USA - Canada - Mexico 2016 - Day 63

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Monday, 7 November 2016 - Guadalajara, Mexico - Teuchitlan - Guadalajara, Mexico

Last day of our holiday today. Tomorrow we fly out of Guadalajara to Los Angeles then wait until nearly midnight to catch our flight home to Brisbane.

Today we played tourists again, taking a trip west to Teuchitlan with our Driver/Tour Guide, Guillermo, (Yarmo), to see the Guachimontones, a prehispanic archaeological site based around a group of circular stepped pyramids. It seems to have been the way of this trip, here we were going to a special site and there again was fog again hampering our view of anything that was more than a kilometre away.

Our first stop was at Lake La Vega on the outskirts of the town of Teuchitlan. Although we couldn't see the other side of the lake, the immediate area was teeming with bird life and a local fisherman was cleaning and filleting his morning catch on the shore. Very friendly fellow and happy to talk to us and answer questions through our guide. We took a walk along the shore to see the bird life and look for the turtles which can been seen here. The turtles were elusive but we did see a snake which was a reminder to keep our eyes open. A decision was made to come back to the little shore-side cafe for lunch.

Next, it was through the town and up to the site of the Guachimontones. The site was known as far back as 1938 and was rediscovered in 1970. Serious research into the site began in 1996 and the site is believed to be more than 2000 years old. The structure consists of a number of circular stepped pyramids each surrounded by a circle of mounds believed to have had buildings on them. A lot of restoration work has been done on the site although the largest pyramid, "El gran Guachi", has not been restored. Much of the site has tree growth on the mounds but the layout is quite easy to identify.

It was a very interesting place to see but unfortunately the museum on site was not open today so we were unable to get a full understanding of what the site was and how much more restoration was intended to be done.

Back down though the town with a visit to a beautiful old church then out to the lakeside cafe for a lunch based on the fish the fisherman had caught that morning. Very relaxing looking out over the lake as the fog had cleared and it was quite picturesque.

Back to Guadalajara taking a detour past a couple of statues which are very well known and highly regarded in Guadalajara.

The first one, "The Minerva", is a statue of the Roman Goddess, Minerva. With a base of a 74 metre it would have been a fantastic sight but unfortunately the fountain appears to be under repair and was closed off. The base of the statue has 2 legends, "JUSTICE, WISDOM AND STRENGTH CUSTODIAN TO THIS FAIR CITY" and "THE GLORY OF GUADALAJARA". The garden around the fountain contains Agaves, which of course is the plant used to make the Tequila. When the city celebrates, the statue is a gathering point.

The second sculpture, "The Stampede", features 14 bronze wild horses, depicting a wild horse stampede. A very life-like sculpture.

Then it was back to the Hotel to complete our packing and then our last Mexican dinner at a restaurant around the corner. What a great finish to our time in Mexico. Guillermo, who has been a great driver for us over the past week will pick us up at 6:00am in the morning and take us to the airport to leave Mexico.

Tomorrow's update will probably go something like, "Spent all day sitting in the LA terminal"