Shop Cheap, Feast like a King!

There are definetely pros and cons to living in Mexico and let’s all admit it’s not the public bathrooms, toxic water, or the godzilla cockroaches. Despite these minor inconveniences ,Mexico offers only top notch cuisine in the most unexpected locations. Whenever I go back to the States, friends always offer to take me out for tacos, possibly assuming that I am in need of a Mexican fix while I am away from home. And more often than not, except for those wee-hour-of-the-morning taco fixes, I politely decline. While I used to be a fan of Mexican food in the States, I am no more. Instead, this snooty gal prefers the real thing… whether it comes from the lux restaurants, moderate cafeterias, or evening tacos from the stand on the corner…. This country has the best of the best…. provided you don’t ask exactly what is in it.

I’ve never been a great cook. It’s not exactly one of my passions, but I do try hard to vary our meals, try new things, but also give the kids a taste of home. (and by that I mean, spaghetti, mashed potatoes not from a box, and chicken noodle soup!) I remember making my hubby dinner one night here in Mexico and he was so surprised. “This is amazing. When did you learn to cook this?” cabron. I’ve made this for you a bazillion times back home.! While I was a little butt-hurt, it finally made sense. It wasn’t me. Or my cooking. Thank God. It was clean food.

Now hold on a second. You’re prolly thinking,”Clean? No manches! With all the dirt, water, bugs etc…. How can your food be clean?” Don’t get me wrong, if you’re talking cleanliness, I soak all my veggies and fruit in that antibacterial solution before I even put in on the table or in the fridge. I’m talking clean. Free of steroids, free of pesticides and hormones and whatever other crap that American food has in it nowadays. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. It’s true. You can’t tell me when you go shopping in the States, it’s hard as hell to find an apple that isn’t the size of a damn grapefruit!!! Well, maybe my kids are a little picky, but when I try to encourage them to eat fruit, I don’t think they want to make a meal out of it! When we first moved to Mexico, we were in Mega, and passed the meat section. *gag “Babe, I’m gonna puke! What’s that smell?” “Haha,” he chuckled.”That’s the smell of meat. Real meat. Chicken. That hasn’t been stripped of all of it’s flavor, frozen, packaged and processed.” *yippee. Little by little, I began to realize the difference between the fruit/veggies/meat here and back in the States. Tomatoes taste like actual tomatoes. The strawberries taste like strawberries. The snozzberries taste like….

You get the idea.

But, you can’t just go anywhere and find it! It’s getting harder and harder to find normal, natural food. Maybe in the ranchos and small towns, they’re easier to find… but in a fast-growing metropolis, big box chain stores=Walmart=Superama=SamsClub=Vips=whateverelseyoucanthrowinthere, are bringing in what sells…Gi-normous apples, soccerball sized grapefruits and inflated/abnormal chicken boobs. What I love about Mexico is that you can still find the yummy, organic, small stuff… you just have to take the time and look for it. On Sundays, we go to the fruteria or the tianguis (the swap meet) for all of our produce, depending on how early we get up that morning. Following that, the carneceria is up next.
Now Yay for me since the tasteful food here is on my side. The negative to that would be the fact that I have ABSOLUTELY no idea how to order the different cuts. Lucky for me, the one of the butchers now recognizes me and somehow makes sense of my crappy spanish and hand signals. arrachera?!…and no, he will suggest something else/better. Today, in my best spanglish I went for dos piezas de pechuga de pollo en 2 cartones separados….medio kilo de carne molido, sin mucha grasa. (which he corrected  me by suggesting carne limpia) and finally, tocino muy, muy delgada so a girl can make some greasy, CRUNCHY bacon! The meat comes in daily, and everything was ground up in front of me…. came home and made some yummy chipotle burgers!
A little extra time visitng two places, we had bought blueberries, cherry tomatoes, all the meat for the week, fruits/veggies galore for about 600 pesos. Less than 50 bucks. Take that Wild Oats!

Ahhhh….. querido Mexico.

