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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2016 21:17:35 GMT
To let everybody catch their breath, I'll just start with one photo taken as we reached the market.
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Post by htmb on Nov 12, 2016 21:34:08 GMT
I would have first suggested something we observed a few blocks earlier.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 12, 2016 22:38:22 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2016 2:14:32 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2016 2:19:55 GMT
For people wondering about the prices of the produce, it is time to remember that ten pesos = 0.44 euros or 0.48 US dollars.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 13, 2016 4:13:47 GMT
I completely missed seeing those chopped vegetables. You don't see them that way here. In Oaxaca they are sold for soup, tightly fitted into a plastic bag. Also, here it wouldn't be so heavy on the cauliflower & broccoli. It's usually zucchini, chayote, pieces of corn on the cob, and swiss chard, with maybe an ornamental piece of cauliflower or broccoli or even a square of red bell pepper for color. You can buy guias (squash leaves, stems, & tendrils + wild field greens) also stuffed into a bag, ready for cooking. Upstairs in the market ~
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2016 4:49:13 GMT
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Post by htmb on Nov 13, 2016 7:18:08 GMT
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Post by htmb on Nov 13, 2016 7:28:56 GMT
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Post by htmb on Nov 13, 2016 7:37:46 GMT
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Post by breeze on Nov 13, 2016 11:56:53 GMT
I've heard of, but never seen pictures of, the floating gardens. Your photos totally charmed me. This is a different side of the Mexico I've been seeing here for the past few years. Something about waterways and small boats just gets me.
Can somebody explain the sign on the lime display at the market: "Para mi adorable tormento."
Also, does Mexican coca cola taste like it used to in the US? My family drank coca-cola as often as we could and finally, in my twenties, I felt I'd be happy never to drink another coke in my life and I haven't. But I've heard that Mexico uses real sugar in its junk food and soft drinks and they are consequently tastier than in the US. If so, I'd like to taste that old coke flavor once again. It might be my madeleine.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 13, 2016 12:32:11 GMT
One feels very ¡BIENVENIDO! at that market. Most everything looks good, except the tomatoes, that look just like the plastic ones we get from Mexico and California in wintertime (we still have a few local ones, as the autumn has been very mild, but this is drawing to a close). Odd as Mexico is the home of tomatoes, and I think that squash, which spread much further through North America before the conquests, also originated in Mesoamerica.
The light rail line is very impressive. Yes, the boat ride was worth it; of course it is touristy, but the tourists are just as much local people as visitors from elsewhere in Mexico and other countries. And it is very special to think that people used those canals or their predecessors (before the Conquistadors drained them and ruined the agricultural system)so very long ago.
I did have a COA (Cuteness overload alert) with the puppies, and even more with the puppy and piglet friends with the little girl.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2016 14:01:14 GMT
Also, does Mexican coca cola taste like it used to in the US? I did not taste any myself, but I do know that Mexico is the world's largest consumer of Coca-Cola per capita, so it clearly suits local tastes. I suspect that since the formula varies in most countries, they might be doing the same thing that they have done in the French West Indies, and which has been denounced by health officials -- the sugar content of the sodas sold in the Antilles is 15-20% higher than the same products in metropolitan France. One feels very ¡BIENVENIDO! at that market. Most everything looks good, except the tomatoes, that look just like the plastic ones we get from Mexico and California in wintertime. Near Oaxaca we saw huge plastic hothouses blighting the otherwise magnificent scenery, and the person guiding us said that they were nearly all for growing tomatoes.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2016 14:06:50 GMT
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Post by lagatta on Nov 13, 2016 14:26:16 GMT
Yes, while the food looks very good, and healthy overall - I love those chickens that look like what we have to buy from a natural food shop, upscale butcher or (as we did before) from a small farmer, it is obvious that many Mexicans are consuming far too much sugar water in various forms. Since most Mexicans have at least some Amerindian ancestry, wouldn't that lead to a very high risk of diabetes? Alas our small farmer fell ill, and while we've been told he's still alive, he no longer rears "scratch chickens".
