Día de Muertos

Happy November 😊! These past couple of weeks have been all kinds of fun for me! Halloween, Día de Muertos, the beginning of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and, to top it off, my story got published in Drunken Pen Writing (more about that later)!!

But now, let's talk a little bit more about Día de Muertos ("Day of the Dead") that took place last weekend. This was my first time experiencing the 2-day fiesta in Mexico, and I have to say that it was quite impressive! And fun. Actually, I can honestly say that that's the most fun I've ever had with death 😜!

Día de Muertos - What Is It?

So, what is Día de Muertos exactly? Well, in a nutshell, it's a Mexican festival celebrated between the 1st and 2nd of November, and its purpose is to remember the loved ones that have passed away and encourage visits by their souls. However, these visits - it should be noted - do not entail dead people being resurrected Pet Sematary style and turning into monsters. Nope. Unlike Halloween, the Day of the Dead is not a spooky celebration because in Mexican culture, death is considered a natural part of life and something to be celebrated rather than feared (go figure 😉).

Death has never looked more fun!

A central part of Día de Muertos are the ofrendas. Ofrendas are types of altars built by a family to honor their dearly departed. They are composed of a picture of the deceased along with their favorite foods, drinks, and other memorabilia. In Coyoacán, you can find several ofrendas made by different cities during the Day of the Dead festivities. Here are a few of them:

Typically, ofrendas incorporate the four elements: water, fire, wind, and earth. While beverages usually symbolize water and candles fire, earth is often represented by marigolds, orange flowers, which are also called "flowers of the dead" as they represent the fragility of life and are believed to guide the spirits to their altars. Wind, on the other hand, is represented by papel picado, colorful tissue paper cut into different designs. 

Papel picado

Obviously, I wanted to take part in this tradition, too, so Fiancé and I made an ofrenda of our own. This one (below) represents two of our major food groups - sugar and chocolate 😜 

Death by chocolate

What to Do on the Day of the Dead?

Día de Muertos offers different sights and activities depending on which Mexican city you are celebrating it in. A lot of the people I talked to actually opted to celebrate the Day of the Dead in some of the smaller cities as they were told the festivities would be more authentic (or less touristy) there.

However, that is not to say that you can't enjoy Día de Muertos in CDMX as well. First of all, there is the parade. (Fun fact: Do you remember that opening scene of the 2015 James Bond movie where 007 strolls through the Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City? Well, you might be interested to know that in 2015, there was no such thing as the Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. In fact, the first parade that was held in 2016 in CDMX was inspired by this very James Bond movie - not the other way around.) 

However, as neither myself nor Fiancé are big fans of crowded places, we boldly decided to skip the parade, and instead got up early on Saturday and went to Coyoacán (the south of the city) to marvel at the ofrendas and check out the market where I got a couple more decorated skulls for my skull collection (okay now, kids, it's important that you not take this sentence out of context).

After that, we walked down Reforma street, which was decorated with tall, beautifully crafted alebrijes.

Alebrijes are fantastical colorful creatures that are normally made of papier-mâché or wood. They were originally the product of an artist's feverish dream in the 1930's and that's exactly what they look like - or what do you think about this guy, for example: 

Now, here's a fella I would like to have a beer with!

Interestingly enough, however, although alebrijes were incorporated in the Day of the Dead festivities, their only connection with the tradition seems to be the fact that they were featured in the 2017 Disney movie Coco as spirit animals. Do you remember how at the end of the movie (SPOILER ALERT!! If you haven't seen Coco, stop reading now) Miguel's dog (Mexican hairless dog, which, according to legend, is every newly dead's guide through the underworld) is promoted to an alebrije? It was definitely a visually impressive move (and alebrijes are part of Mexican culture for sure), but what these papier-mâché works of art were doing in the realm of the dead in the first place is beyond me (if you know the answer to this, please educate me).

There are the scary, nightmarish alebrijes, and then there's...well... this.

But whether or not they have a connection with the Day of the Dead, alebrijes are truly something unique and impressive to see!

The Highlight

After seeing the alebrijes, we were just about to leave when something magical - the highlight of the day - happened:

We saw a gentleman with a little bird and a bunch of folded pieces of paper, who asked me if I wanted to know my fortune. Naturally, I said yes!

The man urged me to tell Pedrito the Bird my name (I was at "T for tango" when I realized I was actually spelling my name to none other than a bird), after which Pedrito picked out one of the papers for me with his beak.

I took the paper and, with held breath, unfolded it.

This is what it said:

How about that typing, huh? Not too bad for a bird, eh?

I was enjoying this fortune until I got to the "you will arrive ambulances" part. Excuse me, but what does that mean? Will I live? will I die? Should I be worried about something? What?

