Guadalajara: El Viaje de Mis Sueños

Last week, my uncle came out to visit my family and I for Sundance. For most of the year, my uncle lives in D.C., but his husband lives in Guadalajara, Mexico during the winter and they own an apartment there, so he inevitably visits frequently. As he was telling me about the city and his apartment and the people there, I thought it sounded really neat, so I decided to focus this next post on Guadalajara!

Everyone knows that soccer is a huge thing in Mexico, kind of like American football is here. Even though I'm not big into watching sports (except for when it comes to volleyball), I'd definitely want to go to a soccer game to get a feel for the game and the culture surrounding it in Mexico. Jalisco Stadium (or Estadio Jalisco in Spanish) is a huge soccer stadium in Guadalajara; it holds more than 55,000 people and has hosted two FIFA world cups. Just watching videos of the energetic crowd at games at the Jalisco Stadium makes me want to go, even though everyone in the crowd looks really sweaty!

An excited crowd at a soccer game in Mexico.
Image courtesy of: World Soccer Traditions

As I mentioned earlier in one of my blog posts, I LOVE to visit churches. I don't know what it is, but no matter what the type of church, they all just seem gorgeous to me. I especially love Catholic churches; they're so elaborate and have those high, decorated ceilings that make you feel tiny when you look up at them. About 80 percent of Mexico is Catholic, and as Mexico's third largest city, Guadalajara is home to a lot of very famous, very old Catholic churches. Probably the most well-known of these is the Expiatory Temple. From the looks of TripAdvisor pictures, it's a beaut.

The Expiatory Temple in Guadalajara.
Image Courtesy of: Tuchman Travel Guide

Another really fun-sounding thing in Guadalajara is shopping at the street markets. Guadalajara is home to some huge street markets selling a lot of really neat handicrafts and delicious food. Some of these markets are so big that they have to shut down entire neighborhoods to traffic! I probably wouldn't buy any of the pottery or arts there, even though are probably amazing, because 1. how would you fit that in your suitcase? and 2. I'm broke. Really broke. However, I would definitely want to go to check out some of the products and get some good people watching in.

Cool-looking pottery for sale at the Tonalá street market.
Image courtesy of: Destination360

Finally, I would want to visit one of these fancy movie theaters they have in Guadalajara that my uncle was telling me about. Guadalajara has these theaters that are pretty much the first class version of a movie theater. You sit in these huge plush chairs, and people serve you meals and drinks while you are watching a film. My kind of movie theater! In Mexican currency, tickets to these theaters are pretty expensive, but since the U.S. dollar is worth about fifteen times more than the Mexican peso, it actually wouldn't break the bank.

Costa Rica: ¡Vamos a la Playa!

I've never really gotten the whole appeal of beaches. I mean, I can go to the beach for an hour or so, but I'm usually not the type of person who is content just lying on a towel doing nothing all day. However, with weather here in Utah getting colder and colder and my pile of homework getting bigger and bigger, I can't think of any better place to soak up some sun and relax than a beach. And where can you find a beach with clearer water, whiter sand, and a more lax attitude than Costa Rica?

Like I mentioned earlier, you probably won't find me on a beach just sitting around and tanning, mainly because I'm usually not in the mood for skin cancer, but also because I just find it kind of boring. If I'm going to a beach, I want to do something exciting! If I ever get the chance to go to a Costa Rican beach, I really want to try parasailing, which is basically where you wear a parachute and get pulled by a motorboat. I also want to try scuba diving in Costa Rica, but the one time I ever tried scuba diving, I almost drowned. Twice. And that was in a ten foot deep pool, so I might have to skip this whole scuba diving thing.

This is parasailing. Looks fun, right?
Image Courtesy of: Go Visit Costa Rica

If I had to pick one beach in Costa Rica to go to I think I would choose Playa Zancudo, because it is one of the more quiet and less touristy beaches of Costa Rica, and it has plenty of recreational opportunities. Plus, it has these super cute cabins, called Cabinas Los Cocos, that are right on the beach and that I would love to stay in.

One of the Cabinas Los Cocos at Playa Zancudo.
Image Courtesy of: Anywhere Costa Rica

Another thing I want to do in Costa Rica is a little cliché, but something I have wanted to do for a very long time: I want to go on a zipline canopy tour! This is the thing they always show on reality TV where a celebrity goes flying through the rainforest, harnessed to a cable, flailing their legs and screaming. I have wanted to try this ever since I did the little zipline at the UOP when I was six or seven. The idea of soaring through the trees, going platform to platform, and practically embodying Tarzan just seems like the best thing ever to me!

HOW AWESOME DOES THAT LOOK?!?!?
Image Courtesy of: Wandering Trader

I also want to go to Costa Rica to practice Spanish. I have a goal of being fluent in four languages before I die, and so far I'm at about 1.25 (including English). I would love the opportunity to be able to converse with native Spanish speakers in real life situations, and since Costa Rica is a Spanish-speaking country, it would be a perfect place to do so. I am only in Spanish II this year, so I am not at all close to being fluent in the language, but I know how to say "windsurf," so I don't totally suck (it's "hacer windsurf," in case you were wondering).

Going to Costa Rica has been a dream vacation of mine for years. Costa Rica has gorgeous beaches, tons of exhilarating recreational activities, and opportunities to increase fluency in an influential and widely spoken language.