Day Three: Promotions Galore

A giant Santa looms over Plaza Arboledas.

Mexico is a land of many promotions.  It seems every grand opening of a grocery store, tire center, mall or restaurant has a high likelihood of including some variety of balloons, piñatas, dance music, giant clowns, roaming spotlights, people dressed in costume and a whole lot else.

At Christmas time, the city abounds with Santa Clauses, snowmen (a bit strange given the 80 degree weather) and colorful lights.  Of course, this is true in the United States as well, but it's a matter of degree.  For instance, one local mall celebrated the recent

A promotional blow-up doll apparently looking for a hug.

Christmas with very large blow-up dolls of Santa,
stockings, snowmen and the like, all positioned on the roofs of various stores.  One truly gigantic Santa Claus (taller than a nearby three story building) stood in the parking lot.  Perhaps this would seem in proportion at the Mall of America or on the front lawn of the White House but this jumbo Santa stood at a rather mediocre shopping center with a grocery store and the usual selection of accompanying stores.

Spotlights are also big in Guadalajara.  One night I approached a roaming spotlight from a few miles away and was a little excited when I realized my path was taking me directly to the site of the festivities.  I expected to see some kind of major event...perhaps featuring Mexican movie stars or at least a Mariachi band.  But when I finally arrived, it turned out to be the opening of a Farmacia Guadalajara, a chain of drug stores in the city.  And there wasn't a movie star in sight.

The Dico clown sits on the top of every Dico Furniture store.

It's hard to say if all these promotions are effective or not.  They do seem to arouse excitement and they are certainly popular with children.  One imagines (hopes?) that given the prices of 150 foot inflatable Santas, someone must has some evidence somewhere that they work.

Day Two: A Plethora of Crosses

A cross erected at a construction site in Guadalajara.

A cross on a crane above the city.

A characteristic of the culture of Guadalajara is its oneness in spirit.  Of course this is a positive result of a society that is largely uniform with little obvious diversity.  Mexico is Mexican, at least at first glance.  Differences of opinion and station among Mexicans becomes apparent once you've been here for awhile, but at least compared to the United States, this is a country with little diversity.  Pehrpas as a result, Mexico is a society that sometimes makes assumptions about a uniformity in beliefs that we are not used to in the U.S. At least in Blue-State America, we have become very careful with our religious symbols.  If a government tries to place the Ten Commandments or a Nativity Scene in a public place, you can be sure that all hell will break loose.  We Americans are also careful in our personal interactions these days..."Happy Holidays" has largely replaced "Merry Christmas," for instance --- at least when dealing with strangers.

Of course, Mexico is a Catholic country and as such, religious symbols are ubiquitous.  Nativity scenes abound in the malls during the Christmas season and the government is happy to promote the many churches here as the main attraction to tourists.  One sees crosses everywhere.  They loom above the construction sites (apparently to help ward off accidents), they are outside many public buildings and one even finds them in places you would never expect...for instance, a cross hangs above the door at my local 7-11.  While the assumption that we are all Christians here in Guadalajara can feel rather exclusionary to the non-believer, it also results in a unity of spirit that perhaps is missing with the emphasis of diversity in the United States.

Day One: The Empty Streets of the Holidays

All is quiet on New Year's Day.

Today is New Year's Day and the streets here in Guadalajara seem almost impossibly quiet.  Of course, that is also true in the U.S. on major holidays like New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  But I guess the difference is that every day the streets are relatively quiet in U.S. suburbia.  When you return to the U.S. after spending some time in Guadalajara, the first question that comes to mind is, "Where are all the people?"  Mexico seems to always be loud, busy and full of people.  And on a holiday, the difference is striking.  This mainly seems to be due to the streets and sidewalks being so full of workers.  People here have real jobs in the way the Americans only did in the old days.  Here in Mexico, people aren't so often "Assistant Resource Managers" or some white-collar, indescribable management position.  Rather, they are painters or builders or garbage men.  Sure, these jobs still exist in the U.S.  But here they are everywhere...the streets seem to overflow with these professions.  There is always a new building going up, a house being painted or a gasoline truck double-parked.  The streets are also normally full of traffic light workers --- washing windshields, selling gum or flat-out begging.  All the commotion seems to help guard against loneliness.  But today Guadalajara seems a ghost town and a bit lonely at that.