1
Jul

Scoop Scoops: Our 5 Favorite Ice Cream Treats in Mexico

Posted on July 1st, 2010 :: Posted in Food & Drink, Mexico, Tips

July has been National Ice Cream Month ever since Ronald Reagan made it so during his presidency in 1984. He also decreed that the third Sunday in July is National Ice Cream Day. Anyway, to celebrate we thought we’d share the scoop on the best scoops we’ve found during our 14 months of road tripping through Mexico. We’re not even dessert people, but here in Mexico they definitely scream for ice cream. In no particular order, here are five of our favorite finds.

1. Every region of Mexico is known for some sort of signature food. The state of Michoacan is the undisputed ice-cream state. You’ll find ice cream shops throughout the country claiming to make Michoacan-style ice cream. But to get the real stuff, you’ve got to go to Michoacan—preferably Patzcuaro. Every day in this Pueblo Magico women set up ice cream stands under the arches that ring the lovely main plaza. Peruse the wares, but rest assured that every one of the dozens of flavors (corn, blackberry, chocolate, coffee, durian, guava, cheese) are homemade and totally natural. Full of real local fruit, real sugar (not corn syrup) and rich cream these treats (mere pennies per scoop) are rich and gooey. And addictive.

Mexico ice cream - Helados Torres in Hidalgo del Parral

The mouth-watering display at Helados Torres in Hidalgo del Parral, Mexico.

2. Hidalgo del Parral in Northern Mexico has many claims to fame. This is were Pancho Villa was gunned down, for example. And the city was instrumental in the country’s silver, gold, zinc and copper mining heyday. It’s also got one hell of an ice cream parlor. Right downtown off the Plaza de Armas you will find Helados Torres. Big, shiny, bright and featuring a display of homemade, all-natural gelato-esque delights like you’ve never seen, each vibrantly colored container topped with a pleasing display of the ingredients inside. Their ice cream (helado in Spanish) is as delicious to look at as it is to eat.

3. The Dulceria y Sorbeteria Colon on the Champs-Elysees-inspired Paseo Montejo in Merida inYucatan State is an institution where you’re likely to find families and first-daters enjoying massive portions of homemade creations that straddle the line between ice cream and sorbet—creamy and deeply flavored without the heaviness of cream or the shallow iciness of sorbet. The mango is so true-to-life in both color and flavor that it seems like you’re eating the miraculously whipped and frozen fruit itself.

Just one of the ice cream vendors selling an extremely unusual selection of flavors around the main plaza in Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico.

4. Most people who bother to stop in the town of Dolores Hidalgo come to see the site where father Miguel Hidalgo delivered his famous speech (grito) on September 16, 1810 helping to ignite the Mexican Independence movement. This is an awesome reason to come and a compelling piece of Mexican history—particularly given the fact that 2010 is the 20oth anniversary of the speech and Mexico’s Independence movement. But there’s one more unique offering in the town of Dolores de Hidalgo that shouldn’t be missed. The half dozen or so mobile carts in the town’s main plaza may look like regular ice cream vendors, but read the list of flavors–pig skin, corn, beer, shrimp, tequila, rose, mole–and you see why they’re unique. Once you’ve decided on an exotic flavor, your ice cream comes in an awesome freshly-made cone. A word of warning however: these vendors are dangerously generous and it’s easy to fill up just on the samples they offer of each flavor as you’re trying to make up your mind. We ended up with more than a dozen tasting spoons in our hands before we decided to try the mole ice cream (rich, salty, chocolaty and sweet with just a touch of spice).

5. Not all of our favorite Mexican ice cream is found on the street. At Hacienda Xcanantun outside Merida in inYucatan State, the gourmet fare is as much of a draw as the luxuriously restored hacienda hotel. You will enjoy your entire meal here but order their rich and subtly sweet roasted tomato tart for dessert and you’ll get two scoops of deliciously confusing (sweet/fresh/green/cream) homemade basil ice cream (made with basil from an organic garden in the neighboring village) on top. We recently heard restaurant critic Gael Greene says she “doesn’t like lawn clippings in her dessert” in reference to basil ice cream. Then again she color-coordinates her shirts to match her frumpilly antique hats.

