Job Discussion Forums

impala_street_scraper · Joined: 04 Mar 2004 Posts: 8 Location: brisvegas australia

1. old chevy pick-up driving thru city with back full of plucked chicken carcasses with ice all around them - no cover over them at all!
2. CD seller in moneda near zocalo who only ever played 30 seconds of a song then changed it - all day every day, right under our window.
3. being told on guided tour of mexico DF "those apartments are where jose carreras's aunty used to live"

thelmadatter · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:32 pm Post subject: :)

Impala - they put ICE on the chicken carcasses where you are???? Wow! What an extravagance! Surprised

My most recent shocker was to find out that the Japanese food at Sushi Itto was pretty good! that and the fact that I still cant get over the fact that Toluca has 4, count em 4, Wal Marts.

MELEE · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:42 pm Post subject: I finally remembered!

Okay, I got it, I was reading one of Ben's posts about Merida and I finally remembered seeing something in Mexico that freaked me out!

Okay, this was way back in 1990, when I was a high school student on an exchange in Merida. I was out for a Sunday evening stroll around the center of town with my host family and we went into a shop. I distinctly remember that it was after dark and the shop was painted with that ubiquitous seafoam green paint and lit by florecent lighting. At the end of an ilse containing junky souveniers, there they were. Live beatles that had been fitted with rinestone incrusted back plates, attached to a small chain which had a broach pin on the end of it. Living jewlery. I was standing their with my jaw open unable to tear myself away, when my host sister came up and broke the spell. "Quieres comprar uno?" (Do you want to buy one?) To which I responded, a bit over dramatically, NO! The image of a women with a beatle chained to her sweater haunted me for some time, but I'm obviously a different person now and had completely forgotten it.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

Ya, what's with putting ice on chicken carcasses? Seems a waste of good ice to me. Shocked

Here they just transport them in tubs and then hang them up on hooks next to slabs of meat, where they stay like that for who knows how long. Part of the aging process, I guess. Gives them a chance to absorb all those bus fumes and get coated nicely with blowing dust and dirt along with providing a major attraction for flies.

Thelmadatter (or anyone else who knows,) a question for you. Are WalMart prices where you are competitive with other stores? I was a "loyal WalMart shopper" in the States for years before moving here, but I find our one and only local WalMart, which just opened less than 2 years ago, to be on the expensive side compared to many other similar stores. Also, the few times I've been in our local WalMart, I could only find about 1 in 5 items on my list of things to look for.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

For MELEE:

There once was, I have been told, a Maya princess who fell in love with a man she would never be permitted to marry. So heartbroken was she that she wept night and day over her forbidden love. A shaman, hearing her cries and learning of her misery, transformed her into a glittering beetle, a piece of living jewelry. Her beloved pinned her to his breast. Thus she spent her life, close to the heart of the one she cherished.

Doesn't sound like much of a relationship to me, but perhaps I'm too cynical. In any event, this legend is perpetuated to the present day in Yucat�n by the makech (that's Yucatec Mayan, in Spanish, it's maquech).

These large beetles spend most of their lives as larvae; their transformation into adults marks the end of their existence. Once pupated, they stop eating, breed, and die. Yucatecos decorate them with rhinestones and tether them with little gold chain leashes. Pinned to the purchaser's clothing, they spend what remains of their brief existence wandering aimlessly about, sparkling as they move.

Are they as happy to be made into living ornaments as the Maya princess was? I doubt it. Still, it probably beats being stepped on or poisoned with insecticides.

(Credit to http://www.halfmoon.org/)

I've seen makeches for sale in lots of the downtown shops, but I can't recall ever seeing anyone actually wearing one! Now, that's weird! Never thought about that until you mentioned them.

thelmadatter · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 4:35 pm Post subject: Walmart

Walmart is more expensive esp. if you are good at bargaining in the marketplace (which I am not but I still buy produce at the markets because for some reason it is so much better there than in any supermarket). This seems to be particularly true for meat. I use Walmart either for convenience or to buy things I cant get anywhere else (like peanut butter). The 2 in the more affluent areas have the best selection ( I found ricotta cheese last week!!! Havent bought any yet but nice to know that when I get desperate for lasagne or baked ziti I can make it).

impala_street_scraper · Joined: 04 Mar 2004 Posts: 8 Location: brisvegas australia

lmfao! the chickens livin large in the ice was spotted in mexico city not bloody hicksville where they cant afford it!

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

Lots of ice here in the "bloody hicksville" where I live, and it's not all that expensive either. Just that we prefer to use it for something more practical like keeping our Rum&Cokes nicely chilled or packing the beer cooler with it before heading off to the beach. Why waste good ice on dead chickens? Besides, pollos calientes are a lot more fun for all involved. Wink

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

I've long dreamed of gathering up those perfectly cut, thick slabs of ice and making myself a hockey rink, right in the middle of DF Zocalo, so that for one hour, just one little hour, I could have myself a hockey game where hockey has not gone before.

Now that would be the weirdest thing I ever did see

chula · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 5:12 pm Post subject:

Nooo!!! I think I�ve got it! We should use the ice and teach everyone the amazing game known as curling! That way they could use the plastic brooms! Why didn�t I think of this before?!?!

Nate · Joined: 05 Sep 2003 Posts: 61 Location: Korea

American Spring Breakers in Cancun. I'm not sure weird is the best word to describe them but hey... Shocked

some waygug-in · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 339

How about the old guy on a bicycle who rode the streets of Comitan just after dark, blowing a whistle.

I'm not sure what he was supposed to accomplish, or if his behavior was in any way "official", but it did strike me as odd at the time. Confused

Or

The local parking police/ security/gardener/handyman that used to hang out in the building I was living in. He had a bunch of small twigs taped together with black electrical tape, made to look like a small billy club.
I'm sure it would have proved useless if the need had ever arisen.
He used to trim the small patch of grass in our courtyard with a pair of scissors. Laughing

Just trying to talk to him was an adventure, my Spanish was pretty good, but I could barely understand 2 words the guy ever said. No one else fared any better with him either.

As for weird dining, ever eaten "menudo"? Shocked

Seeing pieces of cow stomach floating in my bowl, and already being slightly hungover at the time................ I had to close my eyes and just
swallow. Shocked

thelmadatter · Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 2:57 pm Post subject: menudo

Isnt menudo supposed to be a hangover cure? I do admit, knowing what is in it, I wont try it either. Nor that blood sausgage that begins with an "m" or pancita