Advertisement
Published: February 10th 2010
El Mercado "Independencia"
with my friend Dario (on the right) holding some of our goodiesWell, I´ve been settled here with my friend Dario (whom I know through salsa dancing last time I was here and we´ve kept in touch) in Morelia. He lives on the other side of the park where I used to live, closer to downtown - it´s in great walking distance to lots of places, namely La Michoacana Heladería y Paletería (where I get my daily fix of popsicles freshly covered with chocolate and nuts. Dario makes women´s jeans for a living with his son and they sell them to various stores here in Morelia and in nearby cities. He talks up a whirlwind, mainly about his extremely complicated love life: he´s 44, has 2 grown kids (one of them has a son = he´s a grandpa), is divorced, pursues many women through salsa dancing (and many women pursue him), and even though he has a girlfriend at the moment still flirts with others (it´s hard being alone when you´ve been with someone for so long). But yes, I think I sit on average at least 3-4 hours a day (no joke) just sitting and listening to him talk about different periods in his love life (and he remembers exactly the dates/months/years
A market stand
with tempting fruit tasties of when he got back together with or broke up with so-and-so person). You might be wondering, "Well, hello you´re a woman, does he make any moves while you´re staying at his house?" and the answer is no. He draws a very clear line with friendships, especially with those from around the world that he wants to cultivate friendships with for the many years to come. I find Dario pretty outside of the typical Mexican man in terms of his way of thinking: he´s pretty open in talking about different ideas (and is really interested in how I´m learning about ecological living and farming) and although he doesn´t have the means to travel, really likes getting to know foreigners to learn about their cultures (it´s like I´m informally couchsurfing at his house). Thus, Dario has made me feel right at home and gives me full reign of his kitchen which I´m using to develop my Mexican culinary skills (with his help).
Yep, and besides our love for dancing, Dario and I both share a love for food and cooking. The day I came to his house, he took me to the Mercado "Independencia" (I had wandered through once before
Los frijoles en el mercado
beans beans the magical fruit! last time I was here) and we went shopping! I love markets! I bought most of the food and only spent like U.S. $10 and the food has lasted us 4 days! The smells and tropical fruit! Please see the pictures! The tortilla machine! Ahhh...and thus began the Mexican cooking adventures. Over the last 4 days we´ve made Chilaquiles Rojos (like tortilla chips cooked a bit in a salsa), Chiles Rellenos, Huevos a la Mexicana, Frijoles, Arroz, Taquitos, fresh mango juice and pineapple juice and orange juice, and fresh papaya y melón. Ay riquísima la comida mexicana! Me encanta! Although the kitchen is VERY small, he has a stove and a sink and some pots and pans and a blender, and really, that´s all you need. Oh, and a love for cooking. I´m really so gracious that I´m able to use the kitchen to experiment and learn because when I was here before my host mom made all the food (I mean, she was getting paid to do it) and didn´t let me cook anything or help her. So, so far so good!
Besides cooking, of course, there is dancing! We went out two nights in a row: the
Semillas
i mean, they just don´t really do it like this in the U.S. first with Dario´s girlfriend (ummm....yeah actually not anymore because she just came over and broke up with him!! Haha more excitement!) and the 2nd night with the woman who so kindly picked me up the other day when I first arrived (she´s 25, divorced, and has a 5 year old son...ay sometimes I still fail to comprehend the culture here of getting married and having kids before you´re 20) and is one with whom Dario flirts a lot with. The first night we went to the birthplace of a major passion of mine (dancing!) - La Casa de la Salsa. Now coming to this place with way more experience, it was definitely not all that because everyone I danced with was sooo drunk haha and didn´t know how to dance salsa very well except Dario. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, especially when the mariachi singer came onto the floor between dance sets and everyone started singing with him. The second night we went to a place I had never been to before and there was hardly anyone there, but I really enjoyed dancing by myself!
In other news, my Mexican phone doesn´t work anymore because I haven´t used it
Queso!
oh my goodness i love markets! for a year and a half, and after 6 months the chip expires. Thus I spent about $25 putting credit onto a phone that I can´t use (and it´s hard to get the money back because I refilled it in a 7-11, not in an authorized phone distributor store). Oh well, I don´t really need to use a phone here and don´t want to spend any more money on getting a new chip. Other than that, cooking, dancing, getting paletas, and listening to Dario talk occupies all of my day! I haven´t even been here a week and yet it seems I´ve been here for awhile...I think because i don´t know what to expect each day and don´t have a set plan. Except that tomorrow I´m leaving Morelia for 2 weeks to go to an eco-village in a forest near a town that´s outside of Morelia. I´ll be learning about natural building techniques and working in the gardens (and there´s a sauna!! and how I love saunas!!). I´m not sure I´ll have access to internet so might not be able to post again til after I come back to Morelia, but we´ll see. Hórale! It´s almost 3am here! Okay...until next
Up close and personal
i really like this kind of cheese... time! Look at the photos! Those will be future dishes when I have a restaurant haha 😊 Chau!
Moni
Advertisement
Tot: 0.12s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 13; qc: 63; dbt: 0.0754s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