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Post by htmb on Nov 13, 2016 14:30:07 GMT
Also, does Mexican coca cola taste like it used to in the US? My family drank coca-cola as often as we could and finally, in my twenties, I felt I'd be happy never to drink another coke in my life and I haven't. But I've heard that Mexico uses real sugar in its junk food and soft drinks and they are consequently tastier than in the US. If so, I'd like to taste that old coke flavor once again. It might be my madeleine.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 13, 2016 16:00:47 GMT
I've heard of, but never seen pictures of, the floating gardens. Your photos totally charmed me. This is a different side of the Mexico I've been seeing here for the past few years. Something about waterways and small boats just gets me. Thanks, Breeze. I too had puzzled about floating gardens for years and was very pleased to get the explanation from our pilot and to see the layer-cake method in operation. As far at the different side of Mexico, one of the best things about this country is how enormously varied it is. At times, going from one Mexican state to another is almost like going to another country. I so much wish Don Cuevas would show more of Michoacán, the beautiful state where he lives. It has completely different peoples, languages, traditions, and crafts than Oaxaca, where I live.Can somebody explain the sign on the lime display at the market: "Para mi adorable tormento." It appears some wag has misquoted the title of a Vicente Fernandez song. His adorable torment in the song (available on youtube) is killing him with her indifference. Fernandez, now retired, is hugely popular and his songs known everywhere. Note to Htmb & Kerouac: the enormous billboards with the brooding man in the mariachi sombrero which you saw all over Oaxaca were advertising a concert by Alejandro Fernandez, hugely popular son of Vicente. IMHO, whereas Alejandro is quite handsome, his father has far the better voice.Also, does Mexican coca cola taste like it used to in the US? My family drank coca-cola as often as we could and finally, in my twenties, I felt I'd be happy never to drink another coke in my life and I haven't. But I've heard that Mexico uses real sugar in its junk food and soft drinks and they are consequently tastier than in the US. If so, I'd like to taste that old coke flavor once again. It might be my madeleine. I eagerly await the outpouring of memory once you manage to taste a Mexican Coke! Sorry, since I hardly ever drink pop, I can't even remember the last time I had a US Coke to compare with those here. I do know that the argument rages online about Mexican Coca-Cola (supposedly made with cane sugar) vs. US Coca-Cola (corn syrup): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_CokeYes, while the food looks very good, and healthy overall - I love those chickens that look like what we have to buy from a natural food shop, upscale butcher or (as we did before) from a small farmer, it is obvious that many Mexicans are consuming far too much sugar water in various forms. Since most Mexicans have at least some Amerindian ancestry, wouldn't that lead to a very high risk of diabetes? LaGatta, when I moved to Mexico and for quite some time after, the chickens were distinctly better than those sold in the US, with none of that icky, sticky texture and bland taste I associate with supermarket chicken. Alas, factory farming methods from north of the border seem to be taking over here, as increasingly the chickens sold tend toward the sticky, bright yellow types I know from the US. Pilgrim's Pride and other brands are now available here, too. However chicken sold in the markets is often far muscular and the cuts less uniform, so factory farming hasn't completely taken over. As far as diabetes, sadly you are 100% correct. If this forum had been in operation when I moved here in 1997, you would see dramatic differences in girth from people-on-the-street pictures compared to now. I was quite aware of this since I lived on the Texas/Mexico border before moving here. Most of the people in my town were of Mexican descent and were already suffering obesity, diabetes, and heart attacks. A friend there, a roly-poly shrimp fisherman who was @40 at the time, said that those problems began when he was a kid because the population was trying to be "more American". That meant a move towards hamburgers and pizza and more snacking. www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/04/diabetes-mexicoHmm ~ no one has mentioned Htmb's penultimate photo in #39, which displays a great many exotic and wild fruits.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 13, 2016 16:08:27 GMT
Out of the colorful market and under gray skies again, we take a last look around as we proceed back to the station ~
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Post by lagatta on Nov 14, 2016 0:01:10 GMT
In general, I'm impressed with the lovely fruit. Sometimes there is too much to view and I skim too much. I did linger over that wonderful photo, but I'm too ignorant of a lot of that fruit - even when it is imported up here, often for emigrants, it tastes nothing like it did in its home environment.