Well, I guess only time will tell.

Pedrito the Bird works in mysterious ways. 

Closing words

As I mentioned at the beginning, the Day of the Dead wasn't the only great thing that happened to me last weekend, as my Halloween-inspired short story got published in Drunken Pen Writing (Woo-hooooo!!). The story is actually a (slightly adapted) chapter of a novel I've been working on, so by reading it, you'll get a sneak peak of what's to come 😉. You can read the story here - I hope you enjoy it 😊!

And that's all, folks. All in all, things are good. As one wise bird once said, my life right now is "a chain of happiness" 😍!  

Until next time, friends!

Random Things to Do in Mexico City: Trick Eye Museum

Panic in a Painting

Okay, friends, time for my trimonthly confessional (here it comes): Every since my visit to Virtual Room in Brussels a year and some months ago (you can read all about that experience here), I've been slightly obsessed with virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D, and all that good stuff. I mean, is it just me or is this stuff completely out of this world? Don't you just look at the tech we have today and think, "Yo, we're actually living in Back to the Future II! Marty McFly, where art thou?"

To answer my own question, yes, I think it is, in fact, just me. You know how in the 19th century they showed the first ever film featuring a train, and, allegedly, the audience got so afraid thinking "the little engine that could" would burst off the screen that they ran panic-stricken to the back of the theater? Well, I'm kind of like the modern version of that (although I'm not afraid the train is going to leave the screen - even I'm not that stupid), as my past experiences with AR have had me over-using phrases such as "But all this AR stuff looks so damn real!" or "It's like... I'm inside the video! How can it be?" while my fiancé next to me goes, "I know, honey. I know" (with a condescending tone, which, by the way, he has no business having considering he's an older fart than I am and thus even less exposed to the wonders of AR and VR than Yours Truly).

So, imagine my excitement when I heard about a museum dedicated to AR and other types of optical art right here smack-dab in the middle of Mexico City (CDMX for us "locals" 😛). The place is called Trick Eye Museum, and, after talking about it with Fiancé, last month I finally managed to drag him with me to this wondrous world of eye-trickery!

What is Trick Eye Museum?

Originally a Korean concept, Trick Eye Mexico City is the first Trick Eye Museum in Latin America. The way it works is that you take your smartphone or tablet with you, download the Trick Eye app, interact with the different installations implemented with the museum's very own Augmented Reality Technology - AR:T for short (cute, huh?) -, and take photos and/or short videos, making art where you yourself are the hero.

But since a picture is worth a thousand words (and I suspect a video is worth even more), why don't you just click on the video below to see what I mean?

So, what do you think? Pretty cool, eh? Well, I thought so, anyway.

By the way - for the sake of those of you who've never met me in person - that Pegasus-rider-extraordinaire in the video there is, in fact, Yours Truly. One thing I should warn you about, though, is that the Trick Eye app adds ten to fifteen kilos on the subject being photographed or filmed (hard facts!). They don't tell you that beforehand, though - you only find out after the damage has already been done (i.e. the pictures have already been taken) 😜!

Before you go

Here's a good tip: If you plan to visit Trick Eye Museum during school holidays, I've got one word for you:

Don't.

Or do, but know that the place will be so packed with kids that you're bound to get some serious Chuck E. Cheese flashbacks (unless, of course, you are one of us poor unfortunate souls who never had a Chuck E. Cheese in your country growing up, in which case you'll get Sara's-10th-birthday-party-at-McDonald's flashbacks). Not that I have anything personal against children, of course. It's just that they make me feel pathetic and old, and like they have more of a right to ride the Pegasus than I do.

Also, I happen to think that the museum is completely wasted on kids. I mean, come on now. You think the Pokemon Go generation will be even remotely impressed by some Pegasus flapping its AR wings? I think not. For them, all this new tech is pretty much the status quo, whereas we thirty-somethings (who should totally be the target demographic, by the way) are a much easier bunch to impress (Hello? The movie, the screen, the train?).

Despite this, it did seem to me that the museum was in fact intended for a younger audience. I came to this conclusion the hard way as the props at the place that were supposed support my Academy Award -worthy acting got me twisting my body into positions it was never intended to be twisted into. Let's inspect the picture below, for instance:

There I am as a ballerina. Don't I look serene?

Well, I can assure you that it's all smoke and mirrors (or, should I say, "eye-trickery?") as behind that fake brick wall I was quite the opposite of serene. The pedestal was just too high for me (the story of my life 😜), so I had to twist all 170+ centimeters of myself into a very awkward position while Fiancé took his sweet freaking time snapping the picture.

