things I learned about mexico today

They have churros here. You can buy them regular or stuffed with vanilla or fruit jams. They’re best served with hot chocolate or coffee, or dipped into cajeta, which is basically a kind of soft milk caramel traditionally made with goat’s milk. Churros are traditionally a late night snack, although I bought mine for breakfast from a guy with a cart outside the metro near my office.

I’ve been warned against street food, but come on, its fried dough and sugar. Nothing is going to survive the deep-fat frying. Plus, its churros. Who among you can resist hot churros?

Saying goodbye to my friend Moises on the train, he said “hasta luego, gringo.” and I replied “hasta luego, chilango” and he laughed and shook his head. (Chilangos are Mexico City dwellers- people from the city who live there). “If I was a Chilango, I’d have to kill myself. Actually, they would kill me first.”

There’s a Chilango accent apparently, and a certain way of stressing vowels in words. It seems as thought theres a certain tension between the Chilangos and the people from the rest of the country, maybe its like how New Yorkers are.

I really feel bad for the combi drivers. they have a hard life. There are dozens of routes that begin and end at the cuatro caminos metro station. There are no official records of the routes, so I have no idea how people navigate the system if they’re never taken it before. Only fifty combis are allowed to work a route on a particular day, so they have to be the first fifty of the day in order to work. The ones that don’t make it, don’t make any money that day.

The drivers have to hit checkpoints along the route. What happens is they pull over, pick up passengers, get a pass card from a route manager and the they have to wait for the next combi to come up behind. This is to prevent drivers from pulling a u turn and picking up a lot of passengers on the other side of the street when one direction is slow.They can’t be making much. My fare is about 50 cents.

The other thing I’ve noticed is Mexicans really take great pains with their hair, gelling it and styling it. Lots of cream and gel. Maybe I just don’t put that much care in mine.