South of the Border

Yep. We finally made it to Mexico!

My camera found its way into one of the van's black holes right before we crossed the border, so unfortunately, I was unable to take photographs depicting the maze of border patrol checkpoints and federalis dotting our path to San Carlos.

Did you know that you don't even hit border patrol until 20 miles into Mexico? This is the case in Nogales, at least. You can drive in and out virtually unquestioned for 20 miles before you're forced to get a vehicle permit, visa, and passport stamp. Even then, we were barely given a second glance. I was shocked considering how obvious it was that we were trafficking narcotics.

Just kidding.

Anyway, our van fits right in here in mexico (Current location: Álamos, Sonora). Right now she's parked in front of the Alamos Cathedral in Plaza de Armas.

We've been in Mexico four days and three nights. So far, we've encountered no problems or mishaps (fingers crossed). We drove straight down to San Carlos from Patagonia via Nogales (again, sorry my camera was M.I.A. at the time). San Carlos is about 60% gringo. I swear the only Mexicans we saw were the people working in the shops, restaurants, and cafes. The signs were written in both english and spanish so it was almost like we were still in the States. It was nice to see the ocean again and to watch the sunset over the islands off the coast. We checked out a fascinating shanty town at the end of this long dirt road and worked at a couple of restuarant/cafes. I wish I had photos to share. We stayed here one night and left early in the morning for the town of Álamos.

Plaza De Armas (Álamos, Sonora)

On the drive to Álamos, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand to load up for the the next 24 hours. Bargain central: We bought 1 pineapple, 6 apricots, 2 plantains, 8 baby bananas, 6 mandarins, and 2 navel oranges for $5. It was at this moment that my camera got spit back into reality by, not the van this time, but the giant black hole that is my purse. Sadly, the battery was dead so it was still of no use. The fruit, however, was a win. The pineapple was delicious, the navel oranges were the juiciest oranges I'd ever had (I could barely pull apart the orange slices without a flood of orange juice gushing through the tears). The bananas are still ripening up, but so far they are not as good as the state's imported organic counterpart. I can't say much for the mandarins after devouring those navels and the verdict's still out on the apricots. I washed them with vegetable/produce wash and it left a bitter taste on the skin so I'm thinking I should try to peel the apricots before I make a decision.

Once we got to Álamos, we scoped out the super mercado.

I got 1 large papaya, 3 pineapples, 1 bunch of cilantro, and 1 poblano pepper for $5.50. The papaya was giant with gorgeous flesh and I could feel my skin thanking me for the nourishment of all those phytonutrients (carotenoids) and vitamin C as I sucked the nectar out of each juicy spoonful.

That day I ate two pineapples (piñamiels - a sweeter type of pineapple) in one day, and by the final 1/2-pineapple stretch, my mouth was on fire from the acid. I'm surprised I didn't wake up the following morning with popped taste buds on my tongue.

I had stocked up on organic fruits and veggies in Patagonia because I wasn't sure what the situation would be like in Mexico regarding "safe" raw fruits and vegetables. The Patagonia supply lasted me through tonight so I have yet to really delve into the whole rumor mill suggesting the "boycotting of Mexican raw produce because you'll get sick" hysteria. Tonight, I did mix some Mexican-bought cilantro and poblano pepper into my salad with State-side organic zucchini, organic yam, and organic sweet onion. We'll see how I fair tonight and tomorrow. I've decided my Plan B for getting enough chlorophyll into my system (if Mexican greens are out of the question) is to get a massive sprout station going.

Our current measly supply of sprouts

I'd ideally like to eat a minimum of one 1-qt jar of sprouts per day. Evan would like to do the same so that means we'll need two 1-qt jars of sprouts ready for feasting every day. I think we'll get the sprouting schedule figured out by the time we're out of Mexico. The only thing we need now is more seeds. And when we do find seeds, will they be safe to use? Are they gmo or is that only something we need to worry about in the states? Also, how will the sprouts survive through soaring temperatures in the van? Mold? These are some of the questions I am determined to answer on this journey.

Right now I'm sitting at a wifi cafe, called "Cafenetto"

The internet just went down, though, so Evan packed up and went to the bar next door even though he said he was giving up alcohol for the duration of our trip through Mexico. I'm only mildly bitter about it. He asked me if I would play pool with him and I wagered "only if you go on a jog with me tomorrow". He declined the offer. Last night he said he would go on a jog with me this morning, but he bailed out on that one, too. Again, I'm only mildly bitter. ;) Seriously, though...is the whole machismo thing something I'll get used to? I ended up going on a jog without him only to get harassed by several of the locals - whistles, honks, and at one point two men stopped their truck and started following me. But whose to say that wouldn't have happened even if Evan was with me? Clearly, I would've felt a little less vulnerable had he been by my side.

