Monterrey, Mexico

I went to Mexico for the weekend. It was pretty easy actually, I boarded
an airplane in Oakland on a Friday morning and it went to Houston. Once in Houston, I had passable hot links for lunch and then boarded another airplane for Monterrey.

No tourists go to Monterrey, it seems. The flight attendants were nice to me, the Mexican immigration authorities were nice to me and smiled. Everybody is usually nice to me when I travel.

I took a $20 cab ride from the airport to downtown. It was a long way and worth the money. Monterrey is an enormous city. My hotel was affiliated with Days Inns and had much of the signage, but had more character and charm unknown to most Days Inns. The desk clerk was pleasant and helpful. I went to my room and took a nap (I have napped in some of the finest cities in the world).

It was a Friday night when I awoke and I went on an aimless wander. Nearby, there was a market with hoards of people wandering about as well. Clothing, sneakers, bootleg videos, CD’s, tacos, gorditas, video games, everything sold out of tiny stalls. Wall to wall people, amiable, no shoving, lotsa small kids in tow. I found nothing that I wanted to buy, but did have a few goat tacos at 30 cents each. The market was still going strong when I left at 10:00pm.

The next morning I took a taxi to the nearest market. It was opening time, I got there before the hoards. I also got there before most of the shopkeepers, so I had to wander elsewhere for awhile. I found a coffee roaster and bought a kilo of freshly roasted coffee beans for $6.00, their best, dark beans. I wandered some more and found a truck selling garlic braids, four feet long, with the garlic still fresh, the braids still very green and smelly. I parted with $4.00. Another stall was selling fresh, shelled pecans. I like pecans! I bought a kilo, which is way too many pecans for anybody.

Went back to the market and wandered. The hoards had arrived. It was Saturday, and it seemed like everybody in town was there wandering the aisles along with me. I found a leather belt long enough to encompass my girth. I marveled and gawked at the Christmas decorations, especially the manger stuff. I liked the clay nativity sheep for sale, but could not justify bringing back clay sheep.

Feeling peckish, and it was time for lunch. The regional specialty for this part of northern Mexico is cabrito over mesquite. I had noted several stalls in the market that were cooking it earlier in the day. The stalls were identical to one another; each had hundreds of pounds of mesquite charcoal underneath giant re-bar skewers of whole goats.

Each barbecue was grilling a dozen goats at a time. I chose a stand at random and had the “cabrito plate” for 75 pesos. I was served a plate with a haunch of fresh goat, a bowl of really good beans, salad and more fresh corn tortillas than I knew what to do with. It was both heaven and too much food. I finished my bowl of beans and they insisted that I have a refill, no charge. Washed down my meal with a couple of bottles of Coke, paid my bill ($8.50) and waddled out of there.

A VW Beetle taxi took me back to my hotel where I napped some more. I couldn’t eat dinner that night, I was still working off lunch. I went to bed early and flew home the next morning.

I declared the garlic and the pecans to the U.S. Dept. Of Agriculture, both were allowed into the country. The garlic is hung in my (now very smelly) kitchen.

I also have 2.2 pounds of pecans that I have no idea what to do with.

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