Our Beautiful Bougainvilleas - Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers

As you can see in this picture, we now have a beautiful bougainvillea plant growing in front of our living room window.  Of course, it's going to get much bigger than this.  Our plan is to draw wires between the protection bars on the two windows so it grows up and covers the upper window, providing shade.  This plant has been part of our house since we moved here a year and half ago and has grown marvellously since then.

The flowers grow almost all the time, and the neighbourhood kids love pulling them off and making heart shapes, or flower-covered walkways on the ground.  At first we were going to tell them not to, but then we realized the flowers grow back so quickly that it really doesn't matter.  We've just told them not to break the plant itself, and only pull of the petals.  Yesterday my wife was going to take a picture of the heart they made, but the batteries in the camera were dead.  Another time.

As you can see from the second picture, the plant was tiny when bought in August 2010.  I'm  impressed and happy with how it's grown.

To read more about our gardening, read:

• Our Mexican Marigolds - Cempoalxochitl, the Flower of the Dead 
• Our homegrown tomatoes 
• More Gardening - Our Mini Rose Bush 
• My Papaya Tree and Our First Homegrown Papaya

Tepache - A Fermented Pineapple Drink

Tepache, in Tacubaya (from Wikimedia Commons, user Thelmadatter)

Tepache is a traditional fermented pineapple drink popular in some areas of Mexico. As seen in the picture, it is a reddish colour.  It is still fairly sweet, and only mildly fermented - perhaps similar to that of a milder traditional fermented apple ciders.  (Not the Strongbow's sort, but the actual raw apple juice naturally fermented.)

The place where I have had it most often is in a small group of flauta shops in the Tacubaya neighborhood of Mexico City.

Flautas are tortillas, rolled up with a little meat in the middle, fried until crispy and brittle; they are served with lettuce and sauce on top of them, and, in the case of these shops in Tacubaya, with tepache.

Tacubaya is mostly a working class neighbourhood, and it's the end of one of the major subway lines, thus also serving as a major bus and transportation terminal.  On Sunday afternoons, many young adults from villages to the west of Mexico City (approx. 1 hr away) come to Tacubaya, hang out in what's sort of a village square, and enjoy the dining and shopping of this vibrant neighborhood, all of which is really, really cheap (I got a pair of New Balance running shoes there for $40 - originals!)  The neighborhood is in no way pretty or picturesque, but has a charm that only a place that has been given over entirely to practicality of the city and has been "discovered" only by those who need it's cheapness and complete lack of pretentiousness.  It was one of the original Aztec villages that was in alliance with Mexico City (Tenochtitlan) when the Spaniards arrived at the time of the conquest.

So, needless to say, the flauta shops are also really cheap.  If I remember correctly, the flautas are sold 3 for 50 cents, and the tall glass of Tepache seen in the picture is also about 50 cents.  So, with $2, you'll be doing quite well in this place.  (This is why I was surprised when I moved to Playa del Carmen from Mexico City, and realized that here, even with $10, you're better off staying home.  One of the biggest charms of Mexico City is that you can go out with less than a dollar to your name and have a great time.)

Vats of Tepache in Tacubaya (from Wikimedia Commons, user Thelmadatter)

I found tepache once in Playa del Carmen. The fruit and vegetable store where we normally shop (the same one that had those wonderful tamales being sold in front of it, see xxx), sells fresh fruit juices at about 60 cents a glass.  One day they had tepache as one of the choices. Although this doesn't really count as "fresh fruit juice," I was delighted and had a glass.  I've never found it since.  One of these days I'll ask them for it.

If you're in Mexico City, I highly recommend trying tepache.  It's easier to find, and easier to take down than pulque.  I'm sure there are many other places to try great tepache as well.

To read about pulque, another traditional Mexican drink, read:

My Mexico City Experience - Pulque

A note about the pictures: they are not my pictures, but they are from Wikimedia commons (with a shareable license) and the person who took and posted them noted that they are from Tacubaya; I also recognize the place.

The Morning Edition - Exotic Mexico

I was just taking a look at the most popular stories in my blog, and the top 2, outnumbering the 3rd and 4th places by 2-4 times as many visits have to do with items very unique to Mexico's distinct culture:

• The Curse of the Eye - This has been #1, almost doubling #2, and tells about a very, very popular superstition in Mexico, and how to protect children against it.  While supposedly it's the "Catholics" who are more superstitious (in quotation marks, since these beliefs are in now way officially Catholic or approved by that church), recently an Evangelical mother visited me her newborn baby, and I caught a glimpse of deer's eye bracelet on the baby; if the Catholic Church disapproves, Evangelical Churches even more so; I find this paradox hard to wrap my mind around ...

• My Mexico City Experience - Pulque - #2 has also doubled #3 in popularity.  This is a traditional fermented drink, dating back to Aztec times, made from the same plant as Tequila.  Originally it was a sacred drink, and now it belongs to the rural working class.

Another post about the dangers of being caught unawares by a beautiful Mexican WARNING: Mexico is DANGEROUS! Do not come here - unless ... is also very popular, with another one about illegal immigration, Illegal Immigration - An Alternative Approach, being fairly well liked.  The top 5 are rounded off by one completely unrelated to Mexico, about my wife's luck with technology, Have you ever flushed your phone down the toilet?

Judging by the high popularity of the "exotic" theme, and because I really do like these topics, I'm soon going do another post or two on related topics; one will be about "tepache," a fermented pineapple drink, the other will be about "Saint Death" - a saint sub-cult focused on a grim-reaper like figure.

Our Mexican Marigolds - Cempoalxochitl, the Flower of the Dead

The Cempoalxochitl (marigolds) in our garden

These flowers have been growing beautifully in our back flower bed. They are Mexican Marigolds, called Cempoalxochitl (pronounced cem-pa-SU-chil) in Mexico, which is the Aztec name.

