Uncovering Mexico

Uncovering Mexico

Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.

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The entry titled "The bicentennial edition: best and worst of the last 200 posts."

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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2008 > June > 11 > Entry

The bicentennial edition: best and worst of the last 200 posts

By Jeremy Schwartz | Wednesday, June 11, 2008, 05:11 AM

Following the tradition of post number 100, we sift through some of the best and worst moments of the last 10 months with the 200th post of Uncovering Mexico. From bribes to crushed pineapple mixed drinks, it was an interesting year.

Strangest Night

We arrived in San Marcos, just south of Acapulco, on the fifth day of the town’s annual feria, and it seemed the entire town was deep into a bender. The first day it was a challenge to find sober people to interview and things just got weirder when we went to the cockfights in an abandoned lot (we were there for a story on imported American birds). The fights were supposed to begin at 7, but didn’t start until closer to midnight. Meanwhile the grizzled old men (and a few women) got steadily drunker. When the fights started, so did the betting. San Marcos is a poor town, so poor that most men migrate to the U.S., but on this night guys were pulling out fat wads of pesos, betting hundreds and even thousands of dollars on a single fight. The floodlights added to the sensation we were on a Hollywood set. A few guys tried to get me to bet on the birds, but I begged off, explaining that I had no idea how the betting worked. We got out of there after the first couple fights, but the night was just beginning. The cockfights lasted until breakfast time.

Best Cocktail

We arrived in Guatemala City for last summer’s election in the middle of a drenching thunderstorm and scurried inside our hotel as the power flickered on and off. It was harrowing enough to require a direct trip to the hotel bar, which was decorated like a private British polo club and couldn’t have felt more out of place in Central America. But when the waiter brought a mix of fresh pineapple juice (forget that canned stuff) and local rum all the worries of the night melted away like butter in a frying pan. Salud!

Second Best Cocktail

I’m not sure pulque qualifies as a “cocktail,” but I drank some truly delicious versions of the ancient Aztec beverage while working on a story about its resurgence. The best was pinon, or pine nut, at a pulqueria in southern Mexico City called the Blue Bird. The drink itself was blue when the bartender scooped it out of a huge wooden barrel and tasted like no other drink I’ve ever ingested. It was milky, yes, but had subtle nutty flavors that weren’t overpowering or too sweet. I finished half the glass and took the rest home in an old Coke bottle the bar uses for to-go orders. When I tried to open the bottle a few days later at home, it nearly exploded, as I learned a vital pulque lesson: the stuff just keeps fermenting.

Most Stereotypical Encounter with Police

Back in San Marcos, we had our license plates confiscated by the local police looking for a little mordida, or bribe. The cops waited for us to park and go inside an Internet cafe before unscrewing our plates. Luckily a local woman alerted us and we were able to run outside and confront the officers. They claimed I had driven the wrong way down a one-way street and that I would have to come to the police station Monday morning to get the plates back (this was Friday afternoon). To make a long story short, after much wrangling, I paid 60 pesos, about $6, to get the plates back. I gave the cop the money in coins in full view of half the town on the main plaza. We later learned that the cops often target cars with out-of-state plates, figuring on an easy pay day.

Best View

Cuatrocienegas, a desert nature preserve just four hours from the Texas border, has some of the most spectacular vistas ever crammed into a 20-mile valley. The landscape changes from Martian to Saharan to Caribbean in a matter of minutes. I highly recommend this place for anyone interested in exploring the border area. Second Best View In the Guatemalan highlands, indigenous Mayan families live in grinding poverty in humble homes without electricity or running water. But many of the adobe houses, nestled into lush mountainsides, have the kind of dramatic views that would fetch loads of cash in a city. In one such home I ate what I am calling the Best Piece of Corn ever. The corn was just coming to maturation and the family picked a few ears after we arrived unexpectedly. I ate a small piece with kernels bursting with flavor. So tasty was the corn that I didn’t need any lime or salt, let alone ketchup, mustard and chile (the usual corn condiments there). Best Public Works Project Monterrey just built its own riverwalk, an incredibly picturesque artificial river with 22 unique fountains stretching 2.4 kilometers called the Paseo Santa Lucia. The riverwalk isn’t nearly as built up as San Antonio’s version, but should anchor redevelopment in a previously desolate area of the city. It’s already got a couple of cafes with a very European feel and is home to the impressive Museum of Mexican History. Biggest Freakin Sandwich You’ll Ever See

In the south of Mexico City, there is a sandwich stand called Muertorta, which offers up the Cubana, a 4.4 pound monster of marinated pork, onions, dripping cheese and hot dogs. The place gives them out free to anyone who can eat two. In more than 20 years, only one person has pulled off the feat. Many others buy one and use if for a few days’ worth of meals.

Most Underrated City

Just a couple hours from Mexico City, Queretaro has all the charm of a colonial city without all the tourists. Overshadowed by more well-know colonial gems like Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Oaxaca City and San Luis Potosi, Queretaro is decidedly off the radar. But there’s more history there than in most places (it is the site of the signing of Mexico’s Constitution) and it has plethora of good restaurants and boutique hotels. And the city makes a great base for exploring the psychedelic cactii of the nearby deserts as well as the missions in the fascinating Sierra Gorda.

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