Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX…In
2013 we paid a brief visit
to the Expo Mueble Guadalajara, a show where the national and international companies
related to the furniture and
decoration industry gather to showcase their latest offerings.
In this show there's a space for the furniture for home,
garden or office to lighting and decoration items of different styles and
tendencies plus accessories such as kitchen appliances, television´s and other
home technology items.
This year Dolores and I
decided it was time to renew our bedroom furniture, and after 13 years the
ever-present bamboo gnawing termites had made it necessary to replace our
veranda furniture. We began planning a
trip to Tonalá, a 400,000+ population city and
municipality within the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, known as a major
handcrafts center in the state of Jalisco.
The idea was to couple the trip with the timing of the Expo.
In the past our dozen
or so trips to Guadalajara/Tonalá have been taken with Alegre Tours, led by
Roberta Valdez, in the company of 20-25 happy shoppers on a full size bus that
could be loaded with 95% of the purchases of all the buyers. This was a simple mindless way of traveling without
the inherent stress of locating/buying/shipping. Most of Dolores and my purchases centered
around place settings for our Essence of
Cuisine cooking school and decorative accessories and art for our home. Side trips into Guadalajara Centro and
Tlaquepaque were for sightseeing and dining, with the bus delivering and retuning
us to the hotel at pre-arranged times.
This trip planning started
with the same anticipation. Roberta was
to schedule the trips timeline to match the Expositions. She also was to make arrangements locally to
get us credentials to attend the show as buyers. This was done and advertised via email. As the time approached to finalize the
commitments to hotel, bus rental, and side tour details cancellations began to
occur as the result of too much customer procrastination and real infirmaries
by some of the standby “tourers.”
Just days from
departure Roberta had to cancel the trip.
Disaster! This left 8 of us wondering what to do next.
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| The "Key" |
Dolores, I, and several of the stranded travelers
met with determination at another tour agency with the express purpose of getting
us to Guadalajara and hotel reservations in Downtown Centro. Pricier, but doable. You might ask “why not drive?” Since we are currently in the throes of regularization
(import) of our car into Mexico, we still have foreign plated car(s). Not doable in the “Big City.” Then, once in Guad., we had to arrange our
entrance into the Expo. Dolores already
had made arrangement with a local supplier to attend as one of his reps. The other 7, including me??? Knowing the complex entry requirements to
attend and buy at such Expos in the States, we were uncertain but
determined. Since all of us had owned
businesses in the states we took along credentials in the form of business cards
and other ID. As it turned out when they
printed Dolores card they gave her several associate badges. When we located the others they also all had
buyer badges and several associate badges.
WOW.
Another concern was getting around in Mexico’s
second largest city, population 4.5 mil. While most of our trips to and return from
the Expo, Tonalá, Tlaquepaque, etc. took about 35-40 minutes the highest cab
fare experienced on the trip was from the ETN Bus station in Puerto Vallarta,
$155 pesos ($10.30USD) for the 20 minute trip to our house. Most of the fares in Guad. averaged near $100
pesos ($6.65USD).
At the end of our visit to the Expo Dolores and I
had accomplished everything we had planned.
We purchased new master bedroom furniture; new veranda furniture; all to
be delivered to our home in PV. Also the
trip to Tonalá resulted in…you guessed it… a complete new place setting and
accessories for Essence of Cuisine. Now
I have to build new storage cabinets.
Finally, the ETN bus trip home. While I´ve ridden on some fine buses in
Europe, and many Greyhound buses in the states, nothing prepared me for the ETN bus experience. The tour that we had joined to Guad.
continued to other destinations and we had booked a return trip with ETN. This is one of the luxury lines in Mexico and
we had had good reports from friends who had already used them to travel. When the bus arrived (20 min. late of course,
its Mexico) we had been waiting in a very clean modern, marble floored station
with comfortable bench seats for travelers.
There also was a refreshment bar to relax in and clean Baños (5 pesos,
por favor). Boarding the bus we were
handed a box lunch and choice of refresca.
You then passed through a privacy door into the passenger area. The floor was oak pargue, the seating was 2 +
1 across and the seats were large lounge chairs, equipped with motorized padded
leg rests, private electronic Tablets with headphones where you could select
movies, TV, various music genres, news, etc.
Seat separation was outstanding, at least 24” in. knee room when the
seat in front of you was completely extended back. You had a large overhead enclosed storage bin,
and the rear of the bus had two baños (Hombre/Mujeres) and a coffee machine,
all enclosed behind an area privacy door.
Flying should be this comfortable!
Five hours later we had arrived at the Puerto
Vallarta Bus station and hailed our final taxi to Old Town. At 9:30 PM we were in bed reading our
Kindles.
