Mexico -dos and don't

You could also go walking in the city's parks, first picking up some warm homemade flour tortillas from a molino and then walking around eating tortillas and looking around at the sights. You obv know Spanish, right? Because that will come INCREDIBLY handy no matter where you go. Um... you could go drive around and sightsee, that's for sure. And there are lots of movie theaters and venues to catch traditional mariachi/ranchero performances and the like.

The whole of Mexico really works on a different time schedule than what we here in the States are used to. They eat big breakfasts, snacks in the middle of the day, and really late dinners, like at around 10 p.m. or so. Then they go out and either walk around or attend various events until about 1 or 2 in the morning, at least. There are lots and lots of street food vendors throughout the city, so that makes snacking (and picking up snacks to go along with meals) easy. Oh yeah, and don't drink the water -- but you didn't need to be told that! Ha. AND -- if you're used to diet sodas here in the States, you will not be able to stomach the diet sodas in Mexico, because they're always really bitter and hard to choke down. Best stick with fruit juices or regular sodas.

How long would it take to drive from LOS ANGELES to GUADALAJARA?

I've only been to Ciudad Juarez!

My bro who lived in Chihuahua for two years says hitchhiking is the best form of transportation. If you are a man. Which I'm not.

I am a man

ALRIGHT.

I imagine this wld mainly be a possibility if you spoke Spanish tho.

I am thinking of going for some across-the-border dental care. They pick you up from the El Paso airport (~35 miles away from me) and drive you down, get yr choppers fixed. I wld have to get a passport tho.

I have a passport

The answer to your FIRST question might, possibly, maybe, perhaps be aided by google maps.

nope

It's far too racist for that

or xenophobic or whatever

May as well get yr teeth did in between getting 60¢ 40s of Carta Blanca.

I'm British

Was Queen G not the best poster evar?

British...meaning? You don't need to? Or you really need to?

Meaning haha funny teeth but really I get it free when i go home. I don't have to worry, like an American would!

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

You are living in a MAGIC LAND in other words.

sure ok

Do you speak-a the Spanish?

no

I know restaurant Spanish, some cuss words, how to ask for/offer a cigarette, basic shopping skills. I know that saying you know "un pequito" (paquito?) Espanol means people think you are fluent. And apperently that the shave-and-a-haircut door-knocking/honking style is for some reason super offensive. I also know I can't roll my r's and people can't tell if I'm saying "dog" or "but."

cuss!

cuss words!

lol!

do: buy prescription drugs
don't: go to a donkey show

Bah, no, their RX drugs are WICKED overpriced. I mean, stuff like Valium, where they will charge like $180 for 100 of them. (Whereas if you have an RX that would cost about $14 in the US.) Uh, no. Their birth control is only $4 tho, so stuff like that is a-okay.

Why does everyone think it's funny when I say "cuss words"? I have been mocked IRL SO many times for using that phrase.

i used to say that too, and also get mocked

How long would it take to drive from LOS ANGELES to GUADALAJARA?

From Nogales, AZ, it's 18 - 20 hours down the coast. If you want to go across Baja (south to San Diego, then Tijuana, then east to Nogales), you'll go through some stunning scenery, but it will add 4-5 hours of driving vs. cutting across I-10 to Phoenix then south to Nogales. So, however long you think it will take you to get to the Nogales area, plus 18-20 hours.

Thanks! I just want to get there as quickly and cheaply as possible. maybe I should fly? I enjoy the autonomy of driving. But I also knew someone who died on a Mexico road trip and this makes me irrationally paranoid about it!

Having driven the TJ to Mexicali route several times, I can understand the paranoia. I'd see about cheap flights to Mazatlán, then renting a car to drive to Guadalajara. If you drive your own car, get a rider on your insurance to cover Mexico.

hey abbs, where are you from? Cuss words is while considered a "dated" euphomism on the left and right coasts, it's really common and polite in the south. Don't let the mockers get ya.

*giggles and points at Abbot for saying "cuss words"*

what the fuck is wrong with saying "cuss words"

I had no idea that "cuss words" was so quaint.

are we supposed to say "swear words" or is this just some coke/soda/pop bullshit

nothing! that's my point. I am teasing and being facetious. Those who were mocking Abb and Carne Asada are silly snobby folk. It's a regional thing, I think. Personally I say "dirty words" which is mocked even moreso. I think the "vogue phrase" is "swear words".

just some coke/soda/pop bullshit OTM.

So you motherfuckers thought I was gonna change my style?