The story behind these is more significant than our other gardening endeavours.  At the beginning of November, we celebrated Mexico's Day of the Dead by making traditional alters to the deceased nearest to us.  To read about the altars, and see pictures, read:

Day of the Dead - An Altar for my Grandparents
Remebering Someone Dear to Us

The main flowers used on these altars, as well as in other parts of the decoration are Mexican Marigolds.  After taking down the altars on Nov. 3, we placed the flowers on top of our book shelf to dry.  When my wife's mom arrived at the end of the same month, she found them, and remembered that they grow easily.  So, she removed the seeds and sprinkled them into a flowering pot we had sitting in the back yard.  Within a few days, the plants were sprouting out.

A close up of a full Cempoalxochitl flower

In January, when I transplanted them to our newly extended flower bed, they still didn't have any flowers.  There is now a total of about 15 - 20.

For a little about the tradition of the flowers and other symbols related with the holidays, read:

Day of the Dead - The Symbols and Traditional Elements

Some more flowers - these ones never opened fully

For more about my gardening, read:

Our homegrown tomatoes
More Gardening - Our Mini Rose Bush


My Papaya Tree and Our First Homegrown Papaya

Have you ever seen a tree like this one?

Notice the woven trunk, which is actually one single trunk!

I've never seen a tree like this one before.  The trunk, as seen in the picture, is a series of "smaller trunks" woven together into the cylindrical shape seen; the really impressive thing is that the points where the "smaller trunks" touch, they are actually fused together sharking the same bark; they've actually grown together and become attached.  So the trunk you see is actually one single trunk, shaped as a hollow cylinder with a woven service.

I've seen some larger trees around here, that seem to have multiple parts of one large trunk, sometimes even with spaces between parts of them, but never anything like this.

This was clearly planned and somehow "convinced" to grow this way.  But I can't image how it is possible. 



If anyone reading this blog knows how this works, please tell me!

We found this tree downtown Playa del Carmen, at the main city bus transfer point. Next time I go by, I might just knock and ask.  I'm very impressed by this strange but beautiful plant.

I uploaded the photo with higher resolution than normal so you can view it with more detail if you like.


If you want to read about my own garden - a very easy to understand, but enjoyable mistake, read:

Our homegrown tomatoes
More Gardening - Our Mini Rose Bush
My Papaya Tree and Our First Homegrown Papaya

The best tamales in Playa del Carmen

Barbequed Tamal - OK, it doesn't look like much, but it's delicious!

Playa del Carmen is generally not the place for tamales.  Although different styles can be found brought from people from all over the country of Mexico (a natural result of the fact that the people who live here come from all over the country), the quality is generally lower than those in the place of origin; they tend to be dryer, lack flavor, and are over-priced. ($1 is average; in most places 50 cents is normal.)

About a week ago, however, my wife and I discovered tamales that are not only by far the best we've had here, but some of the best we've had anywhere in Mexico. (If any chilangos are reading, they are even better than most from Mexico City, as much as you could never dream of the possibility!  I have to admit, though, until trying these, I was part of the "only Mexico City knows how to make real tamales" club.)

The unique part about them is that they are entirely barbequed.  The lady who makes them first barbeques the chicken, then mixes with some other ingredients (including onions and boiled eggs) which are used as the filling in the tamale dough.  She uses banana-leaf wrappers, and they are a flat, square shape (the common practice in the south and east of the country, as well as Guatemala, as opposed to the corn-husk and sausage-like shape predominant in the center of the country.)  I'm not sure if she steams them are not first (the normal cooking form for tamales), but the final stage is to cook them over a wood-fired barbeque.

They are crispy on the outside, and the banana-leaf wrapping is almost burnt off by the end.  The wood flame gives a very unique and rich flavour.  Also common for banana-leaf tamales, a very slightly spicy red sauce is served on top.

The typical kind of tamal from Mexico City, in a bun.

We discovered these tamales outside of our fruit and vegetable store.  When we finished shopping last week, we were waiting for a taxi, and the smell of the tamales beside us was unbearably tempting.  Having had generally negative experiences (with only 2 exceptions) with tamales in Playa del Carmen, we hesitated buying.  Then a regular customer came by and ordered 8.  He told us that they were amazing - he drive halfway across the city to get them (this is only 10 minutes, but for residents of Playa, driving 10 minutes for tamales shows a fairly strong dedication.)  So, we decided to try them, and we were delighted!


They are a little expensive (20 pesos, or about $1.70), but they are large - about the size 2 or 3 of the standard, Mexico City style tamales) and the flavour is amazing!

The lady agreed to let my wife take pictures of her making them.  So, after she does that, I'll post the pictures.  When ever I remember to take our camera vegetable shopping, I'll also take some pictures of her barbeque booth outside the store.

To read more about tamales:

Vitamin T - The Mexican Special

Our homegrown tomatoes

Our accidental tomato plant

A bit less than a year ago, after filling our two flower gardens (front yard and back yard) with less-than-fully decomposed compost, tomatoes were among the first plants to sprout up.  While we pulled up most of the other kinds of plants, I recognized the shape of the tomato leaf (my parents have grown tomatoes in their garden for as long as I can remember) and we decided to keep them out of sheer curiosity.

Another view of the same home-grown tomatoes

As you can see from the pictures, the plants grew very large and produced beautiful red tomatoes.  Since my wife was running a little stationary shop for the local school at the time, kids took most of the ones from the front garden (seen in these pictures) but we enjoyed a few.  The ones from the back garden were smaller and there were fewer of them (although the plants grew quickly along the fence like vines,) but we also enjoyed a few of those.  They were delicious, as sun-ripened fruit always is!