World Mexico Chiapas Tapachula

Still Trying to Find My Way Home

My Love... Jul 21, 2011

Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico A good friend, Jim Duggan, (I call him hacksaw) recently asked me if I would be subsisting on straight up tacos during this expedition. Jim, the following story will answer your question. Today was an important day for me, a day to overcome obstacles, move forward and not back. ¨For those that live in the past are doomed to repeat it.¨ For those of you that have been following my missives over the last few years know that I live on one meal in Mexico, the ¨taco al pastor´, complemented by all types of street delights. It is my staple. It is my razon d'etre as we say in the trade. The taco al pastor is prepared by lightly frying two corn tortillas, and carefully placing particles of seasoned pig in the tortilla and garnishing it with onions, cilantro, a squeeze of lemon and a sliver of pineapple, which is added at the end of preparation like a cherry on top of a Friendly´s sundae. Please don´t tell my Rabbi that I eat pork. If you don´t remember, during last year´s fieldwork I became violently ill after devouring 8 tacos al pastor on the streets of Veracruz. The ensuing 24 hours were some of the most difficult times of my life, aside from moving from Brooklyn to New City when I was 2. I digress. Anyway, since that hellish day of vomiting and bathrooming, at the same time I might add, and despite my continued love affair with the taco al pastor, I have been unable to indulge. The only tacos I have eaten since are hard shell tacos from Taco Bell. Today was the day I´ve been waiting for for a year, the opportunity to rekindle my love affair with ´al pastor´ at my favorite taqueria in Chiapas, Mexico. I ordered 3 tacos al pastor and a tall glass of fresh juice. Each bite, bursting with flavor, brought me further and further down memory lane. The delectable juiciness made me reflect on the countless good times we shared together. While I enjoyed our rendezvous, I´m afraid it just ain´t the same. I feel like a man that has been betrayed by his woman. I´m afraid it will never be the way it was.

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