BTW… Anyone got any hints for the next carniceria trip? All I know is Chicken, Carne Molido and Tocino. Help a sista’ out!

Holy Hell….

You’re never gonna believe this… but yes, after almost two years of living here and avoiding it at all costs….

I finally watched a soccer game. And not just any soccer game.

The World Cup, opening game Mexico vs. SudAfrica.

But don’t give me too much credit. I didn’t do it on my own.
It was actually very, very difficult to avoid. Waking up this morning, the kids were allowed to take xtra snacks and drinks (apparently face paint and jerseys, as well.) because Presidente Calderon recommended that all students be able to watch the opening game at school. The kids had no choice.

But I did.

At about 10 am… I could hear the neighbors going at it. The school across the street making noise.
WTH are they fussing about?!?

Fine. I turned it on. In between CNN, of course. Mexico was the favorite. Obviously. And from the little I knew about soccer, they looked like they were doing pretty good.
Of course, until SudAfrica had a whir of the moment chance, took it… and~
GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!

Hot Damn. I think the neighborhood was under attack. Screaming, hollering. Pinche…. blah blah…..

Damn. That sucked. Time to go to work.

Here’s the crazy part. Usually, there is about a half hour of traffic on the way to work. Hubby had forewarned that during soccer time, especially important games such as this, that nothing is more important.
And then…..
***crickets chirping***
 he was right.

The city was deserted. No one on the streets. The drive took 5 minutes and before you knew it, we parked and walked to the shop…. only to see and hear EVERY POSSIBLE LOCAL THAT COULD BE OPEN AND CRAMMED WITH PEOPLE, was. Everyone had the game on. The farmacia, tienda, cafeteria, rooftop bars that only open at night, were all alive, filled to the door with excited and devoted fans. You could walk down the street and still HEAR the locutor crystal clear.

It was good to hear that Mexico scored.

You could see all the vendors, lining the streets, ready to celebrate a victory.
But no, it didn’t happen.
The game finished 1-1.

The kids’ teachers said that Mexico still won. If they would have been on their home turf, they would have won.

Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that Mexico won this game….

But I wouldn’t mind checking out the next. 😉

A walking paradox.

(not my photo,  but it does the job)

 One big f’in contradiction. Not quite sure where this is coming from…. Maybe the possible offessive Anonymous blogger comment, or feeling lonely here in Guadalajara, but I feel the need to clarify and declare who I am and what I want. I’m heavily tattooed. I’m pierced. I have lived my life outside the norm. I have chosen to raise my family outside the “American Dream”. I come from a conservative, law abiding, middle class family, law student who decided to marry a ex-felon and eventually follow him to Mexico. I chose to raise my children in a third world county. I then chose to throw my children under the gun and force them to learn another language, another culture, another way of life.

 I am a horrible mother.

And with tears in my eyes, I feel the need to justify myself. Maybe this is coming from my hubby confessing a recent depression, and soon after, my daughter. Fuck. What am I supposed to do? Go home? Neither want me to do that. I feel awful. Maybe it’s adolesence. Maybe he need a drink. Maybe I’m lonely.

People here are different. We don’t think the same….. But wait!!! There’s hope!!!  I met another gal from the States, a client of mine, who after, decided to take me out for drinks. 🙂  We went to a fabulous bar, and after a bottle of wine, haha…..it was like I’d known her forever. But alas, she’s given up on Mexico  and heading back to the States with a broken heart at the end of the month. Too bad we hadn’t met sooner. On a positive note, it reassures me that after 20 months of living here, and finding two gals that are pretty cool, there has to be more, right? Patience is a virtue.

And sometimes….. I don’t have it.

I feel different from alot of people here. I know that when you move, especially to another country, it changes you and you SHOULD change with your surroundings… but in reality, I feel that my only “friends” are on blogger/facebook. (Facebook is such a curse!!!) Women, that in some strange circumstance, are supportive and can relate to our current situation…or in general, expats, finding a new life in a foreign country. (And  I’m gonna get even more pitiful here….) but even so, at the same time, I feel like an outsider.

 There is ONE difference between you and I. (besides my horrible grammar.) You put your art on the wall and I put my art on my skin. That’s it. I feel that people assume that because I decided to paint my body, that it automatically catagoriezes me in a pool with lowlifes, crack addicts and narcos. Yes, I “belong” to a subculture,( which you can see HERE) which can be totally rad, but sorry…. according to the “subculture” “subculture”, I don’t belong…. I’m not radically pierced, tattooed,  living on the extreme blah blah blah. I like dinner parties, hanging out, smoking my hookah, massive amounts of wine, family time, travelling, camping, art, getting my hair “did”, scrapbooking, etc….. Need I go on?  

I should put an ad in the newspaper….

  

And while you’re at it, throw it some kids, ages 6-12…. and we’ll make it a date.

Appreciate it,

Be vwery vwery quiet………

*creeeeek…… creeeeek.. .creeeeeeeek*

“Shhhhhhh!  We gotta be quiet…. Don’t you watch the hunting channel?”

*tip toe down the stairs……

Hubby crept down the stairs.

Locked and loaded.

This is what happens went you give an ex-felon a firearm airgun.

Beware pigeons….. Beware…..

Run Coco…. Run.. But You Cannot Hide.

I love my *oh so scary husband.*

Maybe not cuz he’s scary looking to me, but scares the shit out of other people.

(don’t mind the finger… he’s not that fond of photos.)

Now, don’t be nervous when you come to Guadalajara and we invite you out to drinks. He really is the coolest, most hospitable guy I’ve ever met… and after a few drinks, you’ll realize he’s quite charming.

Except to little f*ing taggers.

Those of you that have followed me for awhile, know that I’m not exactly fond of the local right next to me…. not only the guys that work there, but the clientel that they bring. They are the reason why GDL has a problem with graffiti. They let stupid ass kids open stupid ass shops allowing stupid ass kids to tag all over the place.

Despite our past frustrations with the shop next door, we’ve kept our distance and gave them their space… WITH the agreement that they could sell their trash AS LONG AS their clients didn’t write on OUR space/walls/door/gate etc….. for both the tattoo shop and sex shop. We had an understanding. They told their clients the bank on the other side was fine…. but the next cuadra was off limits. (This was after Sex Shop got tagged.) And since then… we haven’t had a problem.

Until 5 minutes ago.

Stupid kids came in and asked hubby what time the shop opens next door. Hubby said he didn’t know… but they should get there soon. We walked to the farmacia, and while waiting for the light on the way back…. Hubby spots stupid kids tagging on our door.

“Change. Change. Change. CHange.” Hubby was just waiting for that light to turn.

As we walked up to the shop, the kids casually stopped and acted like nothing had happened. Hubby grabbed one on the back of the neck, arm behind his back and *kindly* escorted him into our shop.
 They had tagged all over our painted door.  And they had NO CLUE as to why hubby was mad.

Well, he explained everything to them…..

while they were cleaning off their paint.

And after, hubby took copies of their credentials/school id’s just in case we have a future problem… and the cops need to actually be put to use.

I swear those kids’ must have pissed their pants.

Now scary tattooed hubby had their tagging pens, information and photos of them. I don’t think we’ll be seeing them for awhile.

Now don’t get me wrong…. Mrs Artist cracking down on other artists, wtf?   That’s not exactly the case. We have commissioned professional taggers. We have plenty of friends that tag BEAUTIFUL artwork…. but not scratchers. Stupid kids. How can you walk into a local, ask a question and then tag all over their place of business WHILE THEY ARE THERE?

Back in the day, I remember kids being smarter. If you were gonna tag, it was for a purpose. You tagged on Starbucks, Walmart… companies that exploited people, resources etc…. Maybe I’m reaching a bit here, but tagging had a meaning when I was young. You didn’t tag on personal property.  And now, we are investing a shitload of money into a tattoo shop and the tattoo industry in Mexico to bring the industry level UP and change the perspective of art…. not to keep the industry on the calles. 

Stupid kids. Now I have to repaint the door.