But I guess you just have to suffer for your art, don't you? And on the bright side, at least I got a pretty decent Facebook profile picture out of it 😉!

While there

Okay, let's get down to business i.e. the actual visit.

We arrived at the museum early in the morning (to avoid the crowds) and bought the tickets, after which it was time to gather downstairs with the other early birds. There we were given a demonstration on how everything worked, instructed on how to download the app (make sure your phone/tablet battery is full) and given a chance to test it.

Here's a quick demonstration:

Jaws without the app:

Jaws with the app:

This gathering downstairs was also when I experienced my mandatory "rage against the machine" phase. Helplessly I watched as one person after another announced that their app was working fine, while my phone was taking forever to download the data.

We did finally manage to make it work, though, but, unfortunately, the technical issues didn't stop there. We took the elevator upstairs to the museum, and when we tried the app again, it got super slow (we even decided to skip a few installations just because we really didn't need any additional white hairs, plus an old-age-beard is not exactly a good look for me). Finally one of the employees told us to hold a hand in front of the phone camera when we were walking from one room to another so that it wouldn't download all of the data at once. After that, things became a little easier.

Anyway, let's talk about the different installations. The museum is divided into five different rooms:

There's Aquarium,...

...Masterpiece,...

...Winter,...

...Halloween,...

 ...and Jungle.

(Okay, here's to hoping that you and your device survived that video overload!)

Each room at Trick Eye Museum has a lot of stuff to film/photograph. Sometimes, though, you have to wait your turn for a while and then end up snapping a hasty, disappointing photo because you don't want to hold up the line. (Again, I can't emphasize enough the importance of choosing an off-peak time to avoid the crowds.)

My fiancé was my camera person, but if you want to go alone, I'm sure you can ask the museum employees to film you, too. You will have to be filmed, though, unless you want really generic and boring videos and pictures, so if you (like me) are camera-shy, well, then get over yourself! More than being filmed, however, you'll have to get comfortable feeling a little silly in front of the camera as you can't see the AR stuff your camera guy/gal sees (so, basically, when I was petting that polar bear, I was petting air). But that's the price you'll have to pay for these memories, and, at the end of the day, it's not only worth it, it's actually pretty fun 😊!

It took me and my fiancé 1.5 hours(ish) to see and experience all the installations, and the time just flew by (At least for me. Not so much for my fiancé, whom I heard muttering the word "Finally!" on the elevator ride back down)!

Closing words

Okay, so, should you visit Trick Eye Museum in CDMX if you get the chance? (BTW: I should mention that I'm not being paid to say anything about Trick Eye Museum, so whether you go or not is no skin off my nose 😊)

Let's recap:

I would recommend Trick Eye Museum to you if

• you are interested in augmented reality
• the word "interactive" doesn't make you gag
• you are not camera-shy (or you are, but you're willing to let it go for one afternoon)
• you don't mind making yourself look silly in front of a camera

If you check all these boxes and decide to go, make sure that

• you have your smartphone/tablet with you
• your smartphone/tablet battery is full
• you choose an off-peak time to go

And there you have it!

I hope you found this post helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please use the comment section below!

Next time we'll be talking about something else altogether, so, until then...

...hasta luego 😊!

The One Where Kata and Fiancé Find a New Rental Apartment in Mexico City

Oh, what a couple of weeks it has been! You might or might not have heard that because of forest fires, pollution, and the fact that Mexico City is located in a valley, the air quality got so bad around mid-May here in the city that a national emergency was declared, schools were closed, tens of thousands of cars were ordered off the streets, and people were encouraged to stay indoors (oh yeah, that small thing). On top of that, the Popocatepetl volcano decided that now was the opportune moment to start spewing ash (hey, no time like the present, eh?), which didn't exactly help the situation.

This picture was supposed to be a demonstration of Popocatepetl spewing its guts out, until Fiancé pointed out that that's probably not Popocatepetl, but just some mountain with smoke behind it. So, now it's just a nice picture to look at (SANS Popocatepetl) with a pointless circle drawn on it.

In the midst of all this craziness, though, something almost as crazy happened (even crazier than having to spell the word Popocatepetl five times in one blog post): Fiancé and I managed to find ourselves a new rental apartment and, last Friday, we finally signed the contract! What's more, the air quality has improved since too and Finland won the ice hockey world championship, so, hooray, happy days!

So. Inspired by our experience of finding a new home in CDMX, I decided that I'd now like to share some of the wisdom I gained along the way. Below you'll find a few useful tips for looking for a rental apartment in Mexico City. Stick around until the end and I'll reveal a couple of details about our new apartment, too!