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9
May

Rio Rafting – Jalcomulco, Veracruz State, Mexico

Posted on May 9th, 2010 :: Posted in Glad We Had, Mexico, Rafting, River, video

Poor Veracruz state. While other areas of Mexico inspire at least some recognition around the world, most people (us included) don’t know much about Veracruz except that it’s biggest city, Port of Veracruz, hosts what some claim to be the second largest Carnaval celebration in the world after Rio de Janiero (and we’ve met Mexicans who didn’t even know that much).

Sadly, we didn’t make it to the city of Veracruz in time for Carnaval. However, when we learned that Veracruz state is also home to some of the best and some of the first white water rafting in in the country we had to go check it out. Here’s what we found on the water in and around the rafting mecca of Jalcomulco–and look for more eye-opening discoveries from Veracruz state in our next few posts.

This part of Veracruz state has two things which are crucial to a good white water river: mountains and rainfall. In fact the highest mountain in Mexico, 18,490 foot (5,636 meter) Orizaba volcano, can be seen from Jalcomulco on a clear day. And the area averages almost four feet of rain each year.

It was nearly 90° where we pulled over and took this picture near Jalcomulco, however, the weather on top of 18,490 foot Mount Orizaba was still wintery.

Folks started running the rivers here decades ago and today there are around 40 different rafting companies to choose from.

We chose Mexico Verde, which has been running the rivers around here for 16 years. They also run a very unique “base camp” on five acres of land that was once cleared and turned into a mango orchard (the arms of the massive old trees still provide welcome shade and more mangoes than you can shake a stick at). The jungle has crept back into the orchard over time and current owner Mauricio and his staff have gently carved out a wonderful retreat in the midst of it all–thanks in part to the United States Army.

Who knew an army surplus tent could be transformed into a 3-star suite with a private bathroom?

Mexico Verde’s overnight guests are accommodated in army surplus tents bought in the US then brought to Veracruz and transformed into four bed rooms with shared spotless and roomy bathrooms or suites with their own bathroom. There are beautiful rugs on the hardwood floors, and nice sheets and private decks. Even Wi-Fi.

At Mexico Verde your 3-star tent suite comes with morning coffee service on your front porch.

The army tents aren’t the only things that are being recycled at Mexico Verde. The company reclaims and reuses all water via a cutting edge on-site system. All garbage is sorted and either composted or recycled. And there’s even a nursery where indigenous plants are being grown and replanted around the mango trees.

In case you didn't get wet enough after a day of white water rafting there's always Mexico Verde's pool--the small hot tub is particularly inviting.

Three delicious meals a day, a refreshing swimming pool and a soothing hot tub don’t hurt either…

The well-traveled owners of Mexico Verde love the Grand Canyon and this bridge spans a small creek that's been labeled "Barancas Grande" or Grand Canyon.

Every Mexico Verde rafting trip is accompanied by a safety kayaker whose job it is to scout the rapids and be on standby to pluck any swimmers out of the water as fast as possible if need be. Mexico Verde also has a roster of highly-experienced and highly-trained and certified guides who speak English in addition to Spanish. Our guide, Coba, is from the local area but spent years guiding in the United States on many rives we’ve only dreamed of rafting. He’s also a biologist, by the way and helped us identify a lot of birds during our trip, including a juvenile eagle. Of the 40 or so river rafting operations in and around Jalcomulco, Mexico Verde is one of the few that employs predominantly local river guides like Coba.

Off for a day of white water fun.

You can watch us and Coba (okay, mostly Coba) in action on the Rio Antigua in this video.

Our raft and our raft-mates negotiating a rapid on the Rio Antiqua in Veracruz state.

