Nuestra Aventura en Solitario – Our Solo Adventure

This morning at breakfast at the Casa de Los Amigos, we met an interesting couple from Rio de Janeiro. He had formerly worked fo the AFSC, the Quaker Organization that sponsors the Casa, and was interested in starting a Quaker Meeting in Rio. We offered some advice based on our limited knowledge, and we exchanged emails and hope to be of help to him in the future if we can. He plans to follow our blog, and maybe we have some new international friends.

We decided to go solo in the city today, without Omar or his family, since they had other obligations. We began by a short trip to a nearby Walmart, then we went to a little restaurant nearby and ordered lunch in Spanish! Well, some Spanish, and some hand gestures and rude noises. Roger had some fantastic enchiladas with mole sauce, chicken, and cheese. We watched the lady make the tortillas as we ate, she was fast! Karen thought she was ordering soup (sopa) , but it was sope, a fried tortilla topped with chicken, cheese, onions, and salsa verde (Green salsa made with called tomatillas). It turned out to be a fortuitous mistake!

Let me digress from the day's adventure and talk about the food here. All along the sidewalks are open air vendors selling everything you can imagine, food of all kinds included. We have not tried street food yet, but it sure does look and smell good. Yesterday, when we had lunch with Omar and Karina, we stopped at a nice restaurant. They brought an assortment of sauces, guacamole, pico de gallo (a fresh tomato salsa), salsa verde, and a dark sauce made with guajillos peppers, served with delicious fried tortillas. The first thing we noticed is how much better the fresh tortillas are here than the packaged tortillas in the US. We have had several soups while we have been here and they have all been excellent. When we return home, we would like to find some of the recipes and serve them at our party (yes, we will have a party!) Yesterday, Karen had a creamy soup with poblano peppers, Roger had a cream soup with fresh corn. We could hardly keep from making grunting noises while eating it. We are eagerly anticipating the cuisine when we go to Puebla, which is famous for its food, especially the molé (pronounced mo-lay) sauce.

After lunch today, we trekked to an open air market to do some shopping. We were told about it by people at the Casa and they explained how to get there by bus. While we were standing on the corner looking at the map, a lovely older couple came up and began assisting us. It was an amusing exchange, since Karen's Spanish is rudimentary, Roger's is embarrassingly comical, and their English was somewhere in-between. We were able to explain what we wanted. We did squeezed out a conversation and had fun doing it. They helped us get the right bus, told the driver where we were going, and the bus driver showed us the correct stop.We have found the people to be very cordial and helpful everywhere we have gone. Yesterday while walking down the street, an older lady came up to us and practically hugged us, She said something about being from Los Angeles, and Karen told her in Spanish we were from West Virginia. She smiled broadly, and walked away throwing kisses to us.

The market was awesome. Of course, being Americans, we needed to learn the fine art of bartering, and weren't so great at it. Karen's first purchase was some small dolls to give to her students when school starts. She didn't even think about haggling, and Roger reprimanded her afterward. The next purchase was better, a beautiful pair of earrings, and the vendor was extremely determined to make a sale. Karen looked a little too eager, and he knew he had us hooked, so the price wasn't lowered as much as it would have been if we were better at bartering. We found out that if you begin walking away the prices begin dropping. When we get to the market in Puebla, we will be taking Omar, so we don't get charged the tourist price.

It's the rainy season here, so there was a cool rain when were were ready to leave. Karen didn't have her sweater, and we were getting wet trying to figure out a particularly complicated bus stop (there are three or four types of buses), so we decided to grab a taxi instead. It cost about $2.00, compared bus fare of about 50 cents, but the extra $1.50 was worth it!

Omar and his taxi driver neighbor picked us up at about 5 o'clock at the Casa de los Amigos, which we gave up after three nights, and took us back to his house. He fixed us some coffee (with cinnamon sticks in the brew) and we talked a while. Of course, it did not take long for the subject to turn to food.

Since we weren't very hungry, he offered to prepare some fruit and yogurt. Once again, dead ripe mango and papaya, good melon, and some new goodies, guayaba and something we don't remember. Well, after slicing the fruit salad, he started cutting up something new, napilito cactus fruits, called tuna, pureed and mixed them with water to make agua fresca, the traditional Mexican “fruit waters” that are so popular here. That done, he pulled out some spanish rice from the fridge. Then he began frying the eggs. That, friends, is a light supper at Omar's.

We will spend 2 more days in Mexico City, then it's off to Puebla, to a party with Omar's family. Karina informed us we will have to dance at the party. OMG, hope they can teach us quick, and no one gets hurt when we cut the rug.

We are falling in love with Mexico.

Your happy touristas(sus turistas felices ),

Karen and Roger