"local color" -- or why i love mexico...

i was just out taking my daily constitutional (i.e. walking to the neighborhood abarrote to buy cigarettes), when i realized that i had made an error in my timing. as i left the store, i found myself about ten feet in front of the afternoon portion of the twice-daily cattle drive that goes down my street. about 10:30 in the morning and about 5:30 in the afternoon, 20 or 25 cows come down my street on their way to wherever they're going. they are always accompanied by a varying number of small dogs without a herding instinct in them and at least one cowherd, a teenager on a bike using a cohete stick to herd them with. it's one of my favorite scenes of "local color" in this pueblo and reminds me yet again of why i like living here so much.

got any colorful local scenes that you particularly like in your neck of the woods?

oh, and p.s., i was thrilled to discover that i can't necessarily outwalk the cows, but i can certainly keep the same distance ahead of them. nary a trample on my body.

That sort of thing is exactly what I love about Mexico. Thanks for sharing that with us. By the way your supposed to jump on one and ride it to the store......yehawwww.

Bob

bob, some of the cows and i weigh about the same, i'm guessing. if this old cow jumped on one of those cows, we'd both break, i fear. i need one of those chair things they put on stairs so old people can go and down. just a smaller version that would fit on a cow.

so, bob, what was your favorite "mexican scene" from when you were down here a few months ago? i know you did a lot. surely have one standout moment!

I have so many Lucky. In fact when I'm down I send whats called the "Pic of the day" back home to all my friends. It is typically a picture of something "you would only see in Mexico".

IE

- Small pick-up truck stacked about 15 feet high with furniture;
- Family of 4 on a scooter;
- The old bearded guy with the burro in Ajijic;
- Deep fried goat display in the Mercado Libertad in Guad;
- Big huge deep hole in the street with a small sign that says Peligro with a happy face.
Etc, etc, etc,

Where's the camera Lucky Strike

what a great photo, sparks!

for whatever reason, when i'm out walking (ha!) or in the truck, the camera is in the house. when i'm in the house, the camera is in the truck. ye gods and little fishes, i may have to break down and buy another digital camera! no, wait, then they would BOTH end up in the wrong place. i just know it.

Nice picture...
Bob , you reminded me, and I'm kicking myself, of the goat stew I missed trying in Jocotepec... ( next time fer sure )... I did finally buzz around the Berry Farms... nice fella there gave me a quart of raspberries... M.M.Good

In past posts some were suggesting diet, and types of food are making big differences in overall health.... I don't doubt that for one second... the fresh produce there is amazing...and of course the kinds of feed livestock get... which can only be beneficial as well...

Birria De Chivo ... Jalisco is famous for it

One of my Indian buddies here in Vancouver make some of the best curried goat I've ever had.

Bob

Wow, that sounds good. We love the birria at Cholo 4 on the Guadalajara Hwy. I wish it that Cabrito was available here. It seems that all the locals do with it is make birria. Never the less, we like the birria de cabra/chivo and are working on finding a source for the meat. We have some friends who are raising deer so we're looking forward to some fresh venison soon!

"... got any colorful local scenes that you particularly like in your neck of the woods?"

Lots of local color lucky but our fav. herding sight was in Zacoalco De Torres, that ancient and nearby bustling backwater berg made famous for their equipale designs and manufacturing.

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/450-mexican-equipales-seated-through-the-ages-zacoalco-de-torres

http://www.directfrommexico.com/furniture--traditional--equipale.html

After shopping and lunch we decided to drive around and explore the town. Stopping at an 'intersection' just because, our jaws dropped and eyes widened as a fully mature Texas longhorn bull trotted by with two muchachos peddling furiously in pursuit. WTF?! I swear the bull was bigger than a Cadillac SUV and his horns seemed to span the road from curb to curb. Our shock quickly turned to laughter and screaming as everyone was like, "Follow that bull!" So we made it a parade; a bull, dos muchachos and a car load of fat old gringos jabbering stuff like, "Oh my God, there's some kids in the road just ahead!" "I hope nobody spookes that monster!" Then after a minute we realize no one is paying any attention to BULLZILLA. No screaming, no grabbing of children and ducking for cover, no panic, no nada. Well after zigzagging another 7 blocks the bull trots into a roadside corral and the boys execute a couple of pretty slick brodies and raise there arms and smile broadly at us like, Ta Da! They seemed to be quite pleased to have such a captive audience as we clapped and hooted our appreciations.

We found out later, from an old goat who prided himself in being the only gringo who actually lived there, that everyday, rain or shine, the boys would shepard the towns prized breeding bull across town to a favored watering hole where they'd play and splash around before heading back to the corral. No big.

The sight of a pickup truck with at least twelve members of an extended family jammed together, happy as hell, on the way to picnic.

Seat belts........"we don't need no steenkeng seat belts". Or something.

The neon crosses on the church steeple's fascinated me. Does anybody know why? Why not everywhere in the world?Also the young men who use weed wacker's to mow the cobblestone street's in my 1st neighbor hood!

canuckbob, i love the red flag on the back of the pickup in case you didn't notice that it's a pretty fully loaded truck.

Well you can never be too careful.........

That pic was taken on the highway between Patzcuaro and Paracho.

Bob

You all posted some fantastic pictures. thanks for sharing. I am with the person that posted that they never have their camera at the right place, right time........same here.

whoa, ronnie, i loooove that cloud picture with whatever-the-hell that is shadow (plane, starfish, UFO?). where were the pictures taken?

Thanks for the comment. The montage is from several areas of Mexico including my stepdaughter diving with a giant manta ray off PV.

The cloud one, I call Finger of God over Lake Chapala. One evening as the sun was going down it hit one of the mountains west of Joco making the shadow across the clouds. The photo was taken from the Raquet Club.

The folkloric dancers were at a restaurant in Chiapas.

The kids were in the village of Mezcala.