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At the back of Teatro Degollado you're at the beginning of Plaza Tapatia , with a view all the way down to the Hospicio Cabanas. The plaza is almost entirely lined with swish department stores and glossy office buildings, but for all that the pedestrianized area, dotted with modern statuary and fountains, is an undeniably attractive place to wander and window-shop. It takes its name from tapatio - an adjective used to describe anything typical of Guadalajara, supposedly derived from the capes worn by Spanish grandees. Guadalajarans themselves are often referred to as Tapatios . At the far end of the plaza, the Hospicio Cabanas (Tues-Sat 10.15am-5.45pm, Sun 10.15am-2.45pm; US$1 plus US$1.25 for a camera, free on Sun) was founded as an orphanage by the bishop Juan Cabanas y Crespo in 1801 and took nearly fifty years to complete, during much of which time it operated as a barracks. It was an orphanage again, however, when Orozco came to decorate the chapel in 1939. The Hospicio is a huge and beautiful building, with no fewer than twenty-three separate patios surrounded by schools of art, music and dance; an art cinema/theatre; various government offices; and a small cafeteria. The chapel, the Capilla Tolsa , is a plain and ancient-looking structure in the form of a cross, situated in the central patio right at the heart of the building. The murals , in keeping with their setting, are more spiritual than those in the government palace, but you certainly couldn't call them Christian - the conquistadors are depicted as the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, trampling the native population beneath them. The Man of Fire - who leads the people from their dehumanizing, mechanized oppression - has a symbolic role as liberator, which is clearly the same as that of Hidalgo in the palace murals: in this case he is a strange synthesis of Christian and Mexican deities, a Christ-Quetzalcoatl figure. There are benches on which you can lie back to appreciate the murals, and also a small museum dedicated to Orozco, with sketches, cartoons and details of the artist's life. Almost alongside the Hospicio is the vast Mercado Libertad , which Guadalajarans claim is the world's largest market under one roof and one of the few places in the city you can haggle over prices. It's an entirely modern building, but not in the least a modern market - as well as the touristy souvenir stalls you'll find curanderas offering herbal remedies, dried iguanas (for witches' brews), the renowned Paracho guitars, little stalls selling basic foods and vast piles of colourful fruit, vegetables, chocolate and spices, and traditional leather goods, from saddles to clumpy working boots. It's huge, chaotic and engrossing, but before you buy crafts here, it's worth paying a visit to the Instituto de la Artesania in the Parque Agua Azul, or to the expensive boutiques in Tlaquepaque, to get some idea of the potential quality and value of the goods.
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