No place like home

It’s good to be back at the beach on the Costalegre after a whopping four weeks in a San Diego de-tox center. And sadly, even though my pockets were filled with schwag from the AA meetings, there was no time to shop! No decent Scotch, not even a good aftershave from the duty free store.

This morning at the neighborhood carniceria, I knew the magic of Mexico had returned. The butcher shoved a bottle of icy-cold cerveza my way, making up my decision to forsake my morning cup of Nescafe. He insisted that I try a greasy piece of chicharron, finding a small one, adding that he knew it’s unhealthy but since I love the stuff, I’d eat it anyway. And he reminded me that I should take home some carnitas for lunch.

The next stop was Chucho’s botanero, where he greeted me with “you look you could use something to take the edge off, I know just what to fix you.” I didn’t have to think about what to order, because he knew I consider him the best cantinero between Tepic and Villahermosa and whatever he concocted would be quite appropriate for consumption at this early hour.

And then on to the beach for a coco loco, la bebida extraordinaire that one can’t equal in Boston or Iowa or anywhere else you may be from. Made unsurprisingly with raicilla! Raicilla, an essential part of the Mexico experience! Similar to moonshine, fermented from the small roots (raicilla) of the maguey and usually well beyond 100 proof.

There may be no good table wine in Mexico – or single malt Scotch at a reasonable price – but we’ve got raicilla.