Festival de Guadalajara

I’m a lazy ass.

Last week, we experienced La Marcha Gay de Guadalajara at our doorstep. On Saturday, Avenida Hidalgo lit up (even in this unbearable heat) with the most intense parade I’ve ever seen. Hubby and I were expecting something kinda small, so I had about 500 condoms made with the Shop Name and bandera to give away. Holy Crap. they were all gone HOURS before the parade even began. Doh!

Not only did the gays emerge, but so did all the transvestites, cross gender, lesbians, and bicurious in guadalajara… all taking part in the festivities. We must have handed out all the condoms and easily about 2000 flyers. We got tired halfway through, and just sat back and enjoyed the show.

Anywhoo, I don’t think any description I say will give it justice….

So disfrutanlos.

The new Travelers’ flu?

We finished off our “vacation” this week by heading up to Santa Maria del Oro, en Nayarit. Despite the borrachos that were already there, I def. recommend anyone nearby to check out this lake. For starters, there is plenty of fish… which made my bass loving hubby, extremely happy. It’s known as a “fresa” lake… filled with a bunch of rich families, hippie kids etc. Egh. However,everything was pristine… very clean, boat rentals, stores nearby, campgrounds, and bungalows. We stayed at Koala campgrounds. It was very clean, owned by Americans or Canadians, decently priced, and english spoken… which is a plus for me. I’m not a fan of lakes… thanks to the Discovery Channel… and all those stories about murky waters…. but I gotta tell you, the waters were crystal clear, turquoise, and warm… perfect for a picnic and a little kiddie playtime on the beach. Except for Little One’s sunblock wearing off and a nasty sunburn…. we had a great time.

I wanted to post this, not so much because of the lake, but the 2 hour ride home. At one of the many cuotas, the road was blocked off by masked men and women, all wearing white. Every car was being directed to the side and approached by one of these investigators. A lady approached our car with a newspaper and a clipboard. They were handing out info on the H1N1 virus. She asked us where we were and where we were going, how many passengers, asked if any of us had a list full of symptoms, and let us know where we could get treatment if needed. I wish I had my camera. Truckers, minivans, everyone was getting pulled aside, data recorded, and if needed be, pulled out of the car and checked up on. Of course, the one time you shouldn’t do something, that’s when you need to do it. The sun was in our eyes and I had to sneeze. hehe.. imagine? But we held it back and were on our way. How great of the government to go out and inform/check on travelers who would thus further spread the virus. Stop it before it meets its destination. Way to go, gobierno!

the FAJITA flu.

In case you didn’t know… APPARENTLY, illegal immigrants are the carriers and the cause of the “fajita flu.”

now as this story is unfolding, didn’t we just hear that the flu didn’t originate in Veracruz… and now in fact originated in San Diego?

I think the conspiracy theories make more sense… especially since the Mexican Senate, the other day, passed a bill making small quanities of drugs legal. Coke, Heroin, Weed… they plan on focusing on the bigger fish. Of course, this still has to go before the President. (A similar was passed in 2006-2007 and was vetoed by Pres. Fox) But how come no one said anything about it???

Because we’re too damn focused on the “Mexican” flu.

conspiracies, I tell you.

Swine flu hits home.