Don't get scammed!

The first rule of finding a rental apartment anywhere (not just in Mexico City) is to not get scammed! Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to believe in the basic decency of humankind, there seem to be some people out there who don't always have your best interest at heart (What? Shocker).

It's a commonly known fact that when looking for an apartment, you should ask yourself at least the following four questions:

1. Do the pictures of the apartment look like straight out of a Hallmark movie or, better yet, an episode of MTV Cribs (by the way, you 20-somethings, does that show still exist or am I just super old?)?
2. Has your request to go see the apartment been denied (with or without a note attached to an airborne brick that says "Don't ask questions")?
3. If you google the apartment or the name of your landlord/real estate agent, does the word "SCAM" with a gazillion exclamation points (along with a couple of pictures of skulls) pop up?
4. Have the words "Nigerian prince" been mentioned?

A double red flag

If your answer to any of these questions is YES, then chances are you're being scammed. If your answer to ALL of these questions is NO, then there's only a fifty-fifty chance you're being scammed (hey, I never promised a foolproof plan!).

Perhaps a better way to make sure that if you are, in fact, being scammed, the only thing that gets hurt in the process is your ego (and not your bank account, for instance) is to follow this list of very simple dos and dont's:

DON'T

• pay any deposits, first month's rent, insurance, etc. before your and your landlord's or landlady's name is on that dotted line

• give up your current apartment until you have a contract (in case the deal falls through at the last minute)

DO

• go see the apartment beforehand and make sure everything is in order there

• ask a copy of the previous tenant's last water, gas, and electricity bill to make sure you're not being charged for more than you're consuming

These might seem like pretty basic things, but you'd be surprised about how many people out there have been too trusting and ended up getting burned - and that is a club you don't want to join!

(By the way, if you have more - and better - tips, please do share in the comment section!)

Location, location, location...

One of the most commonly asked questions on different CDMX expat forums is "What is the best area to live in Mexico City?" Well, as it turns out, this is actually not an easy question to answer because an ideal location for one person might be less ideal for another.

The "trendy areas" of the city (also favored by expats) are, for instance, Condesa, Roma Norte, and Polanco. Especially the first two have a lot of cute restaurants, cafés, bars, and nightlife nearby. The prices of rents might be a bit higher than elsewhere in the city (especially Polanco is quite pricey), unless you know where to look. In fact, I've heard that because of the 2018 movie Roma, it's now harder than before to find a reasonably-priced apartment in the Roma Norte area (not sure if this is just an urban real estate legend, though).

Roma in living color 😉

In my opinion, it's also wise to consider where you work. As mentioned in a previous post, the traffic in Mexico City is an absolute killer! If you use four hours of your day commuting (two hours each way, and I exaggerate not at all!), the chances are that the commute will suck the fun out of living in a trendy neighborhood pretty fast!

Would you like to spend hours and hours on end every day staring at THIS view? Would you, would you, would you?

Sometimes you have to make a choice between living in a trendy area and keeping your commute time to a minimum. My fiancé and I chose the latter, but there are no right or wrong answers, of course. It comes down to what you value more (but don't say I didn't warn you 😉).

Papers, papers, papers

Oh, Lordy. This was the most frustrating part of this whole process. I've lived in rental apartments in five different countries in my life and never have I been asked for more papers than in Mexico City! And not only is it enough that you as the tenant gather up your documents. You also have to kindly ask your fiador/aval (the person who will vouch for you) to go through their piles and piles of paper, find stuff that nobody has just lying around (like a marriage certificate acquired several decades ago), and somehow come out of that experience in one piece (no small feat, this one).

The documents that were asked of us were (among others):

1. basic information form (filled out)
2. official ID
3. bank statement from the past 3 months (you need to prove you have more than three months' rent on your account)
4. proof of salary
5. those gazillions of papers required from the fiador/aval

As mentioned before, the fiador or aval is a person who is willing to vouch for you. This person is doing you a favor out of the goodness of their heart and getting nothing in return (expect never-ending pestering about those damn papers). The bad news for expats (and out-of-towners) is that a fiador/aval cannot be just any old person off the streets. It has to be a person who owns property in the same city where you want to rent the apartment, so if you want to live in Mexico City and you know someone who owns property in Monterrey, you're out of luck.

Nevertheless, I have heard that there are other ways of going about this (such as getting a specific insurance), but it appears to be very case-dependent.

Safety

Right. So. I have pretty conflicted feelings about this topic. So much so, in fact, that I wasn't sure I was even going to write about it. First of all, I don't want to encourage anybody to live in fear. I've lived in enough places to know that anything - good or bad - can happen to anyone at any time anywhere.

