Some Photos

This is the forecast. As you can see, perfect weather. It never changes and never gets too cold or too hot. People here typically don´t have air condicioning or heating.





This is the supreme court building. The city center has many buildings constructed like this.






We climbed on top of the cathedral this weekend. This is the view from the roof of the cathedral overlooking the city center. It was awesome the first time I have ever been to the roof of a cathedral.




This is a micro bus. I take this every day to work. It costs 3 pesos and there are many times you will stick your hand out for the bus to stop and it will zoom by you without even noticing. During rush hour it will be packed with people and the bus will still stop and swurve like crazy. I have almost fallen over many times and the ceiling is quite low, I often have to duck. I am considered tall here, so I can´t imagine anyone over 6 feet riding this bus.







If you think parking is hard in the US come here. This is a real photo of how a car parked. There is maybe an inch between the car the two cars outside of it. You do not have to take a test to get your license here, in fact you really don´t even need a license. I don´t know where they learn how to park so well though.



Sweaters anyone?




These are tacos dorados. ¨Golden Tacos¨
They are deep fried and filled with a shredded meat. Served with creme and avocados.


Real Mexican Food. I have to say, I have never eaten real mexican food until I came here. We eat similar things in the US but the main ingredients change completely. I would like to go to a Mexican restaurant when I return and see if they have anything that is actually Mexican. The whole chimichanga, fajitas, gorditas are very different here and people may not know what they are. My friend had never heard of a chimichanga until he went to the states.

LIME:
Everything here is served with a lime. IF you order a soup they will give you lime to squirt into your soup. If you order rice they will give you a lime. People even put lime on their popcorn.

TORTILLAS:
It isn´t common to eat corn flour tortillas here. You can sometimes ask for them but they will use regular corn tortillas which taste very different from the Tex Mex ones we eat with out meals. I have grown to love the tortillas here and they are often made fresh in front of you. They eat them just plain with salt as a snack too.

QUESADILLAS:
They are serves with a different type of cheese than we use. It is white and has a very distinct taste, kind of a spoiled taste. I really like the taste.

SALSA:
You are served salsa with everything, even soup! It is usually green or red. They green is usually much spicer than the red and is made from chilis. The red has more of a chipotle taste. It is hard to decide what salsa to put on what. They do serve the Pico de gallo salsa we have in the states, so we do have one salsa that is similar.

MOLE:
This is a black sauce that is made from chocolate and chilis. It is served over tortillas and numerous things. It is difficult to make so most people buy a paste and then add more ingredients to make the sauce. Pronounced ¨Mole LAY¨, so you don´t get it confused with the brown spots us white folks have.





Sidenote...Texans always say folks, and so do my coworkers. I am trying to teach them how to say things correctly, but we all have accents. Just say the words Vague, Bag, Bagels or Boat and listen to our accent.

It is interesting how you will naturally acquire the accent from where you learn the language. They speak with Texans all the time so they have a little drawl mixed with the Mexican accent.

I obviously have an american accent when I speak, but it is not as strong as some. I learned how to roll my R´s in Spain and if you can´t do this it is very hard to pronouce many words. Everyone can roll their r´s. You have to have a anatomic problem to not be able to do it. If you want to learn just say the word BUTTER LADDER several times fast.

After a few times, try to say

BUTTER BUTTER BUTTER LADDER LADDER LADDER
BUTTER BUTTER BUTTER LADDER LADDER LADDER
BUTTER BUTTER BUTTER LADDER LADDER LADDER
BUTTER BUTTER BUTTER LADDER LADDER LADDER
BUTTER BUTTER BUTTER LADDER LADDER LADDER

You will find it really hard to say this phrase quickly. You should notice the hard R your tongue is making on the roof of your mouth.

If you can say it fast and correctly you will develop the correct position of the tongue to roll your R´s. Practice for 5 minutes in the car saying this simple phrase and your tongue will eventually find the proper motion. This simple letter is important in speaking any Spanish. Just the word gracias is pronounced differently. GRACIAS should be said like gDacias.