Here are the random musings from/about my trip that I promised in the last post:
As bad as the traffic is in the DF, the drivers manage to terrify me when they get moving. Traffic lights are taken more as a suggested course of action rather than a command and street signs were apparently placed around the city as decorations because nobody pays them any mind. On many one-way streets there are dedicated bus lanes in which the buses travel against traffic which makes crossing these streets nearly as stressful as driving on them. And people love to honk & curse but rarely seem to take offense like folks in LA made famous for their road-rage.
The spiciness of the food in Mexico is a bit misleading/overstated. Most things to eat actually aren't spicy in & of themselves, but there is an array of condiments & accompaniments which provide a range of heat from slightly tingly to stick-your-face-in-a-tub-of-yogurt. If you have trouble tolerating spice heat there are very few foods you'd need to avoid as long as you left off the condiments. My experience is that real Mexican food is much less spicy than Thai or Indian/Pakistani cuisines unless you choose to turn up the heat right before taking a bite. In fact, outside of condiments & soups with red broths I can't think of many things I ate that were spicy.
Just about everything that can be eaten or drank here comes with fresh limes for squeezing. Maybe it's the quality of the citrus or traditional flavor combinations, but the bright freshness and light acidity the fresh hit of lime juice adds really seems to improve all of it (and it was great to begin with). It doesn't work as well for the Polish foods indigenous to my neighborhood in NYC. Regardless, whenever you're in México feel free to squeeze away without fear that you'll mask other flavors.
The DF houses some of the wealthiest people in the world, but it has an enormous poor population. People beg for donations or try to sell trinkets everywhere you go (often through their children), & they don't just target tourists. Almost every restaurant, store & market allows people to wander in to press the customers to part with their money. I never got used to saying "no, gracias" & "no, lo siento" so many times a day.
Just about every woman I met, hung out with or was served by took my meals personally. Quite a few of the men did, too. Even though international chains are making inroads, there aren't many cultures in the world who value their food traditions as much as Mexicans. While France & Italy tend to be the undisputed kings of cuisine in Western traditions, I would put México up there with them.
I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or just due to the huge amount of people living there, but personal space doesn't really exist in the DF. I was pushed, bumped into, rubbed against & close-talked far more often than the available space would necessitate. I once heard of a phenomenon called the "Latin/Anglo Tango" which happens when someone with Mediterranean blood meets someone with Northern European genes & the Latin is always advancing to interact while the Anglo is constantly backing away. Guess which one I was.
Overall, most people were very patient with my fumbling linguistic skills. Quite a few were even eager to help, especially if I was trying to order or eat classic Mexican foods. That said, I did notice that the posher the setting, the more likely someone was to lose their patience.
So that wraps up my Mexican month, and therefore the purpose for this blog. I may go back to add photos if I get my hands on some new shots, but odds are I won't continue to post until/unless I go back. Thanks to everyone who took the time to share this experience with me & let me know if I can ever help advise you on a trip down to this extraordinary city. ¡Besos!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Gone in a Flash
Somehow I woke up today in my apartment in Greenpoint. Somehow I also missed posting since Wednesday evening & now I'm back in New York. So let's catch up on what I did/saw/ate/thought:
Thursday morning brought with it a reminder that I'm not completely healthy. After my amazing stroll through Mexican history Wednesday, my bad foot felt worse. It gave me the excuse I needed to spend one last day exploring my adopted neighborhood rather than running all over the city trying to squeeze in everything imaginable. I got to remind myself of some amazing sights & places I already enjoyed, plus I stumbled across some new things. For example I wandered by a little taquería with a long line of hungry customers on the fringes of Condesa. There was a plaque outside claiming that the taco stand was featured in the terrific Mexican film "Amores Perros". I only vaguely recognized it & as the line was at least 30 deep, I passed by without a taste for myself. I know it's totally out of character, but I'm sure I'll get in there sooner or later.
I had lunch at a tiny lonchería where I once previously tried their 3-course / 45 peso lunch deal. Caldo Tlalpeño, rice, enchiladas in green sauce, unlimited Agua Jamaica & a piece of Swiss-inspired chocolate- all excellent & homemade outside of the chocolate. A couple walking by stopped to look & asked my what I thought since I was sitting at a table on the sidewalk. I told them I loved it, but my accent may have convinced them to pass.
Thursday evening I hopped in a cab to meet my friend at the German Centre. It's a massive office complex in the Santa Fe neighborhood where her boss runs a cafe in the lobby. The entire complex is owned by a German bank & nearly all of the tenants are German businesses with interests in the DF. She & her boss put up a traditional altar for Dia de los Muertos & I wanted to check it out (plus I was curious to see the prints I helped her find in action). After she wrapped up work there, we headed back to Condesa to drink mezcal at La Botica.
