This IS Mexico, right?

So here's the deal:

There's a lot of heavy stuff going on around here. Heavy as in "Wow, I'm thinking a lot about death in the desert and global economics and massive drug smuggling." That kind of heavy. It's so heavy around here that I'm having a very hard time processing it, and as a result I am having a very hard time writing about it. I would really like to leave another serious post about the border here for you to read, but it's just not coming. If this dry spell lasts any longer I'll just force something, but I care about these things and I would really rather have inspiration strike.

Instead I am going to write a little bit about culture shock, adjustment, and delicious carne asada tacos.

To really explain this I have to go back to August and the strange relationship I was having with food. Knowing that I was coming to spend a year here in Agua Prieta I wanted to make sure that I got to eat all those delicious foods that I would not have access to in the next twelve months. High on my priority list were Ethiopian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, and Chipotle. Thanks be to God, I actually got to eat all of those. The weird thing is that while I was gorging on these incredible meals the only thing I REALLY wanted to eat was Mexican food. I craved it. Nothing else tasted quite as good. At the time I thought that this strange occurrence was a good sign for the coming year. If I wanted Mexican food that badly I hoped that I wouldn't get sick of it.

Fast forward to now. Here's an unexpected truth: I don't actually eat Mexican food. Well, let me clarify that. I eat Mexican food, but not the Mexican food that I thought I was going to eat. Big difference. It turns out that the Mexican food I imagined eating was a strange combination of Los Angeles Mexican and Chipotle bastardized Mexican, neither of which really exists down here. So while I do eat a lot of rice and beans and tortillas, I have to go out of my way, sadly enough, to get some delicious carne asada.

Yesterday I was rushing around town trying to get things done, not an unusual part of my every day life around here, but made more important because I was in a particular hurry. I needed to be at my apartment by noon in order to meet the gas truck and finally end two months of no cooking and cold showers. The only thing I had left to do before heading to the apartment was grabbing some lunch. Since I don't have gas to cook, and don't really have a working fridge, I don't keep a lot of food in the house outside of some granola and a few Swiss Cake Rolls. Since this is Mexico, and time is, let's say, flexible, if I didn't eat before going to my house and they didn't show up until much later than promised then chances are I would be a very hungry Aaron. This has happened to me several times, I know to fear it happening again.

My friend Hermano Angel was driving me around town on my errands, an unusual luxury, and everything had been going great until the lunch errand arrived. He asked me what I wanted to eat and, having craved them for the better part of two weeks, I immediately answered carne asada tacos. I still hadn't found a good place in AP to get any and I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone by finding one and testing out the goods. This is when the problems started. The first problem was that I wanted carne asada tacos. There are taco stands in AP, but most of them specialize in tongue or head or chicken, really anything except for carne asada. We drove across town looking for specifically carne asada stands, which is when we encountered our second problem.

Taco stands in AP don't open until noon. AP isn't really a big business community, there aren't a ton of people supporting random restaurants, and as a result they really don't stay open all day. Lunch is also, I learned, not the traditional time for tacos here. Breakfast? Sure. Dinner? Absolutely. Lunch? No way Jose. This is when I just about lost it. All I wanted was to grab some delicious carne asada tacos and get to my house so that I could take a hot shower (you'd be surprised by how cold the nights are around here lately). Was that so much to ask? Venting my frustration I blurted out "Why can't this city just have any taco stands that sell carne asada and are open when you need them? In the U.S. you can buy pretty much whatever food you want from whatever restaurant unless it is really early or really late."

And that's when I realized how badly I was experiencing culture shock. My expectations simply did not match up with the reality of the place where I live. I expected Mexico to have carne asada in a plentiful supply whenever it was most convenient for me, and the fact that they didn't was just unexceptable. It would be so much better in America. I think I actually laughed out loud at myself. It's always good to realize that you are being unreasonable.

My happy ending is this: I got delicious carne asada at a reasonable price. I was late to my apartment because we spent an hour looking for it, but so was the gas company, and God willing I will have a hot shower tonight. Finally, I learned that what I imagined Mexico to be and what it is are different and I need to appreciate that.

It doesn't mean I'm going to stop looking for good carne asada that opens before noon though.