- Every week on Wednesday,
there's this big open-air market called a Tianguis
in Ajijic where you can buy clothes
like this brightly colored, I would guess
from Oaxaca or Chiapas,
jewelry, and everything under the sun.
I gotta get my day started with some delicious tacos.
This is the busiest stand in the entire market.
Before I stuff my face here,
let me show you how Barbacoa tacos are made.
First, they start out by dipping two tortillas in
this giant pot of deliciousness
before putting them on a hot griddle.
I mean, seriously, look at that.
Mmm, times a thousand!
I need to back up before I drool in it. Anyway,
Barbacoa is traditionally either beef, goat, or lamb.
In this case, I think it's beef.
So you can see here they put a portion of meat
on each tortilla and fold it in half.
Then, let it crisp up to perfeción.
Sometimes they put the Barbacoa in just a heated tortilla,
but I prefer it this way for that extra cronch.
They're nice and hot.
Got them dressed up with cilantro and salsa.
Lime
This meat is so tender,
it just like melts in your mouth, falls apart.
I definitely like to put a ton of lime on this.
It just like brings out all the flavors.
Messy but delicious.
And these tacos are 15 pesos each.
So I paid 60 pesos for all four, worth every peso.
Okay, now that I have a full belly,
it's time to see what other shenanigans
I can get into at this market.
(guitarist playng Rollin' On The River)
Look here, mountains upon mountains of dried chili peppers.
That reminds me, I should make
my guajill pumpkin seed butter recipe soon.
For now, here are a few pictures of it
from my old food blog from 2015.
It is so good.
I am such a moth to a flame when it comes to these things.
You'd think I was an earth sign, but nope. Aquarius.
And here we have all this really beautiful
beaded jewelry, headbands, rings.
The patience it must take to make each of these pieces.
Oh my gosh. I meant to ask how long it takes to create one.
And I am obsessed with the
purple, pink, and white color combo here.
I've never seen that combination before.
Really wish I could pull off these big pieces.
But I like to wear like the dainty stuff,
but I still love appreciating the art
and the craft and the time that goes into it.
And here we have all the snacks,
and nuts, and sweets that you could possibly ever want.
And then they measure it out, put it
in a little bag, and you can take it home.
But these markets are great because you can literally find
everything that you're looking for,
and even things that you aren't looking for.
Kitchen supplies, games, speakers, electronics, T-shirts,
natural lotions, and potions.
Looks like you can even have a reflexology treatment here.
And I think I might jump on this
because my tootsies need some loving.
(laughter)
- [Fan] I'm a big fan,
just wanted to say, I'm like, oh my god its you.
I watch your channel, watch on YouTube all the time,
all your travels going around so.
- [Maddie] Awesome, thank you so much.
- [Fan] Enjoy
- [Maddie] Thank you.
- So you have a YouTube channel?
- [Maddie] Yes.
- What's the name of your channel?
- [Maddie] Maddiegold.
- Marigold?
- [Maddie] MaddieGold.
(energetic music)
- I'm on cloud nine right now.
So that was 350 pesos for 45 minutes of reflexology.
I actually ended up giving her a 50 peso tip,
because she was explaining everything to me the whole way.
Did like a special little energy
type of ceremony at the very end.
Oh my gosh, I feel amazing. (laughter)
So these bags here, super pretty, are from Leon.
So they're made of real leather,
lots of pockets on the inside.
I just have to decide if I wanna get this bag now,
'cause it's very cute, or wait until I go to Leon next week.
So I mentioned my cost of living in Mexico video,
but clothes in Mexico are generally more expensive
than what you'll find in the US,
especially for imported brands.
However, here at a Tianguis market
you can find some pretty good deals.
So here we have on this table three for 200 pesos.
There's a table of a hundred peso pieces back there.
These are 10 pesos a piece.
So here 10 pesos, everything on this table.
So in this case I think they're gonna be used clothes.
Same with over here you have another
like mixed table of 10 pesos a piece.
(high energy guitar music)
- Funny thing about seeing you is that my wife told me...
