El Tuito and Other Boring Stuff

I'm always surprised, though I shouldn't be--why is it that all the yummy descriptions on the internet to go here and there totally blow and actually really suck???



So we go to El Tuito---------"Holy shit"... "Killer place"..."Check out the panela cheese lady on the square"... "Great cultural center restored to a home from the 1600's"...





OH YEAH--??? No WAY , CHUCK--


First off- the Cultural Center was closed. Thank God, bathrooms were open. ( I learned to always carry napkins--no tp which is no surprise .)

Here is an incredible mural on the wall. It's really beautiful and flows through the entire four walls heading up. I don't do it justice at all.

Then we head off to the cheese lady. We spot a woman in the square that looks JUST like Panela Cheese Lady (from the internet)--she tells us, " Yes, that's me--but I have no cheese." "Go down this block , turn left and go to the wooden door with black rails"... Heh--Okay, we're thinking, we'll find it later-

Chow time-- We go a a little place on the square where we see two guys eating something that looks to me totally DELISH!!!
I ordered the birria de res, and Bob, the costillas de cerdo en salsa verde. Let me say this---the best places in Mexico to eat are the little family owned places. We had two incredible meals and the tortillas were huge, burrito size and made of blue corn... more food than I needed, but I ate every last bit. AND super cheap---

Then we went to the other cheese lady-- $50 peseos later we're walking out with a huge round of panela cheese, which-we just used up today. It isn't a melting cheese, but will soften. It adds huge flavor to everything. I've put it in omelettes, quesadillas, tacos, potatoes, etc--good stuff---

Now grabbing the bus back was a nightmare--- We sat in the main square thinking to catch it where it left us off-- OH NO-- Though there we met a very friendly English speaking dude... I mean really friendly, so I know he wants something. Well, he comes over all friendly, english and all---where are we from, blah, blah---we see that he has a baby parrot on his shoulder and has Bob put the parrot on his shoulder. Meantime--Senor Slick is making small talk --whatever--Then here it comes.... " I sell you my parrot for almost free---only two hundred pesos..." I'm thinking--(Hum-- a parrot could be cool, it's not like a dog, --low maintenance...)... Bob says right away, "NO thanks , Dude." And then I do notice Dude has green bird shit all over his shirt. ---I guess not.

We finally got to the actual bus stop after over an hour and a half later although we asked our original bus driver, two store keepers, a kid hawking comforters, some old guy on the corner---finally, we were directed to the corner across from the church.
It felt so good to get home--

I have more stuff--tomorrow

Later-m