Oaxaca seems less affected with the move to very unhealthy eating that what looks like a "popular" (but not destitute) suburb of CDMX, but I guess it is just a matter of time unless there is a push back from it. I do hope this can be turned around, whether in Mexico, the Tex-Mex border, or way up here in Indigenous communities (and others of course) where there is an epidemic of such metabolic disease among people who were gatherers and hunters, and in some cases agriculturalists. I'm not talking about joyless eating or "dieting" - heaven forbid! I'm thinking more of the Brazilian food guide which aimed to strike back against such corporate-fuelled "eating habits".
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2016 1:27:02 GMT
Well, at least I did not see any McDonald's or KFC in the centre of Xochimilco, although there are probably some lurking around any outer areas where there is a mall or something.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 14, 2016 15:57:22 GMT
This report continues to delight and inform. I love how the butcher's shop there make no attempt to disguise or conceal that these are animal carcasses we are eating. American butcher shops catering to squeamish urbanites (departments in supermarkets generally today) give absolutely no clue that all the packaged meat was once walking around and probably making eye contact with the people raising them, instead setting out neatly packaged pieces that give no visual clue of where they came from. Probably the only people left here with the connection between animal and meal remaining bright in their mind are those who raise stock and hunters who kill and dress their own meat--both groups that those squeamish modern urbanites are likely to find uncouth. I think it might be good in a carnivorous society such as our own to include in schooling a mandatory class in raising stock, killing and butchering it, just as an object lesson in the reality of our food chain. Even if it didn't tend to make people eat less meat, it might make them less selfishly disinterested in the conditions in which the animals we consume were raised and treated.
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Post by htmb on Nov 15, 2016 2:17:59 GMT
Also, does Mexican coca cola taste like it used to in the US? My family drank coca-cola as often as we could and finally, in my twenties, I felt I'd be happy never to drink another coke in my life and I haven't. But I've heard that Mexico uses real sugar in its junk food and soft drinks and they are consequently tastier than in the US. If so, I'd like to taste that old coke flavor once again. It might be my madeleine. My son tells me they sell authentic Mexican Coca Cola in Flagstaff, Arizona.
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Post by lugg on Nov 17, 2016 19:17:09 GMT
Such colour and so interesting. I had read about this area and the pre-Hispanic canal/ waterway system somewhere before but cannot remember where . I think it was a debate on the difficulties on the area maintaining its world heritage status . The history of this area is really interesting so the photos on the creation / maintenance of the chinampas were very informative . And then came the market - the chicken in particular looks fantastic. Finally had to comment on Htmb photo of the dog in chains - maybe cannot speak but says so much with that look in his/her eyes.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 27, 2017 2:09:08 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2017 5:14:42 GMT
That is terrible news!
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Post by htmb on Jan 27, 2017 15:15:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2017 19:54:13 GMT
I see a lot of produce, and then, more produce. I guess there's a lot of produce available.
I wonder what would happen if one chose a tomato on the seventh or eight tier?
I really like the "valley of the dolls", creepy as it is. I veer toward the weird stuff while on tour.
It reminds me of Apocalypse Now, the scene where Martin Sheen arrives at Captain Kurtz's camp/kingdom where all the skulls are on display on stakes.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 27, 2017 21:53:46 GMT
Looks as though Lugg's comment (which was never answered -- sorry, Lugg! ) presaged this fissure disaster. Those articles are most interesting, Htmb, but I guess not terribly surprising. We didn't see anything quite as slummy as one of those photos in the Guardian article, but certainly saw some iffy situations. And even the nicer houses with their well-groomed lawns and gardens are probably polluting with fertilizers and pesticides. Our guide kept saying how clean the water was and even filled a bottle so we could admire it. Yes, it was fairly clear & he may well believe it's clean, but common sense says it must be polluted. He did tell us though about how much of the original lake had been drained over the years.
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Post by lugg on Feb 4, 2017 17:57:13 GMT
I think but not sure that it might have been the article in the guardian that I had read. Very sad - I wonder what / if any the next steps will be?
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 6, 2017 5:14:11 GMT
I just went through several pages of google hits without finding any very recent articles on what specifically is being done to address the problems of Xochimilco. I did find this, which will have you asking "Where have all the Euros gone?". www.mexiconewsnetwork.com/adventure/save-xochimilco/
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