Guacamole – A Taste of South of the Border

On May 4, 2016 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn Recipes7 Comments

One of things that we love about travelling to Mexico is that when you order guacamole, you get a lot of guacamole. Here in the United States, you would think that avocados were a precious commodity by the way they charge you for a couple of tablespoons of guacamole. There are a lot of good uses for avocados, but guacamole is probably our favorite. It can be used with chips as a dip or it can be used as a spread on a sandwich. We leave the seeds in the jalapenos, but if you don’t like it as spicy, the seeds can be removed. This recipe is for a small batch, but obviously it can be increased if you are serving it for a larger crowd.

Ingredients

2 Avocados – diced
1 Medium Tomato – finely diced
1 Jalapeno – finely diced (seeds removed if you don’t want it spicy)
1 Garlic Clove – minced
1 tbsp Red or Yellow Onion – finely diced
Juice of 1 Lime
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Cut the avocados in half, using your knife to carve around the large seed. Twist the avocado to separate the two halves, the seed will remain in one of the halves. Using a knife, carefully chop into the seed so that the knife is slightly embedded. Twist the knife to remove the seed and carefully remove the seed from the knife blade. Use a spoon to separate the flesh of the avocado from the skin by tracing the spoon along the inside of the skin and place the flesh into a medium bowl. You can dice the avocado prior to removing it from the skin or after it is in the bowl. Add the rest of ingredients and mix thoroughly. If you prefer a creamy guacamole, you can mash the avocado dices as you stir, or leave some of the dices whole if you prefer a chunkier guacamole. Serve with chips.

Attending Cultural Shows

On April 29, 2016 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn Mexico4 Comments

When travelling, we try to go to a show that depicts the history and culture of the people where we are visiting. They can be a little bit hokey at times, but they are also pretty informative. When we were in Puerto Vallarta a few years ago, we had two different experiences, but they were both a lot of fun. First we took a tour on a pirate ship that combined some pirate swashbuckling with a show about their Incan ancestors. Then later in the trip, we took a cruise to a remote location south of Puerto Vallarta for dinner and a show. Most cultures are extremely proud of their heritage, so they put a lot of effort into shows such as these.

On the pirate ship, they started by doing some interactive activities to get people to loosen up and relax. As is always the case whenever there is something interactive that we attend, Dona is selected to participate. First they threatened to toss her overboard before pulling her up to the “stage”. Then they had her sing La Cucaracha with ice in her mouth and, if that wasn’t enough, they gave her a poncho and had her do a mock-striptease. There is nothing to do except to take it in all in with a smile, it is all in good fun.

After the ice-breakers, we enjoyed some drinks and looked around at the splendid views from the ship. As the sun started going down, the pirate show began. It was a lot of tongue-and-cheek humor and leaping around waving swords. Probably more fun for the kids than it was for the adults, but it was interesting enough. It was certainly more about entertainment than culture or education.

After the pirate show, the highlight of the night started with an Incan performance. There was a lot of fire, drums, and chanting. It was quite entertaining, culminating in a fireworks show.

When we went to the dinner, it was quite a different experience. This show really centered on the history of the Incan ancestors and their mystical beliefs. We didn’t get too many pictures of that show, but it was quite fascinating. It was very elaborate with dancers all over the stage telling the story of their gods, complete with a pulley system swinging actors above the audience. After the show, we ate dinner on the beach and watched the sun set before heading back to Puerto Vallarta.

These cultural shows provide an opportunity for visitors to get a glimpse at traditions, folkdance, folklore, and the culture in general. It isn’t a substitute for reading about a culture in advance of visiting or taking the time to go to the museums that might be in a city, but it can be an entertaining way to reinforce what you’ve already read and learned. Worse case, it might just be a fun evening with drinks and a show.

Sailing into the Sunset

On April 19, 2016April 19, 2016 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn Mexico, Photo Challenge2 Comments

For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Happy, we once again had a difficult time figuring out what to post. Our first thought was to use one of our pictures from hiking in the mountains, because that always makes us happy. We could have easily put a picture of our children doing what they love, they are always hamming it up for the camera. In the end, we decided to go with this photo from Puerto Vallarta. Perhaps it is just because we’re both a little tired with work at the moment, or maybe its just that we’re getting a little older these days, but the thought of hopping on a ship and sailing into the sunset to some new destination yet unknown, seems really appealing to us right now. Hopefully this will take you to a happy place of your own.