La Botica is the place that made me fall for mezcal & it's still one of my favorite bars in the world. They have a ton of flavors & styles plus great bar snacks that compliment the mezcal perfectly. I've only been to the original location but they have several around the DF & even a recent addition in Madrid. We sipped a few rounds & I got to sample some old favorites & a couple of new flavors before calling it a night. They have a great slogan: "Para todo mal, mezcal. Para todo bien también" which means "For everything bad, mezcal. For everything good, too."
Friday I got an early start & headed out to Mercado Sonora- it's a big market laid out in the style & on the original location of an ancient Aztec market a little ways south of Zócalo. As it was the day before Halloween, a lot of the isles were packed with costumes & decorations (plus people shopping for them) of a very un-Aztec nature, but much of the original flair still exists. There are aisles filled with various live animals, some obviously intended for pets but quite a few intended for consumption. A virtual Noah's Ark from exotic goldfish to puppies to roosters to goats are on display.
My favorite section was the one crammed with ancient remedies & "magic" from the Santería / Voodoo family. Gigantic sacks of herb, barks, seeds & various traditional elixirs bulge out of tiny stalls while the proprietors hawk their wares & offer to cure any common ailment. Some are for brewing into teas, some for putting under pillows at night, some for burning like incense and most seem to have believers from all age groups & classes. My friend bought some dried bark that's supposed to settle upset stomachs plus a bundle of herbs who's purpose I don't recall. The sights & smells were wondrous but I resisted the urge to buy arthritis cures due to the very limited luggage space for my impending trip home. My friend whispered to me that the stall on the end near an entry to the market was legendary for the oracular talents of the owners & there was a line of people waiting to have their fortunes told or their futures revealed by Angel & Israel. Sadly, I didn't have an appointment so my own future remains clouded.
My friend wanted to shop at a restaurant supply store on Lopez & since I had raved about the food there she asked me to accompany her for lunch & some more shopping. While the store was a little disappointing for her she agreed that the tacos were excellent, & she especially enjoyed Taquería Gonzalez.
After lunch I needed to get home to pack. After getting everything together, I made a quick stop at the Blue Demon Store to pick up a lucha libre mask with the intention of wearing it at several Halloween parties I was invited to on the night of my return. Then we jumped back into my friend's car for the drive down to Coyoacán with fingers crossed that we got there before the infamous traffic built up.
Coyoacán still looks & feels like the small village it once was before it was swallowed up by the DF. It's most famous today for the residences-turned-museums of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera & Leon Trotsky. In the DF, it's also well known for it's beautiful sights & fantastic food. Despite the building rain storm, as soon as we parked my friend ordered a "hot cake" with strawberries & I grabbed a champurrado (a traditional hot drink made from corn, chocolate, spices & piloncillo). I couldn't resist adding one of the treats Coyoacán is famous for: a "churro relleno" or a classic thin Spanish cruller hollowed out & filled with a rich syrup, in my case flavored with leche quermada.
We strolled up to the twin squares that form the hub of Coyoacán social life & tourist attractions to check out the gargantuan Dia de los Muertos altar which was still under construction by local artisans. The traditional 5-tiered structure was built alongside a defunct fountain which was being decorated with breathtaking traditional art. The "pool" of the fountain was being decorated with powders made from crushed flower petals in a fashion that reminded me of Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas. I'll try to get some photos from my friend but there's no way they could be as impressive as the effect of being there in person & watching the artists painstakingly lay patterns on top of base layers of vibrant colors.
After a quick peek into the glorious cathedral (the Spanish left nearly as many spectacular monuments to Catholicism behind them as they did pregnant native women) we noticed a little cerveceria, or beer bar, alongside one of the squares. It was built like a saloon out of an old Western film, complete with swinging wooden doors covering only a small part of the entrance. The only drink choices were clear beer, dark beer or a blend of both & we settled into a corner table to sip & soak up the ambiance. The waiter "Panchito" must have walked straight out of central casting into his job interview & I definitely recommend a mug of beer there to anyone who visits although I can't quite remember the name of the bar.
Having whetted our appetites with malted barley, we headed for a small food-court-esque chamber a half of a block off the square. Among the several stalls there is the place where I had my first tastes of pambazo & café de olla, and they made up my dinner on this night after a small cup of esquites. The first are still the best I've tasted. I fought the urge to indulge in a bowl of pozole studded with meat carved fresh-to-order off a large roasted pig head displayed gloriously on the counter next to our pambazo stand & we went to walk off our feast. When the rain got too be too much for us, we warmed ourselves in a cafe with tea & one last churro relleno.
