Aneya & Lauren: Mexicanish?

Aneya: Finally! An authentic Mexican restaurant! Here I am, standing in front of the colorful entrance to La Mordida.
Aneya: Lauren, with our take out, and her new friend.
Aneya: This place had the most amazing wall art, I had to get a few shots of it.
Aneya: As you can see, the chairs are painted bright lime green!
Aneya: This Frida one was my favorite.
Aneya: This one is very, Dia de los Muertos. This place was a great find, Lauren!

Lauren: Almost everyone I talked to before leaving California seemed to be under the impression that because Chile and Mexico shared the same language (which isn't exactly true), they had the same culture. I often heard that I would be eating tons of beans, rice, and spicy salsa.

Aneya: Not gonna lie, I was one of the those people. I, like many Americans, was under the impression that anything South of border was just like Mexico. I had never been to South America, never experienced different Latin cultures, I had no idea what to expect.

Lauren: Don't get me wrong. I love Mexican culture, food, and people -- obviously. But I didn't want to move to a country whose culture was something I was already familiar with. Both Chilean Castillano and Mexican Spanish are terrible, but in their own ways. That's about where their tentative similarities end. I've been eating a lot of squash, avocado, and bread. The only tortillas I have are made from potato and spinach (which are amazingly tasty). There is some spicy pebre, but that's actually pretty rare.

Aneya: Upon arriving in Santiago, we both quickly discovered this place is nothing like Mexico. (I'll admit it-- I was relieved! Mexico, as you know, is going through a rough patch right now, and I really didn't want to be involved in any drug lord/kidnapping situations). All of the staples of Mexican culture- brightly painted walls, Mariachi bands, sombreros, tequila, even- were strangely absent here. Not to mention the food! Getting Mexican food here is expensive and hard to find (way more difficult than, say, Chinese food, which they have plenty of).

Lauren: Both are very Catholic countries, but where gay rights are totally nonexistent here, Mexico in the midst of an insane drug war, has legalized gay marriage.

I was kind of missing Mexican culture, especially the Spanish because that's what I speak and understand. It's mas lento, tranquilo. This Castillano stuff can honestly be exhausting.

Aneya: I got my first taste of Mexican culture in Southern California (of course). The abundance of Mexican restaurants, not to mention Mexicans themselves, was shocking to me, since I'd never really been exposed to their culture before. Now, of course, I love a good fajita, quesadilla, taco, or burrito but I don't have the same attachment to the food that Lauren has. What I miss most are tortilla chips- they are so hard to find here! That, and spicy salsa. Spicy anything, come to think of it.

Lauren: I've really started to miss Mexican cuisine in ways that I really never expected. I didn't think I had an especially strong attachment to especially Trader Joe's soy chorizo for my Saturday chilaquiles (I am a master chilaquile maker, if I do say so myself), and there are absolutely no corn tortillas here!

I was super in the mood for Mexican food, so on Cinco de Mayo I made the trek to HiperLider, in hopes of finding some good Mexican food. Still no corn tortillas, and a pitiful canned salsa (no salsa pato to be had). We celebrated Cinco de Mayo in Daniela and Stephen's new apartment with Thea the dog, listening to El Bronx. Still I missed Mexican food. Not gourmet Mexican, but cheap Mexican. Above is the place we found called La Mordida, the bite. It was actually making me a little homesick. This place was amazing and sated my cravings for Mexican food. At least for now.

Aneya: Ahh Cinco de Mayo. Or, as Americans like to call it, annual let's get drunk day! Ask any college freshman what we're celebrating on the 5th of May, they probably have no idea. Something to do with Mexico, and drinking an absurd amount of margaritas. Our Cinco de Mayo was quite tame, compared to previous years. Obviously no one observes the day down here, so Lauren went out and got supplies (even HiperLider had a pitiful amount of Mexican food, apparently) and we went over to Stephen and Daniela's to hang out.

Lauren eventually found out about a Mexican place called "La Mordida" and we went to dinner there one night. The place was colorful and fun, had great food, and they even had an all girl Mariachi band performing for us. It felt like home.

-- Aneya & Lauren