Mexico City (5)

It seems that I have basically never been to the same foreign city twice in these years of travel. This is the second time I come to Mexico City, mainly because the air ticket back to the United States is cheap, and I can stay for two days and eat enough tacos here. go back. On the first night of flying here, I took the subway bus from the airport to the hotel. I felt how convenient their public transportation is here, and the waiting time for the bus did not exceed a minute. There are many exhibition boards in the tunnels of many subway stations, about exploring the universe, protecting the environment, ocean pollution, and works of art, all of which are very educational. There is also free Wi-Fi coverage in most areas of the city center, which is very convenient. When I arrived at the hotel, I rang the doorbell for a long time and no one came to answer the door. After a while, an Asian man opened the door for me. I asked him if this was a certain hotel, and he said it was an Airbnb. I don’t know if it was the hotel I mentioned. Seeing that the address was the same, I went in. The person in charge of the hotel was not there, and their contact information was posted on the wall. When they replied, I learned that the person who opened the door for me was also a Chinese. Because he could not go back to China, he came here from the US embassy to change his student visa. He was rejected once and had to wait two weeks for an interview.

When I entered the hotel, I met a girl from another city in Mexico in the same room. We talked about how she worked for Huawei. Since the outbreak began, she has been working online and does not need to go to the office. She also told me that her work at Huawei is like being in Chinatown, and most of her colleagues are Chinese.

The next morning, I met a local friend I met when I came last year. When I met him, I saw that he had lost a lot of weight. He said that he lost 20 to 30 catties this year because he was cheated out of a large amount of money by a fake company last year. As a result, he lost a lot of clients, and he was under a lot of pressure at work. It was really hard to hear, but there was nothing I could do to help him. He didn't seem to want to talk about it either, so I didn't ask specifics. Last year he took me to a lot of amazing taco shops, and this time he took me to two new taco shops. The first one had to line up before 11 o'clock in the morning, and it was overcrowded. After eating tacos, he would keep asking me where I want to go and where he can take me around. But because I went to all the places I wanted to go when I came last year, this time I have no destination at all. I kept telling him, "Relax! You can go anywhere for a stroll." After hearing this, he said that I was not the same as last year. Last year I felt very rushed and the schedule was very full, haha. The feeling of coming to the same city for the second time is amazing. Revisiting the old place, I feel that many memories have been awakened.

When I came to Mexico City last year, the sculpture of the Ángel de la Independencia in the city center had a fence, and the bottom was covered with graffiti from previous protests. This time it has been cleaned up, and you can go up the steps to watch it up close. The entire street next to it is full of skyscrapers, most of which are buildings like banks and stock exchanges, which are very modern. There is also a new exhibition on this street this year. Every few steps on both sides of the street is a sculpture of a cow. Each cow is designed by a different artist and has unique characteristics and symbolic meaning. Some are painted with Van Gogh's Starry Night, which is called "Vancow" in homonym, some are rainbow cows running towards freedom, representing support for homosexuality, and a cow is covered with grass like trees, advocating the importance of environmental protection. The picture is only a small part of this exhibition. I walked around and counted the photos. There are 66 cows in total. In addition to this street exhibition, you can often see some interesting sculptures when walking on the street.

Mexico City is a very open, diverse and cultural city. I heard that Reforma, the main road, will be closed to vehicles for most of the day every Sunday and turned into a bicycle lane for people to carry out activities such as cycling, running, and roller skating. Although it has caused dissatisfaction and complaints from many motor vehicle owners, it is an advocacy to encourage people to have a healthy lifestyle. Some big parks in the city are also very good. I went to the Mexican park I visited last year, but this time I discovered a new world. There is an inconspicuous separate entrance on a path in the park. There are many rattan chairs for visitors to rest. The whole area is covered by lush trees and slow, relaxing music is played. I went in and found a wicker chair to sit down, closed my eyes and rested for a while, and when I opened my eyes, I found that I had slept for almost an hour, very comfortable and relaxed.

In the past few days, I have seen many homosexuals on the street. They will naturally walk, hug, and kiss hand in hand in the subway on the street. I didn't expect the acceptance of homosexuality here is so high. But then I learned from my friends that this is not the case, because I only saw a small part, and there are a lot of gays in the area where I live, so it is more acceptable to gays here. However, due to reasons such as machismo and religious beliefs, homosexuality is still not accepted or even persecuted in most parts of Mexico. Hey, I hope the world can gradually accommodate and accept different cultures and lifestyles.

