- Hello Tangerinineys from Toluca in the state of Mexico.
- [Maddie] Why on Earth are we here in Toluca?
This is not one of the more highly recommended
spots to go to, especially not within an hour of Mexico City
- Might kind of be like Mexico City's rejected neighbor
since it's like right next door
- We're actually meeting some really good friends of ours,
and one of them is from Toluca.
So we thought what more fitting place for us to meet up
in Mexico, than his hometown?
One of the things that we wanted to do while
in Toluca was go to our friend Diego's family's restaurant.
It's a very nice, fine dining restaurant for breakfast.
- Muy fresa
- It even has valet out front
- [Maddie] Yeah
(laughing)
- Gracias
- [Maddie] Muchas gracias
- Apparently we are VIP guests here because
(laughing)
we just got handed some complimentary mimosas.
So they'd know me so well.
(laughing)
Salud guys.
- [All] Salud
- You might recognize these guys
These are our friends, Trish and Diego.
Man of the hour, Diego himself
the most interesting man in the world!
- [Trish] No, no, no
(laughing)
- [Jordan] You're gonna get us kicked out of here.
(laughing)
- And we met them in Puerto Morelos.
They actually flew here to meet us and hangout.
And Diego is from Toluca.
- Que Pachuca por Toluca.
- Thank you guys so much for meeting us.
I'm so happy that we got to hang out
despite like everything that's going on
and the craziness in the world.
- Yes, we made it, and we're so happy to see you guys.
We didn't get to say goodbye to them,
so at least we got to say, hello.
- Well, this breakfast was really good.
Service was top notch here.
I do think this is the most expensive breakfast
we've ever had in Mexico, but
at least like your plate includes everything includes bread
sweet bread, a juice, a tea or coffee plus refills
and then your main plate as well.
- [Maddie] And you had
- [Jordan] Enchiladas and that sauce.
- [Maddie] Oh, I took a bite that was so good,
and with the chorizo, so you can't go wrong with chorizo,
and I do hear from a little birdie that that's
That Toluca
- [Trish] A really big birdie
- Toluca is known for it's chorizo so,
- Oh yeah it was chorizo toluqueno
- Yeah
(restaurant chatter)
- [Trish] This is a nice little, sorry
(laughing)
- [Maddie] Hey guys, come on in!
(rustling)
Just to give a little bit of context here,
Trish and Diego actually watched Laska
about one week a month for a year and a half
while we were living in Puerto Morelos,
because we were traveling all the time.
At this point, she hasn't seen them for six or seven months.
So this is her reaction.
- Hi! Hi!
(scratching)
- [Trish and Diego] Hi!
- Aw we missed her so much
- [Maddie] She knew immediately
- [Trish] Do you remember us?
(laughing)
Oh you're caught
(laughing)
Hi, aw we miss her so much,
- [Maddie] She's so happy
- [Trish] Hi, we missed you, too, we missed you too
- [Maddie] She's one to jump up and give
- She should lick my ridiculous lipstick off
(laughing)
- Hi!
- [Diego} Good Girl
- Oh that makes me so happy, she remembers us.
- [Maddie] Come on in, you guys, Laska come on!
(scratching)
- [Trish] This place is so fancy
- [Maddie] She loves you guys so much
(scratching)
- [Trish] Look at her tap dancing
tappity-tap, tappity-tap, tappity-tap
- We're back in our Airbnb now,
and I love the view out our window here. Check this out.
- [Maddie] You might not be able to tell this just
by looking out over the city,
but Toluca is actually one of the highest elevation cities
in North America and the second highest elevation city
in Mexico at almost 9,000 feet of elevation.
- [Jordan] You can see these hills
with all these colorful painted homes up there.
Diego said, this is actually one
of the more dangerous neighborhoods into Toluca,
and you don't want to go walking around there at night.
Which might be why I saw a whole bunch
of police driving up and down those hills.
