SMA: I Was OK Until the Chorizo Started Exploding

7am (ish)

Today, November 20, is Revolution Day in Mexico.  Many things will be shut (not tourist things though) and there will be a parade.  You would think that the various English-language newspapers and websites seemingly set up in SMA would have made some to-do about this but I can’t seem to find anything.  There are passing references to the day but no mention of a parade and so on.  You have to rely on previous visitor’s blogs and Flikr sites to get any info and that is of course from years past.  An indictment of the local Anglo-community if ever there was one.  Of course I could just be really lousy at searching…

Last night we went to a play reading that we were invited to by our landlord, John.  It was a gritty Irish monologue, well presented/read by a sixty-something British actor who is presumably currently enjoying the sun and mild weather (and no rain) that SMA provides pretty much year round (well it does rain hard for 3 months a year just not now).  'I'd love to say who the author of the play was and possibly who the actor was but since I don’t get the paper (English language one) and I can’t find a ref on a website…well you get the idea.  Anyway, I enjoyed it immensely, it was dark, depressing, had a sad ending of sorts that occurred at just the right time (from my point of view of course) and included murder, intrigue, life and so on.  I thought the play was probably picked in part to titillate all the expat septa- and octogenarians of which the crowd was mainly made.  There were the expected gasps at swear words, descriptions of violence and so on from the ladies.  It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it.

By the way, for those that didn’t catch the subtle change to this blog:  we have added a link to the website that we are using to host our trip photos (all part of the Google family).  The link is located to the right of this text and just below the “search this blog” bit which is just below the photos of yours truly (us truly just doesn’t work). Click the link and off you go to the main site which shows all the folders.  You should be able to access all but a couple.  Let us know if you are having any trouble either accessing or viewing the photos.

4pm (ish)

We have had our morning language class and wombled up to the Jardin (main square) and watched a portion of the parade.  We missed the bulk of it seemingly as we were busy trying to learn how to conjugate verbs (mwuhahaha.aaaa tremble in fear mortal).  What we saw was a lot of fun, great outfits, terrific Pancho Villa mustaches on the boys, fantastic dresses on the girls, dancing, taekwondo (of all things), horses (horse poop), gritty grandmas in revolution-era dresses with guns, a cable car (it jumped the tracks in SF and headed South apparently), pompom girls doing cheers (another escapee from North of the border), loud music, fireworks, well behaved crowd and almost no police (wouldn’t we like to have that in the US).

 

After the parade was over we had a sustaining ice cream (I was sensible this time and had only lime sorbet and pomegranate ice cream as opposed to a few days ago when I tried mole flavored ice cream  which was a little weird.  Mole, pronounced “mOleh” or there abouts, is a sauce usually served over chicken and made from a variety of ground up seeds, chilies, a little chocolate and a lot of grinding.  Prepared well it is delicious.  In the US you have to make it yourself, from the raw ingredients (a real labor of love let me tell you), since no one seems to make it other than factory-produced pale imitations that you get in a jar, pre-prepared which taste horrid.  If anyone knows of a source of mole in it’s non-sauce form available in either Oakland or SF or reasonably nearby let me know.

We had a nice wander around an art fair that was going on, also in the Jardin, which focused on sheetmetal handicrafts, woolen things and a variety of other lesser-represented crafty items.  There was this really huge mirror for those that need to compensate for something which was wonderfully OTT:

For a size check please note the seated woman, bottom left!  This thing was really huge, on the order of ten (10) feet!!! tall.  Who has a house big enough for this?  Around here? Mirror mirror on the wall.  Who is the fairest of us all?

As always, we had fun both at the expense of others and ourselves (really!  you should hear us (well, me) speak).  Afterwards we went for a stroll through the park and enjoyed a lounge on a bench in front of a fountain that the teenagers felt was the perfect pool from which to splash their lovers/friends etc and of course to try to push each other in when they least expected it.  Much girlish screaming and boyish cackling was to be heard (and I am sure is still to be heard).

We are sitting now on the roof of our palace enjoying the late afternoon, watching the sun turn the hills and buildings colors and having a cocktail in the guise of some quite delicious moonshine derived from the basis of tequila but tasting more like a liqueur.  It is sweetish and syrupy like a liqueur, made by a chemist out in the desert nearby (according to John who provided said bottle).  It is quite tasty and I can’t really describe the flavor from the point of view of something more familiar. It has a herbal/floral flavor and is quite yummy.  The problem will be that the bottle may not last long and then there will be the problem of finding a replacement.

Viva Mexico!

Goodnight and good luck,

Nick and Darcie.