When visiting the U.S. we often miss the Mexican food that we eat most of the year. We get great tortillas in Mexico. The tortillas that happen in Las Vegas can stay in Las Vegas.
A couple miles east of my sister and brother in-law’s casa is Viva Zapatas Mexican Restaurant. Here Emilio is prominently displayed and of course Mexican food is the attraction. Behind glass a woman flips tortillas on a flat grill. Other than looking more sanitary than most handmade tortilla cookeries in our Mexican neighborhood the preparation and product looks the same.
The proof however is in the eating. No one was shouting Viva Zapata’s tortillas. I am guessing their masa is from an industrial powder of some sort. The restaurant seems to get overwhelming approval for its authentic Mexican food. I suggest those advocates have not actually eaten any authentic Mexican food.
Some years ago my father-in-law and I use to go to a tortilleria somewhere on the east side of Las Vegas, but just where escapes me. My memory is that those tortillas were the real deal. However, I am a lot more versed in the fine art of flat bread than I was in those days. The search continues.
Never let it be said that one cannot get good food in America’s true entertainment capital. You will not starve in Las Vegas.
Last week when our son Julian was here, we dined out with my cousins Steve and Bart and their lovely Tania’s (both their wives are named Tania). We all met at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas.
The company was grand and the food excellent. I hadn’t seen my two cousins for about 30 years. We recalled stories of our impetuous youths and generally caught up on our lives.
Their dad, my Uncle, who has passed away was an Indianapolis 500 race car driver; one of a select group of men and women that have completed an Indy 500 race. Racing is in our blood and these guys continue along those lines manufacturing patented laminated racing helmet ‘tearoffs’. Every driver (33 in all) racing in last month’s Indy race wore their helmet tearoffs.
My nephew Seth continues the racing legacy as a champion USAC sprint car driver. Readers who are surprised that Anita and I tool around Mexican streets on a motor scooter will have a better understanding of our daring now
Last night my cousin Steve and his lovely wife and me and mi guapa esposa met in the Summerlin area again; this time to dine across the street from P.F. Changs at the Kona Grill. Serving Asian Fusion food. Wow!
From their web site I learned they have locations in 16 States. The one and only one in Nevada is not to be missed. We showed up for Happy Hour (“Drinks and Eats from $3”) at five and lingered past its completion at seven. The misters on the outside patio tamed the 100 plus degree temperature.
Recent California Transplants – My Cousin Steve & Wife Tania
I am pretty sure we ate our way through their entire ‘California Roll’ menu save the eel cucumber roll. Totally awesome!
We had more “classic kona margaritas” than I could count at the finish and the entire menu of rolls made from various fresh fish flown in daily – all for quite the bargain price I thought.
We often write about the importance of family in Mexico. It is heartening to see the bonds of love within Mexican families.
No child needs to measure up – just being will get you gobs of love. Perhaps having so little puts their children’s importance in perspective.
Never let it be said that children in the U.S. are not loved. Because they are.
There are few advantages to getting old. One is grandchildren. They are a second chance.
Most often our babies come when our lives are jammed packed busy. Many opportunities are missed to just sit and look or play with our children. Our grandchildren are a reprise.
These two little twin ladies are mine.
They have an older brother too. On the other side of the United States there are those three and their mom. On this side our son lives; he is too young to give us grandchildren – things to come. My two children live as far apart as people can get on this continent. At the apex of a huge triangle are mom and dad.
Our son visited us for a few days here in Las Vegas.
Life doesn’t get any better than hugging your kid.
Imagine you are watching War of the Worlds. Suddenly the movie rocks you – literally.
D-Box technology, have you heard of this? With braggadocious fervor they tout, “Experience the new way movies will move you. D-Box technology creates the triangle of Audio-Video and MOTION.”
We just learned about a technology heretofore unheard of – D-Box Motion Code films. Apparently D-Box Motion Code has been installed in selected theaters for about a year – oh we technologically deprived.
I wondered if motion sickness air bags would be available for the squeamish. Our hosts here in Las Vegas became the intrepid motion detectors this weekend.
For $8.00 U.S. and the cost of a movie ticket (about $9.75) your world will be shaken not stirred. D-Box technology requires a film that integrates appropriate motion code signals to your motion adapted seat. The sitter can adjust the seats intensity in three levels. Apparently this will make you feel like you are in the scene. My brother-in-law reports the additional $8.00 per seat is worth it – he will do it again.