- I mean, we feel pretty safe in here.
It's a really nice modern building.
There's like a mall below us, there's a nice park over there
which I think we should take Laska.
- Yeah
- Maybe try to find more Huskies.
- I swear this is land of the Huskies.
There's are so many Huskies into Toluca
- Laska found a boyfriend
- [Maddie] Oh, her tails wagging
(laughing)
(upbeat, whimsical music)
(dogs barking)
(funky drum music)
- We're actually out here in the Zocalo up Toluca right now.
It reminds me a lot of Mexico city,
in the fact that if you look around me, it's totally flat,
and there's these government and buildings surrounding it,
and then this gigantic Mexican flag in the middle.
Laska is loving, running around.
She never got to go to Mexico city since we flew there.
- [Jordan] So many churches around here. There's a church.
There's a church, there's a church.
And there's a My Trish Advisor.
- I'm like getting out of the way of the shot.
- [Maddie] Did you say My Church Advisor?
- [Trish] My Church Advisor, oh that's what I'm not
- [Jordan] My Church Advisor.
- Oh that's funny
- Well, we've walked half a block, a quarter block.
There's another church down that way.
There's a lot of churches per square capita.
- [Jordan] I don't think that's a phrase
- It is so lively here right now. We're out on a Sunday
and I got this little tianguis thing kind of set up
on what I think is like a walking street
through the buildings.
This is Los Portales neighborhood.
- [Trish] Got it. Yeah.
- [Maddie] Los Portales
(upbeat music)
- [Jordan] All right, so where's Diego?
- [Maddie] Oh, where did he go?
- [Jordan] Came across this vendor
who is selling these little pancakes but what are these?
- [Diego} We call these Gorditas De La Villa
she will hear
- [Jordan] Gorditas De La Villa?
- [Diego] Gorditas De La Villa - [Jordan] Okay
- [Diego] We call it Gorditas De Maiz
- I would have never thought I'd be able to try these
because they look like pure flour,
but you said they're sweets and they're just corn
with like butter, corn, egg.
- [Jordan] Sugar
- Really melts in your mouth. It just crumbles.
- Interesting, it's kind of like a really soft cookie.
- [Diego] It's to come to the service in the church
- And they're warm
- [Trish] Is the cameraman gonna be?
- They're they're like Mexican wedding cookies almost
like in the way that they crumble apart.
- [Diego] Yeah. And when you come,
the thing is when you come for a wedding or something
a service at the church you go outside
and then the Gorditas is waiting for you. The price
(laughing)
- [Maddie] Well, these are good.
They're not too sweet though for me.
I don't like sweet stuff.
- [Jordan] I like them. Muy Rico.
- [Maddie] Me, too. Om-nom-nom
- [Jordan] 20 pesos, for like
- [Maddie] You got like six of them?
- No, eight. Eight for 20 pesos.
- Yeah. Almost like the texture of a marzipan in a way
because they're so dry
- [Maddie] Yeah because it just crumbles.
It crumbles in your mouth.
- [Diego] Let's try it
(chuckles)
(birds chirping)
- [Maddie] That's a good one. Have you had others?
Is this a good one? Have you had others?
- Yeah, this is good. Yeah.
- [Maddie] Yum. Laska is ready. Laska is so ready.
Okay Laska. Laska?
He doesn't have any
Laska, Laska, Laska. You dummy.
- [Trish] Have her smell it.
- [Maddie] Laska
She's like, "there's more in that,
I don't like your little thing". Laska.
(clapping)
We're passing by the Teatro Morelos or Morelos theater.
and around the whole thing are these kind of
like bronze topped, I don't even know.
It's kind of a crazy shade structure,
and I think it's a really interesting way
to like class up the theater and make it a unique landmark.
- This Zocalo area sure is beautiful though.
- [Maddie] A lot of historic buildings,
really nice, well-maintained and clean sidewalks.
