This week was a bit quieter and mostly I’m figuring out how best to prepare for my birthday trip to Cozumel on the 17th. But there were some highlights. I’ve taken to stealing parts of plants from all over and sticking them in water to see what happens. This is going to eventually cause a pretty extensive space problem.
I also received veggie seeds! Which I think I’m a little late for here, but honestly given the weather I can’t actually imagine this ever being a problem. It’s been a bit of a challenge to find a variety of seeds with most places having a generic cherry tomato, a bola tomato and some kind of Roma. And even more bizarrely it’s hard to find a variety of peppers. Although I am excited to try growing bell peppers with some expectation of success! Finally found an online show that organic and open pollinated with some level of variety, so I’ve got a San Marzano, a green zebra, bell peppers, hungarian peppers, breakfast radishes, a decent of lettuce (so excited for this!), lacinato kale, a melon, a watermelon, italian basil (possibly more excited for this!), amongst others. I’m very happy to be getting back into gardening.
They finally finished most of the work on Plaza Rio de Janeiro and David is shiny and new and sporting a rainbow on this particulary day.
Wednesday was my first group Spanish class and it was me and Eden, my old buddy from the previous group class. We struggled through trying to talk about paper for class in Spanish. It was rough. Spoiler: NAFTA is called T-MEC in Mexico so even getting to that point was a bit of a challenge.
Then Sunday I went for a hike in la Cañada de Nexpayantla. This will look familiar. This is actually my first repeat hike and it is a goodie. Located in the hills between Iztaccihuatl and Popo this little gem of a spot is tended to by a local family and is immediately across the street from one of the best taco spots on the mountain. It’s a relatively easy 10k in and out crisscrossing a creek and into a narrow canyon. It’s really beautiful and peaceful there.
You start with a gentle hike down into the canyon which runs about 20 kilometers in total. The area begins wide, with ever increasing walls on either side. I think the call it a river in the basin here, I think we would call it a creek. Though it is dry season, so maybe I’m mistaken. The area is robust with pine trees and greenery, including pineapple sage, thistle and gordolobo, which is a medicinal plant used to treat coughs, asthma, and bronchitis. It smells terrible.
It was a lovely group, I think I was the youngest. But it included Karina & Diego who are Mexican, Arturo who is Swiss, Radek who is Australian, a new person who is visiting from Spain, and of course Liz and myself. Arturo has been here for decades and Radek for 8 years, so I am the weakest Spanish link and perhaps more than any other time, Spanish was the chosen language. It was super fun and excellent practice.
The canyon narrows and narrows and narrows until you’re pretty much just bouncing from rock to rock or give up and walk in the water. At the end, you climb a rope to a ladder to a platform where you can better see the waterfall, but it’s a bit precarious. There is supposedly a rule that a group can only spend 10 minutes at the end, but it lacks enforcement. We actually had great timing this round and barely had to wait 1 minute before our group got to shimmy over. Coming back Liz stands below 2 hands out ready to catch someone by the ass. It was deeply unclear to me that this would’ve resulted other than Liz and the descending individual falling off a rock and into the water, but the intent was there.
It was a really beautiful and really hot day and we all dusty and kinda gross by the time we finished our hike and trudged across the street to eat at Las Palomas. This is where I get the taco de aguaja. Mmm. Tender meaty goodness with nopal and potato and delicious salsa. I also ordered a dozen blue corn tortillas.
We made shockingly good time back into the city.
In the evening, I filed my FAFSA. Wow. it’s been a very long time since I’ve done that. For my birthday I get to officially apply for my grad school program. Woot woot! And on a sadder note, I said goodbye to my fancy travel cards whose annual fee went up $300 this year, while they eliminated my favorite benefit (1.5x mile redemption). RIP Sapphire Reserve.
Tacos of The Week: Fritanguita
So this place is super hyped. It’s a joint project between two rather well known chefs. They have a very small menu. I tried a very loaded taco de cecina and the chalupitas which each come smeared with a mole and topped with some fried suadero. I’m not sure what I would’ve thought if it didn’t have so much acclaim. I found the taco, fine, a little discordant in flavors- it had the meat, some beans, a nopal salad, crema, extra crisp shoe string fries and something pickled was going on. It was busy. And I didn’t feel like either of the available salsas were gonna bring it together. Also, and 120 pesos, this an unbelievably expensive street taco like at least 5x the price of others. The Chapulitas were really fun and tasty, but also pretty greasy. I’d go back. Probably will when Fran wants to. Their caramelized chile dessert looked incredible.
Year One Project 
Leave a comment