Tacos

I don't feel healthy today.

I went to a party last night in Chapultapec: the studenty-social area of the city. On Saturday evenings, the main avenue of this area is closed off totraffic, to make way for art sellers, musicians, food stalls, dancers and even a pop up cinema screen. The atmosphere is buzzing; families, couples, friends and dogs all meet to hang out until around midnight when small children will finally be taken home to bed, and others will move on to nearby bars, clubs and house-parties.

Our party was thriving- it was a huge old house split into studio flats and ensuite rooms, a garden with what was once a pool but is now an empty pit and extra party space. A few (really good!) live bands played, and we salsa danced. Some of us not so well as others. I left at around 4.30am and the party was far from over... I needed to sleep, but primarily I needed food.

Which is the source of today's discomfort- not alcohol, but tacos. People don't tend to binge drink here- or even get very drunk, but then it's impossible to compare anywhere else with the drinking culture we have at home. Apart from tramps, of course. When they're not so high they're kung-fu fighting trees on the street.

The 5am taco run is Mexico's equivalent to the greasy British kebab, although a lot healthier I should think. Most of the time... This particular stand was offering various parts of cow to eat in tortillas, including lip, brain and intestine. I'm pretty sure I got simple beef steak kind of beef, but you never know when a dodgy taco will strike. It may just have been a bug picked up from somebody serving them. It can't have helped that somebody put the hot chile salsa on my plate and set my mouth on fire... Maybe the man threw in some cow eyeball or rectum just because I was foreign. Either way, it turned out badly and I have not achieved anything very prouctive today whatsoever.

This is a picture of a taco stand which resulted in a happier experience. It's known as the "gay" taco and I'm not sure I want to know why.

Pretty much all the street food here is good and fresh. Tacos usually cost around $7 pesos (30p) and consist of a double layer of tortilla, meat of choice (chicken if you're lucky; intestines if you're not) served with onions, herbs, radishes and dressings. The salsa is there to catch people out, I'm sure. There is usually at least one red and one green, but it's a gamle as to which is hot and which is mild. And the hot will definitly be that.

Most taco stands will have little stools and makeshift tables. It's a pretty pleasant social experience, and pretty much guarenteed not to have the stereotypical kebab shop drunks falling around, sitting on the floor and drooling into their polystyrene take-away boxes.

It still might take a little while before I fancy tacos again.

After all this talk of my digestive system, here is a picture of an amazing dog I saw as compensation: