One of the delights of renting a single room in the home of an Airbnb is that you have the opportunity to have conversations with your host. Each host we've stay with in Mexico has been generous enough to give thoughtful recommendations and advice about the country. We eagerly soak up and apply these nuggets of wisdom to our travels.
"Where should we go in Mexico?"
When the young couple who hosted us in Ciudad Obregón suggested we visit the mountainous city of Tepic, we gladly incorporated it into our journey. Due to Airbnb availability and the constrictions of our schedule, we could only stay one night, but we still had the chance to stay in a gorgeous house with a view overlooking the city. Before heading to Puerto Vallarta, we got to sample some local cuisine, too.
Here's what less than $9 got us for a night in Tepic.
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After our night in Tepic, we stopped at a nearby restaurant to grab a bite to eat. As always, I (Jordan) didn't really know what to expect when ordering my 120 peso ($6.44 USD) dish. The menu described it as a combination of vegetables, fresh citrus juices, octopus, and shrimp. It was all served it in a coconut, which holds a deceptively large amount of food!
The biggest risk I was taking on this dish was the octopus. I had tried it in the past and it was extremely tough to chew—akin to what I imagine it would be like to munch on some rubber bands. The sight of octopus still grosses me out with all the suction cups on its tentacles, but I couldn't leave Tepic without trying it. As it turns out, not all octopus is rubbery and chewy. It was really tender and reasonably tasty!
If you've been following along with our adventures up to this point, you're probably wondering why we're talking about Tepic if we've been in Puerto Vallarta for two weeks. In a nutshell, we had a lot of videos to edit/post and not enough time to finish them. We were getting so many great recommendations for cities we had already left, so in an effort to get caught up, we temporarily skipped a few videos.
Our Airbnb in this city is up on a giant hill. Starting the very first morning, we woke up to an orchestra of unfamiliar sounds...roosters, dogs, cats, insects, and birds all doing their thang. It was as if we could hear all the sounds of Puerto Vallarta from this hilltop!
In addition to nature's symphony, we heard a man walking around our neighborhood yelling "TORTIIIIILLAAAAAS!" to sell his freshly-made product. We fondly dubbed him the "Tortilla Man" and if you've been following our videos, you've probably heard us mention him several times in our videos over the past couple of weeks.
The elusive Tortilla Man evaded us every day for two weeks straight until we FINALLY ran into him today—our last day in Puerto Vallarta. Que suerte! We could hardly contain our excitement when we saw him and managed to get a short (and highly embarrassing) video clip of our interaction.
"The Bolillo Man" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
RIP Tortilla Man.
