50¢ joyride

Can you imagine one of those three-benched vans made for 12 people (Marquette LIMO style)? Shrink the size of the van down about 25% and mentally rip out all of the seats in the back (leave the driver comfy in his seat). In their place, imagine skinny upholstered benches - covered with plastic - that go around the rim of the inside of the bus. Now envision 20 people stuffed in there (3-4 standing) and put me, the only non-Mexican, in the back corner. Yeah - right by the window. To be fair, there are other, larger buses for the more frequented routes. But this is my transport (when I give Jaime a break from his chauffeur gig) and it's a rush.

I don't think any other experience can compare to this in the way it's helped me learn about Mexico (except maybe chatting with Jaime's mom while she cooks...and being engaged to a Mexican doesn't count). I can safely stare out the window at all of the amazingly south of the border sights...

•mangos for sale at the market - 1 kilo for 10 pesos! (2lbs for 80¢)
•intense PDA from two too-young-to-be-doing-that Mexicans
•grandma carrying two oversized bags of produce
•two men checking out the pirated movies & music stand
•a crowd enjoying an afternoon snack around a makeshift taco stand
•woman selling homemade sweet bread from a basket

As crazy as it sounds...I'm going to miss being sardined in the bus with other courteous locals (yes, I'm a local now). You can't beat this type of cultural absorption - and all it takes is some courage and 5 1/2 pesos.  

mexican 4th!

What do Mexicans do for the 4th of July? Absolutely nothing. What do Mexicans with US girlfriends do? Something like this:


Strategically place the white heart sprinkles (left over from Valentine's Day) on your fiance's carrot flag cake.


Enjoy a delicious meal of hotdogs, watermelon & salad while listening to country music with these lovely ladies.


And of course, same as any other day - play soccer.

Brownie points for anyone who can tell me when Mexico's Independence Day is (and it's NOT cinco de mayo).

almost rompope time

Here's a quick picture preview to get you excited for the rompope recipe I promised way back when (Alicia - you still care, riiight?). These photos are from our second (first successful) attempt at the spiked Mexican eggnog. The first time we simmered the milk and added the eggs before letting it cool enough...imagine a milky scrambled egg concoction. Yum. 

You can see Mama Yadi getting those egg yolks ready & me enjoying the final product. Buy a dozen eggs at the farmer's market and I'll meet you back here soon (still tweaking the final formula). 

mini marts everywhere

One thing that's totally different about Mexico & the US is that Mexico still has tiny tienditas, little stores, on every. corner. Imagine those quaint shops that your grandparents might have frequented...the little soda shop, barber, fruit stand, etc. The locales that their neighbors owned. That's still the thriving business around here - you sell veggies to the Gomez family and you use the money to buy notebooks and pencils from Gomez Papelería (paper store)...and the cycle continues. It's quite nice because you are obviously supporting local business instead of throwing money at Walgreens or Target. However, there are times where the smallness and limited availability of the stores is frustrating (especially for the instant-gratification lover in me).

Example: If you haven't checked it out - I've started a Mexican jewelry business on Etsy. (www.amoritamexicana.etsy.com) After hearing about a package mishap, I told Jaime that I think somewhere around Tijuana - there's a Mexican whose job is to sit on, mistreat, throw around and squash all packages entering the US. Wanting to protect my precious orders - I said, ok...let's find some sturdy boxes and bubble wrap. Would you believe it - 30 seconds after I said that we spotted a "plastic store"...a magical little shop where you can buy bubble wrap by the meter (think Michael's fabric section divided by 100 and instead of fabric...all types of plastic). 

Feeling great about that find - we started off on our laborious box search. After hitting 5 neighborhood paper stores without any luck, we decided to go to the man - Office Depot. Not even the great office supply warehouse could provide us with what we needed. However, the pleasant clerk told us we could go through their used boxes in the back room. Jumping on the opportunity, Jaime took charge fishing for small packages and we left with 10 semi-sturdy boxes...free! Guess you can make your dreams come true here too - kinda. after searching for 3 hours. and being very resourceful. and patient...

Disclaimer for anybody who might want some tagua earrings in their wardrobe...your package may have "3M Banderitas" stamped on it. And your jewelry box may be protected by egg carton that we got from our mini market friend down the street. This type of wrapping is eco-friendly and cool, right? Or is it just plain trashy?