Wednesday, 5 March 2014 – We left at 9:20 a.m. on an ETN Luxury bus from Barra De Navidad and arrived at the Hotel Frances in Guadalajara at 4:30 p.m. The bus winds along the coast for some time before heading inland to the town of Colima. North of Colima is an active Volcano which rises to 12,533 feet. It does have major eruptions every few years. It also regularly spews out smaller steam eruptions. It was doing this just as we approached Colima however, we were too late to get good photographs of the event from the bus.

The main bus terminus for Guadalajara is on the outskirts of the town, just beyond the ring road, it is called the Nueva Central Camionera. We took a taxi from there to the Hotel Francis which is in the heart of the old city on Calle Pedro Moreno.

The Hotel Frances is full of character, although it needs some refurbishment. The room was clean and comfortable, and the central location was perfect.  However, there was a Disco under the hotel which boomed from 8:00 p.m. in the evening until 3:00 a.m. in the morning, so sleeping was a challenge.

The hotel dates from 1610 when it was built as a hostelry for trading merchants coming from Mexico City. When it was fully renovated in 1983, it was used for several scenes in the Charles Bronson movie “The Evil That Men Do.”

After unpacking, we headed out to see some of the sights. Starting at the Cathedral, we saw parishioners lined up getting their ashes, this being Ash Wednesday. We walked around the Plaza Guadalajara and then down to the Teatro Degollado taking photographs as we went even though the shadows were becoming long.

• 

• 

•