MEXICO- PUERTO ESCONDIDO -2

Tags: Mexico travel, tourism, holidays, backpacking, monuments, mountains, seascape, landscape, beaches, food & drink, sightseeing, surfing.



The main street in el Puerto Escondido, El Adoquin, is a long street from one end of the town to the other. At that time it was unpaved, men were working to improve it, small shops on both sides looking forlorn. As I have said somewhere else, the year 2008 was a year of unrest in Mexico, there were a few tourists and this was apparent in Puerto Escondido too. Many shopkeeper with whom we talked, told us that the economic situation was very bad, many shops hardly sold anything at all. 

A small town like Puerto Escondido have restaurants selling Pizza and pasta, hamburgers, and other non Mexican food. Tourists prefer the food they know and are less likely to try the local fare. We had food at some of the restaurants but the best of all was La Langosta, a seafood restaurant, albeit more expensive but with a variety of food and drinks. It is our habit to visit local markets when we visit new places and this we did in Puerto Escondido too. The market was at a distance of some two kilometres, so we took a taxi. It was past five 0'clock in the afternoon and the market stalls selling fruit & vegetables save a few were all closed and so were the stalls selling food.

 However, the owners of one stall, father, mother and a daughter,  having closed it, were sitting and eating and on enquiring if we could get something to eat, allowed us to sit down and the man, without asking, brought us two cold beers. So we started talking and asked if we could have some fried fish and  prawns and salad. We were told that we could, and the man got up and went away and in ten minutes returned, accompanied by a young boy, who brought two fresh red snappers, cut in chunks and marinated in a dark red sauce, and a tray full of large tiger prawns. The fish, when we asked about the sauce, were told, was marinated in Adobo sauce, which is made of hot Chipotle chilies, sesame seeds, peanuts, sugar and vinegar, garlic and other spices, all blended together, mixed with dry bread crumbs.

In Mexico city we had asked for fried fish and this was fried without any condiments, totally carbonated, without any flesh left, without any taste. In Oaxaca city, we had grilled fillets of Mojarra (bream) marinated in lemon juice, fresh garlic, red hot chilies, vinegar, fresh coriander leaves. You need a fish of firm flesh like bream or snapper, tuna or bonito, marinate it overnight, and then grill it over charcoal fire or hot plate.

The kitchen in the food stall was small but well kept, inside was a charcoal grill with a hot plate on one side and a rack on which the young lady put the whole fish and placed the prawns on the hot plate to grill. Outside the kitchen and the wash up space, in the common area, were two tables and benches for diners.  Soon the smell of grilled fish filled our nostrils and buds of appetite and hunger started bubbling in our stomachs. We had two small glasses of tequila, chasing them down with couple more cold beers and after a wait of about 20 minutes, were served grilled prawns and fish, sprinkled with fresh lime juice and coriander leaves. The fish & prawns were well grilled, flesh firm and juicy and tasted delicious. After eating our food, we each had a cup of Mexican coffee, paid our bill, thanked the family for their hospitality and took a taxi back to Mayflower.