[ So what are you saying Todd? ]

To all you bitches, hoes, and all that shit
Here's another rap that I'm ready to spit
It goes like this, my name is $hort
I'm tearin shit up like never before
Pimp slaps, makin snaps
Cold cash money and Too $hort raps
Oakland, California that's where I'm from
The city where the boys say you don't want none
But if you do, I'm gonna tell you this
Trues and vogues ain't really shit
Wanna roll so hard, all of the time
You and that bitch playin Too $hort rhymes
If you aks me, what it's all about, I'll say it's about that money
But if you aks me, could you have some, I'll say it doesn't concern me
Ronald Reagan came up to me and said, "Do you have the answer
To the United States economy and a cure for cancer?"
I said, what are you doin in the White House if you're not sellin cocaine?
Ask your wife, Nancy Reagan, I know she'll spit that game.
Like one night, she came to my house, and gave me a blow job
She licked my dick, up and down, like it was corn on the cob
What is life? It is Too $hort
I play the bitches like it's a sport
Yea, I'll play the bitches just like y'all
Like Dr. J played basketball
You can call me Too, don't say it twice
You'll get me real mad and I'll fuck your wife
You see I'm not proper, I'm rarely polite
Too $hort, Too $hort, don't say it tonight, beeatch
It started on a bright morning in 1987
I was in my drop-to Caddy y'all
Gettin sucked by a bitch named Helen
Nasty bitches, around the world, I wrote this rhyme for you
You might not like my rap, but I'm tellin you bitch it's true
So much death in the Oakland streets
Am I gonna live till next week?
Will I get shot by a dope fiend,
Tryin to get high, tryin to steal my ring
I really can't say, cause I don't know why
People out here droppin dead like flies
I used to see a home boy givin five
Now I say, "Man, you still alive?"
Cold as hell, the town I'm from
Won't last too long when you're fakin the funk
I'm the master rapper, so unique
Clap my hand when I want my freak
You can't deny it, you know I'm right
I turn any rapper out when I'm on the mic
And I won't kick back, or relax
Till he knows I'm the best at the MC rap
Till he knows Too Short, set the track
They got him caught up in my serious cap
Motherfucker can't spit straight game on the mic
Cause he's worse than a fag or a Frisco dike
He's a sucker MC, I call him punk
You try to spit that rap, you can scratch that junk
You little punk-ass boy, wouldn't listen to me
Think I'm fakin but I'm takin all you sucker MC's
To the end of the world and push you over
Good luck couldn't find you in a four leaf clover
If I ever said a rap, tryin to cap on you,
I wouldn't even sweat it cause you'll be through
Lookin so far up, you might fall down
Gettin clowned by the hound from east Oaktown
And the look in your face when you're lickin that tooth
Could make a grown man die, laughin at you
Cause you're a, no rappin, no rhymin
Played out fake ass simple simon
I never understood one word you said
But you're swearin up and down that you're killin em dead
There's only one thing, I wanted to know
Sucker motherfucker, where's the joke?
I'm the player of players, just call me Pop
My name is Too $hort, no I don't stop
I just don't stop mackin, don't stop cappin
Don't stop rappin now you see what happens
Your mind is gone, your crew just cut
Sucker MC I'll tell you what
Your rhymes are weak, your rap the same
And when it comes to game, you are lame
Never even heard of Too $hort baby
Hit Oakland in 1980
Singin mo raps than a rap could rhyme
Tellin sucker MC's don't waste my time
There's a girl I know her name is Betty
Straight to the head just rock it steady
She's so freaky she'll juice you up
All the home boys just can't get enough
She's a Ph.D., don't even stop
In the back like that goin (top, top, top)
I won't say white girl, won't say she's black
She's the kind of girl that make your knees go crack
Feel the beat, rock with me
Let me tell you what I be
I'm a MC rapper, a MC rapper
A big bank roller and a cold, cold capper
Hey baby, I got this rhyme
It's not gonna stop till the end of time
Like rock and roll I'll play that song
To the beat all day and all night long
So liten up, to what I'm sayin
I'm a Oaktown mack, bitch I ain't playin
To all the home boys doin time in the pen
Gonna rock this beat for you once again
If you can't get out and you're mad as hell
Say beeatch, now make it sound for real
I'ma tear shit up, if I get the chance
I could give a fuck less if you're hole don't dance
See I'm a big mack now, I'm so great
I was born and raised in the Golden State
Call me T.O.O., if you say $hort
I'ma rap my ass off till you give me some more
Big bank, now just make me rich
Bitch bitch bitch bitch make me rich
Check out my style, baby I don't quit
I heard this freak say, "That's the shit,
He took the cake, fucked the rake
Too $hort baby damn sure ain't fake."
But the sucker MC's are screamin loud
Sayin Sir Too $hort, shut your mouth
How can you talk about me, and call me weak
When your father smokes coke and you mother's a freak
So I keep on rappin, if nothin else
Keep your jealous thoughts to yourself
Bitch and Bitch, he's a MC right
Ain't sayin nothin but he's holdin the mic
Fuck with me, and boy you're doomed
I send a trick with a hoe to the motel room
Cause I'm the coldest MC on a microphone
Like a .357 pointed at your dome
I got cap for cap, you never heard
So fresh again with cusswords
Motherfuckin shit, fuckin with me
Fuck a skank bitch and a sucker MC
Cusswords, just let em know
Motherfuckin shit, god damn ass hoe
Cusswords, just don't quit
Motherfuck you damn shithead bitch
It's Too $hort, on the mic, and it don't stop
and it don't stop, and it won't stop, beeatch
Check out my style

cranky old cuss

NO let us not get pulled into an overdone isogloss pit!

To get into is to never get out of...

isogloss?

