Every waking hour today was filled with family time in the best possible way. I woke up feeling slightly disoriented from the lack of sleep that I had in the 48 hours leading up to my first full day in Mexico, but was immediately greeted by my aunt and cousin who insisted on making me breakfast. I went with my cousin Flor to pick up tortas, which are basically a combination of rolls and buns that they use for sandwiches, and other ingredients for Chiles en Nogada.
A little while after eating a couple egg and chorizo sandwiches. everyone started getting ready for my aunt’s boyfriend’s birthday party. Because most of my family hadn’t seen me in ten years, they all remembered me as an ill-tempered little kid. One of the more “endearing” stories I heard was about how neurotic my dad was about making sure that I didn’t ingest any of the tap water from Mexico (for those of you who haven’t been to Mexico, don’t drink the tap water. One word: Tapeworms) and how after my dad spent almost the whole trip stressing about my health, he leaves me alone for one second and comes back to find me drinking from the hose.
I spent the whole day eating good food and drinking Kalimotxo with friends and family, getting to know the Españolas, and struggling to keep up with the rapid-fire conversation. One of the more interesting points of conversation was a lateral thinking puzzle that really makes you think outside of the box. Make a square with 9 dots, 3 rows, 3 columns, and try to make a line through every single point using 4 straight, uninterrupted lines i.e. you can’t just lift up the pen and start from a different dot from the one your last line ended on.
Because it was a Friday night, my cousin, her boyfriend, and some of our other relatives took me to a bar/dance club called Damtshaa. It was ridiculously expensive, but luckily my cousin knew some of the people who worked there so we got in without paying the $100 peso cover fee. It didn't really matter as the two drinks I bought cost around $15 American, and the fifth of Bacardi we shared between 10 people still cost 130 pesos a person (around $10). After a while, we moved to the dance floor area and the bass sub-woofer, coming up through the floor, was so powerful it cleared my sinuses. My cousin lost her breath from staying on the floor for too long, so we ended up leaving a little while after because she wasn't feeling well.
Colloquial words/phrases I learned today
Me duele el codo - Colloquial phrase that means something is too expensive. It’s literally saying that my elbow hurts too much to extend the money towards you.
Culero/Culera - A “shitty” person
Naco/Naca - Someone with a certain obnoxious, uneducated air about them. Very negative
No manches - A less vulgar version of the popular “No mames, wey”. I would equate it to a vulgar version of “Don’t be ridiculous”. Literally means don’t make a stain
