Since arriving in Mexico, I’ve been hearing about Guadalajara. It’s the second largest city in Mexico. It’s the birthplace of tequila and mariachi. It’s full of art and hipsters…aka my people.

I finally committed to a weekend trip, only to discover that a weekend was definitely not enough time for this amazing destination.

Arrived in the late afternoon and spent the first evening wandering through the historic zone of the city. Lots of illuminated sights to take in and open squares to hang out in.

That last pic is the Guadalajara Cathedral, which I revisited the next day to see the inside.

Favorite fact about the cathedral: the two towers are substantially different in height. Apparently the architect who drafted the original plans handed off the project to one of his students. Must not have been the most A++ student, because the towers ended up differing by a full meter. It’s enough of a joke around the city that even tourist tchotchkes will purposefully have different height towers, never letting the student/architect dream team live down this mistake.

Another cool structure is the Palacio de Gobierno. The original 1650 palace was destroyed by an earthquake in 1750. Reconstruction was financed entirely with proceeds from taxing mezcal. Did I mention that Guadalajara is the capital of tequila production?

Inside the palacio is a famous mural by Mexican painter José Clemente Orozco. Guess the time period this was painted…hint: it’s WWII.

Orozco mural of Mexico’s founding father, Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo-Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor.

…Miguel Hidalgo, for short.

Meanwhile in the nerdy world of global culture, I also stopped off at Guadalajara’s UNESCO World Heritage site, the Hospicio Cabañas. Featuring lots of art, including sculptures and yet another Orozco mural.

And nearby is the Mercado San Juan de Dios. Does this look like the largest indoor market in Latin America? Maybe not from the outside…

But what about that indoor view…

Complete with many food options. Mmmm. Looks…uh, great.

And outside on the streets, performers abound. I constantly found interesting things happening, whether puppet performances by modern pirates…

Or whatever massage healing was happening here…

To extensive street art sightings…

And even the final act in a regional jazz festival.

Truly, Guadalajara seemed to have it all. Sooooo of course I doubled down by heading to the nearby town of Tlaquepaque.

“Tlaquepaque” is one of those words that my eyes originally kept glazing over — like I would see it written down on maps, but I never actually thought about how to pronounce it. It was “that-long-word-starting-with-a-T-and-then-having-some-q-s-in-it.”

BUT try pronouncing it.

Really.

I’ll wait.

….wasn’t that fun?! Tla-que-pa-que. Now I can’t get enough of saying it.

Oh, and Tlaquepaque is a pueblo magico, aka part of a Mexican government program to promote towns that offer “magical” cultural and scenic experiences. I’d say T-town definitely fit the bill.

Full of arts, crafts, and vaguely disturbing statues.

Other highlights of Guadalajara: discovering a new favorite ice cream flavor. Spending hours shopping in the crafts market (machetes and incense and herbal tinctures, oh my!). Finding my people in the hipster neighborhood. Stumbling across a rogue aerial silks class. Almost adopting a litter of mix Great Dane/Dalmatian puppies.

Yeah, I’m a big fan of Guadalajara. 10/10 definitely recommend, would go again, highly encourage everybody to visit.