I am not snobby

The US State Department says the roads in Michoacán are dangerous. My wife wants to go to a nature reserve there where Monarch butterflies travel to. There are group tours to a different such Mexican locale that is not in the State Department don’t go area. Folks commenting on Trip Advisor think the roads in Michoacán are fine by day to the butterflies area. Anybody know more?

the US State Department says to not travel to Michoacan at all

what do you wanna do, live forever?

don't travel at night, go with a reputable tour group and don't wander off by yourself, and avoid doing obviously stupid stuff like flashing wads of cash or expensive smartphones and cameras and you'll be OK.

IME the US State Department travel warnings do not jive with actual travel risk (in my case tested in Mexico, Lebanon, North Korea).

Friends from the State Department (I live in DC, and those ppl used to be all over the place) explain that the travel warnings are all about diplomatic relationships and not actual travel risk.

If it were me I would go without a second thought.

When I lived in southern Baja roads were in fact dangerous at night but that was due to vacas not banditos.

I've personally just gotten very weary of more dangerous places as i've gotten older. my parents went to rio a couple of years back and witnessed two distinct gunpoint robberies and i was thinking "maybe cross that off the old list".

having said that lots of cities in america are p dangerous so i dunno, live a little

incidentally I'm going to mexico in february (my first ever honest to goodness vacation!!) and am v stoked

oh! am thinking of just taking a quick trip over the border to TJ in March. like just a day trip to grab badass tacos and maybe a bottle of nice tequila or whatever. anybody have recs on anything there? considering driving to san diego and just taking a bus to avoid some of the border-crossing mess.

We found a butterfly reserve in Piedro Herrada, that is NOT in a region that the State Department says not to visit. We hired a tour guide who picked us up at our Mexico City hotel and took us out there. We rode horses part of the way up the mountain trail and then walked further uphill from there, where we saw hundreds or more Monarch butterflies high in the trees and low by bushes . It all worked out well. The tour guide played his fave rural Mexican Banda and durenguese country music for us in the car and there, plus we ate a good lunch there ( and drank some mezcal). After spending some time in Mexico City, we flew to Cancun and rented a car and went to Tulum ( where Dan’s upthread suggestions helped out).

Piedra Herrada

i am going to el DF in less than a month -- are there any music-related places i need to go while i'm there? (it's just a few days, i've wanted to go there for as long as i can remember so this is probably a first visit not an only visit)

Can't remember your music inclinations but Saturday punk/hc flea market el Chopo. Just past Revolucion station and next to the really cool library.

It was kinda corny but we enjoyed the Mexico Folkloric Dance (and singing) company that performs at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. We also were probably the only gringos at a Victor Manuelle salsa romantica concert ( he’s Puerto Rican) at a place called the Forum that gets rented out for salsa shows

i like all types of music-related places. i am trying to learn something to take home so i can get brownie points at work + personal satisfaction :) i'm collecting things/venues/publications? to google when i have time before the trip. thanks for the tips!

I saw an astonishing Mariachi band in Plaza Garibaldi one night - a skiffle punk version who looked like they slept in their suits - but it might have been a lucky one off. As I said in the DF thread, just go and hang out at one of the shitty pulque places and avoid the big tourist traps.

Here's the link to the Mexico City thread (that I had missed before, doh!) with good, detailed Aldo comments on it:

Mexico City

re music in Mexico City...I am not seeing any upcoming gigs there right now by my faves Julieta Venegas or Cafe Tacuba.

Here's a link for the corny but good Folkloric Ballet company that includes mariachi musicians and dancers and more whom wife and I did see at the Palacio de Belle Artes (they perform here regularly)

https://www.balletfolkloricodemexico.com.mx/presentaciones-ballet-de-mexico-amalia-hernandez/

I read about these Mexico City clubs but uh, never made it to any of them:

La Maraka salsa merengue dance club

Mama Rumba

Mojito Room

Multiforo Alicia - indie

Pasaguero - indie

do: have a blast :)

Near the Mexico City Airport I noticed the Discos Colombia record store but I didn’t have time to go there. It’s on this list from a little while back
http://remezcla.com/lists/music/10-mexico-city-record-stores/

thanks curmudgeon! very helpful. i plan to have 1 or ideally >1 blast :)

going to Tulum (and parts nearby) next wednesday for a week! very excited!

We enjoyed our recent time in Tulum. The beach time was nice despite the seaweed issue there ( lots floating to shore). The Mayan ruins are a must to see and going to cenotes is also fun. We enjoyed a tour of the Sian Kaan Biosphere area where via boat we saw manatees and crocodiles and birds. There we also got to float down a tributary propelled by the current. Dinner at Cetli Restaurant was impressive—fancy Mexican in a casual but nicely designed restaurant ( out on a highway and not with the trendy places on the coastal road.

The Mayan ruins at Coba aren't that far from Tulum. worth seeing as well. Chichen Itza is 2 1/2 hours from Tulum (we didn't end up going there but i want to someday)

Tulum food rec: Pollo Bronco, on the main strip in town. So good.

Can you still climb Coba? You could when I was there but then 10 years is a long time ago.