I was in Mexico last month and visited some interesting food and drink towns, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite food photos and experiences in brief. It's a fair amount to consume, so to speak, so I'll be breaking them down by city and sharing them one by one!

First up: the gorgeous colonial town of Guanajuato.



Guanajuato is a lovely town in Central Mexico that was founded in the 1500s, and funded lavishly for hundreds of years by a massively prolific silver mine just outside of town. The town is built up two sides of a ravine, and the residents favor bright colors for their boxy houses, which are packed together on teeny-tiny streets.

Of course I bought this- handmade chocolate sold by an ancient man outside the Mercado Juarez. He said it was made by his 3 sons. Inside the paper, I found fragrant cakes of Mexican chocolate, rich with dark cocoa, cinnamon, and big crunchy granules of sugar.



One morning, I spotted some guys hanging out by this old truck packed with hanging cow carcasses and a trash can near Mercado Embajadoras. Nice meat hook



I love my Best Foods, but something about that giant jar of mayo made me think twice about that tasty-looking corn.



The signs on these delivery scooters for a Domino's franchise have successfully managed to make me think of both explosions and lotion, neither of which is particularly tantalizing in relation to pizza.



Looking down into the food stalls and lunch counters in Mercado Juarez from the 2nd floor.



A fabulous torta de carnitas (pork sandwich) with spicy red and green sauces, for less than a buck each from one of those very stalls.



Obligatory Mexican market photo of a ginormous pile of dried chilies.



My brother-in-law loved this squash blossom/huitlacoche/homemade cheese concoction he got from a street vendor at the Pípila, but it was a bit too overpowering for me.



This is an official street sign, the likes of which normally point you to geographical or tourist locations- but this one is pointing out the different types of local food you can get at Mercado de Gavira.



Drinking is serious business: for my money, you've gotta go with a shot of Herradura Reposado (for sipping, no shooting!) with sangrita (to chase each sip) and a Modelo Especial (in between.)



This guy was selling tamales from a bucket at 1 AM (35 cents for 2.) We got one because we were intrigued by "dulce" - sweet tamales. It was a tamale with pineapple goo inside. Not bad, but I'll stick with savory. I should have tried acelgas (chard.)



We happened upon a minor league baseball game in an amazing stadium embedded right into the middle of town, and ate lots of salty roasted pistachios and pumpkin seeds, with cheap beers of course, while enjoying the action.