(beeping and static)
- I had a couple fans walk up to me
and I completely forgot where I left off with this.
But I think what I was saying is, in a lot
of these times it's used clothing, you kind of sort through
but then they also have second hand sort of,
Costco and other brands where it still has the tags on it.
But for a really good price.
And as I've said before,
I have absolutely no shame buying used stuff,
or secondhand or anything like that.
But I have to really, really be in the mood to
go shopping to do any of that, especially sorting
through piles of stuff when
it's not on hangers at the least.
Yeah.
I gotta love all these wood things.
- Well this is totally going to ruin the surprise,
but my mom collects turtles
and so I try to get her a turtle something everywhere I go.
And this is a turtle napkin holder from Guerrero.
So sorry mom to ruin the surprise, but this is for you.
- So here we have it, this is called Guamuchil,
and he said it's actually this tree.
Quick interruption because I've gotten an influx
of people recently asking where did I learn Spanish?
How did I learn Spanish?
Because you want to as well.
My favorite course that I've been using
for a very long time is called Rocket Languages.
It is a great value for your money and extremely effective,
alongside of course embarrassing yourself
countless times like I have,
in person practicing with people
and flexing those Spanish muscles.
If you wanna try out Rocket Languages though,
you can even do so with a free trial.
I'll leave the link down in the description below.
I am an affiliate of Rocket Languages,
so this is not a sponsored video,
but I do use love and totally
vouch for this program and I think you're going to get
a lot of value out of it as well.
So if you make a purchase, I get a little kickback,
which helps me continue making videos just like this one.
So now I'm entering the food section of the market
where you can get all of your produce...eggs,
which actually you don't have to sell a kidney
in order to buy here in Mexico currently.
- But I wanted to save this until last,
because I definitely didn't wanna carry
all the fruits and vegetables around
as I was trying to look at other things
or get reflexology and all that.
I did get a lot of flack in my day in the life in my
"Day in my life in Ajijic" video
for buying produce at Walmart.
"No support local, support local."
Even though I said I don't usually buy it at Walmart
it just happened to be because I was there.
So here I am, supporting local buying produce.
It is much fresher, much nicer, and a lot less expensive.
(loud chattering)
(Light upbeat music)
(beeping)
- Well, it is certainly more chaotic
to get your produce here at a market like this.
But anyway, I got a whole bag full of produce for 283 pesos.
I'm not actually sure which of that
was a more expensive ticket item,
cause I was expecting it to be less.
But just again, to give you an idea of cost of living here.
Of course that included like strawberries, Brussels sprouts,
and lots of other goodies.
Okay, with all these groceries, I am officially lopsided
and my shoulders are being yanked off my body.
So I might have to head home.
But this vlog is not over yet.
If you're enjoying it, please hit that subscribe button
so you can see more videos that I post about my life.
And traveling across Mexico.
I almost made it out,
but then I saw a very rare treat,
artichokes, three for 100 pesos,
which is a pretty great deal.
And it even came with a free ladybug.
I really wish I got that on camera,
but it flew onto me and then flew away.
- And one last thing before I walk home,
the perfect thing for walking home is fresh coconut water.
Straight out of the coconut for 40 pesos.
You're cute.
For lunch, I wanted to come to one of my favorite places
in Ajijic, called Vegan Town.
Everything here is vegan and as you saw earlier,
I'm not Vegan, but the food is amazing
and they have gluten-free pizzas.
So I got this one.
It is a pesto pizza, which I don't know,
is like 10 inch sized pizza for 130 pesos.
And you would not even guess that this is Vegan.
The cheese tastes like real cheese
(crunching)
and like crunchy but fluffy crust.
Look at that.
Anytime I'm done eating here, I instantly crave it again.
And they have lots of other good stuff,
like salads, burgers, vegan hot dogs, different specials.
Their agua frescas are always very fresh,
and no sugar added.
This place is definitely worth a visit.
Whether or not you're vegan.
I also really love coming here,
because they have this beautiful garden space.
You can see the hummingbirds flittering around,
and the bees pollinating the plants, and it's just
like really peaceful and nice to enjoy a meal.
