Skin care

The next time I complain about the humidity in Wilmington in August, please remind me of the lack of humidity in other places.  Yes, the humidity does make it feel hotter, but, oh, what the humidity does for my skin!  It always takes a couple of weeks to adjust to the dry air here.  Luckily, there are a couple of markets that sell locally produced skin care products, coffees and pastries.  Seems like an unlikely combination, but they call it the organic market.  Think of a group of young hippies, complete with tie-dyed clothes and dreadlocks, and you've got the picture.  The orangic idea and Green Movement has infiltrated Mexican tourist offices, too.    On the coast of Oaxaca, there is a turtle sanctuary that gets rave comments from animal lovers and tourists.  Scientists are very pleased with the results of the work at the Mazunte station, and I understand that another sea and land turtle sanctuary and hatching station is established close to Puerto Escondido.  The work there has helped return about 900,000 leatherback, olive ridley and hawksbill turtles to the wild.

The whole Green rage has always been a part of life here.  When people are poor enough to risk illegally entering another country just to find work and food, they can't afford to waste anything.  Use every part of the pig except the squeal, as they say at home.  Last night, we wandered the streets in the central historic district, enjoying the atmosphere of the night before the Festival of the Virgin of Guadelupe.  We grazed on the offerings from the street vendors, enjoying the flavors and smells.  A choice street food, only in the evenings, is tortillas stuffed with various parts of the pig.  I mentioned buche earlier, pig stomach.  Chopped.  Well, another that is to me equally unappetizing is pig snout. I don't know the spanish for this food.  At several food carts, above the comal for heating the chopped meat and warming the tortillas, were piles of cooked pig snouts.  Eyes removed.  Yuck.  Thankfully, there were enough people waiting for a chance to be served that we had to move on.  The cook would grab a snout and begin hacking away on a very well-used cutting block, piling the chopped meat on the comal.  On the customer's side of the cart were bowls of condiments: salsas of various colors and chiles, cilantro, chopped onion and radishes.

I look for and love the equites.  A cup of steaming corn, with a dollop of mayo, a squeeze of lime juice, some crumbled chese and a sprinkle of chile powder.  Yummmm!  Usually, at the same cart you can buy an ear of roasted corn, too.  The shuck is pulled back but left attached for a handle.  Later in the evening, the street gutters will be littered with chewed corn cobs and paper napkins. 

Our landlady, Maria, left some fresh avocados on our table last week.  We'll enjoy them this afternoon, with a more appealing pork dish that I'm cooking today, chileajo con puerco. Pork with a chile and garlic sauce.  I bought the pork shoulder at the mercado yesterday, after telling the woman what I was cooking.  She knew exactly which cut of meat I needed, and grabbed an entire pork shoulder from the hook above us, hacked off just the correct amount. With a smile. She'll sell cuts from that big bone, until there is no meat left, and will sell the bones to make stock.  No waste, the original Green lifestyle.