How long before we see this in Mexico? I wouldn’t fasten your seat belt just yet. We believe it will be a while. Our technology minded son visiting us from Los Angeles reports he had not heard of D-Box seating.
Currently “Toy Story 3” is not only available in D-Box Motion, but also 3-D. Personally I am waiting for the virtual reality glasses. Remember the film “Brainstorm”?
I do wish we had D-Box seats for tomorrow’s futbol game. Mexico plays Uruguay to get to the final group of 16 in the World Cup. When Mexico scores goals…well hang on to your seat. It should be a good ride. I predict a Mexico win. Stay Tuned!
There are a few refreshing signs of progress on the north side of the border. South of the border in our region of Mexico street (read stray) dogs are common sights. Having been a ‘dog person’ most of my life my heart goes out to these poor pooches.
A number of expatriates organize activities to help our four legged friends – canine and feline. They have free neutering and spaying events as well as adoption programs.
We have written about the general malaise towards the care and feeding of Mexico’s dogs and cats. The expat community efforts are heartwarming and encouraging.
I have not as yet been able to reason why otherwise wonderful people seem to have such different attitudes towards their pets. Good people keeping their dogs on 2 foot lengths of rope 24/7. We see dogs sitting with no shade or cover during rain and very hot days. They seldom have water bowls.
Pets come and go at a rapid rate. Children seem to accept the death of their pet with little emotion. When I was a kid when one of our pets expired we were traumatized for days.
A recent conversation in our Mexican Hood:
“Hombre where is your dog Bobby?”
“He died.”
“How did it happen?”
“He just died.”
End of conversation. The dog might have been four years old. The two young children in the house seemed indifferent about the whole thing.
Here in a somewhat more civilized society dogs are not only revered they are mostly kept behind block walls save a walk once or twice a day. The neighborhoods are quiet. You will never see a stray dog more than once. They have systems in place.
Veterinarians command fees that rival medical care costs for pet owners.
The city of North Las Vegas has a couple new-to-me pet maintenance options; these provided by the city. First and remarkably they have a pet poop depository station. Here bags are provided to pick-up your dogs deposits. A bag is provided with instruction on how to properly gather your pet’s excrement. The instructions include placing the tied bag into the basket provided.
The other rather novel pet accoutrement is a water fountain that works in conjunction with the human version.
I am often dismayed at the lack of water provided to Mexican pets and live stock. For the city to actually provide a water fountain for pets is quite remarkable – a good thing. Anita suggested that there was some lack of consideration for water conservation in the system where there is a single button to supply water to both the human and pet fountain – probably a button for each would be better. And of course one has to wonder about the sanitary issues of many animals drinking from the same ‘bowl’.
I suggested that many pets drink from mud puddles and it was probably OK. The thought certainly counts. My sister and brother in-law carry their own water when walking their dog in the hot Las Vegas out-of-doors.
It certainly is different being here where pets are treated as family members.
One of the main reasons to return to the United States is to visit our banks. You read that correctly – we have accounts with six banks – one in Capitan, New Mexico and five in Las Vegas, Nevada.
We have been banking for about 50 years now. So I write with some authority when I suggest they have changed a lot.
My favorite bank was the savings and loan in Bedford Falls. You remember the Building and Loan savings bank that George Bailey ran.
Back to banking, George Bailey was my kind of banker, selfless to a fault; he repeatedly sacrificed his dreams for the well-being of others. Peel off many calendar pages to 2010 sixty-four years later. If ever there was an adversarial relationship between consumers and business it has to be citizens and the bank. The word vipers come to mind here.
Thus far we visited with 3 of our six banks since returning to the United States. Each of those experiences was terrible. Dealing with people that could barely speak English (or Spanish), bank personnel often confused and even providing miss-information. In one instance after questioning some FDIC rules, a pamphlet on the rules of FDIC insurance was provided.
After reading it over we were even more confused. I checked for a printing release date. The document was dated 03 2008 prior to the current changes. – yikes!
Mind you these bank persons were folks with desks, not tellers.
The interesting thing is how they all made a point of telling us they wanted to be our banker.
When I suggested that the turnover rate seemed to universally be such that there was little chance we would ever see the person again – they more or less agreed. George Bailey spent his entire working career at the Bedford Falls Building and Loan. Try and find that person in today’s banks.
I also always suggest to the bankers that I am looking for that Bedford Falls Building and Loan officer and institution. Or at least a bank that works on my behalf rather than making every effort to deceive and cheat us in order to pay less interest or to put us in less optimum accounts where we have more charges and fewer services.