Ok, rant's over.

Meanwhile, back at the cafe - I'm eating this delicious treat: manzana con chili:

It's an apple covered in tamarindo spices, chili powder, cayenne, lemon juice, salt, and sugar. (Yea, bad vegan. I know. Bad RAW vegan). It's salty, sweet, tart, and spicy all in one. It's making my eyes twitch and my lips pucker, my nose run, and my throat burn. Tell me that doesn't sound like heaven.

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So to catch up on our last week in Patagonia: Evan's Birthday, Acro Yoga, Nathan's Straw Bale House, San Rafael Valley, Van Roof Picnic, Red Mountain (the actual mountain, not the natural food store), Lentil Sprouts, and Tree of Life!

For Evan's birthday we made another glorious (mostly) raw meal. This time with Chip and Laura:

Quick excerpt from previous post on how we met Chip and Laura:

---Patagonia, Arizona---

Now we're in Patagonia, an insanely small town probably 20 miles from the Mexican border. We've already made friends with some of the locals. Evan saw a flyer outside the coffeeshop for free yoga at this house around the corner from the main strip. The couple that live there have a massage business and yoga studio. They offered to let us use their shower and said we could park outside their house. They pretty much opened their home to us. Very sweet couple - Chip and Laura. Thank you Chip and Laura! I will get a photo of them before we leave.

Patagonia is home to the Tree of Life retreat center. Evan and I are going to hit up the cafe as soon as some payments come through. Lunch at the Tree of Life(a 100% raw food cafe and rejuvenation center) is $30 a person and Dinner is $20 a person. It will be a spendy outing, but well worth it I'm sure. Stay posted for photos of Patagonia and the Tree of Life.

Evan's Birthday was similar to Raw Patagonia Pasta night.

We had raw zucchini pasta, raw marinara, raw zucchini hummus, a giant salad (romaine lettuce, butterleaf lettuce, sunflower sprouts, shredded beets, shredded carrots, and chunks of navel orange), a cooked golden beat salad, raw sunflower seed cheese, and steamed cruciferous vegetables.

Later that night, after everyone was good and toasty we got freaky with some Acro Yoga (A combination of acrobatics and yoga):

Acro Yoga is something Evan and I had never heard of but immediately wanted to master. According to Chip&Lo, Acro Yoga is big in some parts of Mexico. We will definitely look into it further and try to take some classes while we're here. I just googled "Acro Yoga" and this is the first video that comes up. It's an artform, really...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQI-9Wo7RNM

Learn more about Acro Yoga here

The next day we went up to see Nathan's straw bale house.

Nathan works at Gathering Grounds, the wifi cafe in Patagonia where we spent a good chunk of our time. He built this house out of straw bales and stucko. It is a beautiful home. I couldn't decide which photos to omit, so I just included all of them:

Nathan took us for a walk around his property. He had carved a trail that stretched through and around his _?_ acreage. He pointed out a parched looking cat's claw bush to us. I use this anti-inflammatory herb sometimes for headaches and and other aches and pains.

Although, now that I look at other images of cat's claw, I'm thinking this might be mesquite? Not sure.

On the way back to the house, he mentioned this plant (or seed?) that dries and splits

He collects these from around his property and uses them as curtain holders.

Brilliant.

We took an interest in Nathan's house because we'd like to build a home from recycled materials at some point - maybe even straw bales.

That afternoon we snuck away to the San Rafael Valley about 8 miles outside of Patagonia in the Coronado National Forest.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the valley is covered in this sea-foam green color. It was quiet and peaceful out here. Nobody around but the two of us. We climb on top of the van and hung out here for awhile soaking up the warm southern arizona sun. From here, we drove down to check out the ghost town of Harshaw.

This is all that remains:

To be continued...here

Raw Patagonia Pasta Primavera (w/ zucchini hummus!)

Maybe an unlikely combination, but definitely a complimentary one in my opinion. My camera battery is dead and it seems as though the van has swallowed yet another one of our belongings (my camera battery charger) so we've resorted to Evan's iPhone to capture the raw dinner I made for us tonight:

Raw Patagonia Pasta Primavera

Chip and Laura (our bffs of Patagonia) left for the weekend and gave us permission to use their shower, bathroom, kitchen, house, internet, laundry facilities, etc. They've been so gracious to us. We feel so fortunate to have run into them while passing through this magical town, which by the way has THE best radio station in America - 100.5 KPUP. It's the only radio station we pick up in the van and it plays an eclectic mix of blues, country, folk, and reggae. No Top 40 spins of any kind. Beautiful.

