As I told u before, last weekend I’ve spent outside D.F. On Saturday afternoon we went with Paulina (the girl I’m studing with in Poland) and her friends Alejandro and Mari Sol (they are cousins) for birthdays, held in their grandpas house in Chalco. Nevertheless this post has a name Chalcovia. That should be a proper name according to Alejandro, as he explains it: “From Varosovia (spanish Warsaw) to Chalcovia”. Well, I like it.
We spent 2h in car. Leaving DF in the afternoon isn’t very easy. There was a huge traffic. But thanks to that I could see how do the suburbs look like and took some pictures. And they look much more different from the main town. On both sides of the road there were lots of “houses” if I can call them like that. Ok, there were many made from brickwork, but the didn’t have glass in their windows, only some piece of dirty fabric, and many walls had some inscription on it. There was also sth like a caravan site with plenty of cars and each had a stand with sth. Kids were running around them, and hier parents were trying to earn some money.
Of course when the cars were stuck in traffic in 1 second there were lots of youngsters or olders selling food (usually corn, fruits) and sweets (cookies, nuts, ice-creams). We bought water ice-creams. Of course I picked the one which name I didn’t know and it turned out to be tamarindo – special kind of fruit – very spicy (yes, chili is almost everywhere, post abt food will be later :) ). At first it was quiet good, but I couldn’t it eat all…
Finally, after 2h I saw plaque with the name of the city – CHALCO. And straight away I saw many colors – houses’ walls, decoration on the streets, flowers. Unfortunately it was still raining. We were welcomed by Alejandro’s grandpa (very cute, tanned, older man:) with a rod). He showed me the garden, house, and kitchen with pozole (traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew made from hominy, with pork (or other meat), chile, and other seasonings and garnish, such as cabbage, lettuce, oregano, cilantro, radish, lime juice, etc). Pozole is traditionally served on Christmas Eve to celebrate life's blessings. Than we all went to visit the city. In front of the house there is beautiful 80 year old church, situated in a big garden. Outside there is a typical market. We went in. it was really hard to walk as the market was full of ppl! Straight away I could smell many aromas: corn, tacos, tortillas, meat, fruits, vegetables. We ate a dish made of corn, with mayonnaise (they use it a lot!) and chile. I love it:) inside I saw e.g. a male sheep without his head and wool, hanging in front of the stand with meat, restaurant named Carolina (everyone Is telling me it’s a Mexican name;)…) and a place where they were producing tortillas. Mexico is a really religious country, even in the market there were statues of Santa Maria de Guadalupe.
When we went back, there was almost everything ready and all the youngsters sat by the table and pozole was served, accompanied with tostadas (fried tortillas). U put on it bean pasta, cream, cheese. Delicious! Actually the soup was quite good, although very fat. But I’ve eaten better ones to be honest ;) after dinner we started to drink tequila. The real one! As the one that is e.g. in Poland (Sierra sth…) is the worst one they produce, and so they export it :P it was really strong. Mexicans drink in different manners. They put Limón and salt in the cup and drink. Or they make a drink with e.g. sth like sprite. I drunk both and both are good.
than we went to a disco. No one paid for the entrance (although in all discos in capital, boys pay – prices: $10 – $25, and girls don’t and if, very rarely, not more that $10 :D), and we even found a table. There was a life-band playing together with a DJ – club music. I danced almost whole night. We ended at 4.30 am, went for tacos (its very common here) and back home.
Sunday after 6h in bed, we woke up, and went to the market once again, as I wanted to buy piñatas – brightly-coloured paper container filled with sweets and/or toys. It is generally suspended on a rope from a tree branch or ceiling and is used during special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas. I hope my sister will like it :)
Then we went in a car to visit some villages around. I tried pulque – alcohol, made from the fermented juice of the maguey (Agave) with a strawberry flavour. Surprisingly good – Mexican don’t drink it, as they don’t like it ;) I also saw how they prepare “tortilla a mano” (handmade tortilla). The woman preparing it was talking all the time :) very nice! She learned it when she was 6 years old, and she told us its what she wants to do the most. Its her life.
