Things they have in Mexico / things I'm gonna miss.
I've been pretty lazy with this whole blog thing since arriving in Mexico. I've noted things down and taken many many photos but I haven't actually got around to uploading anything. So here goes. I thought I'd continue being lazy in the first post in DF (Mexico City) by writing an unfinished list of things that exist in Mexico and things that don't (which will be updated throughout the course of the year as I make more discoveries and decide to miss things that I never even think about when they're available to me - think lucozade and vegetable stock, yes they're mostly food related).
Warning: this will be long, but it is a list so just read a couple if you're feeling lazy like me.
Things that don't exist in Mexico (as far as I can tell)
- Ikea
- Decent chocolate at a reasonable price - I might have to retract this one after finding 'French style truffles' 1kg for 135 pesos (£6)
- Pimms
- Electric kettles - think metal kettles on the stove
- The concept of standing right on escalators in the metro, waiting for people to exit public transport before entering, moving out of the way when someone is walking faster (e.g. more than a mile an hour) than you.
- DIY - ok maybe this is an exaggeration, but despite having many Home Depots, the concept of DIY is lost on most Mexicans because you can usually hire someone to do a better job in much less time. This takes a while to adapt to because we Brits like to try our hardest (usually to fail miserably) so that we can feel like we've achieved something like a painted wall, put-up flat-pack furniture, a flourishing garden etc.
Things that do exist in Mexico
Please understand that some of these ridiculous observations do not in any way detract from the fact that I think Mexico is incredible, however I just can't help but notice...
- £7 per litre Bacardi
- Too many types of chilli to count
- More types of salsa, refried beans, mole, tortillas and chilli sauce than you've ever laid your eyes on.
- People selling anything and everything everywhere. In the metro, on the street, in a restaurant. And when I say everything I mean it, anything useless you can imagine you can find. While on my commute in the metro I've seen people selling snacks, cough sweets, pirate CDs, plastic spoons - these were surprisingly popular, English language books, bike bells - you name it they've got it.
- Cheap food always within walking distance.
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| 5 peso (25p) tacos |
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| My favourite taco stand to date - which has suddenly disappeared :'( |
- 24 hour OXXO to buy late night treats and drinks, tortillas, cheese, milk etc. just don't expect to find anything green here - you can't buy vegetables from you local shop.
- Local food, flower and artisanal markets with free samples of in-season fruit or freshly cooked tacos, barbecue (lamb), quesadillas etc.
- Things that look like the really thing but really aren't e.g. Maple FLAVOUR syrup, vanilla FLAVOUR essence.
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| Yummy artificially flavoured maple style syrup |
- Bacon covered chips.
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| Butcher and Son's bacon covered chips and Gin and Tonic in hipster jars |
- Strongbow!!! (The only cider they have)
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| Supermarket shop at Soriana |
- Barbacoa - slow cooked (like underground for 24h) lamb
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| Barbacoa in Hidalgo state |
A service for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. This list will be extensive and will probably end up dominating this post. I'm utterly amazed at how little Mexicans actually have to do for themselves - so when I find out they don't have some things like... I'm actually a little surprised. Services exist as there is not enough formal employment so most of these workers live off tips ranging between 5 pesos and 50 pesos (£1 = 22 pesos).
- Valet parking - at shops, restaurants, tourist attractions.
- Bag packers in supermarkets - don't worry about separating the cold/heavy food or rushing as things fly off the conveyor belt as they'll do it for you. They'll also provide you with a plastic bag per every 3 items and a pamphlet of weekly offers - recycling is not a priority.
- House cleaners - no one cleans their own house. A cleaner's tasks can include: cleaning, washing, ironing, food shopping, cooking, washing up, ordering water and probably things I'm still unaware of.
- When you go to the beach do you think you sit on a towel on the sand like a savage? No! Of course not. You pay a group of guys 300 pesos (per group) to run around getting you chairs, tables, umbrellas - pretty much anything you could want to shield you from the sun/sand. Waiters will also come to take your orders and bring you strawberry caipirinhas. Feel free to blast your speakers out from under your umbrellas and be prepared to constantly reject offers of massages, fried food, children wiggling their bellies and any useless nicknack you can think of.