I'm actually surprised how clean the city is
given how many people are in the city.
- Yeah, no kidding.
- We've got our chauffer Diego
taking us to a surprise venue.
Sure to satisfy Jordan, from what I understand.
- [Jordan] Thoughts are running wild.
- [Maddie] Eyes on you Diego, don't be scared.
Don't be scared.
(laughing)
- We just got to this place called Dulceria Hernandez,
it's a candy store that's been around for 125 years
here in Toluca.
They were just telling us
that these are the founders of this candy shop.
They said they're bisabuelos, great grandparents.
- [Maddie] Bisabuelos, great grandparents, yeah.
- [Jordan] And they actually made the candy right here
- [Maddie] On a normal day, we're here on Sunday,
so they're not preparing it,
but they would preparing the candy in all these big vats
and pouring it out onto the molds
or onto various trays to then cut it up.
But still there's so many varieties
of candies with like super funny names.
Some of them like Prueba un Pedo, or Try a Fart
Borrachitos, or like little drunk things
They've got these, these is actually the peel,
the rind, would you call it, of the lime
with like sugary stuff in the middle.
This kind down here
- [Trish] Prueba un Pedo
- Yeah, I got caught up on that one
They've got (indistinct), I don't know what it is,
but it's in an ice cream cone.
- [Jordan] How about this?
- Okay. So we get to sample something here
- Little cherry bar for me.
- And this has some type of alcohol in it.
Ow, ow, I almost said ow.
But like, ah this is kind of,
I've never had a strong tasting alcohol candy before
- It's interesting
- Por favor, sugar lover.
- Whoa
- [Maddie] Right?
- Seriously, it's kinda like taking a shot.
- [Maddie] It is.
That's why I was like, ah, I wasn't expecting that.
- But sweet at the same time.
- [Maddie] Oh, what's your haul?
- Yeah, so I was gonna say,
so I came here like a year and a half ago
and I was able to see the old man pour all this stuff
out and cut it. So it was really cute,
and he was like, "do you want some? It has tequila in it"
I was like, "yes, I do".
He makes these huge bars
and he pours all kinds of tequila and mixes it
all right here it's really an amazing process, yeah.
- [Jordan] What do I want?
- [Maddie] Moment of truth.
(metallic clicking)
(chatter)
- [Jordan] Chocolate and coconut, don't know what it is,
but I'll try it.
- Seriously, something I love so much about Mexico,
it's such an unassuming place like from the street
you would have no idea that there's this candy shop
out here or that it's over a hundred years old
and that's just how Mexico is.
I mean, you can't judge a book by its cover, ever.
- I love that though.
The selection there, all, that it's all made right there.
That's super cool.
(laughing)
- This place doesn't look like much
from the street and it's actually kind of hard to spot,
but if you put in Dulceria Hernandez into Google maps,
it'll take you right here.
- Okay. So he invited us back,
right as we were about to leave saying
they actually make some pulque here.
(Spanish music)
- "It's the elixir of the gods", he said.
- [Maddie] It has probiotic properties
and healing properties.
I've never tried it outside of Guanajuato city though,
so I'm very excited.
It's very sweet. It's very much like kombucha actually.
- [Maddie] What'd you think?
- [Jordan] Yeah, I like it, it's good
- [Maddie] Isn't it a little bit like kombucha?
Kind of fiffy
- It's easier to drink than the other pulque that I've tried
- [Maddie] Yeah
- In Guanajuato.
I still have trouble saying that city's name.
- Guanajuato. You have to get like a
This is alcoholic by the way, we didn't mention this,
it's an alcoholic fermented drink
made of part of the agave plant, if I'm not mistaken.
Or a different type of a agave.
These are seriously the experiences that we live for
here in Mexico, I mean,
getting to have someone's like bootleg moonshine,
pulque, is so cool.
And then just hanging out and chatting with the family.
We got our candies, like what a great day.
