El Guero Welcome Guest | Login or Register

Non-essential services have been shutdown here in Mexico since Friday, May 1—so things are really quiet right now.  Fortunately the closing of schools and businesses seems to have had the desired effect and the number of flu cases (and deaths) has dropped off significantly in the last five days (see graphic below.) 

An in-depth analysis/chronology of the flu epidemic so far can be found at:  http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1398445

It appears that things will start returning to normal tomorrow (although schools will remain closed until next week.) 

However, I’m still not sure when people will quit wearing their face masks (here in SLP they’ve been the de rigeur accessory for over a week.)

Source:  http://www.salud.gob.mx/unidades/dgcs/sala_noticias/discursos/PRESENTACION05MAYO09.pdf

A great analysis can be found here (in both Spanish and English.)

It is a serious situation…however the twitter parody below (from http://xkcd.com) does have some elements of truth to it….

ps. we’re alive and well and not panicking…

Danielle has already posted about our trip to Guadalajara—but fortunately she left a few things for me to blog about…

First I’ll start with the traditional information about Guadalajara being a city of approx. 4million people with a rich history and very large colonial centre (photo of the main cathedral is below.)

However this trip wasn’t really about the history (SLP has as much history and in my opinion the colonial centre of SLP is more attractive than Guadalajara—although also much smaller…)

This trip was about food (Don) and shopping (Danielle.)

On the Friday, we had dinner at the “Der Krug” which was recommended to me by a couple of co-workers.  This is a brewpub (!!!) that specializes in German dishes—so I was quite happy to sample all their different brews—as well as their sauerkraut and sausage platter (not a big deal for those of you that can drop into the Marienbad at anytime—but it was a nice change for us.)

Our Saturday was in Tlaquepaque where we enjoyed traditional “Tortas Ahogadas” (which translates to “drowned sandwich”.)  These are very tasty as the torta is roast pork served on a fresh roll–drowned in a tomato/chile sauce—and served with onions, red salsa and limes (a little messy—but a perfect late morning snack.)

Saturday night found us at another restaurant that was recommended by both friends and chowhound.  Karne Garibaldi is an institution in Guadalajara and they really only serve one dish—which is “carne en su jugo” (translates to “meat it is own juice”.)  The meat in question is tender beef cooked with bacon and beans and served as a soup/stew along with the traditional complements (tortillas, roast onions, beans, cilantro, limes, etc. )  The food is very tasty—but their other claim to fame is that they have the fast service in the world (and are even listed in the  Guinness Book of Records.)  Due to the menu and nature of “carne en su jugo” the fast service doesn’t impact the quality of the food–although it’s a little disconcerting when your meal arrives just as they are finishing your drink order….

For the last decade or so (ever since the lead-up to Y2K), Danielle and I have been “creatures of habit” on Saturday mornings.  In London, this meant breakfast at Billy’s Deli followed by a visit to the market (downtown or at the fairgrounds.)

Here in SLP, we’ve developed a similar habit….most Saturdays we have breakfast at El Faro.  We were originally alternating between two other popular breakfast spots in the city “Chaires” (the best chilaquiles and also great for desserts on a cold night) and “La Parroquia” (more interesting for people watching.)  However, El Faro easily has the best breakfasts in the city (it’s all they do—and they do it really well.)

After breakfast at El Faro, it’s a short walk to “Panadería La Superior” for some fresh buns and other baked goods. (In the rest of Mexico San Luis Potosí is known for it’s “Enchiladas Potosínas”—but if you’re a local, it’s the buns from La Superior that you’re passionate about.)  The only thing better than a bun from La Superior is a bun from La Superior turned into a “torta”—but that’s a whole different blog posting….

Directly is front of La Superior, there’s a vendor that fresh-squeezes orange juice for you while you wait—so we make sure that pick up a litre or two as well (the oranges are grown approx. 120km from SLP in the Huasteca.)

Most definitely not a bad start to the week-end…

After living in SLP for a while, I realized that my Spanish was not improving as quickly as I would like.  At work almost everything is in English and Danielle and I speak English to each other at home—so the only Spanish practice I get is at Rotary or when we are out shopping/eating.

As a result, I’ve signed up for Spanish lessons to improve my language skills—and things are definitely improving.  My lessons are at 8.30am three days a week so it’s not always fun…but at least recently, I’ve been having my lessons on the terrace at work (it’s warm and sunny—but not so sunny yet that I have to worry about sunburn.)

It’s been 4+ months since I last posted–but I’ve decided to start blogging again…

This past Sunday Danielle and I attended our second concert at the Teatro de la Paz in the center (picture below.)

The concert the SLP Symphonic Orchestra performing the music of Queen.  We attended a Orchestra London “Jeans and Classics” concert back in 2004 which was very similar–but I would have to say that the concert here was actually better (even though Orchestra London allows you to have beer and pizza while enjoying the concert.)

Now that I am blogging again…keep watching for lots of “old” content over the next couple of weeks…