Sometimes you just have to get away — even from the beauty of Puerto Vallarta. But this time we were on a mission — shopping for our new house that is being built up on San Juan Island, but also for a few things for our condo in Puerto Vallarta. It’s only a 35 minute flight from Vallarta, so why not?! Since we had already seen Guadalajara, we focused on two towns outside the city — Tlaquepaque (an arts and crafts center) and Tonola (a “factory” town that manufactures much of what they sell in Tlaquepaque. But in order to find our way around and shop for the best prices, we needed “a guy.” Note: if you want to get anything done in Mexico, you need “a guy.” So Glen found one who could do exactly what we want him to, and we were off!
San Pedro Tlaquepaque, which means “Sobre las Lomas de Barro” (“On the Muddy Hills”), is a Pueblo Mágico (Magical Town) located 15 minutes away from the city of Guadalajara. Its pottery tradition with clay and bronze sculptures has been the seedbed of great artisan masters. It’s also considered the mecca of the mariachi, although I always thought that was Guadalajara. It’s also a town of calm streets filled with plazas, gardens, artisans, food of every type and, of course lots of stores to shop in. We ended up making this our base of operations for our shopping trips both with that town as well as a side trip to Tonola. Tlaquepaque was pretty easy to get around in — you just follow the cobblestone Independencia walkway where the shops are located on both sides. While we spent more time getting ideas here (for later shopping in Tonola), we just loved wandering, taking in both the natural and architectural beauty, admiring the work of the artisans, and smelling the orange blossoms of the trees that line the walkway.
Our hotel in Tlaquepaque. Very close to the plaza and a quiet little place.
Entrance to the plaza area.
There is a highway that leads right to it!
Deb makes a friend!
Walking down the pedestrian mall on Independencia.
Likes of picturesque areas and architecture.
Lots of plazas and fountains along the way. This is Plaza Hidalgo.
Hidalgo with Cigarettes. Pretty artistic, huh?
There was music in the bandstand each night.
Craftspeople abound around the plazas…
… along with street vendors with all types of food — some recognizable, some not!
Deb and I enjoying a little lunch…
… of chiva (goat). It was delicious!
Everyone getting ready for Valentine’s Day. In Mexico it is called “Dia d’Amor y Amistad” (Day of Love and Friendship). What a nice sentiment!
But now it was time for shopping! Our first stop was at one of our favorite Mexican artist’s galleries — Sergio Bustamente. We ended up buying one of these for the front of our new house.
We also stopped at a design studio called Io. Lots of big metal and blown glass. We are thinking about a few pieces from here…
When going to Tonola (which is Nahuatl for “the place the sun rises”), the atmosphere is a little different. While it too has a lovely plaza, it feels a little grittier; after all this is a factory town. Here they specialize in crafts made of clay, wrought iron, blown glass, paper mache, wood, copper, plaster and ceramics (there is even a museum here completely dedicated to the ceramics crafting and decoration). Our main shopping goal here was glass — both blown and cast. In the former case, we have a knockoff Chihuly chandelier in Vallarta that we wanted to add more pieces to. As far as the cast glass, they make these wonderful “teardrops” of cast glass that we had seen in Puerto Vallarta and we wanted to add them to our front window in our new house. Because of the weather in the Northwest, these “teardrops” would miraculously transform into “raindrops.” Anyway, we bought 440 of them and the guy at the store about flipped. Anyway, our “guy” had them shipped up to the island, where they would later be installed.
Our knockoff Chihuly chandelier in our condo. You can see the top looks a bit barren. We were hunting for additional pieces.
The glass factory in Tonola. We picked 8 pieces that you see on the right. Total price — around $60. Yes, it is a rip-off of Chihuly, but a very affordable one!
Downtown Tonola. On Thursdays and Sundays the town turns into a big outdoor market.
You can buy pretty much anything.
But these were what we were hunting for — “tear drops!” We bought 440 of them for our new home. Wrap ’em up!
Then you enter the covered market which is divided up into sectors associated with what you are interested in.
Here is what the “chivo” looks like before it hits your plate. They actually keep the goat’s head there to make sure you know it’s authentic (and not dog)!
All kinds of unique veg that you won’t see anywhere else.
While not fancy, Tonola turned out to be a nice little town!
Anyway, a successful trip, both from a getaway and shopping perspective!
This entry was posted in Jalisco, Mexico, Travel 
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