Going back to Chalco, we stopped in another village where there was festival of corn. Everything was connected with it. There was not only corns, corn soups, corn cakes, but also toys made from corn leaves. Of course I bought one! We also met a woman with a child. She came closer and told that her boy see in me St Maria de Guadalupe… I kissed him as she asked me, although felling very weird…
To sum up – finally I get outside the city and could see and feel real Mexico :D
We spent 2h in car. Leaving DF in the afternoon isn’t very easy. There was a huge traffic. But thanks to that I could see how do the suburbs look like and took some pictures. And they look much more different from the main town. On both sides of the road there were lots of “houses” if I can call them like that. Ok, there were many made from brickwork, but the didn’t have glass in their windows, only some piece of dirty fabric, and many walls had some inscription on it. There was also sth like a caravan site with plenty of cars and each had a stand with sth. Kids were running around them, and hier parents were trying to earn some money.
Of course when the cars were stuck in traffic in 1 second there were lots of youngsters or olders selling food (usually corn, fruits) and sweets (cookies, nuts, ice-creams). We bought water ice-creams. Of course I picked the one which name I didn’t know and it turned out to be tamarindo – special kind of fruit – very spicy (yes, chili is almost everywhere, post abt food will be later :) ). At first it was quiet good, but I couldn’t it eat all…
Finally, after 2h I saw plaque with the name of the city – CHALCO. And straight away I saw many colors – houses’ walls, decoration on the streets, flowers. Unfortunately it was still raining. We were welcomed by Alejandro’s grandpa (very cute, tanned, older man:) with a rod). He showed me the garden, house, and kitchen with pozole (traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew made from hominy, with pork (or other meat), chile, and other seasonings and garnish, such as cabbage, lettuce, oregano, cilantro, radish, lime juice, etc). Pozole is traditionally served on Christmas Eve to celebrate life's blessings. Than we all went to visit the city. In front of the house there is beautiful 80 year old church, situated in a big garden. Outside there is a typical market. We went in. it was really hard to walk as the market was full of ppl! Straight away I could smell many aromas: corn, tacos, tortillas, meat, fruits, vegetables. We ate a dish made of corn, with mayonnaise (they use it a lot!) and chile. I love it:) inside I saw e.g. a male sheep without his head and wool, hanging in front of the stand with meat, restaurant named Carolina (everyone Is telling me it’s a Mexican name;)…) and a place where they were producing tortillas. Mexico is a really religious country, even in the market there were statues of Santa Maria de Guadalupe.
When we went back, there was almost everything ready and all the youngsters sat by the table and pozole was served, accompanied with tostadas (fried tortillas). U put on it bean pasta, cream, cheese. Delicious! Actually the soup was quite good, although very fat. But I’ve eaten better ones to be honest ;) after dinner we started to drink tequila. The real one! As the one that is e.g. in Poland (Sierra sth…) is the worst one they produce, and so they export it :P it was really strong. Mexicans drink in different manners. They put Limón and salt in the cup and drink. Or they make a drink with e.g. sth like sprite. I drunk both and both are good.
than we went to a disco. No one paid for the entrance (although in all discos in capital, boys pay – prices: $10 – $25, and girls don’t and if, very rarely, not more that $10 :D), and we even found a table. There was a life-band playing together with a DJ – club music. I danced almost whole night. We ended at 4.30 am, went for tacos (its very common here) and back home.
Sunday after 6h in bed, we woke up, and went to the market once again, as I wanted to buy piñatas – brightly-coloured paper container filled with sweets and/or toys. It is generally suspended on a rope from a tree branch or ceiling and is used during special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas. I hope my sister will like it :)
Then we went in a car to visit some villages around. I tried pulque – alcohol, made from the fermented juice of the maguey (Agave) with a strawberry flavour. Surprisingly good – Mexican don’t drink it, as they don’t like it ;) I also saw how they prepare “tortilla a mano” (handmade tortilla). The woman preparing it was talking all the time :) very nice! She learned it when she was 6 years old, and she told us its what she wants to do the most. Its her life.
Going back to Chalco, we stopped in another village where there was festival of corn. Everything was connected with it. There was not only corns, corn soups, corn cakes, but also toys made from corn leaves. Of course I bought one! We also met a woman with a child. She came closer and told that her boy see in me St Maria de Guadalupe… I kissed him as she asked me, although felling very weird…
To sum up – finally I get outside the city and could see and feel real Mexico :D
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