Guadalajara: A Wet Welcome

I arrived in Guadalajara on Thursday afternoon for the Society of American Travel Writers' 2009 convention. The sky was gray, but it was not raining when we landed. I know this for sure, because the airport (GDL) does not have jetways (or does not have jetways for all aircraft, and passengers descended dry stairs and crossed a dry tarmac to reach buses that took us to the terminal. Soon affter we boarded buses that would take us to our hotels, it started drizzling.

Then, it started raining harder -- and then harder still. The bus driver kept off the elevated highway and took lower roads -- I would call them service roads. Before long, each road resembled a river. Passing vehicles generated waves of water that washed over curbs. Cars and trucks stalled in water-filled intersections. People huddled under bus shelters and in doorways. I wondered whether Guadalajara had a single functioning storm sewer.

I managed to get only a couple of vaguely decent images through the bus window and the downpour.

Astonishingly, the roads were dry the next morning. I don't know where all that water went, but I'm glad that it did.