Boldly Go Solo

I don't even know where to begin. So much happens in a day let alone two. My mind races but I´ll never be able to spill all those thoughts.  Today's try:

– Animals available for sale at the San Juan de Dios market downtown include parakeets, parrots, pigeons, chicks, guinea pigs (at least they don´t eat them here like they do in Ecuador), ducks, doves, you name it. Do that many people go to town and buy parakeets?

– Don't believe this is a Catholic country? My cab driver from the airport asked me if I believed in God. There are masses on the hour at a downtown church, from 8 am to 8 pm. For those of you who are number challenged, that's 12 masses a day. Food vendors set up around the local church on Sunday to cater to the people who attend. Religious items are available for sale many, many places.

Guadalajara isn't a particularly pretty city. The old section has some impressive sights – a cathedral, government buildings, the Plaza del Armas and more. But the stores and houses are stucco boxes and there's a lot of graffiti on the corrugated metal doors that cover stores when they're closed.

Most everything is run down, paint peeling. Food stalls have chairs and tables that look like they're from the 50's. Not imitation of the 50's style. But literally from the 50's. Formica tables. Metal and vinyl chairs. Flat, square buckets for salsa, onions, etc, that look like the kind you'd put your feet in to soothe them.

– I know I'm almost home from school after getting off my bus, route 629 #2, because after passing several birds-of-paradise plants, I see the rusting white limo with the flat front tire and the oranges littered around it from from the nearby tree.

– I told Ani, the daughter of Titi, who I´m living with, that her pony tail, in one tight curl, is called a banana curl in the U.S. At least, where I grew up. She told me that here it's called a churro. A street food that is a stick-shaped donut fried in oil until crunchy and covered in granulated sugar.

– Salsa and frijoles go with everything. Last night Titi served me a chicken breast but the point is not to eat the chicken with a knife and fork. You cut it up, put it on a tortilla, and add the requisite beans and salsa.

– Titi made fresh cheese tortillas the other night. Mix the harina de maiz (corn flour) with water. Scoop a small amount out of bowl with fingers. Pat, pat, pat back and forth in hands to make it a little flat. Put in tortilla press. Press. Put in pan and watch it inflate. Remove and cut a slit with a knife. Sprinkle in grated cheese. Put on grill on stovetop that is between the four burners. Melt. Repeat. 15 times. About three tortillas per person. (We were five that night, including Ani´s "novio," that is, boyfriend.)

That´s a lot of work. And each tortilla was used to hold pieces of steak chopped about 1/4 inch small, fresh cilantro, chopped onions, salsa (two kinds) and, of course, frijoles. Again, a delicious meal.

The drink is always some kind of "agua fresca" – oranges or lemons or grapefruit or watermelon, mixed with water and sugar.