La Princesa Market - Woodinville

My sister told me this was a new store in town so I stopped by to check it out. Not that Latin American restaurants and stores are rare around here but this is new and the only one I know of in Woodenville. The woman owner greeted me in Spanish as if no big deal.  I told her I was just checking it out in Spanish ... and her attention was quickly taken by 6-8 customers that came in. Very much like a Mini Super in Mexico except brands found mostly in the US. There's a farmers market here this weekend and I'm told a Mexican from Yakima shows up so looking forward to that.

La Princesa Market

Pinatas and Pan

Veggies

La Raza and other Spanish language papers

They (Wash. State) have reduced the number of drivers licence places dramatically and when looking online for the closest location there was a link to a "Renew On Line" page. A little info and $54 later I was renewed and told they would mail it in a few weeks.  Another thing to cross off my to do list.

All my Amazon stuff arrived including the "good enough" Sony Cyber-Shot camera I used above. Nice cute little camera about the same size as my IPhone but takes better pictures. Shopping at second hand stores is going well with lots of sheets and a few clothes. Between a senior discount and the discount colored tag of the day prices are reasonable.

To see a specialist in Tecoman

I'd only been to Tecoman passing through to the Michoacan coast or to go to the beaches of El Real and Boca de Pascuales so I didn't really know my way around or how large the city is. Tecoman is not small, it's not a rectangular grid and it's very spread out.

Lorena had found a foot specialist for Maria that might give different options to skin grafts which were logistically and financially impossible. I relied on Lorena to get us there but she only had an address, no directions, didn't know Tecoman and the doctor was not answering his phone. It was near Cruz Roja so after asking many times we finally found the 600 block of Morelos which was about 15-20 blocks from town center.  Finally the doctor called back and said he would be in his office around 2-2:30 but it was noon and we were already 4th in line.

I had planned on running over to Boca de Pascuales to check out the surf but my city orientation was non existent at this point so I decided to walk back in the direction of the plaza and Mercado. Tecoman is totally flat so there is no vantage point except from upper levels of buildings and that seemed to be 2 stories at most. The city was once the Colima capital so is old but I found very few remains except for a few adobe structures still standing, often protruding into sidewalk space.

Was told the Mercado's name is Cuauhtémoc and is next to the plaza. It's interior is small and dark but lots of outside booths, stores and restaurants. There's a whole market area on the blocks surrounding the Mercado. A large modern church sits on the plaza and I hear it was finished in 2010 .... after the old one was damaged by the 2003 earthquake.  Can't find fotos of the old

Tecoman Plaza from the 2nd floor of the Municipal building

Street booths near the Plaza

Sidewalk store in the Mercado

A walk only street with booths and restaurants 

The famous Tuba vendor of Colima

One of my old Pascuales surf fotos - another day

A very long day in Colima after stopping at Burger King and Soriana in Manzanillo.  Soriana has started their school discount for many of the things kids will need for the following year.  We got back at 7:30

Two days in Tonala

We had two choices for hotels and we went with the less expensive Hacienda del Sol which turned out well. The other option was the Casa de las Palomas for about 100 pesos more. Hacienda del Sol was 450 pesos for 2 people, had a nice restaurant in the lobby and large indoor parking. Both are close to downtown and the Art Tianguis.

We had planned on staying 3 days and seeing more of Guadalajara but we found Tonala not very interesting and lacking decent restaurants and a taxi to Guad Centro was 150 pesos. Didn't want to deal with buses or park downtown. Walked a lot Saturday and did the Artisania Tianguis on Sunday morning. The tianguis goes on for blocks and blocks but I found very little was special. The shops that are there every day are not real easy to find. I'm sure we missed a few good stores but maybe another time

Sunday afternoon we took a taxi to downtown Guad, walked alot more and took one of the Tapatio tour buses around the city center. More on downtown and the tour on another post.

Casa de las Palomas

Hacienda del Sol

Hacienda del Sol restaurant

First church on the Tonala plaza

Opposing church across the plaza

Upscale artesenia shop

The endless tianguis (market)