I was up early the next morning with the twin afflictions of a stomach ache & pre-flight nerves. I finished straightening out my soon-to-be-abandoned apartment & ran down the street to pick up my final taste of Dia de los Muertos- "pan de muerto" which is a slightly sweet bread sprinkled with powdered sugar & in this case cut open like a roll & spread with rich "nata de crema". Despite me dreams of one final spicy & decadent Mexican meal before my flight, my body made it clear that bread & cream was all I should consume before boarding the plane for my flight home.
The plane was sold out & despite getting to the airport slightly more than 2 hours before my departure time all of the emergency-exit-aisle seats were already taken so I was concerned that I'd have to jam myself into a standard coach seat (which are just slightly smaller than I am). Thankfully one of the flight attendants noticed my plight & offered me one of the attendant rest seats which are very spacious & thus saved both me & the woman nearly doomed to sit next to me from feeling like sardines for 5 hours. And suddenly I was back in my apartment in Greenpoint where I hatched the crazy plan to spend October in Mexico City with nothing to show for it except 3 bottles of booze, one box of Oaxacan chocolate earmarked for my friend Antonio & a Blue Demon mask.
Of course I'm kidding as I also have the lessons, memories & experiences of one of the most entertaining months of my life. Before I wrap up my month of blogging, I'd like to share some random thoughts I've had about the DF but never made into a post. I'll do it as a separate post so you can give your eyes a break from this tome. ¡Besos!
Thursday morning brought with it a reminder that I'm not completely healthy. After my amazing stroll through Mexican history Wednesday, my bad foot felt worse. It gave me the excuse I needed to spend one last day exploring my adopted neighborhood rather than running all over the city trying to squeeze in everything imaginable. I got to remind myself of some amazing sights & places I already enjoyed, plus I stumbled across some new things. For example I wandered by a little taquería with a long line of hungry customers on the fringes of Condesa. There was a plaque outside claiming that the taco stand was featured in the terrific Mexican film "Amores Perros". I only vaguely recognized it & as the line was at least 30 deep, I passed by without a taste for myself. I know it's totally out of character, but I'm sure I'll get in there sooner or later.
I had lunch at a tiny lonchería where I once previously tried their 3-course / 45 peso lunch deal. Caldo Tlalpeño, rice, enchiladas in green sauce, unlimited Agua Jamaica & a piece of Swiss-inspired chocolate- all excellent & homemade outside of the chocolate. A couple walking by stopped to look & asked my what I thought since I was sitting at a table on the sidewalk. I told them I loved it, but my accent may have convinced them to pass.
Thursday evening I hopped in a cab to meet my friend at the German Centre. It's a massive office complex in the Santa Fe neighborhood where her boss runs a cafe in the lobby. The entire complex is owned by a German bank & nearly all of the tenants are German businesses with interests in the DF. She & her boss put up a traditional altar for Dia de los Muertos & I wanted to check it out (plus I was curious to see the prints I helped her find in action). After she wrapped up work there, we headed back to Condesa to drink mezcal at La Botica.
La Botica is the place that made me fall for mezcal & it's still one of my favorite bars in the world. They have a ton of flavors & styles plus great bar snacks that compliment the mezcal perfectly. I've only been to the original location but they have several around the DF & even a recent addition in Madrid. We sipped a few rounds & I got to sample some old favorites & a couple of new flavors before calling it a night. They have a great slogan: "Para todo mal, mezcal. Para todo bien también" which means "For everything bad, mezcal. For everything good, too."
Friday I got an early start & headed out to Mercado Sonora- it's a big market laid out in the style & on the original location of an ancient Aztec market a little ways south of Zócalo. As it was the day before Halloween, a lot of the isles were packed with costumes & decorations (plus people shopping for them) of a very un-Aztec nature, but much of the original flair still exists. There are aisles filled with various live animals, some obviously intended for pets but quite a few intended for consumption. A virtual Noah's Ark from exotic goldfish to puppies to roosters to goats are on display.
My favorite section was the one crammed with ancient remedies & "magic" from the Santería / Voodoo family. Gigantic sacks of herb, barks, seeds & various traditional elixirs bulge out of tiny stalls while the proprietors hawk their wares & offer to cure any common ailment. Some are for brewing into teas, some for putting under pillows at night, some for burning like incense and most seem to have believers from all age groups & classes. My friend bought some dried bark that's supposed to settle upset stomachs plus a bundle of herbs who's purpose I don't recall. The sights & smells were wondrous but I resisted the urge to buy arthritis cures due to the very limited luggage space for my impending trip home. My friend whispered to me that the stall on the end near an entry to the market was legendary for the oracular talents of the owners & there was a line of people waiting to have their fortunes told or their futures revealed by Angel & Israel. Sadly, I didn't have an appointment so my own future remains clouded.