However.

It is wise to recognize that Mexico City is a big city (the biggest in the world, in fact) with big city problems. While I have personally never been afraid for my safety here (then again, I've only been here for about six months, so I guess I still have time), I wouldn't encourage anybody to take unnecessary risks either. Going to a dark alley alone at 11 pm to take pictures for your scrapbook, for example, is one of those things that - in my opinion - would constitute an unnecessary risk.

I think it would be a good idea to ask around and do your research about which neighborhoods are safe and which ones are less so. Of course, people can have differing opinions about this, but the more you do your research, the better the chances you'll find the best neighborhood for your needs. Some buildings also promise 24-hour security.

Also, bear in mind, that it's not only crime that you need to be worried about. There are other fun things that can get you, too, for example, earthquakes and the volcano (yayyy... wait, what?)! And to add insult to injury, Mexico City is built on a lake, so the capital is (get this) slowly sinking (gulp). Because of the lake, even faraway earthquakes are felt strongly here (wait, why did I move here again?).

Instructions on what to do in case of earthquakes (sismos). I like the last picture (where the guy is running away) the best.

In case of an earthquake, some parts of the city can be more affected than others. Again, I encourage you to do your research!

Our checklist

So. After not getting scammed, choosing the right (and safe) location for us, and gathering up tons and tons of documents, what kind of a place did we end up getting?

Well, long story short, I'm happy to say that our apartment checks all the important boxes for us. Here's what we wanted:

Our home is not in any of these buildings, by the way 😜

✅close to work
✅safe neighborhood
✅half-furnished

✅fridge (surprisingly many apartments we saw didn't have a fridge!)
✅Starbucks nearby (before you judge, let me just say that I'm a writer, so I need my place to write, drink coffee - Starbucks coffee, not "real" coffee -, and stare wistfully out the window)
✅washer-dryer
✅grocery store nearby (actually, turns out that people order their food online these days, so this wasn't as important as we'd thought)
✅gym or a park nearby for running (otherwise we won't make the effort)
❌dishwasher (didn't get this one - nobody's perfect, I guess)

So, there you have it, our new home in a nutshell!

Closing words

That's all, folks! A special thank-you to Paty who has given us a great place to stay 💖! Myself, my fiancé and all eight of our children will be moving to our new apartment in the next few days!

The kiddos are excited to move!

So. Until next time...

... hasta luego 😊!

The Finn's First Impressions of ¡México! (PART II)

Last time I started a series about my first impression of Mexico (you can read PART I here). This is the second part of that series and, this time, I'm going to talk more about Mexican food.

So, here goes:

Observation 6: Your life has never been spicier

If you like spicy food, Mexico is the place for you! Every meal (including breakfast) is likely a spicy one, as are lots of candies, chips, and what-have-yous in the country (more about that in PART I). Basically, it seems Mexicans can't eat anything without breathing fire!

Breakfast eggs with red salsa and corn tortillas

However, it's important to remember that Mexican spicy is not global spicy. Mexican spicy is another level! If you live in, say, Northern Europe and in your local restaurant you always order that one meal that's described on the menu with three whole chili pepper icons (wow), congratulations - that's the starting level in Mexico.

Also, the spiciness scale in Mexico is not from one chili pepper to three chili peppers. It's from "Wow, this is spicy," and "Help, my mouth is on fire!" and "Water! Water! Wait...why is this getting worse?" and "Are you insane?!?" all the way to "Joven? Dónde está el baño, por favor?"

The spiciness scale at El Farolito taqueria

So. If you're planning to eat in an authentic Mexican restaurant, here are a few pro tips that might come in handy:

a) It's inadvisable to ask the waiter, "Is this meal spicy?" They'll just tell you it's not, although by your standards, it probably is. Rather, you should ask, "Tiene chile?" ("Does it have peppers?"). That way you'll have some idea whether or not you can handle it.

b) If you are served a spicy sauce, for Heaven's sake, try it a little before you drench your whole meal in it! Remember, it's always easier to add more spices than try to scrape them off of your food that's already soaked them up like a vindictive spicy sponge.

c) The so-called Moctezuma's revenge (traveler's diarrhea) is not caused by spices but rather by bacteria in the water to which the locals have developed immunity but you have not (NB! I strongly urge you to research what you should and shouldn't consume before visiting Mexico). However, before you decide to order your habanero on habanero meal, please know your stomach and how it reacts to spices. And if you have a particularly sensitive stomach, don't try to be a hero (you'll regret it later)!

d) If you fail a and/or b (do NOT fail c!) but you want to avoid being laughed at by the locals (because laugh they will), first take a deep breath because this is going to be no walk in the park (I bet you wish you were at a park right now). Then just go for it. Take teeny tiny bites of your food (don't eat too fast), have rice water (horchata) if available (if not, tortillas), and when your Mexican friend asks you with that infuriatingly knowing grin on his/her face, "Sooo... how is it?" play it cool, nod, smile (as much as you can without making a weird face that might give away your rookieness), and say, "It's delicious, thanks so much." You don't need to finish all of your food but take at least a few bites (so as not to look suspicious) before you claim to be full. You can do it, I believe in you (you can cry later).

