Tulancinging in the rain

This weekend was spent in Tulancingo, Hidalgo with my friend Gibran and his family. Friday we arrived at their house just in time for dinner (squash casserole, rice, tortillas, and avocados) then went on a slightly rainy tour of this smallish city.
Mode of transportation: red four-wheeler (with matching helmets).
Level of excitement: high.
Probability that a girl from upstate New York would drive a four-wheeler for the first time in urban Mexico: low, but obviously not impossible.
Final touch: guajolotes for dinner (a typical food of Tulancingo, a sandwich consisting of a fried bun stuffed with fried tortillas, salsa, refried beans, meat, onions, and cheese -> like a heart attack, but tastier).

Saturday was spent making pozole and wandering around the center of the city. Pozole is officially my favorite Mexican food, a stew consisting of very large kernels of corn and pieces of meat in a spicy broth. It is then topped with chopped radish, lettuce, lemon juice, and chile, and traditionally eaten with fried tortillas. According to wikipedia, it was made in prehispanic times using human flesh, but except in the sketchiest establishments, that particular foodstuff has been replaced with chicken and pork.

After a very late start (Saturday night consisted of a get-together with a group of very fun people), Sunday we visited a waterfall which flows over a series of large mineral prismatic formations known as basalt columns, which result from the very slow cooling of lava.** You can check it out here. Then on to Real del Monte, a town which is known for its silver mines, the influence of the English, and a delicious little potato, meat, and bean hotpocket known as a paste.


Los prismas

** The information here has been made more accurate thanks to Amie, who has kindly forced me to learn one more thing related to geology.