Food Safety
The lady in tianguis cuts off a chunk of cheese and thrusts it at you impaled on the point of a knife... The vendor wants you to sample a chunk of melon on a plate How long has that jar of mayon...
Forum Discussion
Very good common sense IMHO Talleyho69, but when I hear or read of NO BAD DAYS propaganda trying to overwhelm god given common sense avoidance of small or large pitfalls I cannot help but break out laughing...
My sharp tongued Mixtec housekeeper accompanied me to market one day.
Even Nene my housekeeper insisted that the sealed chorizo be washed before slitting open the membrane. Note: Hating flies and mosquitoes I fumigated every night after dinner and evacuated for a half hour.
Authentic Mexico aficionados learn to navigate around minor obstacles without a second thought. About 101% of visitors new to Mexico shriek when they see unrefigerated mayonnaise. And my comment about an egg with a -crack- is entirely different from a broken egg.
Here's another zinger. I know and knew several tourist bartenders throughout la Republica. After so much bitching, about "Watered Down Margaritas" they started adding a zot of pure cane alcohol to the drinks. Unfortunately some criminals actually put drugs into the drinks to render the victim a mark to be robbed. The two issues are separate except to alarmists. Solution, is to be intelligent and after being served a fishbowl size margarita wait 20 minutes before deciding whether or not to have another. Actual doping of drinks is very rare -- but turbocharging them to stop complaints isn't.
I remember walking into an honest-to-god authentic cantina in Mazatlan that had a piss bucket in wide open view in one corner.
I wanted an ice cold beer. As I strode across the floor I could hear a drunken "Pendejo Gringo" from one of the tables.
I paid for the beer and turned around...
"No soy Pendejo Gringo" I said in a loud voice.
I could hear chairs start to scrape against the concrete floor
"Soy PINCHE gringo (I am a damned gringo)"
The whole cantina erupted into raucous laughter.
The guy who make the original remark had tears flowing down his cheeks, and he insisted I sit at his table.
For an hour perhaps two we chatted. Afterwards handshakes and salutations.
A tourist would have taken one look past the door and scuttled on down the sidewalk. No Women!, No persons in uniform! shouted a scrawled sign outside the door.
People intending on becoming utterly comfortable in Mexico can learn to do so. It isn't an overnight endeavor, but for instance now when I cross the street bent over as a cripple, I make a pumping motion of a locomotive with my arms and many times laughter and a toot on a horn excuse my slow passage.
It is an unfortunate truth that unwillingly Americans new to Mexico create the illusion they are standoffish. Without any question pasting a smile on your face will help break the illusion fast fast fast.
To me, Mexico is 10% the country and 90% it's citizens...
My sharp tongued Mixtec housekeeper accompanied me to market one day.
- You see those chirozos hanging in this meat stall?
- Pay attention
- The one with the flies all over it (don't gag all the chorizo had sausage membrane coverings)
- That one even children will eat without complaints
- The one next to it has fewer moscas because it is more picante
- Children and many gringos would not like the spiciness
- And then there is that one with the moscas flitting and not landing
- You like chilies so perhaps you would like that one but you may not like a lot of that in with your huevos
- The one on the right...see the moscas? They are staying well away from it
- You would need a extintor (fire extinguisher) and ice cubes the next morning if you ate that one. It is for la gente.
Even Nene my housekeeper insisted that the sealed chorizo be washed before slitting open the membrane. Note: Hating flies and mosquitoes I fumigated every night after dinner and evacuated for a half hour.
Authentic Mexico aficionados learn to navigate around minor obstacles without a second thought. About 101% of visitors new to Mexico shriek when they see unrefigerated mayonnaise. And my comment about an egg with a -crack- is entirely different from a broken egg.
Here's another zinger. I know and knew several tourist bartenders throughout la Republica. After so much bitching, about "Watered Down Margaritas" they started adding a zot of pure cane alcohol to the drinks. Unfortunately some criminals actually put drugs into the drinks to render the victim a mark to be robbed. The two issues are separate except to alarmists. Solution, is to be intelligent and after being served a fishbowl size margarita wait 20 minutes before deciding whether or not to have another. Actual doping of drinks is very rare -- but turbocharging them to stop complaints isn't.
I remember walking into an honest-to-god authentic cantina in Mazatlan that had a piss bucket in wide open view in one corner.
I wanted an ice cold beer. As I strode across the floor I could hear a drunken "Pendejo Gringo" from one of the tables.
I paid for the beer and turned around...
"No soy Pendejo Gringo" I said in a loud voice.
I could hear chairs start to scrape against the concrete floor
"Soy PINCHE gringo (I am a damned gringo)"
The whole cantina erupted into raucous laughter.
The guy who make the original remark had tears flowing down his cheeks, and he insisted I sit at his table.
For an hour perhaps two we chatted. Afterwards handshakes and salutations.
A tourist would have taken one look past the door and scuttled on down the sidewalk. No Women!, No persons in uniform! shouted a scrawled sign outside the door.
People intending on becoming utterly comfortable in Mexico can learn to do so. It isn't an overnight endeavor, but for instance now when I cross the street bent over as a cripple, I make a pumping motion of a locomotive with my arms and many times laughter and a toot on a horn excuse my slow passage.
It is an unfortunate truth that unwillingly Americans new to Mexico create the illusion they are standoffish. Without any question pasting a smile on your face will help break the illusion fast fast fast.
To me, Mexico is 10% the country and 90% it's citizens...