Observation 7: Tacos come in many different forms

If you are lucky enough to know Mexican people, then you know that there's one thing you can never ever ever ever do in their presence: blurt out how much you enjoy hard-shell tacos (for the record, I don't!). If you do that, well... all I can say is I hope you're a fast runner because staying where you are would be a very, very bad idea (I exaggerate only ever-so-slightly).

However, turns out there is a loophole to that rule: flautas!

You guessed it - flautas

Flautas a.k.a tacos dorados are basically filled tortillas that are fried crispy. Now, to a non-Mexican, it may seem that they meet the two main criteria of a hard-shell taco because a) they are tacos and b) they have a hard shell. And yet, Mexicans act as if flautas and hard-shell tacos were two completely different things, and, if you are smart, you'll play along.

However, everybody's allowed their occasional moments of non-smartness, aren't they? So, one day, when I was feeling particularly not smart, I decided to live on the edge and ask my fiancé this potentially fatal question, "Sooooo, honey? How are flautas different from hard-shell tacos again?"

But instead of getting defensive or upset, my fiancé just gave me a pitying glance and then looked up, as if trying to figure out how to explain bees and birds to a six-year-old. Finally, he said, "Because... they are just different."

[a moment of deafening silence]

Unsurprisingly, as charming as this response was, it did little to answer my question (like, at all). So, I kept on pestering, until finally Fiancé offered this response: "Well, it's like the difference between watching a Marvel movie in IMAX vs. watching a Spider-Man impersonator at a kids' party."

Okay. Whatever that means, I have no clue, but I'm guessing hard-shell tacos are NOT that Marvel movie in this analogy. However, I found there's another way to explain the difference between flautas and hard-shell tacos: flautas are rolled tacos, whereas hard-shell tacos are... well, I don't know what they are, but rolled they are not.

There are also other things that look like tacos but are not called tacos (such as enchiladas and quesadillas), but more about them another time.

Observation 8: Beer is not beer

Having lived in Belgium for three years, I thought I knew pretty much everything there was to know about beer. After all, Belgium is not only famous for its beer but also has a vast variety of options. Surely, I'd tried every type of beer worth trying by now... right?

Turns out I was wrong. Once again, Mexicans have managed to take another food (well, drink) item and spice it up (both figuratively and literally).

Let's begin with the inconvenient truth: Mexican beer by itself is nothing special (sorry, Mexicans). According to my fiancé, it's something cold you drink on a very hot day, but Belgian beer it is not.

However.

If you want to experience beer like you've never experienced it before, you should try something called a michelada. Just as a taco, a michelada can come in many different forms: at its simplest, it's just a beer with lime juice and salt, but it's not unusual to add peppers and/or some sauce - e.g. soy sauce, Worcester sauce, Clamato (clam + tomato juice), or Maggi sauce - into the mix as well.

Now, if you want to fully step into the dark side, I warmly recommend my (so far) favorite michelada place in Mexico City - Michelas (just to be clear, I'm not being paid anything to recommend their business)!

My michelada on the left, Fiancé's on the right

Michelas (situated in Condesa) is a bar where you make your own michelada (NB! The following description is based on the "full michelada experience," which is a bit more expensive than the simpler option): First you dip your cup into chili or tamarind syrup so that the rim gets sticky. Then, you dip it into one of the (Miguelito-type) candy powder options available. After that, you can pour more powder (either sweet or spicy) into your cup along with different juices such as lime juice. Then you proceed to the candy part - there's about a dozen different types to choose from, for example tamarind sticks and gummy bears as demonstrated in the picture above. Finally, your cup will be filled to the brim with the beer of your choice (I believe there are three different ones to choose from).

And there you have it! Now, I'm aware this all may sound kind of weird, but I still urge you not to knock it 'till you try it. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Observation 9: Jesus truly does appear in food (in 3D)

While Christians everywhere are waiting for Jesus Christ's second coming, Jesus himself seems to have taken a liking to appearing in various food items around the world (I'm sure we've all read the news about Jesus's face appearing in a loaf of bread, chai tea latte, mozzarella cheese, and what-have-you). However, in Mexico, Jesus's food appearances seem particularly frequent, but in a different way. It looks like Mexicans have taken it upon themselves (probably aware of Jesus's busy "food appearance" schedule) to make sure that cake-lovers everywhere in the country have an equal opportunity to find Jesus. This they've ensured by inserting a plastic baby Jesus in each rosca de reyes. 