In the living room of the hotel, I met an uncle who also came from Northern California, but he has been living in various parts of Mexico for two years since the epidemic began. He said he previously served in the U.S. Air Force and was responsible for inspecting aircraft safety in Afghanistan before the outbreak. But after the outbreak, he felt that this was not normal, because he had worked in the military's biochemical department before, saying that it did not conform to the characteristics of a large-scale infectious virus. He has never been vaccinated so far, and he never wore a mask when he was in the United States. Because he could not stand the many strict regulations on epidemic prevention in the past two years, he semi-retired and came to Mexico to stay. I feel like he's a conspiracy theory believer. Later, I was told that the vicinity of this hotel was very safe, because it was very close to the US and British embassy, and the cameras on the street in the embassy area were all of the highest definition. If anything happened, the local Mexican police would arrive as soon as possible. He said he knew this from a previous job with Homeland Security. I said it's no wonder that there are often fully assembled police patrolling the entrance of the small supermarket next door.

On the last night in Mexico, I met a local guy who I met on the sofa guest software when I came last year. He has lived in China for three years, studied in Beijing Institute of Technology for two years, HSK level 5. I used to work in Huawei and often used Chinese. Now I work in an Indian company, and I can't use Chinese anymore, but his Chinese is still very good. We chatted a lot about living conditions, travel, food, etc. He was still beaming when he talked about the beauties from Beijing Foreign Studies University and Minzu University. I am very happy to revisit the old place and meet the local friends who only met once a year ago. The happiest thing is that he said that my Spanish has improved a lot. I remember that last year we chatted in Chinese and occasionally in English. This time it was basically all in Spanish, although sometimes he still couldn't understand when he spoke too fast. I hope that when we meet next time, my Spanish can be more accessible!

Mexican food is really a surprise every time I come, there is never enough food. During the nearly two-month journey, in Central America, except for the good fruits, the food is really nothing, rice and beans are everywhere. Panama is nothing special, Costa Rica is full of casado, El Salvador has at least one famous pupusa, Honduras has baleadas, Guatemala is nothing special. When I arrived in Mexico, I finally started my foodie mode.

I remember the day I just crossed the border from Guatemala to Palenque, Mexico, got off the long-distance bus and walked to the hotel, smelling the smell of tacos and other food on the street, I was very happy. In the evening, I found tacos at a nearby taquería restaurant and they were all delicious. In addition to tacos and some typical Mexican food that I have eaten, I also ate chicken tamal tamales with mole in San Cristóbal (Figure 1-5), chipilín leaf Mexican dumplings (Figure 1-7), and homemade Mexican dumplings (Pictures 1-8 and 9), caldo de chipilín, a local chicken soup (Picture 2-2), costilla en salsa verde beef ribs with green salsa sauce and pollo en estofado slow-cooked chicken (Picture 2-3), sopa de Pan (Picture 2-5), this is a relatively traditional local food recommended by friends. It is usually only sold on weekends. In addition to some vegetables, there are egg slices, tomatoes and bread cubes that have absorbed the soup. Similar to chile relleno stuffed bell peppers (Figure 2-7), flor de calabaza rellena (Figure 2-8) is a dish of zucchini flowers and other vegetables stuffed with starch, fried, and doused in sauce. Pozol (Picture 3-1) is a common cocoa corn cold drink on the street, hot chocolate (Picture 3-2) and churros fried sweet fritters (Picture 3-8) are a perfect match to eat together, similar to tequila mezcal wine (Picture 3-4), ponche hot drink (Figure 3-6), fruta en tacha is a dessert made of boiled green figs with sugar cane and so on (Figure 3-7).

On the first day in Mexico City, my friend took me to a super hot tacos restaurant with huge queues. After eating carnitas (Picture 3-1), costilla tacos (Picture 3-2) and cecina tacos (Picture 3-3), I took a bite out of the costilla tacos, and there was a big beef rib in it, so I had to take it out before eating . I ate tacos al pastor (left in Figure 3-5) and chicharrón fried pork skin tacos (right in Figure 3-5) at another restaurant.

The next morning I met my friend at the downtown subway station and he wanted me to try the torta de chilaquiles sandwich, I've had chilaquiles but I've never heard of chilaquiles sandwiches. It's a pity that the store I'm going to is closed on Mondays, but there is a store next to it that sells torta de tamal Mexican tamales sandwiches (Figure 3-8). This is a strange food recommended by a teacher and friend I met in San Cristóbal. The reason why I say it It's strange, because the zongzi itself is a staple food when you are full, and you will even sandwich the zongzi between two pieces of bread to eat as a sandwich, a double staple food. You can also put together two different tamales, half of which are sandwiched in the bread, and the taste is not bad. On the way to another tacos shop at noon, I passed a shop selling torta de chilaquiles sandwiches (Picture 3-9), because the shop was closed in the morning, so try this one, because chilaquiles has sauce, so the bread will After soaking the sauce, it becomes softer, but the taste is still good. Afterwards, I went to eat a cochinita pibil tacos (Picture 3-6) shop that I visited last year. The small shop has not changed at all, and the taste is still so good. I also tasted the salbutes (Picture 3-7), which look like enlarged Version of the Indian snack panipuri. I told the boss that I had eaten their tacos last year, and I loved them so much that I came here again this year. He was very happy to hear that.