- Parking assistance when not needed - thought you were pretty good at parallel parking? Nah. Never good enough. In pretty much every street and carpark there are people to 'help you park' e.g. guide you in to huge spaces where you always accept their offer so as not to get your car scratched in return for your lack of tip. If you're really nice (tip well) they'll even save you a spot on a public street so no one else can park there.
- When you get a ticket from a carpark that you have to put in the machine at the exit to open the barrier are you expected to reach your arm out of your car window and insert the ticket yourself? You've realised the trend, nope. Someone is usually standing there to reach to your window, take your ticket and insert it into a machine 50cm from you without you having to move a muscle. I saw this upon exiting the airport and that's when I knew I was in Mexico.
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| No Sir, don't even think of straining your arm trying to reach the machine, let me do that. |
- People to put petrol in your car. Mexicans actually don't know how to put petrol in a car. You drive into the petrol station, wait (for as long as it takes) for someone to come to your car, tell them how much you want to fill your tank and they do it all for you. Then you wait, for as long as it takes once again, for them to scan your credit card and get you to sign the receipt - chip and pin hasn't quite made it here yet.
- Police guiding cars at traffic lights even when the lights are fully functioning and generally more effective.
Additional section (because I thought it necessary) - How to shop in Mexico
- If you have bags when entering the shop you must leave them at the 'coatcheck' type area incase you might sneak anything in them without paying.
- Choose your shop. Whilst Mexican supermarkets are good for most generic things and have a wide variety, as you would expect, don't both heading to Soriana for anything too exotic, instead treat yourself to a trip to City Market aka. Mexican Waitrose. It's very exciting for food-lovers and apparently they even do free wine tasting on Thursday evenings - still gotta try that one.
- When buying bread in Mexican supermarkets you must pick up a metal tray and tongs, collect all the bread/ pastries/ general baked good you desire and queue up to have them all weighed, priced and packaged. Even if the bread is already packaged, it is likely to be unpriced and require the same method - otherwise you'll be caught out at the till and made to return to the bread counter to have it checked.
- Fish and packaged fish in supermarkets. There is a frozen fish counter where nothing is already weighed or priced. Much of this fish is prepackaged in vacuum packaging and yet you still have to queue and hand it to the man behind the counter to weigh and price each piece of fish. Apparently this is due to changing daily offers which mean pre-pricing the fish would be ineffective.
- When buying alcohol from a locked cabinet (pretty much anything over $5 can be kept in a locked cabinet, which initially I was clueless about how to access, and quite frankly am still wary of asking and looking like an idiot) you wait until the end of your shop and then - as far as I can gather - request said alcohol at the till. Someone goes to collect the bottle and brings it to the till for you to purchase.
- Similar to alcohol, to buy ice you must request it at the till as it is not in the main store and is usually kept in a locked freezer near the entrance/exit.
- Whilst walking around the shop it is likely you will be stopped and asked questions by other shoppers as if you work there - I'm not quite sure about why this one happens but so far I've been asked about a blender, a whisk and one I forgot.
- When paying for your shopping unless you have a points card, a car in the carpark or need your phone to be topped up you should pretty much say no to everything they ask.
- Pharmacy/Chemist - ask pharmacist at counter for advice/medicine. Go to a different till, queue and pay. Go back to said pharmacist at the other part of the counter, collect medicine and get receipt stamped. FYI, as well as selling medicine, Mexican pharmacies also sell coke, chocolate and crisps.
- Idea - Idea is the Mexican version of Ikea but around double the price and worse quality. Whilst services are cheap, stuff is not. If you want furniture I recommend you A. bring it with you from the USA - people seem to order stuff from Amazon to hotels and drive it back, B. buy it on the street corners - I've seen wardrobes, animal skins, chairs etc. or C. have it made - it's probably cheaper than buying flatpack and doing it yourself.
- On that note, to avoid crazy high costs for furniture, clothes, toiletries, foreign food, shoes, books, electronics etc. carry as much as you can with you on your way in because stuff is expensive. There is no amazon or eBay (Mercado libre is your next best bet) and the cheapest/ simplest desk on Segunda Mano (Mexican Gumtree) is 800 pesos (£40).
I'm still searching for vegetable stock and lemongrass so if anyone wants to help me out it would be much appreciated.
(Since the writing of this blog I have found vegetable stock and I never realised something so simple would make me so happy. Risotto can now return to my life)
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