If you've never heard of rosca de reyes before, suffice it to say it's a cake (or sweet bread) eaten as part of the Three Kings' Day celebration (January 6th). According to tradition, whoever finds Jesus has to throw a tamale party in February.

Where art thou, Jesus?

Intrigued by this tradition, I decided to try my hand at finding Jesus in my mother-in-law's rosca de reyes. Before I started, though, I needed to get a few facts straight:

Q: Is it possible to accidentally cut baby Jesus in half with a knife?
A: No. Baby Jesus is very resilient (plastic).

Q: Is it possible to accidentally eat baby Jesus?
A: No. Baby Jesus is actually less of a baby Jesus and more of a toddler Jesus (google images). That's why, if you eat him, you'll notice.

Q: Is it possible to choke on baby Jesus?
A: Again, the answer is no. However, I wouldn't introduce baby Jesus to children under the age of three.

Now, when trying to find baby Jesus in rosca de reyes, you have to a) ask thyself, "Where would Jesus go?" b) cut the cake accordingly, and c) keep cutting and eating the cake until you find him.

Unfortunately, I only had one piece and didn't find Jesus.

Sadly, this piece was not worthy of Jesus

I was just about to accept defeat, when my fiancé shouted, "Look, you got it!" (Apparently, if Jesus sticks out of either one of the parts that you cut, you can claim to have found him.) And before I knew it, Fiancé was poking Jesus with a knife to get him out 😲! However, it soon turned out not to be Jesus after all, but a piece of walnut (I know. The two are so easily confused).

Sadly, after that one try, my mother-in-law took the cake to her office, so my chances of finding Jesus this year were lost. Oh well... something to look forward to in 2020, I guess.

Closing Words

And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed the read (you can let me know what you thought in the comments). There's more than enough material for a longer series here, so let me know if you'd like to read more about my observations on Mexico :). Until then...

Hasta luego!

The Finn's First Impressions of ¡México!

It's the beginning of a new year and I find myself in a new country - my fiancé's native Mexico! 

Our stay here is planned to be temporary, but whether that means two months or two years remains to be seen. Things are brewing (I will keep you posted)... 

Until I know more, though, I want to see and experience as much as I can while I'm here. In this post, I'll list some of my observations about Mexico so far. As there are bound to be a lot of things to talk about, I'll make this a two-part series. 

So. Without further ado, let's get to it: 

Observation 1: Padre good, madre bad 

Whatever deep-rooted mother issues Mexicans have, they seem to be reflected in the lingo. Here's an example: one super commonly used phrase that's very specific to Mexican Spanish is "Que padre." The literal meaning of this phrase is "How father," and it basically means "How cool!" Now, the interesting part is that the opposite of que padre is que madre, which translates to "How mother" and means something like "How bad" or "Such bad luck" (I'm sure Freud would have a field day over this). 

Que madre is, however, by no means the only time "mother" makes a questionable appearance in Mexican Spanish. In fact, the word madre ("mother") can also be equivalent to 

a) crap ("Que es esta madre?" = "What is this crap?"), 

b) pain ("Me parti la madre" = "I hurt myself"), 

c) worthlessness ("Me vale madres" = "It's worth nothing to me"),

and it even works as a single curse word all by itself ("Madres!" = *expletive*)!

Seriously, Mexicans! Who hurt you?

In addition to these examples, I've noticed that the attitude towards mothers can sometimes present itself in more subtle ways: Let's say there are two brothers (who share a mother) that are having a conversation (this is a totally hypothetical situation, by the way). At some point Brother A says to Brother B: "So guess what your mother (tu madre) said to me yesterday." Brother A then proceeds to explain what his mother said, and Brother B says, with a sigh, "Well, you know how your mother (tu madre) gets sometimes."

Excuse me, but does it seem odd to anybody else that nobody wants to take ownership of poor mother here? Wouldn't you say, "our mother" or just "Mom" instead of "your mother" since you are, after all, brothers from the same mother? By saying "your mother" it almost seems like you're trying to pass the blame. To be fair to mothers, though, it appears that all mutual family members get the same treatment (e.g. "Your uncle said...," "Your sister said...," Your cousin said...," etc.). However, when you try to point out this oddity to a Mexican, s/he finds it perfectly normal and cannot fathom how you could ever see anything strange in it. 

Observation 2: It's a sweet trap!

Whatever makes Mexicans think that you cannot have the pleasure of sugar without the pain of chili pepper is one of the great mysteries of life. Everywhere you go in this country you find candy that's covered with chili powder or some other spicy surprise.

To be fair, as a Finn, I'm used to odd candy flavors, such as salmiakki (sort of like salted licorice) that the rest of the world (minus the Dutch) seems to abhor. However, Mexican candy is some serious next level stuff!!

Just one question: Why?

I repeat: Why?

Just look at these pictures above. Somewhere under that thick layer of chili powder, there is an innocent piece of mango or watermelon-flavored candy that just wants to be loved. You can't see it, though - you just have to trust that it's there.

I'll admit there's something almost symbolic (Symbolic or masochistic? Quien sabe) about having to first struggle through the chili powder before you finally get to the sweet prize. But despite this beautiful metaphor of life, personally (and as a product of the culture of instant gratification), I'd just rather get the pleasure without the pain, please. Is that really too much to ask?

A few days ago, as I was pondering on these deep deep thoughts out loud, my fiancé looked at me, shook his head, disappointed, and told me almost defensively, "Come on, not ALL the candy here is spicy."

Yes, honey, you're right. They're not all spicy. And to prove your point, in the picture below, I've circled ALL the candy options at a Mexican convenience store that are NOT spicy. See if you can find them: 

Where's non-spicy Waldo?

So, to put it in other words: While not ALL candy in Mexico is spicy, could we just agree that the vast majority is? 

Observation 3: You've been drinking tequila all wrong

Ladies and gentlemen, you've been lied to. Remember those movies where that poor unsuspecting small-town girl goes to Mexico for spring break and has her first experience with a shot of tequila, salt, and lime? Remember when you did the same in your country and were convinced this is the way Mexicans do it?

Lies, lies, all lies!

While it's possible that some touristic places in Mexico still encourage this illusion, the sad truth is that tequila is not "shot," but rather sipped slowly like, say, whiskey. Moreover, it's not uncommon to wash the drink down with something called sangrita, which is basically semi-spicy tomato juice (kind of like alcohol-free Bloody Mary) and designed to cleanse your palate. Sangre actually means blood, and its diminutive sangrita is like its cute cousin (it translates to "little blood," though the word "little" doesn't do much to make the idea of drinking blood any more appetizing to me.) 

Glass of tequila on the left, sangrita on the right. Lime optional.

So, while we're at it, let's burst another tequila bubble, too: The tequila that you have in your hometown (unless you live in Mexico) is probably NOT tequila (PLOT TWIST!!). The real stuff could originally only come from a town called Tequila - hence the name (although later the rules have relaxed a bit).

Here's a hot tip: if your tequila bottle doesn't read "100% agave," it's not what it's claiming to be. I'm not saying that it can't be drinkable alcohol, but tequila it is not (or so I've been instructed). 

The real deal

Observation 4: Driving is like a box of chocolates

On my second week in Mexico, my sister-in-law gave me this great tip : "Only plan to do one thing a day in Mexico City. That way you won't frustrate yourself if you are not able to cross things off of your to-do list.

What she was talking about was of course the city's traffic, which is not for the faint of heart. Mexico City is famously the most traffic-congested city in the world. However, each day and each hour (and each minute) is different. Driving a short distance can either take ten minutes or two hours. You never know what kind of cards you'll be dealt on any given day, which - I suppose - keeps things interesting.

This could be your view for an undetermined time period

So, when you make plans to meet a friend at, say, your favorite café, do yourself and them a favor and leave for your destination wayyyyyyyyyy ahead of time. This way you won't be late. Of course, there's a chance your friend might not be as far-sighted as you, so one way or another, you might still end up in a holding pattern. 

Observation 5: Half of your taco is missing

If you, like me, are used to European supermarket tortillas the size of a human head, the first time you're served authentic Mexican tacos you might feel like you've been cheated (especially if you only ordered one single taco, you poor soul). That, or that you've just entered a parallel dimension where they only serve miniature food. 

Hello mini-tacos (al pastor)!

But these tacos that you see in the picture above represent, in fact, normal-sized tacos in Mexico. Because of the reduced size, you might have to adjust the way you fold them up (I've written a post about this topic, which you can read here) but regardless of the size, the taste is great and, in my opinion, real Mexican tacos are quite simply the best food in the world! 

Closing words

And that's all for now! I'll leave the rest for PART II and if there's interest, I might go for a PART III, as well. We'll see. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post! If you have questions or comments, you can e-mail me, tweet me, or use the comment section below! 😊

Adiós!