Mexico City Loose Ends and Puerto Vallarta Update: Now with VIDEO!

It's hard to really get myself to sit down and write these days as the lure of the beach and getting lost in old town is too great! Random things:

Mexico City rocks and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! On my last night I did two things that were really wonderful I went to this small mescal bar on Campeche street around from my guest house on Cuernevaca in the Condesa neighborhood. It's called La Botica which is the old name for pharmacy so the walls are filled with shelves with little medicinal size bottle of mescal. I didn't count, but they probably have 30 or 40 different kings ranging from clear to dark amber all with a different taste and quality. My favorite was called anejo and was very smoking and sweet with a taste of clay - funny how terroir is there in mescal just as it is in wine.

They have a small selection of food, I had two tamales which were about 2 bucks each and they suggest you drink beer with your mescal and the beer they serve is in a tiny half size bottle, way cool. I had three mescals 2 beers and 2 tamales and spent about 16 bucks plus tip.

Then to end the night I had a very fancy posh drink on the terrace of the uber hip Condesa DF hotel. This place is way cool, the entire building throbs with dj'd house music, the courtyard dinning room has a dj area, cuz, you know, I wont eat at a super expensive fancy place unless there is a dj playing music so loud I can't talk to my friend without yelling. I'm old so many it an age thing, but as much as I loved the design I was glad to be drinking on the roof overlooking all of Mexico, where the music was way more subdued. They have wonderful gas heaters every where and luxurious blankets to cozy up in while you have your cocktail and enjoy the surroundings.

I can't imagine staying here it's only 4 stories and between the rooftop scene and music and the surround sound dinning room I can't imagine how anyone could sleep with all the noise and even if they had sound proofing the throbbing of the base was so heavy your room must vibrate! Which reminds me if staying at a roadside motel once with my mom and brother and the bed vibrator if you fed quarters into a slot on the head board. I suppose for your 250 USD bucks you at least get free vibrations with your bed. Anyway, the point here is that you don't need to stay here you can simple go here and enjoy the fabu design and style and vibe. And if I remember correctly through my mescal hazed mind the beer I had was actually reasonably priced (I think 40 peso so 3.30 which for such a fancy place is a deal!) In the end I think they could make more money by just being a club that rents rooms hourly for the rich and fabulous set, a perfect place to spend your K hole.

Thanks to Urbanfoodguy readers Skip & Chris for pointing out that Coke in Mexico is still made with sugar not corn syrup. I've talked to a lot of locals and it is amazing how savvy they seem to be about food and how the few Mexicans I have spoken to about food issues both immediately with out prompting evoke Monsanto and coke with utter contempt. Which is good to know and it is nice to see even here in PV an organic grocery store struggling to make a go of it here. I made a video and will post on it tomorrow.

The internet connection at the Casa Tucan where I am staying is pretty much non existent, barely here then gone in the same second. I found a place that I can go and download at so if the cloud covering stays I might be motivated tomorrow...computer work in a sweaty internet store or happy hour? The real drag about not having it at my place here, to be sipping a corona overlooking the ocean and blogging would be a sweet deal.

Can't really complain though it really is wonderful here. Especially the outer reaches of the old town which is still very much a traditional neighborhood. There is a wonderful little corner with an old courtyard market building with a fish monger, butcher, chicken seller (all local totally whole with heads and feet still on) a small hardware housewares store that sells some nice very simple primitive clay dishes and cookware. At the back is a long table filled with mostly men slurping up these very hardy looking soups, one had a half an ear of corn in it. The selection of food goes way beyond soup it just seemed to be a popular item when I passed through today.

(After a day of trying to upload one short little video I have given up and will go to the internet place tomorrow where I have a real connection and upload a tons of videos.)

Ok so I made it to the internet place it's great, tuck away in the outer reaches of old town, next to the 12 step meeting and up the street from the yoga studio! This grocery store is just around the corner from here and I hope to do a video of the market across the street tomorrow.