Tlaquepaque

There are a lot of words here that begin, or contain, the letter T followed by L. I'm pretty sure it is from the indigenous Mexican people and their language's influence on Mexico, because it is not a Spanish sound. Tlalpeno is a really yummy soup. Tlaquepaque is a neighboring Artisan town where I went on Thursday with Jenny and our friend Quetzal (remember- the guy who set up the amazing fiesta at our house). It was such a cute place, with a beautiful downtown area, cathedral, gazebo, artsy stores, streets with no cars. It was cleaner and much less crowded than downtown Guadalajara when I went a month or so ago.
We ate sugar cane (all cut up in a bag)... you just chew it for the sweet liquid it has and then spit out the stringy remains. It was good!
Rainy season is almost over, I think. I can't decide how I feel about that because apparently the dry season gets pretty miserable. But after Tlaquepaque we ate dinner at a really cute place, but it started to pour halfway through it. The result was that the streets were completely flooded and, since this particular street was on a hill, the water came rushing down it and the sidewalk. In the dark, it looked like a mudslide you would see on the Discovery channel! So, we tried to wait it out but it lasted a long time, so we waited until is slowed down before we left.
I'm now on a search for shoes b/c some of the few I brought are ruined now from the water, or they dye my feet brown since they've been wet so many times.
However, like I said, I can't decide if I want the rain to end just yet... because there is always such a refreshing change of weather after the rain comes. A hot day turns breezy and cool enough for jeans and a jacket. It's nice. I'm afraid that after October, when the rain stops, it will just be hot. And this being a dirty city... well, there will be nothing to wash away and temporarily drown out the exhaust and smog.
We'll see how it goes.

(pictures will come of Tlaquepaque... since my 'rechargable' camera batteries have decided to hold a charge for about 32 minutes...I haven't been taking pictures with my own camera and must rely on others. no fun. so I will look for new batteries today)