My friend wanted to shop at a restaurant supply store on Lopez & since I had raved about the food there she asked me to accompany her for lunch & some more shopping. While the store was a little disappointing for her she agreed that the tacos were excellent, & she especially enjoyed Taquería Gonzalez.
After lunch I needed to get home to pack. After getting everything together, I made a quick stop at the Blue Demon Store to pick up a lucha libre mask with the intention of wearing it at several Halloween parties I was invited to on the night of my return. Then we jumped back into my friend's car for the drive down to Coyoacán with fingers crossed that we got there before the infamous traffic built up.
Coyoacán still looks & feels like the small village it once was before it was swallowed up by the DF. It's most famous today for the residences-turned-museums of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera & Leon Trotsky. In the DF, it's also well known for it's beautiful sights & fantastic food. Despite the building rain storm, as soon as we parked my friend ordered a "hot cake" with strawberries & I grabbed a champurrado (a traditional hot drink made from corn, chocolate, spices & piloncillo). I couldn't resist adding one of the treats Coyoacán is famous for: a "churro relleno" or a classic thin Spanish cruller hollowed out & filled with a rich syrup, in my case flavored with leche quermada.
We strolled up to the twin squares that form the hub of Coyoacán social life & tourist attractions to check out the gargantuan Dia de los Muertos altar which was still under construction by local artisans. The traditional 5-tiered structure was built alongside a defunct fountain which was being decorated with breathtaking traditional art. The "pool" of the fountain was being decorated with powders made from crushed flower petals in a fashion that reminded me of Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas. I'll try to get some photos from my friend but there's no way they could be as impressive as the effect of being there in person & watching the artists painstakingly lay patterns on top of base layers of vibrant colors.
After a quick peek into the glorious cathedral (the Spanish left nearly as many spectacular monuments to Catholicism behind them as they did pregnant native women) we noticed a little cerveceria, or beer bar, alongside one of the squares. It was built like a saloon out of an old Western film, complete with swinging wooden doors covering only a small part of the entrance. The only drink choices were clear beer, dark beer or a blend of both & we settled into a corner table to sip & soak up the ambiance. The waiter "Panchito" must have walked straight out of central casting into his job interview & I definitely recommend a mug of beer there to anyone who visits although I can't quite remember the name of the bar.
Having whetted our appetites with malted barley, we headed for a small food-court-esque chamber a half of a block off the square. Among the several stalls there is the place where I had my first tastes of pambazo & café de olla, and they made up my dinner on this night after a small cup of esquites. The first are still the best I've tasted. I fought the urge to indulge in a bowl of pozole studded with meat carved fresh-to-order off a large roasted pig head displayed gloriously on the counter next to our pambazo stand & we went to walk off our feast. When the rain got too be too much for us, we warmed ourselves in a cafe with tea & one last churro relleno.
I was up early the next morning with the twin afflictions of a stomach ache & pre-flight nerves. I finished straightening out my soon-to-be-abandoned apartment & ran down the street to pick up my final taste of Dia de los Muertos- "pan de muerto" which is a slightly sweet bread sprinkled with powdered sugar & in this case cut open like a roll & spread with rich "nata de crema". Despite me dreams of one final spicy & decadent Mexican meal before my flight, my body made it clear that bread & cream was all I should consume before boarding the plane for my flight home.
The plane was sold out & despite getting to the airport slightly more than 2 hours before my departure time all of the emergency-exit-aisle seats were already taken so I was concerned that I'd have to jam myself into a standard coach seat (which are just slightly smaller than I am). Thankfully one of the flight attendants noticed my plight & offered me one of the attendant rest seats which are very spacious & thus saved both me & the woman nearly doomed to sit next to me from feeling like sardines for 5 hours. And suddenly I was back in my apartment in Greenpoint where I hatched the crazy plan to spend October in Mexico City with nothing to show for it except 3 bottles of booze, one box of Oaxacan chocolate earmarked for my friend Antonio & a Blue Demon mask.
Of course I'm kidding as I also have the lessons, memories & experiences of one of the most entertaining months of my life. Before I wrap up my month of blogging, I'd like to share some random thoughts I've had about the DF but never made into a post. I'll do it as a separate post so you can give your eyes a break from this tome. ¡Besos!
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