We were rafting in the low-water season when the 10 mile trip down the Rio Antigua, which plummets roughly 3,000 feet in just 70 miles, is at it’s most placid–which was still a lot of fun. In the high season (July/August) this same trip, which took us about two hours and rarely approached class III rapids, whizzes by in less than an hour hurtling through a never-ending series of class IV and V churns.

Our raft and our raft-mates negotiating a rapid on the Rio Antiqua with the help of our guide, Coba, in the back of the raft.

Just look at how spastic we all look coming out of this rapid, like a bunch of clowns in a bathtub. Now look at how calm our guide Coba is there in the back of the raft. It looks like he's meditating as we flail about in the water.

Our raft and our raft-mates negotiating a rapid on the Rio Antiqua in Veracruz state.

GLAD WE HAD
Waterproof housing for our Flip video camera (good up to 30′ deep) which let us shoot the video in this blog post
Chaco sandals which are slip-proof and stay on our feet no matter what the river throws at us.

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2
May

Swirling Swifts from the Center of the Earth – Aquisimon, Mexico

Posted on May 2nd, 2010 :: Posted in Animals, Mexico, video

At 1,220 feet from top to bottom, the Cave of Swallows (Sótano de las Golondrinas in Spanish) in San Luis Potosi state in Central Mexico is the largest cave shaft in the world, the second deepest pit in Mexico and the 11th deepest in the world.

The karst cave is also home to tens of thousands of white-collared swifts (not swallows, despite the cave’s name) who emerge from their deep, dark home every morning in a spectacle we were not about to miss despite the fact that it required a 5:30 am journey in the dark up 13 miles of rough road.

From the tiny parking area we hiked about a quarter of a mile down a clear but slippery trail (wear boots) to the mouth of the cave where a viewing platform has been built. Locals with rappelling harnesses are on hand to strap you in if you care to lay on your stomach and peer over the very edge of the cave. More importantly, a local woman is also there with a thermos of good coffee (5 pesos) for the blurry eyed visitors on hand for the birds’ 7:30 am exodus.

And what an exodus.

Those blurs are made by thousands of swifts which rise and fly every morning as they leave their night time roosts deep inside a 1,220 foot deep cave pit.

First the birds begin to stir and then they begin to chatter which, in numbers this large, creates quite a racket. For the next 45 minutes the birds rise slowly to the top of the cave pit by circling faster and faster as if climbing a circular staircase. The combined wing action makes a noise that sounds like waves crashing to the shore.

Once near the top of the pit the birds circle some more as if giving their eyes a chance to adjust to the daylight. Then, in spurts, 50 or 100 birds at a time, they shoot off in unison from the whirling mass and take flight into the open sky, shooting over the heads of the assembled audience (play the video, above, to watch this spectacle for yourself).

Every once in a while a cumbersome green parrot gets mixed up among the swifts like a barge chugging along behind a bunch of sleek yachts.

Around sunset the birds return home and the process is repeated in reverse.

Thousands of swifts rise and fly every morning as they leave their nightime roosts deep inside a 1,220 foot deep cave pit.

Thousands of swifts rise and fly every morning as they leave their night time roosts deep inside a 1,220 foot deep cave pit.

If you want to see the evening show as well as the morning performance, or you just spend more time in the beautiful area around the pit cave, ask for Cristina Hernandez in the nearby village of La Union de Guadalupe (just drop into town or call 823-107-45 42 or 482 100 03 38). She has rooms for rent and can arrange camping and meals too.

Free at last! A group of swifts bursts into the open sky from the 1,200 foot depths of their cave home.

Apart from the birds and a few awed travelers, the cave is also used by base jumpers who leap from the lip of the cave and free fall before opening their shoots. The two videos, below, were made by Aerial Extreme and they show some crazy base jumpers as they leap into the Sótano de las Golondrinas. It will get your heart racing and give you an idea of just how deep this thing really is…

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