Oh my gosh, that was so good.
And I have one and a half slices to eat later.
So with tip, and I left 15%, it came out to 205 pesos.
That's actually kind of a difference here in Ajijic,
the tipping culture. I would say as a general rule,
all throughout Mexico, 10% tip is pretty standard.
The only big exceptions to that are gonna be
in tourist places.
So like Cancun, Puerto Vallarta.
Because of tourism, it's kind of driven up the price of tips
or the expectation of percentage of tips
that people should give.
And here in Ajijic it's kind of become the same thing.
So I just go ahead and do that
even though I typically try to follow Mexican customs,
or what the locals do.
Feel free to share what you think
about this in the comments.
I know lots of people have lots of opinions about this.
And now I'm going to be heading to a papelería,
or a "paper store," printing, copy store for two reasons.
One, finally I'm going to be getting a Mexican bank account.
I know five years in the country,
probably should have done this sooner.
And I would like to print out the 2023 vision board
that I made.
Very excited.
I worked on it for hours and it was so much fun.
- Seems like that place only does copies
of physically, like you know, paper or homework,
or something that already exists.
So I'm gonna try another one.
And there's some birthday prep that needs to be done,
because my birthday's on the fifth,
and I have a little shindig planned with some of my friends.
So I might be getting myself a piñata
for the first time ever in Mexico.
Man, sometimes I feel so awkward
having my camera out in places.
It was so quiet in there,
so I didn't really feel comfortable
recording the interaction.
But anyway, got the paperwork to fill out for my bank,
and they only had black and white.
So my vision board isn't quite as beautiful as it is
with all the colors and it got chopped off on the side,
so I'm gonna have to resize it,
and find somewhere else that can make it.
Oh so beautiful.
Oh, and it costs six pesos, three pages,
so two pesos per page.
(bouncy music)
Just off of the plaza in Ajijic, or Centro,
there is this place that a lot of people
call the dollar store.
Not because everything here is a dollar,
but it's kind of like that
miscellaneous type inventory that you don't know
what you're gonna find.
Lots of cool treasures,
including, this would've really saved me today.
(laughter)
One of these like rolling, grocery carts.
And I've been trying to find one for a while now,
but not willing to pay like 50 bucks for one.
This was 280 pesos, so perfect.
Now I don't have to break my shoulders
every time I wanna get produce.
Well don't I just feel like a kid in a candy store?
Guess I am.
I'm getting a piñata and candy probably.
Maybe candles but not ones that say my actual age, because
since I'm not gonna be 30 anymore, it's just not fun.
Not as fun.
Not that I care about getting older, but it's just 31?
It's like such an icky number.
I don't like it at all. If I'm being honest,
none of these really strike my fancy.
I was kind of hoping for like a unicorn,
or maybe one of the traditional star-looking ones.
And what candy should I put in this?
I feel like I need to put
like, little bottles of tequila and stuff.
And I don't think I had that here.
Well, they may not have had a piñata that I wanted
but I did get a little bit of candy and some balloons.
Now all I need is some gluten-free cake mix.
I'm getting excited.
Oh my gosh, it's been a whole year
since I had a birthday party.
Can you believe it?
Also, I have to share this.
This is so cool.
The very first full moon of this year is going to
literally be on my birthday, the fifth.
What a great omen for this year.
Literally on my birthday, the full moon.
Oh my gosh.
- Look at this guy's dogs.
How cute.
Candy,
candy,
and more...
No these are balloons.
Candy!
- Now I just need a piñata.
If you haven't subscribed yet, please do
and I'll tell you why.
Coming up in my birthday month,
I will be heading to the Leather Capital
of Latin America for an amazing festival.
After that, a surprise beach destination.
And finally, I'll be going to Mexico City for EDC Mexico.
So you can only imagine the shenanigans
that are about to ensue.
On a screen here is another couple videos
I made here in Ajijic.
If you wanna know a little bit more what my life
in Mexico looks like.
And one more thing before you go,
(bell chiming)
GONG that bell so you get notified
the next time I release a new vlog.
And I hope to see you there.