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- Well, now that we've got our sugar fix
and we're making a bout 15 minute walk
to one of the biggest attractions in Toluca,
I'm super excited to go here.
- Look at that dog.
(upbeat music)
- [Jordan] We're at this botanical garden right now
and it has this amazing display of stained glass
all over it.
- If I'm not mistaken, one of the biggest,
or the biggest, stained glass displays
- In the world, or something?
- The world, or maybe in North America,
I should probably check on that,
but it's 25 pesos to get in
and it's more than just a stained glass,
so let's check it out.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
We're inside now, oh my gosh, This is so exciting.
- [Both] This is so pretty!
- Okay, you guys, I'm just saying, okay A million times
This entire thing is lined with stained glass,
all of these windows the entire thing is all stained glass.
And then we thought like little succulents here
and all these little plants and very tiny pots,
and this is just the entrance.
Am I getting too excited about this?
I really liked this place.
And it's so nice to be around nature
- [Jordan] Yeah
- In the middle of this very, admittedly, polluted city.
- [Jordan] And this, this whole thing is probably
about the size of a football field.
So it's a pretty substantial
- And I didn't even notice this when we came in
but there's even stained glass on the ceiling.
And by the way, I, it was just confirmed.
This is the largest display of stained glass in the world.
I think they came at the perfect time of day, too.
It's 4:45 and the sun is just setting.
So we get to see it lighting up all this half,
and even on the ceiling to a little bit.
- This building was actually constructed in the early 1900's
as a market.
And then in about 1975, they moved the market
to another part of town and spent the next five years
building this, and the stained glass around here
represents various things, like on this side
it's represents day on this side, night above us,
it's the creation
- [Maddie] Life and death.
The guy was explaining to Trisha a little bit.
What a work of art this is.
Like, I've never seen a botanical garden
quite like this before.
And obviously not, because this is the most stained glass
of anywhere in the world
- According to my extensive Wikipedia research
of Cosmovitral, it's actually for the last 25 years
the glass has been cleaned by two people,
and it takes them a year and three months to
clean all half a million pieces of glass here.
(water running)
- Right behind me, this round stained glass part
represents mankind, and apparently
there's this really cool event at the spring equinox
Equinox Equinox, and they have a classical music concert,
that's perfectly timed with the sun,
which aligns directly with this circle stained glass,
and really lights it on fire.
I love this experience glad we came.
Honestly 25 pesos is so cheap for this amazing experience.
- [Maddie] Oh this looks so good!
- [Jordan] Normally, you don't see esquites prepared
with other stuff, but this time they have
epazote, and chile jalapeno.
- She says it's mixed with lime,
and then they're putting mayo and cheese,
and I asked her to put lime,
and she put a little bit of spicy, something or other.
And it's going to be 20 pesos for the glass.
- Oh man, why doesn't everybody do this with esquites?
- It's so good
- And esquites is like my favorite street food as it is
- Yeah, it'd be really cool if more esquites vendors
got a little creative with it like she does here,
because it's really tasty.
- Oh my gosh.
- You know what I've learned so far from our time in Toluca
is that even a place that isn't recommended at all,
you can still find some real magic here.
- [Maddie] I wouldn't say magic.
I don't like overusing the word magic,
but I still feel like you can feel the Mexican spirit.
I mean, like the find the things that we love about Mexico
- And finding those special things.
- Yeah.
- That's what I meant by that.
- So please subscribe to our channel
because next week we're going to be going
to a brand new city in Mexico
that we've never made a video in before,
and we're really excited for it.
(bell toll)
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when we release our new videos.
In the meantime, you'll see on the screen,
four different things.
One of which is our favorite experiences in Mexico,
previous videos, in other cities where we had just
a fabulous time, one of which was Taxco, Guerrero last week.
That is a must watch video.
If you're looking for something to do until we
release our next video on Saturday, we'll see you there.