Marbles for quite some time.  I actually think that is a good name for the town although it doesn't come close to the real name all that much.

Part of the metropolitan area of the city of Guadalajara, this is a SMALL town and it really feels like it is a million miles from the Chapultepec in the city centre on a Saturday night.

Again ignoring the puzzled looks of my students and Mexican friends in the city we took a day trip to explore what the city has to offer...

Membrillos in the title is the Spanish word for Quinze fruit, the city proudly makes a great range of products from the fruit including sweets and Ponche (slightly alcoholic and yummy fruit drink) which of course I just had to buy.  The town has a large main square with its town hall at one end.  The interesting thing with this building is the fact that the murals are located on the facade rather than the inside (the inside here looked very much like someone's garden with very little detail - if any at all)

I nearly died

Upon wandering around the streets it is very soon before you realise that there really isn't much to this town at all other than residential properties and some strange abandoned looking public seating areas - oh and HUGE barking dogs that jump onto roofs and scare the hell out of you.

Behind the city on one of the huge hills that make the town as picturesque and country as it can be is a small chapel with a ridiculous amount of steps leading up to it.  Our mission was clear!
After walking up and down the same streets and asking locals how the hell you get to the step.  People kept saying to go the opposite direction of the previous and at first we thought we were stuck in some strange farce.   We eventually realized that it was a small gap in a wire fence with KEEP OFF PRIVATE LAND signs either signs.  Well obviously that is where it was!

Little town of Itchy Itchy Marbles

The climb up to the chapel was quite tough for me.  In the mid afternoon heat and suffering from a bad case of upset stomachs for the previous week, I persevered the 170 odd steps and reached the small (and rather underwhelming) chapel on the side of the mountain.  The breeze and the view from up was spectacular and you could see all over the little town and its neighbour next door.  Awesome little day trip that is for sure.

Food options are limited in the town and the bustly taco stands were completely locked up by the time we returned from the chapel in the early afternoon.  We found a really amazing burger stand on the plaza and they were super cheap too!  Hurrah!

Additionally two things I found rather odd.

The first was this picture in the square of a dog cleaning up.

The second was this picture of what looks like a Jesus that has been beheaded next to the main church of the town.

Otro pueblo dentro del Zona Metrópolitana de Guadalajara es Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos. El pueblo se puede observar del lado derecho de la carretera camino a Chapala. Un arco y un mercado de dulces típicos hechos de membrillos anuncian la entrada al lugar.

Tomamos un autobús de la central de camiones de Guadalajara y después de un recorrido de una hora llegamos al centro de Ixtlahuacan. A pesar de ser parte de la Ciudad de Guadalajara, aún se puede apreciar que es un pequeño pueblo.

Fuente escondida,

En realidad no hay mucho por hacer. Decidimos ir a explorar y me sorprendió lo limpio y tranquilo del pueblo. Después de un rato decidimos ir a la capilla que se encuentra en lo alto de un cerro, así que caminamos entre callesitas, teniando el cerro como guía.
Nos topamos con un pequeño parque abandonado, pero aún así en buen estado, donde se podían apreciar grandes árboles con ramas que casi todaban el suelo y lo que alguna vez fue una fuente.
Después de caminar sin dar con el camino, preguntamos a una persona que pasaba, que por suerte iba a la capilla, así que nos mostró el camino. Es dificil encontrar las escaleras a la capilla pues se encuentran en una propiedad privada con letreros de "No entrar" y se tiene que pasar por una reja de alambre de pues para poder llegar.

Son 170 escalones para llegar a la capilla. Tuvimos que deternos a descansar en varias ocasiones, pues el sol y el calor hacían más pesada la subida.
Cuando por fin llegamos a la cima nos dimos cuenta que valió la pena. La capilla tiene una vista hermosa, se podía apreciar todo Ixtlahuacán y las montañas a lo lejos.

Regresamos al centro del pueblo y compramos cajeta de membrillo y ponche de la misma fruta en na pequeña tienda improvisada en la casa de una familia. No pudimos encontrar algún lugar para comer, pero por suerte había un puesto de hamburguesas y papas a la francesa.

