While for the moment I’m no longer updating the blog, I still regularly respond to comments and emails, so feel free to ask any questions about moving to Puebla!
In the meantime, you can still follow my Mexico adventures on Instagram: @tenyearsinmexico
The other day I went to a friend’s birthday party at a fancy restaurant, and he ordered this dish from their “Festival de Bichos” (Bug Festival) menu:
Bugs are a traditional culinary specialty in Mexico, and pretty much year-round you can find street vendors selling “chapulines” (grasshoppers) in a range of sizes and toasted with salt, garlic, or chile powder (or all three). The first time I tried one of the microscopic baby crickets, whose tiny legs thankfully don’t poke into your tongue, I was grossed out. But over time their flavor (reminiscent of salty tomatoes) has grown on me, and now I love snacking on even the full-grown crickets with their scratchy legs and crunchy torsos.
However, when my friend ordered his extravagant bug dish, everyone at the table was a little put off by the sight of it. In the spirit of open-mindedness, he let us try everything that was in it: escamoles (ant eggs: a little like popcorn), gusanos de maguey (maguey worms: oily and flavorless; I had tried them smoked in Oaxaca and they tasted like grilled rubber), and chicatanas (giant flying ants: sharp and lemony). Once you got past the appearance of the dish, the overall taste was okay. I’d always wanted to try Mexico’s seasonal dishes with gusanos de maguey and escamoles, but they’re quite pricey (this rice dish was about $25 USD), so I was glad to have the opportunity to finally taste these famous insect delicacies without ordering an entire plate for myself.
I can’t say I’d be inclined to order any of it in the future, except of course some spicy grasshoppers and maybe some peppery ants on the side.
The blog kind of fell off the face of the earth for a while there, but now we’re back on the air! Don’t forget to let me know if you’re interested in teaching high school in Puebla (see post below this one).
Anyway, if you enjoy exercising and nature, try biking through Puebla’s myriad small towns! The scenery is always amazing and worth all the huffing and puffing (there are no flat rides to be had here)!
If you have a Bachelor’s degree or, better yet, a Master’s, and you like teaching high school, my school is looking for part-time English teachers! Please contact me via my email (on the Contact page) for more info if you’re interested, or go ahead and send along your resume!
Every year the town of Atlixco, which is only 20 minutes from Puebla, creates a “Villa Iluminada” by filling its streets with Christmas lights. The theme is always different; this year’s theme seemed to be, oddly enough, jobs and farms. It’s always a treat to take a couple of hours after work to wander around the town and sample all the street food!
Browsing the food stands!
After many figures shaped like corn, we came across the traditional Nativity scene.
This is a jaguar man, a traditional costume during Atlixco’s annual fair.
Pueblafied