It’s Raining Avocados
We entered Mexico a week ago today. The first 4 days were mostly really bad – so much so that I started to wonder what we were thinking we said we were just going to get in our car and drive through Mexico. I was thinking that all the way until we got to Zacatecas.
The first 4 days we did a lot of driving and we saw a lot of horrible towns. Chihuahua was large and uninteresting, you can read my other post about our hotel room in Jimenez and I’ve put a picture of our hotel room up on http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebays. Torreon was just as uninteresting as both of those cities, although we found a great road-side stand and had a great meal. Durango was a bit better with a nice plaza, but still not exactly what we were looking for in terms of interesting cities. Matthias struck up a conversation with a Mexican in a restaurant in our first night in Chihuahua who recommended that we stop in Zacatecas. When we finally got to Zacatecas I thought “This is why we came to Mexico!”
Zacatecas is a beautiful old colonial town. The center of town is full of narrow winding streets as the city skirts up the mountain. We came into town just as the sun was setting and it was beautiful. We found a great restaurant and had the best meal since we left Seattle. This restaurant had 1 item on the menu which is “Beef Served in its own Juices”. First they served us tostadas with refried beans, hot sauce, salsa and guacamole. Then the main course of beef with beans and a soup (which is just the broth the meat is served in). To drink we were served a sweetened hibiscus tea, that tasted like an elegant fruit punch. The owners were so kind, and everything tasted wonderful. It was a wonderful evening.
After Zacatecas we drove to Ajijic which is near Guadalajara. Our friends Dave and Terri from Seattle moved here a little over 2 years ago and we are staying with them. Ajijic is a haven for ex-pat retirees, and we are enjoying speaking English again and having our friends answer all our questions about things that were puzzling us about Mexico. In the garden of their house there are 3 large avocado trees full with humongous ripening avocados. About 20 times a day you’ll hear a rustling in the branches in then a loud thump on the ground. The avocados are falling out of the trees. William and Julian are good at going around the yard and collecting them. Dave and Terri have so many that they just bag them up and leave them on the sidewalk for anyone to take. In Seattle you pay around $1.79 for a mediocre avocado. The ones I’ve had so far are the creamiest, most delicious avocados I’ve ever had, and there are more than we could ever eat! The only thing I’m worried about is Julian. With his tendency for scaling buildings, falling out of beds and catching freak blood-conditions, it is only a matter of time before an avocado falls on his head and knocks him out cold.
We’ll be here until early next week and then it is (most-likely) off further into the highlands – Guanajuato, St. Migel de Allende, Queretaro. After that we plan on making our way to the coast and onto Guatemala via the Pacific Ocean.
Tags: Ajijic, Mexico, Mexico-Guatemala
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