Sayula, Jalisco

115 miles south of city of Guadalajara lies the small town of Sayula.  Mostly a sleepy little place with a calm and relaxing main central plaza with attractive yellow covered alcove buildings hiding cafes, bars and wide range of little shops. Sayula isn't going to blow your socks off if I am honest.



But is worth a detour if you are on your way to Ciudad Guzman or further south to Colima if you have the time.

There is a pretty church here located on the corner of the main plaza which houses its own little courtyard which is well worth a look if you are in the city.




The town is additionally famous for a couple of reasons.

A) The ghost of Sayula

A legend involves a merchant man who met a phantom at the gate of the city who offfered him anything he could wish for if he made a pact with him.  From what I have gathered of the story is that the ghost had more in mind and apparently forced himself on the man sexually.  As you do. So, therefore around the town (pretty much everywhere) there are statues and strange mock ups of a ghost with a very large appendage peeking from under the white sheet.  Cue lots of strange photos of people with it on their visit.  We found a replica of the ghost in a small bar on the main plaza.  This really is quite a bizarre thing to find in a little town.

B) Knives

Sayula is home to a world famous Ojeda knife factory and shop where you can see some truly beautiful knives with jaw dropping prices to match.  I can't say that I am a knife enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination but these were indeed very very beautiful and many large and sword-like items of display.  The factory itself is nearby and you can visit and see the knife making process, however it was not open when we visited.

C) Cajeta - The city is famous for its production of cajeta - a thick caramel like syrup which is made from sweetened caramalised milk.  It is available across the country but is particularly famous from this city and can be bought from street sellers pretty much on every street in pretty wooden boxes.

If visiting by bus from Guadalajara I would recommend taking the bus from Primera Plus, this bus is better as they give you allocated seats which is a good thing I promise you.  On our return journey I suddenly got rather ill and the company we used Sur sell as many tickets as they possibly can and it means that you often are all huddled together standing in the aisle and with a dodgy stomach and no toilet this is not a good thing.  TRUST ME!

Al sur de la ciudad de Guadalajara se encuentra el pueblo de Sayula. Para llegar se toma un autobús en la Central de Camiones del Centro de Guadalajara.

El autobús nos dejó justo en el centro del pueblo. Caminamos por los alrededores  en un día demasiado soleado.

No hay mucho por hacer en el pueblo. Fuimos a un café que estaba en el plaza central, después paseamos por la Iglesia y fuimos a visitar la tienda de cuchillos Ojeda, que tiene fama internacional. Es un negocio familiar que se dedica a la creación de objetos punzocortantes como cuchillos, navajas entre otros. Es interesante entrar a la tienda y ver todos los diseños.

El pueblo no tiene muchos lugares para comer así que terminamos comiendo en una pequeña fonda.

Es muy famosa en Sayula, la historia del ánima de Sayula. La historia no la conozco bien, pero parece que era un hombre que se hizo pasar por fantasma y engañó a un despistado que caminaba en la noche. Hicieron un trato a cambio de dinero.

Pero el trato era un favor sexual. Así que esta leyenda se presta a bromas y vaciladas. Es común ver por el pueblo pequeñas figuras de fantasmas sosteniendo una bolsa de dinero y de hecho, fuimos a un bar que tenía un "fantasma" (una sábana blanca con silueta de hombre) de dos metros de altura, que al momento de jalar la bolsa de dinero que sostiene, una figura fálica se levanta. Es algo divertido para ser honestos.

 

La cajeta también es algo muy característica del lugar, y se puede encontrar en todos lados. En la estación de autobuses fue donde compramos la nuestra.

Es altamente recomendable comprar boleto de autobús con asiento numerado, de otra manera el autobús se llena de sobremanera, como si fuera camión urbano.

Nosotros llegamos a tiempo a esperar al autobús, pero en cuanto se estacionó, las personas corren a subirse. No hay fila ni orden. Así que por el mismo precio que los que van sentados, uno puede ir por horas parado en el regreso a Guadalajara.