And the bank personnel ALL look towards their shoe tops nodding in agreement that they are instructed to take advantage of us at every opportunity; and how they truly understand our position.
We give these places our money which they then loan back to us and others with interest. They limit the amount of money we can move from here to Mexico (here they blame government regulations – rightly so I suppose). They send statements with warnings about how they will take our money if they don’t see our faces in their office within 18 months – our money becomes theirs on the authority of the U.S. Government.
The bankers slide sheets of paper with interest rates under our nose that cause me to suggest I might just as well keep our money under my mattress where upon they suggest how safe it is in the bank. A couple of our banks have changed their names twice since we last visited the United States (about 9 months ago) – safe?
We are showing our faces and maintaining Mexican patience with these bandits – they are in turn robbing us with a smile.
Somewhere we lost our way as a people, a world community, where service and general care for one’s fellow man are ideals of the past. Very sad indeed!
Stay Tuned – next time we will write about some upbeat things we have found here in the United States.
Glaring differences abound when one compares the U.S. to Mexico. We have already covered the roadways and touched on the difference in litter. Overall it can be said that it is more expensive in the United States; there are exceptions to this rule.
When we travel into the United States we know we are going to be spending more money than usual – in part that is why we are here. We come to get what we can’t find or get for as good of price in Mexico.
We love the thrift stores. We have not earned the frugal travelers’ moniker by coming to America to shop at Dillards and Saks. Those stores are here in Las Vegas, but the bargain shoppers frequent the thrift stores and the big-box stores like Costco and Sam’s Club.
We have mentioned electronics before – not only are they more expensive in Mexico, but the latest stuff does not typically show in Mexico. So we have to make a visit to Fry’s Electronics and Sam’s Club.
So far I have purchased a new keyboard and mouse, a 500 GB HP ‘SimpleSave’ portable hard drive storage unit – this is very cute. It is about the same size as an ipod and comes with a cute little zippered case for 79.95 plus tax. And we bought a refurbished HP laptop from an Ebay seller; have had good luck doing this in the past. Also we bought a 12 volt power cube at the thrift store the other day. We may replace our food saver which came up lame in Xico.
I hope to gather a few spare parts for our scooter. Add WD40, tubes of silicon, screening material, weed eater line and a few other household odds and ends.
In the food department we are getting some Lawry’s seasoned salt, some green Tabasco sauce, some sesame oil, unscripted stuff Anita wants and a few bags of mesquite wood chips for the barbie.
New socks, a few pairs of jeans and any great deal off the thrift store clothes racks. We miss the thrift stores in Mexico. Seldom can we find shoes and pants that fit – shoes too big and legs too long.
We don’t do jewelry or cars – but the motorcycles are tempting and the housing market is even more worse off than even the last time we were here. It is tempting to buy a house just to hang on to. Deals abound! It is safe to say you get more bling for your buck north of the border. But south of the border few care.
In the more unusual category I am looking to get a couple nose jars – huh? You say. There is a woman in Capitan that sells a small jar of spices splattered with some essential oils. This setup clears the sinuses and can even wake you up a bit.
Finally I plan on having some business cards made – just as soon as I can figure out what business I am in. Do they have Monkey Business cards?
Today is the day we have been waiting for the past six months. Really in Mexico the countdown started that far back.
South Africa has been waiting with anticipation for six years since it was announced the games would be held there.
Just 30 minutes away now!
No hosting team has ever lost an opening match. We think Mexico will change that. Our pesos are bet on Mexico beating South Africa this morning. But Mexico has a tough road ahead during this WORLD CUP.
I do not mean to sell our boys short. But I have been watching some of the ‘friendly’ games. Brazil, Spain and England will all be around near the end.
That written futbol or soccer, take your pick, is a lot like college football. The expected often does not happen. Emotional driven success can get you a long way in a sport where a final score of 0 points to 0 is common – one lucky head butt (header) or even a goal made by the defense at their goal is not uncommon.
While emotion can drive a team to greatness, Brazil and Spain seem to play at a level well beyond the competition.
We shall see. We are looking for a Mexico victory today by a score of 3 to 1.
I am getting ready for the futbol game – drinking coffee, not beer. It is six in the morning here in Las Vegas. Go Mexico! Stay Tuned!
The Calypso family is at the 36th parallel north, well above the troublesome borderline and a long way from our 19th parallel north home in Xico, Veracruz.
We arrived in Las Vegas on a record heat day – 110 degrees Fahrenheit. We often have good timing on being somewhere where a record weather event is occurring.
