Mexico 3: The final days in Cuernavaca

Rosca
My final week was filled with great eats and as many market trips as I could fit in between classes. I really didn't want to leave and need to figure out a way to go back and stay for an extended period of time.

On a coincidentally sad note, during that final week, I was reading Mountains upon Mountains, the book about Dr. Paul Farmer's work in Haiti. When I got to the airport the afternoon of Jan. 13th and saw the news about the earthquake, I was utterly stricken after reading in such detail the incredible harshness of everyday life for the majority of people in Haiti. At the same time, my grammar lessons at the school, Cetlalic were accompanied by lessons on the social, political and economic reality for the people in Mexico. Things aren't so easy there either.

As conduct my daily life here in the US, no matter how hard any day or situation might become, I try to remember how incredibly privledged I am to always have enough to eat, a roof over my head, and the means to be a "budget traveler" in countries less well off than ours. Enjoy this last installment of photos and I promise we'll be back to our regularly scheduled recipe posts soon!

The picture at the top of this post is a rosca de reyes and it's for the special celebration called "the feast of the three kings". (incidentally, my people celebrate Jan 6th as "Serbian Christmas) This is the day in Mexico that the children go crazy for–the day they wake up at 6 am to recieve their gifts! The traditional food is this cake and hot chocolate. 

Baby_butt
Inside the cake are 4 or 5 little white plastic babies. The people who get the babies in their piece of cake have to have a party on February 2nd, for which they provide tamales and atole. Unfortunately, none of the parties were close enough for me to attend. Fortunately I didn't get a baby because I was in the middle of moving on February 2nd and it would have been hard to have a party!

Baby
the child unswaddled.

Demolished
Oh yeah, it tasted good too.

Happy_turtle
All the bakeries have roscas displayed all day and the next and people everywhere are carrying big boxes of roscas home to eat. You've got to love a bakery called "the happy turtle"

Tamarind
tamarind pods in the market

Chilis_cheerios
chilis and cheerios

Maize
Maize, maize, maize!

Foreign_roots
Crazy potatoes!

Caldo
Caldo de pollo eaten en casa. I can't get enough of this.

Best_enchiladas
The best enchiladas ever. Chicken, queso, crema, red rice and fried plantains!

Pigs
Facing down your meat. Sorry vegans and vegetarians. 

Poodle_flowers
Another crazy market sighting.

Corn
The preferred way to eat corn on the street in Cuernavaca is cut off the cob, and spooned piping hot into a cup with mayonnaise, lime, chili, and cheese. Yum.

Abortion
Super cool pro-Choice poster in the bathroom at a bar. I took this photo from the toilet!

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2 Comments

  1. sara
    Posted March 15, 2010 at 4:34 pm | Permalink

    oh my gosh. that pig picture! ack! luckily i finished my breakfast hours ago… hey so those crazy red “potatoes” you have photographed are the only yams you can get in new zealand! they call them ‘yams’ and i was confused when i first saw them signposted in the grocery store! sounds like a lovely time!

  2. Deanna
    Posted April 20, 2010 at 7:26 pm | Permalink

    Hey Vanessa!

    I know that this is a long shot, but I was wondering if you have any idea where I could find a copy of that poster. I work with high-risk teenage girls in the U.S. and I would love to be able to show it to them. Do you know if it was designed by any particular agency or group?

    Thank you so much!

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