I watched the mexican news this morning, looking for any information about the strain that’s kept us confined these last few days. I’ve been disappointed in Fox News’ reports, claiming that Mexico’s slow response has led to over 152 unofficial deaths. On the Mexican news however, it showed the mexican government’s actions against this flu strain. With supposedly 99 confirmed cases, in Mexico, President Calderon has managed to shut not only a major city, but an entire country down. Schools are closed, businesses, restaurants, government buildings, major SOCCER games, (heaven forbid!!!), travel into Mexico City etc…. to lessen the spread of this infectious virus. However, with the United States’ confirmed 109 swine flu cases riding so close to Mexico, I would think that such world power would have pushed for more extreme measures in securing the health of its citizens. And it won’t. Not while there is a profit to be made. VP Biden made an announcement and advised that people use common sense. In a period of sickness, it is advised to avoid areas with alot of congestion… i.e. airplanes, subways, buses, public transportation. Be safe. Period. Of course, this would affect the airlines…who made a statement soon after, stating that they have, “extreme disappointment at your (Biden’s) suggestion that people should avoid air travel.” And later, “The airlines have been working daily with government agencies, none of whom suggest people avoid air travel, unless they are not feeling well.” Well duh. What are they going to do to make sure someone doesn’t sneeze? I would love to see the response. Nevertheless, the cases have spread across the U.S. Washoe County, Nevada…my home, has just reported 1 confirmed case. What is the United States going to do to stop this epidemic on their end? Before they start criticizing another country, who apparently has jumped leaps after its outbreaks, what precautions are the government planning to advise? Surely, the President can close down the country, as Mexico was able to do. But I doubt it. By closing so many necesitites, it would affect our wallets. I just hope that the U.S. doesn’t drop the ball.

P.S. And then my mother called to inform me that my grandmother was spreading this swine flu conspiracy theory

Gotta love the family. ❤

Catch up week.

Thanks to the Pig-flu, schools are closed, streets are empty, and now i have the free time to catch up on my favorite blogs. This actually has been quite a treat, since after my little breakdown, we’ve been pretty busy. Believe it or not, last week I started the gym. I figured, no biggie… I used to go and do an easy hour of cardio and then some weights. I’ll take it slow….back in shape in no time.

Oh hell no. Ten minutes on the machine and I felt like my legs were burning, my arms about to fall off. I kept my eye on the clock, hoping that it would just stop due to a power outage or something catastrophic and we’d all be *forced* to go home. But I wasn’t that lucky… time kept ticking. The uncomfortable part about the whole thing was that this was the first time in 7 years that I had gone to the gym with my hubby… who seems to know it all. He came and asked me twice if I was okay….Apparently, the redness in my face was clearly visible across the gym and he promptly brought me a towel and some water. I dreaded hearing the alarm the next morning…hoping he’d forget about it, or feel ill and not want to go. Second day, I followed him as he explained different techniques to get rid of all my baby weight. oh no. I don’t have a baby….the baggage just never left.

Well here was my chance to get rid of it…. once and for all. Luckily, by the end of the week, I was a little sore, but doing the machines and cardio for about 45 minutes. Not bad. I’ve got a ways to go. Now, thanks to those piglets… I ain’t going anywhere where people are breathing hard and sweating all their toxins everywhere. No thanks. I’ll skip this week.

I did get to tattoo a client last week. As I was setting up my station, I felt as something was missing. Oh yeah, the zanex…or the beer… anything to make me relax. Of course, I couldn’t make that a habit. I bit the bullet. I held my breath every line and made it happen. This is an image that my client brought it… a representation of a jaguar god. A little cartoon-y if you ask me… but if that’s what he wants… I’m all for it. It came out solid. I was pretty happy with it.

Hubby participated in an art show. Unfortunetly, it was in the evening and kiddos were already restless. After reminding my hubby to take a gazillion pics for me, somehow it ended up in the hands of another tattoo artist, who took more photos of his friends than of the art pieces.

Hubby participated in an art fusion… where 3 or so artists start a piece, and then switch and finish each others. Somehow, it turned into 10+ artists… and the idea of it kinda fell apart. Nonetheless, he participated in this event with other artists, graffiti artists and tattoo artists here in Guadalajara.

Listening to a few other bloggers, it was suggested to find a spanish tutor for the kiddos. They were supposed to start this week, but everything will be postponed until further notice. It’s kinda hard not to worry about this whole pig virus. CNN and news stations in the states are blowing it up.. it’s on every Mexican news channel….masks are completely scarce… schools are shut down. My mom and sisters, in a panic, are sending us 4 boxes of face masks. We drowned our tattoo shop in bleach today and besides having a black widow give us a run, it is hospital grade clean.

And after all the cleaning, I felt out of place. I needed to create something and break the sterile barrier. I needed to paint.