There is NOTHING ‘RAPID’ or ‘EXPRESS’ about this border crossing.
It has pretty much been HOT every since we departed Xico on the last day of May.
One of our goals in retirement life has been to be somewhere where the weather is neutral most of the year. By this we mean not needing cooling or heat as much as possible. Xico has been an excellent example – one never needs cooling since it rarely gets past the mid eighties. Heat is necessary perhaps 65 days a year. It never gets below the low 40’s and seldom below 50.
Las Vegas lays claim to 133 days a year over 90 F and 28 days below freezing; and a fraction over 4 inches of rain annually. It is no wonder they have no state income tax; providing impetus to live in a state with extreme weather conditions.
On the other hand, and I have nothing to back this up, Las Vegas seems to be one of the cleanest cities in the U.S. The contrast between our area of Mexico and LV is dramatic.
In Texas we read signs warning of a $2000.00 fine for littering where as Las Vegas threatens $500.00. I can not recall seeing a fine warning in Mexico. They do have signs requesting not littering.
The first most obvious difference when you cross into the U.S. is the roads. In Las Vegas even the residential streets are wider than most highways in eastern Mexico. Then it is so clean – main street Disneyland comes to mind.
The travelers tip is to bring your own water along. I had mentioned this some time back about bus travel in Mexico. Water is incredibly expensive here in the U.S. $1.89 plus tax for a liter of water in the U.S. seem to be the norm. Of course these are the travelers roadside places NOT Walmart with their 27 cent Culligan machines (bring your own container).
The real estate market here is as depressed as I have seen real estate in my lifetime. Even the State of Nevada has reduced value for the tax rolls to 40% or less of the value a couple years ago. Makes for an interesting, albeit complicated (too long to explain), housing market.
I am working on buying Senora Calypso a computer of her very own and attempting to sort out papers to file our taxes – staying cool all the while at my sister-in-law’s casa – she is soooo sweet to put us up.
We are having fun catching up. I always hear some great ‘when we were kids’ stories from my sister-in-law. She treated me to a photo I have been needing for all those that have asked for proof that Anita played the accordion. Sort of looks like a little girl with a piano laying on her chest (lol).
We are once again in the United States; crossing the border on Tuesday around noon. In the last two years the borderline line has kept us waiting for more than an hour each time.
Things have changed since a few years ago when we were able to rush through in 15 minutes or less.
Exactly what is causing the extended time is unclear, undercover and perhaps underhanded? In the last five years we have made it a point to be at the borderline on Tuesday through Thursday ONLY. The logic is less people traveling across the border during those days. While this still remains valid the Tuesday through Thursday slot has become crowded by I suppose greater inspections and more questioning.
Physically there are a lot of new cameras; driving through the narrow array of ridged pipes just before the border official’s booth one sees cameras that appear to examine the vehicle from all sides and angles. They still occasionally bring out the mirror attached to a rod in such a fashion that they can take a look at the under belly of vehicles. And there is usually a drug sniffing dog in close proximity.
If a lot of stuff is being hauled across or there are nervous travelers, these situations will get the vehicle directed to a secondary inspection area where a more thorough investigation takes place.
This trip we were asked to open the trunk and explain what the contents were of one bag in particular. Here I made a Cardinal crossing sin –
“I don’t know what is in that bag – it is my wife’s stuff.”
Bad dog!
Of course when you deny knowing the contents of a bag in your vehicle this automatically raises a red flag.
“I think it might be coffee making stuff and kitchen things?”
Fortunately I had guessed correctly; little more than a half pulled open zippered entry was closed back up and off we went in to the city of Brownsville.
We slept roadside in our Jetta. With the backseat pushed down, the two of us could sort of stretch out with our legs extended into the trunk area. The night before we had stayed on the Mexico side at Soto La Marina’s Hotel Rey. Here the frugal travelers were being that.
We arrived in Capitan, New Mexico mid afternoon Wednesday having gained an hour from a time zone crossing.
Socialization ensued moments after we pulled into our little casa. The sleepy little town of Capitan came alive with visitors to greet the strange couple that lives in Mexico.
We got a few people caught up; people that simply don’t keep up via this Blog. I spoke more English than I have in the last nine months in just a few hours – aside from conversation with mi esposa.
It is Saturday. We are rested now and perhaps a little ‘socialized out’. Tomorrow we will continue our journey to Las Vegas. Bright lights, big city – get ready! Stay Tuned for some comparisons between borders and some photos I took during the 80 minutes waiting at the borderline.
