I've been visiting my family in mexico city and been visiting some places around the city and I thought It'd be fun to document some of it.

this blog was also written mainly for @precipitation24 but all are free to join me

I woke up to my family watching the mexican version of family feud titled "100 mexicanos dijeron " which translates to "100 mexicans said" the idea is that they surveyed 100 mexicans and asked them a question "what is a popular herb for cooking" and the contestants have to list them according to what they think most mexicans would answer.

the show itself is nothing ground breaking, but the interesting thing about it is that the host is a popular actor in the character of "el vitor" which I believe is supposed to be a misspelling of the common name of "victor". this charater appears on the skit comedy show "la hora pico" which is geared to adults; due to it's vulgar nature, the show is aired at night. "vitor" is supposed to be a caricature of a bus driver in mexico city, that is to say that the charter uses a lot of slang, doesn't have much money, and is often cat-calling women. in mexico, we call them "piropos"

0:16

biscochito (a type of sugar cookie, but it's used as "baby" or "sweetie")

amor sin beso, es como espagueti sin queso (love without kisses is like spaghetti without cheese)

osea, pa que mentiendas mejor (in other words, you understand me better)

a ver cuando aflojas eso ( let's see when you'll loose that up [when will you let me have sex with you])

anyways, when it was time for breakfast, we went to get some tamales. people selling tamales in the morning a common, it is a very portable food that you can eat on your way to work so many people do. luckily there weren't too many people. the lady was also selling some atole which is a thick drink made from corn starch and usually tasting of chocolate. eating tamales with atole, is a common combination here.

back at home I sliced up a bolillo which is just a type of bread roll. and put some mayonnaise that has a hint of lime, and then put the tamal inside. the bread rolls were pretty fresh so the outside was crispy but the inside was buttery and soft. any sandwich made from this type of bread roll is called a torta; that being said, tortas de tamal are usually called "guajolotas". this was absolutely delicious and something that I will miss dearly

also , I found it funny that the matt has some japanese, you can see it poking through near the top, it says「たべる時間」

tacos de pastor are my favorite food and something else that I will be missing a lot

is marinated pork cooked in a kebab style, they are usually garnished with a slice of pineapple. this is, in my opinion, the only correct way to cook it, the reason is because the flame only ever cooks the very outside which means that you get perfectly cook meat that is also a but crispy BUT is also still juicy. just thinking about it is making my mouth water. giving it some lime, salt and cilantro isn't a bad way to enhance the dish but in my opinion, it should be light since, if the dish is done right, the meat has plenty of great flavor

another interesting fact is that this style of cooking meat was introduced to Mexico by the Lebanese people fleeing from the ottoman empire.

later in the day I also saw this absolute behemoth of a kebab, it was massive.

I also went to an opened air market. they are usually called "tianguis" when they are mobile and temporary as opposed to a more permanent market or "mercado". each tianguis usually only last one day but come around every week. there are many types of stalls that all sell different stuff. some sell toys, others pet stuff,etc. the most common things to find are clothes, shoes, and food. it does depend on the market but they tend to also be very narrow, usually only about 2-3 people wide. you can see the metal tubes making the frame with tarps as covers due to their temporary nature.

you can also see from time to time people traveling the passageways also selling stuff, usually snacks like peanuts or jellies

you can also eat at a tianguis too, some stalls are small you end up eating standing up but some others are larger and have tables and stools, this particular stall had chairs and stools and was selling ribs

here is another food stand, hanging by the top left are pieces of paper, they put those underneath the plate so that they dont get as dirty.

they have big tubs of aguas frescas, horchata and tamarindo. you can also see the big copper vat that they use to cook the pork skin to make chicharron which is pork belly/ pork rinds

later on , I went to el zocalo, the center of mexico, the center of mexico city has a lot of recognizable buildings, one of them is this, "la torre latinoamericana" the latinamerican tower. this tower is mostly an office building but it is considered iconic. mexico city has very bad soil to build on because of the fact that it is a lakebed that rests on an aquifer which is the source of drinking water for mexico city so it's pumped often which means that mexico city is sinking. mexico city gets earthquakes often so the fact that it is still standing is considered very impressive. the tower has a clock that you can see in this picture that is vissible from quite far. and you can you go up the viewing deck to look at the city from above.

while waling thought the many pedestrian only streets, I saw this guy dressed as a weed leaf promoting a dispensary. weed in mexico is legal in small (relatively) amounts. there are certain areas that are also protected for the use of weed, which I will talk about later

I can only upload 10 pictures per newspost so I'm going to make a part 2