Matt is back in Mexico, this time in Guadalajara

[MattHanson1990]

I'm finally back in Mexico after two months of being in dull solely Los Alamos that has no culture. And this time I am in Guadalajara as I grew tired of just being in Ciudad Juarez. And I'll say this. Guadalajara is like night and day from Ciudad Juarez. It's a much more efficiently run city, a lot less Americanized, and has a very rich culture. So far the only thing I don't like about Guadalajara is that it's humid (although at this time of year it's nowhere near as humid as it is in the summer). So here's how my trip went so far since the day I entered Mexico. As always I took Atomic City Transit from White Rock up to Los Alamos, boarded the New Mexico Park and Ride to Santa Fe, got on the RailRunner train to Albuquerque, and then took Greyhound to El Paso. And during my near day long layover in Albuquerque, I got disappointed with the nightlife scene there before I went to the Greyhound station.

Day 1: After spending most of the day hanging out with my friend Hanny in El Paso, I used a different bridge to cross into Ciudad Juarez to obtain a tourist card, but as I got onto the Mexico side of the bridge, the immigration office was closed. So all I did was put my luggage onto an X ray conveyer belt and got into Mexico without any problems. I got concerned with how I was going to obtain the tourist card, so I asked a few of my local friends in Juarez. Nicia wasn't at the hostel when I arrived, but there was a man from Sonora who was staying there.

Day 2: I took a taxi to the Juarez airport to catch my flight to Guadalajara, and on the way there we got stopped by Tránsito. I kind of thought we were going to be stopped there for a half hour or the cops would take me, but neither happened thank goodness. We were only pulled over for a couple minutes, whereas in the US, a motorist is pulled over for much longer. At Juarez airport, I got my tourist card and the immigration officer stamped my passport before I proceed to security. And I flew on Volaris. Despite the bad reviews it got from a lot of people, I had a good experience flying with them. After my plane landed in Guadalajara, I checked into a hostel, and then walked around the city some. And I was so amazed at how beautiful the architecture was and how rich the culture was. I didn't try meeting the girls yet, but I met a 28 year old woman at the hostel from Guerrero who was really sweet, humble, and curious. She and I along with a backpacker from New Zealand walked around Guadalajara for a little while.

Day 2: I'm going to the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara to see if I can meet the girls.

[Ghost]

.

[MattHanson1990]

Day 3: I took the subway for the first time, and it reminded me of when I was in Boston May of four years ago. Initially I was headed towards la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara to see if I can pick up girls there, but I was disappointed to not find it as I went the wrong way. The subways were crowded but nowhere near as bad as Mexico City. Later that night I walked over to Avenida Chapultepec to try to chat up girls near the bars. I chatted up 2, but the conversation was very short. And then I got disappointed. Could Guadalajara women really be Americanized by now? As I got back to the hostel, a guy working there told ,e the best time to chat up women in the bars and clubs is on Saturday, not Friday. I then talked with a guy who's an expat in Brazil about my situation, and he did mention that it's mostly in Zapopan that the women are Americanized. On Day 4 I'll try my luck in Lola Lolita or Chapultepec; and Monday I'm chatting up university girls.

[MattHanson1990]

Once I get far better results in Guadalajara, I am scratching Ciudad Juarez off the HA list for sure, as that place was a huge disappointment. It turns out the dating scene up there was actually quite similar to America in many ways. Almost every girl with both beauty and brains was taken (in fact, Nicia's sister, I heard, was never single. She had a long term boyfriend before she got with her current one). The only ones single were either Americanized, had kids, or were fat and ugly. And the only woman who gave me the time of day was a 29 year old from Veracruz. Single men seemed to outnumber single women because most likely, the femicides and disappearances of women that have been occurring since 1993 thinned out the female population. Add the Americanization coming from El Paso, and you have a recipe for a dating nightmare for men in Ciudad Juarez. Remember when that one Mexican man told me guys in Juarez go on multi-year dry spells while the women can get boyfriends any time they want?