Saturday, June 02, 2007
small road trip //empalme escobedo
(Hello Campbell and Elizabeth...guess where I went today)
San Miguel is charming, but sometimes it's nice to get away for a bit to remember that not every Mexican city has multiple yoga classes, $6 cans of shaving cream and rooftop bars with waiters who speak only English.
Today I went with Joseph Harmes, author of The Best of San Miguel Allende, which I think is the most interesting guidebook about the city, on a little road trip. We passed through the towns of Comonfort and Empalme on the way to Celeya, which is actually a large town with both a Burger Kind AND a MacDonald's, as well as Costco and Walmart. The downtown, though, looks like a cross between Spanish colonial and the 1950s charm of West Allis, a Milwaukee suburb. There are several large churches, and a Jardin (town square). We got popcorn at Woolworths (sadly, no lunch counter) then dove into the mercado, which I liked more than the one in SMA - seemed to be more, and better looking, veggies, meats, cheeses. I now know where the best pirated DVDs are. And that it is better to get clones (copied from DVDs), rather than cine copies (made by videotaping a theater screen). But for new releases, such as Spiderman or Pirates of the Carribean, only cine copies are available. All the stalls let you watch the movies first, which isn't true in all mercados. I didn't buy anything... still squeamish about that, plus no dvd player and still not up for watching on my computer. But now I know where to go if I want it.
We went to a great used book store, where the owner promised to have books on the history of mexican journalism if i come back, and a Waldo's, which is a store where everything is just slightly more than a dollar. (I think the exact amount was 113 pesos, but I don't remember exactly. I do know that I got a small bag of Hanovers honey mustard pretzels and feel like I scored a huge homerun.)
Ate at a taqueria in a mall. Plate full of beef, chile, onion, cilantro, peppers, with another plate stacked with 12 or so small corn tortillas, three kinds of salsa, beans, onion, cilantro and lime for about $4. Yum!
Hit Costco, where the attendants match everything in your cart to your receipt before you're allowed to leave. I am the proud owner of four large blueberry muffins, agreeing to go in on a 12-pack.
On the way home, it was getting dark, and we passed through Empalme, stopping at a restaurant called La Truega. We were the only people in the place. This road used to be a thruway between SMA and Celaya, although Joseph says at one time it bottlenecked for a one-lane bridge. But now there's a bypass and these two little towns are left fairly to their own devices. We sat on the patio overlooking a small valley and a clothing factory where I'm told they make cashmere pants (note to self!), listened to the live music from a fiesta below, and had chicken taquitos.
We rolled through Comonfort which is very small, but smelled fantastic because of all the taqueria stands set up around the Jardin. And the place was bumping, everyone out on the streets, riding bikes, walking in pairs. I like the trees around the Jardin too. It's normal for the trees to be trimmed in a square shape. But these were two rows of trees, with bi-level squares. I hear there's a good market there on Sunday that I'd like to check out in the future. Also a great place to get molcajetes, the lava rock mortar/pestle dealies that are used to make salsa.
Comonfort is not at all fancy, with tiny tiendas, or shops, on the streets, and faded colors. The store fronts seem to run together and some are crumbly on top or have rebar shooting up. There are no billboards in these towns; rather, announcements about upcoming concerts or events are painted on the sides of buildings, and then painted over again, and again.
But there are big houses on the hill above the town and three large swatches of land, bulldozed and graded, that look as though they may soon host subdivisions. I'm not sure whether this is where folks from SMA who own businesses or sold their homesteads in SMAs centro go to make new homes with their windfalls, or whether some of them are being built with remittances from
the US.
Very pleasant day. Haven't been the only gringa, or one of a small handful, since I was in Oaxaca. Not attracting any special attention, but also not feeling like I'm having any impact - positive or negative.
San Miguel is charming, but sometimes it's nice to get away for a bit to remember that not every Mexican city has multiple yoga classes, $6 cans of shaving cream and rooftop bars with waiters who speak only English.
Today I went with Joseph Harmes, author of The Best of San Miguel Allende, which I think is the most interesting guidebook about the city, on a little road trip. We passed through the towns of Comonfort and Empalme on the way to Celeya, which is actually a large town with both a Burger Kind AND a MacDonald's, as well as Costco and Walmart. The downtown, though, looks like a cross between Spanish colonial and the 1950s charm of West Allis, a Milwaukee suburb. There are several large churches, and a Jardin (town square). We got popcorn at Woolworths (sadly, no lunch counter) then dove into the mercado, which I liked more than the one in SMA - seemed to be more, and better looking, veggies, meats, cheeses. I now know where the best pirated DVDs are. And that it is better to get clones (copied from DVDs), rather than cine copies (made by videotaping a theater screen). But for new releases, such as Spiderman or Pirates of the Carribean, only cine copies are available. All the stalls let you watch the movies first, which isn't true in all mercados. I didn't buy anything... still squeamish about that, plus no dvd player and still not up for watching on my computer. But now I know where to go if I want it.
We went to a great used book store, where the owner promised to have books on the history of mexican journalism if i come back, and a Waldo's, which is a store where everything is just slightly more than a dollar. (I think the exact amount was 113 pesos, but I don't remember exactly. I do know that I got a small bag of Hanovers honey mustard pretzels and feel like I scored a huge homerun.)
Ate at a taqueria in a mall. Plate full of beef, chile, onion, cilantro, peppers, with another plate stacked with 12 or so small corn tortillas, three kinds of salsa, beans, onion, cilantro and lime for about $4. Yum!
Hit Costco, where the attendants match everything in your cart to your receipt before you're allowed to leave. I am the proud owner of four large blueberry muffins, agreeing to go in on a 12-pack.
On the way home, it was getting dark, and we passed through Empalme, stopping at a restaurant called La Truega. We were the only people in the place. This road used to be a thruway between SMA and Celaya, although Joseph says at one time it bottlenecked for a one-lane bridge. But now there's a bypass and these two little towns are left fairly to their own devices. We sat on the patio overlooking a small valley and a clothing factory where I'm told they make cashmere pants (note to self!), listened to the live music from a fiesta below, and had chicken taquitos.
We rolled through Comonfort which is very small, but smelled fantastic because of all the taqueria stands set up around the Jardin. And the place was bumping, everyone out on the streets, riding bikes, walking in pairs. I like the trees around the Jardin too. It's normal for the trees to be trimmed in a square shape. But these were two rows of trees, with bi-level squares. I hear there's a good market there on Sunday that I'd like to check out in the future. Also a great place to get molcajetes, the lava rock mortar/pestle dealies that are used to make salsa.
Comonfort is not at all fancy, with tiny tiendas, or shops, on the streets, and faded colors. The store fronts seem to run together and some are crumbly on top or have rebar shooting up. There are no billboards in these towns; rather, announcements about upcoming concerts or events are painted on the sides of buildings, and then painted over again, and again.
But there are big houses on the hill above the town and three large swatches of land, bulldozed and graded, that look as though they may soon host subdivisions. I'm not sure whether this is where folks from SMA who own businesses or sold their homesteads in SMAs centro go to make new homes with their windfalls, or whether some of them are being built with remittances from
the US.
Very pleasant day. Haven't been the only gringa, or one of a small handful, since I was in Oaxaca. Not attracting any special attention, but also not feeling like I'm having any impact - positive or negative.
# posted by Anne @ 8:34 PM 
