2 Business Cards and a Napkin Rose

My flight here I mainly slept but the lady, Tammy, sitting with me along with her son, Leo, were coming to see her husband who was deported.  Last time they saw them was 4 years ago.  Her son was 4 at the time and will be turning 8 this weekend.  While I was waiting on my ride, I got to see them reunite and it was amazing.  Tammy was crying with excitement and Leo ran and hugged him.  This was all he could talk about on the flight here.  It was truly breathtaking.

I got to my “taxi” which was basically a maroon kidnapper van that the door had to be opened from the inside because it was jammed … but aside from the van itself the taxi driver, José Luís is super sweet and gave me his card which I actually ended up using later on.  The traffic here is just like Brazil – CRAZY!  There basically is no point to even have lanes here, which there rarely are.  Cars just cut through anywhere and there was a cop right next to us at one point when someone did that and I asked José Luís about it and he said if you pass them some money they turn a blind eye.  Cops basically flood the city here – at every corner and in front of every building.  Yet when cop lights go off they have nowhere to drive because the traffic is so bad.  They just sit there.  In the U.S., cop lights go off and every car gets curious looking around while pulling over at the same time.  I’ve gotten so accustom to sirens that it’s just a background noise now. 

Spicy Margaritas

The next day we went on the bus tour throughout Mexico City and went in some of the museums.  The bus you paid for a day tour so we used it as a taxi all day – seeing as when Dhara says “Oh I know where we are” we end up doing circles for about 20-30 minutes .. between the two of us it’s the blind leading the blind.  We stopped for lunch and we didn’t realize until after that what we had ordered was actually cactus - nopal.  It wasn’t too bad kind of sour – probably wouldn’t get it again.  The margaritas we got had hot sauce and spices in it … especially around the rim of the glasses – not my favorite idea.  In the states we have this idea of what margaritas are and you start to picture how great they will be in Mexico.  Which yes they are good but much different than what we Americans think.  I asked the manager of the hotel we were at today about it and he said you only like it if you’re Mexican.  Kids used to use it to show how tough they were by eating these spices whole, just like us ‘90s kids and sourheads – if you soaked it in water you were a wuss. 

Cactus

We went to La Terraza – a terrace bar - that night and had a few beers and tried some of the local drinks.  One of them is sambuca – which basically tastes like black licorice … disgusting straight liquor.  The guys at the table next to us had recommended it – bad decision, which I could still taste in the morning.  We tried Paloma, which is tequila, lemon juice, and soda water I believe – could be wrong.  It was pretty good.  Another drink was cereza, which was vodka and raspberry juice – way better than cranberry vodkas.  We got nachos con queso – which was basically the lunchable chips and nacho cheese – still good but not the queso America has portrayed as Mexican seeing as it does not exist.  We ended up calling José Luís for a lift home. 

Today has overall been the best day so far.  It started out with just shopping in the local square – Zócalo – and we were gonna just go back to the hostel – which is very nice – but decided to check out El Gran Hotel de la Ciudad de México – best decision so far.  We walked in and the stained glass ceiling was absolutely gorgeous.  We went upstairs to check out the terrace, which was a view of central Mexico City.  The manager, Ricardo, of the restaurant gave us a tour and convinced us to stay for brunch – 290 pesos for unlimited buffet and drinks.  Our server, Julio, treated us like royalty.  He constantly brought us more things to try – both food and beverages.  He brought out the executive chef, Oscar, who specifically asked if we wanted anything and went out of his way to make us flan and mole.  He later came out for a third time with a translator and gave us his card and told us to email him if we wanted anything and to find him on facebook.  Ricardo and Julio both spoke English and told us about their trips to the U.S. and what to do here in the city.  We tried octopus, cactus once again, pacinta – apparently the hangover cure which was amazing, jamaica – amazing juice made from a flower in Mexico, guanabana – a sweet fruit mixed with tequila, and Mexican green juice – made from cactus, celery, and much more.  Out of everything I tried, the most authentic would have to be the huitlacoche tacos – the fungus that grows on shucks of corn – not my favorite but I tried it.  By the end of the 5 hour-long meal we were completely stuffed of Mexican cuisine with 2 business cards and a napkin rose. 

For now we’re taking a catnap and will be at a salsa club tonight! More stories to come J