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Buenos dias GBD!  Lookit!  Our very first intro to Mexico!  Take it away Jessica M!

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I live in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, in Mexico.  It’s in the northern part of Mexico, just below Texas.  Our official language is Spanish.

Monterrey is Mexico’s third most populated city and it is known as The Northern Capital or The Mountain City because of the impressive rocky structures that surround it.  According to a report from IMCO, Monterrey is the country’s most competitive city.

The weather here is not that nice because it is really, really hot during summer, and really cold during winter, although it almost never snows. We’ve reached temperatures over 45°C during summer!

Some of the popular places to visit are La Cola de Caballo, which is a beautiful waterfall;  Chipinque, which is like a forest where you can go hiking or to a picnic with your friends or family.  It’s also really cool, and the view is awesome.  La Presa de la Boca, which is a dam; Las Grutas de Garcia, which are sort of like caves with naturally formed stalactites and stalagmites inside them.  Different rocky structures were formed and the tour guide gives you interesting explanations about them.  Paseo Santa Lucia is an artificial river, where you can rent boats or travel by foot on the side of the river.  At night it’s beautiful because the restaurants along the river have tables outside their restaurants, so you can appreciate the river and its lights and stuff.  There’s also the museum of history and the museum of art.  There’s also the Planetario Alfa, a science museum and it has an IMAX screen.  The Cathedral is beautiful too and its architecture is amazing.

La Cola de Caballo

Chipinque

Grutas de Garcia

Paseo Santa Lucia

Planetario Alfa 

Presa de la Boca

Cathedral 

El Cerro de la Silla is the mountain that defines and represents our city.  It’s an amazing, impressive, and really beautiful mountain with the shape of a horse saddle, which is why it is called that.  El Parque Fundidora is also a defining part of our city.  Years ago, it was the iron and steel industry.  Today it is conserved as a museum.  There are also some restaurants, and events are often held there.  Monterrey was the host to the Universal Cultural Forum in 2007.

El Cerro de la Silla

Parque Fundidora 

Okay well, the food is one of our traditions and the typical dish that represents our city is the “cabrito”, which is basically goat meat.  In English they are called kids because they’re the offspring of goats.  Now I know it sounds gross, but it’s actually delicious and everyone who comes here always wants to have some because not only is it yummy, it’s also a typical thing to do if you are visiting Monterrey.  Another typical dish is the “machacado con huevo”, a course prepared with eggs, dried beef, and sometimes spicy sauce.  It usually comes with beans on the side and tortillas to eat it in tacos.  The “Asado de Puerco” is another typical dish.  It is roasted beef and it is delicious.  If you ever come here I really recommend the cabrito, it is something you HAVE to try if you are visiting, and it’s like a tradition.

Cabrito

Machacado

Asado de Puerco 

Even though we have our regional food, there are also some of the best international restaurants here.  There are also a lot of American fast-food franchises.

Another custom or tradition is that we are very close to our families.  To our grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, cousins, and of course to our parents and siblings.

Our land is very, very dry.  The people who live here are very hard workers.  Our city is known as an industrial city.  There are a lot of industries here, companies that make steel, wood, glass, and so many more things.  People here are really empathetic and helpful; they are kind, warm people.

The people talk a lot about technology, about places they traveled to, about TV series, movies, a lot about fashion, art, industry, and ecology. They’re always talking about and creating ideas about how to make this world a better place.  There are a lot of different charities people donate to.  They also make different kinds of events, like art galleries and fashion shows, to raise money for different charities.  There are also really cool malls with the best national and international brands.  You can find any designer brand you want.  Monterrey is a really consumerist city.  People buy a LOT.

Now, how do we spend our free time?  Well, we go to the gym, we go to the movies or to the theater, and we go for some coffee to Starbucks and just chill with our friends.  There are also many clubs where people go to dance at night.  We also go to McAllen, Texas and to South Padre Island, which is also in Texas.  The thing is that our hometown is about 3 hours by car from McAllen.  We are very close to the border, so we go there to do our shopping.  We go there during weekends, during vacations, or anytime we have some free time.  During summer vacations it is very popular to go to South Padre Island.  Most people go and it’s awesome because you get to be on the beach, you get tanned, and you always see someone you know, either a friend or a classmate or someone.

I guess the attitudes towards women are good ones because we are seen as people who can achieve great things.  There are a lot of professional women with degrees and a lot of women are the the heads of their families and the ones who work to support their families.  The family income comes from them.  So women here are very hard-working and always want to be better in every aspect of their lives.  

This post is already long enough, so I’ll just say that I love my city, and I think it is a nice place to live.  I hope you liked it too. 

Jessica M

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Wow…lookit all those mountains!  My friend visited a small inland town in Mexico a couple years ago, and she loved it.  She said the woman who cooked in the inn she was staying at was amazing.  I was drooling when she told me about the food.

I’ve never had goat, but if I’m ever in Monterrey I’m trying it!  Cuz it looks good!  But Jessica…does it taste gamey?  Because a lot of my friends and family like lamb, but I don’t like lamb.  I’ve tried it several times, prepared in different ways, and I always taste this underlying flavor in the meat that I don’t like.  I was wondering if goat had that same kind of flavor that lamb does.  And all this talk of asado is making me hungry.  Asado is some good stuff people!  I had some in Argentina.  Maaaaan…   :d

Muchas gracias Jessica!  Mexico’s awesome!

I have no idea if there’s going to be a Passport next week because I’ll be on vacation.  I know a few of you said you were working on one, but if you send it to me over the next week, I can’t guarantee that it’ll go up next Saturday.  But definitely the Saturday after that.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to tell us about where she’s from!  Whoohoo!