Friday Night Lights

It's been a very social and busy weekend thus far. On Friday, one of our colleagues suggested we all go out for a bite, and then for drinks. She's been here for four months, and lives in Monterrey (as opposed to our area of San Pedro), so we were definitely game.

A winding cab ride took us through the crowded and shabby streets of Monterrey. We met up with everybody at a 7-Eleven. Our leader took us down the broken sidewalks, until we came to a neighborhood taco stand, although it wasn't so much a stand but what could pass for an open narrow garage, with tables and a drink-cooler. On the sidewalk was a large grill, and an up-right rotisserie of red-spiced pork. The workers eagerly rushed us in, and pulled tables together for us. The fuzzy TV mounted in the corner was playing a soccer game.

Their tacos came in two sizes of flour tortillas: 9 inch and 4 inch. I ordered the 9 inch, with both types of meat on it -- the pork, and ground beef. They brought a plate of sizzling onions and potato chunks to the table for all to share, and then my taco came out. It was huge. I garnished it with the onions, squirts of lime juice from the wedges on the table, and blob of some kind of sauce that came in old mustard bottles. The sauce was so hot that it temporarily numbed my tongue. The size of the taco made it very awkward to handle, and was delicious. We really enjoyed this place, because it finally felt like we were eating 'authentic' Mexican food. The nearest food to our house is mall food, and San Pedro definitely is not the 'real' world.

After we were satiated, we headed to the Luv Pub for drinks. It's located near a university, apparently one of the most expensive in Latin America. We entered the door, and down the dark narrow stairs; loud music spilled out into the streets. This place was a throw-back to the 70's. One raised area of the pub was carpeted, with no chairs; patrons lounged on the floor with pillows and footstools that acted as tables. Couches clustered in another area. We were guided to some floor, and we ordered drinks. A normal bottle of beer went for $2.50 Cdn. The ceiling was stapled with notes and messages that people had written. It was pretty neat, albeit dingy.

From there, we walked to our colleague's home stopping on route at a convenience store for some refreshments ($4.25 for a 4-pack). She lived in a prominently student-housing area; people had taken their kitchen chairs outside onto the sidewalks that ran between the road-less domiciles. There were guitars and singing; we just enjoyed the evening and some Beatles.

Heading to the nearest Starbucks to hail a cab, we saw our first prostitutes; the two of them looked pretty mean, and could definitely give any from Winnipeg's West End a run for their money. A cop car was talking to them as we passed by. We waved the first cab that came by, managed to articulate where we wanted to go, and tumbled into bed at the early hour of 3am.

Our Saturday adventures will comprise the next post....