I’m thinking that today could just be the first designated day of my holidays as all my family, friends and governmental agency activities have been completed.
As usual, I was up at sparrow’s fart, completed the “4 S’s” (i.e. Shit, Shave, Shower & Shampooch) and was out the door around 5AM to take in how North Americas most populous city greeted the new day.
I was headed over to Museo Mexicano del Diseño to meet up with a local guide from Interpids’ Urban Adventure team for the ½ day Mexico City Original Markets & Street Food Tour. Yeah ….. I know I was 3 hours early, but I took the time to go for a wander around the Plaza de la Constitución and the surrounding Centro Historico area.
How else would I have worked out that at La Parroquia de Veracruz, a 10 ounce black coffee is 12 Pesos more than Happy Hour Coronas???
Around 9AM I was joined by our guide, two “Snap Frozen Yanks” fellas from Toronto and Ottawa, as well as a “Helliforinian” sheila living in the Bay Area around Oakland, who turned out to be a pretty good crew to go exploring with.
Our first food stop for the day was exploring the Abelardo L. Rodriguez Market, that was created in 1934 and deals primarily in clothing and fashion i.e the “rag trade”. We were introduced to Tamale’s, with me selecting the pork & green chilli, that was light, fluffy and full of flavour.
Then it was over to Mercado de Sonora, that was established in the 1950’s and is known primarily for its herbal medicines and items related to witchcraft, magic and the occult.
It was here that we were introduced to carnitas at Carnitas Paty, which were served with pork off-cut tacos, that I felt were pretty ordinary if the truth be told. It was also at this stop that we sampled several different mole’s and I have to say – I was both impressed not only with the variety, but also the rich depth of flavours.
Our third and final market was the El Mercado de Jamaica, again established in the 1950’s and predominantly a fresh flower as well as a fruit & veg market. It was across the road at Huaraches Ramoncita where we sampled Huarache, which also a Mexican
slang term for “old sandals” and a Cuitlacoche (pronounced QUEET-la-coh-chay and called corn smut in English speaking countries), which has a distinct earthy taste and not bad eating.
From there it was back to the hotel, for a quick shower and then out to the local bodega to grab a ½ carton of Dos Equis, a bag of ice and a packet of plastic bin liners to turn my hotel rubbish bin into a temporary esky, as there is no fridge in the room – sometimes you just have to improvise to improve the experience.
All up today I covered 9.9 miles (16 k’s) on foot and as local orientation tours go, it was great. As local food tours go – a tamale, taco and some huarache doesn’t make a “Food Tour”. WithLocals has set the bar high in regards Walking Food Tours, as opposed to what I would define as a local orientation – that was interesting, factual and engaging.
BE WARNED: Could this be Bohemiem Rhapsody “Fitzy style“? Dinner tonight consisted of an Aussie, in Mexico, eating at an Italian joint – Trattoria Isabella, sipping on Bohemia Pilsner cervezas with 70’s funk & soul on the stereo ….. I personally don’t see anything wrong with that as it was a great feed.