So I've been craving marinara and zucchini pasta since yesterday. I went to the awesome local natural food store here: 

Red Mountain Foods 

376 Naugle Avenue
Patagonia, AZ 85624

I picked up some giant organic zucchinis (I've only seen little dinky zucs for the past few months. I was shocked to bring back a couple of 14"-ers!), a package of sundried tomatoes (salt and preservative-free), 3 large organic vine-ripened tomatoes on special for $1.69 (they were on the outs - cosmetically inferior - but I was unconcerned as they were about to get annihilated by the food-processor), the largest head of organic romaine lettuce I've ever seen (it was the length of my tibia - longer even! When I compared it to the length of my leg from my foot to my knee..it surpassed my knee cap. Amazing). What else did I get - a half pound of dates that I was going to add to the marinara, but ended up eating on the walk back to the house. Oh, some mushrooms, organic celery, an organic red onion, organic fresh basil, and organic dried oregano. 

They pack this little place to the brim with all your favorite organic fruits and veggies, sprouts, nut and seed milks, spices, dates, and much more. 

The Arizona oranges sold here are some of the best I've tasted. They outrank California and Florida oranges by a long shot. Needless to say, I was beyond impressed with this place. If it wasn't for Red Mountain Foods, I don't think we'd still be here in Patagonia.

I'll try to estimate to the best of my ability the amounts of each ingredient included in the recipe.

Raw Sundried Tomato Marinara Sauce

1 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked for 20 minutes in 1/2 cup water (you can use scissors to slice the tomatoes into smaller pieces before soaking if you'd like) - Don't throw out the soaking water because you will use it in the recipe

3 large organic vine-ripened tomatoes, loosely chopped (you can de-seed for a thicker sauce, but I hate to waste anything so I included the seeds in this recipe)

1/2 cup organic fresh basil leaves, tightly packed

2 tablespoons organic dried oregano

1/2 cup organic red onion, chopped 

1/4 cup organic celery, diced

1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped

1/2 organic lemon, juiced

4 cloves organic garlic

Pinch of sea salt (or more to taste)

Optional: If needed - add 2 dates, pitted (or a few drops of Stevia)

Directions: Add all the ingredients except the celery, 1/4 cup red onion, and the mushrooms into a food processor or high-speed blender (or regular blender). I used a food processor and it got a little messy with all that red, gooey, liquidy mess wanting to explode, but I managed alright. 

Place the processed marinara into a bowl and add the celery, remaining red onion, and mushrooms and mix together by hand with a spoon (this gives it a chunkier texture, which I like)

Zucchini Pasta

2 large organic zucchinis, ends cut and sliced into 5" sections

I used a saladacco spiralizer called "The Garnishing Machine" to create angel hair zucchini pasta. I purchased it when I was at Living Light Culinary Institute back in February/March of 2009 (read more about my experience at Living Light here). I absolutely love it and don't use it nearly enough. 

Here I'm placing a 5-inch chunk of zucchini onto the spiralizer

Then I use light pressure on the top handle and slowly turn it while holding the base of the spiralizer as the zucchini comes out in thin, pasta-like strings.

voila!

Set marinara and pasta aside.

Next use the leftover zucchini "wheels" from the spiralizer for the zucchini hummus (you'll know what I mean when you use this machine - sorry, no pic this time). I had an extra zucchini for the hummus, as well (totaling 2 cups zucchini, chopped).

Zucchini Hummus

2 cups zucchini, chopped

4 cloves garlic

4 tablespoons raw tahini

1 lemon, juiced

sea salt to taste

paprika to taste

pinch of cayenne

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend on "high" until it becomes a creamy consistency.

And then steam your veggies (or not)! I lightly chopped up 1/2 a large head of cauliflower (including the green leaves) and 1 stalk of broccoli (including the stem/stalk). Oh, and I threw in some sugar snap peas because they were on the counter. Obviously, you can choose not to steam veggies and just add them in raw. A good way to break down the tough cellular wall of raw cruciferous vegetables is to soak them in lemon juice for 20 minutes and massage them a bit. You can also include herbs and spices with the lemon juice to add flavor - garlic is the go-to flavor enhancer for me. I opted to steam the veggies this time because I was in the mood for something warm but also because Evan feels that steamed vegetables are more substantial and satiating than raw vegetables. 

*Note: When I steam vegetables, I very lightly steam them. They are still tough and crunchy, the steaming just warms them up and takes the edge off.

The recipe probably yields about 3 servings. Evan and I had a bunch of marinara leftover and some zucchini pasta, but we ate all of the steamed veggies and hummus.

I'm hungry again after writing this! Going back for thirds.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment and/or ask questions!