brain crabs

(Jon)
We’ve been having a pretty low-key time so far. We’ve been spending a lot of time with Allie who’s been helping us get a feel for where the good stuff is. The other day, Allie was out of town and Rebecca and I spent the morning (before it got unbearably hot out) exploring our neighborhood. (We’ve set up a gallery here. Check back often for new pictures). Generally, we’ve been taking it really easy.

I’ve become totally addicted to tacos, by the way. Since the first night when Allie took us to the taco place up the block with the big women frying the tortillas and cooking the piles of meat, I’ve been looking for every excuse to put more of those tasty bastards in my belly. Since these stands only open at night, I’ve been eating small dinners on purpose so I’ll be sure to have room for tacos! They’re so good that I might have to open a small restaurant that serves only tacos when I get back. Allie has promised to take me on a taco stand crawl one of these nights before she goes back to Philly. I’m hyped.
I’ve also been working on my cooking skills and made some tasty chorizo (spicy sausage) and onions for lunch today. I saw some lady making that dish at a street cart and was tempted to try it but decided that I’d make it myself first as an anti-illness precaution. The food here is simply amazing. The down side is that it’s all really rich and greasy and eating an entire meal causes immediate regret. It’s been taking some getting used to.

I noticed something funny the other evening. Many of the taxi cabs here have had some custom work done to them. I mean, a few of them are totally pimped out! Just last night, I saw a official San Miguel taxi (green and white color scheme, light up taxi sign, official numbers painted on an everything) with a huge spoiler, body kit, big fat exhaust pipe, neon blue lights under the car, a neon license plate frame, and all sorts of flashing red lights in the grill. It was also blasting some Mexican rap music. And this isn’t a rare thing! Half of the cabs I see here, despite being kind of beat up, have something flashy and custom about them. I mean, all of them have some snappy racing rims or fancy sound system. These dudes are really proud of their cabs. Right on. I’ll try to snap a picture the next time I see one. This town is also littered with old cars and trucks that have been worn within and inch of their useful lives and I’m starting another smaller gallery (here) of pictures of my favorite ones.

Right now, we’re hanging out waiting for the water delivery guys to show up (if they even deliver on Saturdays). They just knock on the door and say, “Agua Santorini!” and you exchange your empty bottle and $17 (pesos) for another water-cooler sized jug. We’ll see if they show up or not.
Then, I guess we’ll meet up with Allie and some of her friends for dinner.
And after that, it’s only a few more hours until the taco stands start opening…

(Bec)
Today is Palm Sunday. I’m not sure what is going on today, but I am excited since the build up to Easter has so far included a lot of little shrines to icons that involve tons of fresh flowers, palms, fruit and incense. They cropped up everywhere—in corners on the street, in doorways, in schools… everywhere. And yesterday we were in the Jardin and, on a large raised platform several people “raced” on stationary bikes. A truck parked next to the stage read, “Extravaganza”, so we figured that was what it was. Later one of Allies friends told me that he thought it was fitness day or something. Wow. Mexico is great.
For dinner we went with Allie to a pizza place that came highly recommended by her friend Bobby. The pizza was indeed excellent, and we got to meet the infamous Bobby, whom we have heard so much about. Entertaining isn’t even really the word for the evening. My guts still hurt today from laughing so much, even though I can’t exactly remember what Bobby said that was so funny. It may have something to do with his missing teeth or incessant talk of carnies and hippies. What a crazy dude. Some of Allie’s other friends were there too, like Nico and his friend Vishal. Later we were joined by Allie’s landlord and his wife (?? Maybe). Apparently they all hang out together. Another bar was on the agenda after the restaurant, but Jon and I bowed out and came home.
I’m now in the process of losing my voice due to a sunburn and the dry air here. Oh well… it is a small price to pay for how great this is. For example, a few days ago I saw a man carrying about a fourth of a freshly butchered cow across the street on his back, dripping guts all the way. Now what could beat that, I ask you?

This entry was posted by jon on Sunday, April 9th, 2006 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.