Food & Hygiene Products

I eat the most interesting things down here.....

On the list so far:

 
• maggots
• a drink that smells/tastes/looks like tequila but has no alcohol content (supposedly)
• This ---->........ for breakfast (that's french fries, a little salad, steak with onionjs, and some vegetable that I have never had)
• juice from some sort of flower
• mole (I know it's not rare in Mexico but I HATE it)
• fish heads - including the eyes
• cow tongue
• and a wholeeee lot of TACOSS!!

I'm loving it here. My host family treats me SO incredibly well. They'd do anything in the world for me and I love them so much for that. They're so fun too. They joke around with me. I joke with them. The kids are my best friends. Tonight we had another family fiesta and while all the adults were playing poker together, my sister Mya who is 21, her boyfriend, about 10 kids, and I all played soccer for like, 2 hours. So much fun!! We were all so sweaty after. Down here you'd think that all the Mexican kids would be so good at soccer.... not the case with my family. They make me look like a star. Haha. Even my sister's boyfriend, Gustavo, who is 29, was terrible! It was a blast playing with them all though. I love these kids. 

A funny and interesting thing happened the other day. NOTE TO READER: This might be T.M.I. for you, so I apologize in advance!! Especially you, Tam Tam! Just remember.. It's natural!! Anyway, I went to the store with my grandma, Ellouise,  to pick up some shampoo and conditioner for myself, and a few items for her. While we were walking through the store we came upon the "feminine hygiene products" section. Speaking all in Spanish (which makes it 10x funnier) she asked me if I needed any pads. I told her no and that I brought plenty of tampons. Her breath was taken away and she got very serious with me. She told me "No!" That was not OK because I am a "senorita." "Yes, I am a girl... why is this a problem??" I thought to myself. She then began to grab cases of pads and continued to explain to me why I could not use my tampons. After a minute of trying to break through the language barrier and figure out what she was talking about, I realized that in Mexico, "senoritas" or, younger women, do not use tampons. EVER. Only older women, usually after 1 or 2 children, depending on how old they are, start to use them. What?!?! I told her that I've always used tampons and that in the United States, all ages of women use tampons. That was traumatizing to her. She reallyyyy did not want me using tampons. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do though, right?! 

I went to a taco shop with Ana, Mya, and Gustavo a few days ago. The brought out a bowl of peppers with our food and I declined to put any on. My mom grabbed one and told me that if I ate it she would give me 100 pesos. That's roughly 10 bucks in the U.S.! Obviously I'm going to eat it!!! Badddd idea. It was the hottest thing I have EVER eaten. I can handle hot things pretty well. With this pepper though, my eyes were gushing tears for probably 5 minutes. It was unbelievable!!!! My lips were red and throbbing. I held ice cold water in my mouth for a few minutes but it did not help. I used salt to try to neutralize it but it did not work! Only time could take that sting from my mouth. And on top of that, I was whipping away my tears with the finger that I picked the pepper up with and it was so potent that I burned my eyeballs! My family thought it was sooo funny. Ahhh! It was a terrible experience to say the least. But hey, I got 100 pesos out of it!!