The second friend recommended tostada de patas trotters (Figure 4-2). The chile en nogada big green pepper recommended by a teacher and friend I met in San Cristóbal before is stuffed with various ingredients (Figure 4-3). I bought it at a local market because I hadn’t seen it anywhere else. When I paid the bill, I knew it was 200 pesos ($10). I thought I heard it wrong. Price level), sent a message to my friend, he said that because there are a lot of ingredients in it, there are more expensive nuts such as pine nuts, and the production process is also time-consuming and laborious. The white sauce is made with walnut kernels, and there are also minced beef and pork, chopped cactus, diced carrots, diced potatoes, onions, zucchini, green beans, tomatoes, almonds, and raisins. I checked the recipe on the Internet, and the steps are really super cumbersome. Because it is a takeaway, the sauces are packaged separately. After looking at the picture on the Internet, I realized that all the white walnut sauce should be poured on the whole big green pepper, and then the pomegranate seeds should be sprinkled on top.

Let's talk about paying the bill for a treat in Mexico. When I ate the first meal out with my first friend on the first day, I originally planned to order AA, but my friend said that it was convenient for him to pay for this meal, and I could pay for the next meal. As a result, when I wanted to pay for the meal at night, he didn't give me a chance to pay the bill at all. I repeatedly emphasized to him that I must pay for it tomorrow, and he said yes. When I ordered torta de tamal at the street stall the next morning, I told the girl in advance that I would pay, but my friend said to the girl, "She is my guest", and the girl rushed to me Smiled and said "they never charge money from customers". I gave her money and she didn't take it, helpless. Before entering the store of torta de chilaquiles, I told my friend very seriously that I will pay for the next two places. If you don’t let me pay, I won’t have dinner with you. He said yes. When I was about to pay after eating, my friend used the old trick again and told the elder sister who collected the money that I was a guest. Hesitantly looking at my friend, I told her that my friend invited me all day yesterday, and I must pay today. I almost begged her, and finally paid once successfully. At the last tacos shop, when I was about to finish eating, I paid the money while I was going to the toilet. While paying, my brother kept looking back at my friend’s reaction. I feel that my friend is a bit machismo, and he admits it himself. But regardless of gender, he said that he is used to paying the bill when friends and guests come. He has also lived and traveled in China. Isn’t it the same for you Chinese? !

But not all Mexican men are like this. When I checked out after dinner with another friend the next night, he politely said that I was a guest and he was a treat. I said it's okay to split evenly (even though he ordered more than me), and he said yes right away. After that, when you go to drink and check out, each pays for himself. In fact, it is quite normal for friends to be like this. I guess my first friend treats everything like that is a minority.

From Mexico to Las Vegas, I was sitting next to a Mexican sister and her daughter. They watched Korean dramas for almost four hours on the way, and they didn't even go to the bathroom. After landing, I took off the earphones, and suddenly asked me if I speak Spanish, if I am Japanese, or where? Then I was very enthusiastic and told me that many places in Mexico are very good, and strongly recommended me to go to Oaxaca. They just went to play and they liked it very much. She also told me the name of the coastal city where they lived, and said that she would receive me when I contacted her next time. She really didn't say that politely, and immediately asked me to leave my contact information. After getting off the plane and entering the country, I kept telling me how wonderful Oaxaca is, with a look of pride in my country. At least seven or eight people have told me that they must go to Oaxaca. They actually planned to go this time, but there is not enough time. They will definitely go next time they come back. When I arrived at the immigration office, the immigration officer was surprised that I came back from Mexico alone, then asked if anything bad happened there, and finally asked me how I got my green card. These questions became more and more strange. When I entered the customs and handed in the customs declaration form, they also asked me why you only have a backpack? Why are there so many fussing questions? These are never asked when entering San Francisco or Los Angeles. Las Vegas airport lounges are full of slot machines. On the plane to San Francisco, I didn’t see a few people wearing masks. Many indoors in Mexico require masks to be worn, so I’m not used to it.