mi torrito de los mocajetesjed, our dear friend claudette, and i packed into my trusty jetta wagon and went south in the hunt for the perfect molcajete. actually, we weren't hunting, i was planning to get a preconcieved piece from an amazing shop just outside of guanajuato that i had denied patronizing for over five years in previous visits. it's called "ojo de venado" and it's THE BEST place to get art (and i do mean art) from all over guanajuato and michoacan.
it's so good, i gotta give a shout out:
Ojo de Venado
Guanajuato, Mexico -
Below the church of San Cayetano
Phone 473 374.1435
the staff and selection are fantastic and although i threw a complete fit when i got there and didn't find what was in my mind supposed to be there, the owner was kind and calm and offered suggestions, like coming back in the next year, which is sound advice... the route was austin, zacatecas, guanajuato, san miguel de allende, dolores hidalgo, matehuala, monterrey, laredo, austin. all driving, with a little help from jack's beef jerkey, countless margaritas and beers, and a handful of stok. we *barely* got into trouble in matehuala and had a fantastic time.
zacatecas
this is a great city! my guess is lots of retirees live here. the pace is laid back, but the food and architecture are stunning! it's the mexico that you cannot see on the border nor at the beach resorts. i wish we had more time to stay there. i could easily spend a week there just relaxing. parking was horrible, but the street food (especially elote) was top notch.
outside the hotel
somehow it's more majestic to paint these buildinds difference colors, effect just isn't the same in east austin
the whole city looks like this:
reminds me of the blue houses in india
on our way to zacatecas, we drove by a la costeña factory, where they make the jalapeños that my family has eaten forever.
guanajuato
there's a reason jed and i have gone to this place by ourselves and with close friends, we absolutely love this city. it's got an incredible history, architecture, food, etc. but what we love the most is
La Casa de Espiritus Alegres in a nearby town, Marfil. it is hands down our favorite place in the world. the manager, Hugo is fabulous, his sister Angelica is fabulous, the staff is fabulous, and aside from the lovely photos on the site, i've provided my own:
delicious breakfast
unique rooms, flowing over with art (no spoilers here)
garden tent with indian art and fabrics
did i not mention the honor bar in the tent? stocked, with an incredible margarita recipe? that's how the next photos came to be:
jed and the first pitcher
took a break and had dinner at a nearby grill
do you see a "volcano" in this picture? we were charged for one but couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be. delicious nonetheless, and claudette got to jump on the trampoline.
back to the tent with major kroger feet
" puddin' " the cat i nicknamed and befriended on pitcher 3
city from el pipilo lookout
all saints day processions
left the city and stopped on the way out at
Capelo pottery, a picturesque mountain setting with great wares. here's claudette taking a picture of me taking a picture of her, need to get the one she took.
san miguel de allende
yes, this is the city full of americans (who now own more than 50% of the properties) and it's easy to get around, and the water is safe, and land rovers are as common as they are in the US, but it's still a cool place, and i mean cool like "neat" or interesting or enchanging because actually, it wasn't that cool, it was baking hot when we were there and air conditioning is not something you negotiate in spring, but luckily, they have these neat frozen- and icy concoctions to be beat the heat. locals call them "beer" and "margaritas".
we wined (alot) and dined at bougambillia, a traditional restaurant that serves chiles enogadas, the local specialty:
chiles enogadas
luckily, we ate (and drank) so slowly that we were the last customers, which was good because we were also the most annoying.
jed explains mexican produce superiority to us
claudette and i appear sober when we look AWAY from the camera
we could not sleep due to the heat in our hotel room so claudette showed us a little trick (don't know where she learned this but it was a lifesaver!). wear a wet tee when its blistering hot and you'll be cool enough to fall asleep.
dolores hidalgo
there's got to be more to this city, but we only had a few hours to get and get back on the road to monterrey, what sticks out the most for me was an amazing plate (okay, 3 plates) of escabeche. i had never had a plate of pickled jalapeños with all of these amazing veggies.
escabeche estilo dolores hidalgo
notice there is no photo of the shrimp cocktail that i also ordered. that's because dolores hidalgo is here:
could've had a burger instead:
it was very pretty, but i have to admit, not alot going on here except for pottery and church, so we adopted a donkey named dolores, then took off to monterrey.
monterrey
we need to give this city another chance, but we stayed in a monterrey version of a favela without good food.
the end result of our trip to get a molcajete in guanajuato was we bought one just outside of monterrey at a shop that we saw driving in. found another one along the way near matehuala, so now we've got a little tower:
