Guest Post: Margaret's Mexico Trip

For this post, I'm going to let my little sister, Margaret, take the reins.  She recently got back from a trip to Mexico, and I thought it'd be fun to give her a chance to share some photos with you guys.  So, without further ado, take it away Margs!

 ~

Hola amigos!  I'm Margaret, Dani's little sister.

You might remember me from the Margaret's 21st birthday trip post.  After sampling some delicious treats on my recent trip to la Ciudad de Mexico (the city of Mexico), Dani has kindly invited me to be her first guest blogger.  So here I am- how could I resist such an offer?

I went to Mexico City over my spring break with a class called "Mass Communication in Mexico" that I'm currently taking at UNC Chapel Hill.  Now, if you know anything about the Craig family, you know that we plan entire vacations around our eating schedules.  Naturally, my mouth started watering weeks before my journey.  Unfortunately, the nature of the trip didn't allow me to seek out all the fabulous eateries I'm sure exist in Mexico City, but I did make a simpler mission for myself: eat some dope street tacos, get a hot churro, and drink some good Mexican tequila.

On the first day of the trip, we ventured out to the Teotihuacan pyramids, which are some of the largest pyramids in the Americas.  This was probably my favorite day of the trip; the ruins were absolutely mind-blowing and there's not much better than exploring all day in the warm sun.

 This is the Sun Pyramid, the largest of the group.  The pyramids seemed to go on for miles!

After checking out the pyramids all day, the whole group (all 12 of us!) went to a traditional Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Thank goodness we had a few locals and a fluent girl (hey Marlene!) with us, because ordering was a chore!  We all started with tortilla soup, which is a tomato based soup topped with crumbled homemade tortilla chips, fresh avocado, queso fresco, and some sort of delicious cream sauce.  Even though it was a hot day, this soup was amazing!  We tried a few other tortilla soups later that week, but none beat this one.

tortilla soup

I also had some taquitos, which are rolled up corn tortillas filled with either cheese or some sort of meat and then fried.  These were yummy, but I really just wanted another bowl of that soup!

 Everything was served with the best avocados EVER.  We were, however, advised against eating fresh fruits and veggies that don't have a natural peel because they were washed in the water.  Thank GOD for avocados having peels!

Later that night, a few of us decided to get some dinner at a place called Samborn's.  I don't think there is an American equivalent to this place, but its kind of like a department store combined with a restaurant, a bakery, and a pharmacy.  Kind of like an upscale Wal-mart, but with no clothes.  Anyway, I had my first taste of tequila in the form of a margarita there - fab!

 That's Marlene's pina colada in the background, which she said was fabulous.

The second day we did a bunch of touring in the city, including Chapultepec Park which has Maximilien's castle and a TON of roadside tiendas (shops).  After seeing the castle, we were famished and decided to stop at a taqueria.  Hooray!

 Here is the sign for the taqueria we stopped at.  5 tacos for 15 pesos!

By the way, 13 pesos roughly equals 1 dollar.  CHEAP FOOD.  I ordered 5 tacos and told 'em to give me 5 different kinds of meat.

I was too hungry to figure out exactly what I was eating before I devoured every single one!

The sign has things like tripa (tripe), ojos (eyes), tacos de cabeza (tacos of the head), longaniza (sausage) and some others which don't have a clear translation, like campechano (hearty?) and birria (rubbish?).  I could have ended up with some interesting things, but it was all tasty.  Oh, AND mission one...complete!

That night, after getting back from touring all day, I couldn't resist stopping in at another taqueria because I was starving.  These weren't as cheap, but they came with a soda.

 All the sodas came in glass bottles and were much sweeter than the American stuff because they are made with real sugar.

These condiments were pretty typical of any eatery: salsa fresca, lime wedges, and 2 types of hot sauce.

And the tacos! I had chorizo and steak.  The chorizo was so good I ordered 2 more!

My buddy Brian and I searched fruitlessly for some churros.  Apparently, you have to specifically ask for the churro that you eat because, after asking about 50 different vendors and getting dirty looks from Mexicans all day, one guy was kind enough to let us know that churro is also slang for marijuana in Spanish.  No bueno.  Anyway, we finally found a place, and Marlene bought one for Brian and I.

Good pic.  Mission 2: completed

The only thing left: tequila!  I know, I know, I already had a margarita, but that hardly counts.  So, Brian, Zakiya, and I went out drinking one night.

 The bar special read something like taza por 84 pesos. We thought taza meant "pitcher"... turns out, it just meant GIANT mug of beer.

The beer was called El Sol.  It came light and dark, and I became pretty partial to both kinds in just one week.

 El Sol claro (on a different night)

To celebrate finishing the huge beer, we had tequila shots!

The tequila was strong, but I'm not really used to drinking it. They chase tequila with clamato juice, which I was skeptical about, but it was actually pretty successful.  Mission 3: success!

I ate a lot of great food.  I wish I would have taken more foodie pictures including the amazing gelato Brian and I got one night (I had cookies and cream and coconut, he had queso and chocolate) after we had tacos at another taqueria.  I had tacos de lengua (tongue!).  So weird seeing a huge tongue being sliced in front of you, knowing you're about to eat it, but it was actually really delicious.

So, thanks for letting me borrow Dani Dishes for a little while!  Hope you enjoyed my post.  Eat well, friends!  Viva la Mexico!

-Margaret