Eating in Mexico is so easy. Just walk down any street and you will find foods of all descriptions and nationalities. On Sunday, we walked all of two minutes from our hotel to the mercado (outdoor market). There we found an area with tables and benches, with cooks in chef’s jackets waiting to serve their Sunday Special, Super order of Chicken. As my Spanish is limited (Si, No, Gracias, blinking or vacant stares for anything else), Deb asked about the Special, and enquired about the price. The chef stated the price (noventa y cinco or 95 pesos) and Deb relayed it to me as sentena y cinco or 75 pesos. The chef immediately said “95” in English. With the price now verified, we ordered the dish, along with a couple of beers.
This is a big platter. Enchiladas with a potato stuffing on the left, fried potatoes on the right, chicken leg and wing in the middle, and cole slaw in the front. Also, at the top, a large pickled jalapeno pepper. Now, notice the yellow peppers. They were on top of the slaw and I moved them to their current position. This is a safety measure you need to adopt if you travel to Mexico. You never know what you’re getting in the way of heat.
I thought about eating healthy, so I tried the slaw first. Pretty spicy for just cabbage with a light dressing. I told Deb about the heat in the slaw, so she could avoid the heat. We continued trying various parts of the dish when it happened.
I looked at Deb and I realized she seems to be panting. She looked like she was in labor. Then I noticed she is growing red in the face. I mean really red. Her eyes start watering. I was about to ask her if she tried the slaw when she points to the yellow pepper rings. Remember those? The peppers that were on top of the slaw? She tried a pepper ring, thinking it was like a bell pepper. Wrong.
Notice the above. This is a pepper from a garden of one of our Couchsurfing friends. When I say pepper tree, I meant it. This plant was over six feet tall. Our Couchsurfing friend pronounced these as “muy caliente” or very hot. This is what was on top of the slaw. Deb is still gasping and sweating (not “glowing”). I try to help. I eat a pepper ring in sympathy. And it’s really hot. Drink some beer, I offer. Eat some more food to counter the inferno. Don’t blame me, I hope. All you can do is wait it out. And we learned a lesson: Let Matt try it first.