The Mexican version of "The 100-Mile Diet"

You may remember I said I would go on a local group walk on Monday morning. As it turned out, Greg also came along, and was teased a little as it started at 8 am, not Greg's favourite time of day. Our friend, Sharon, explains the walk well in her blog post today. You may find me in some of her photos - pink t-shirt and pink hat - and Greg is fairly easy to spot in some of them. It was nice to walk at a cooler temperature than usual for us, although it only drops about 10ºF (5ºC) here overnight.

As Sharon says, many of the walkers gather for coffee afterwards. She and I opted for freshly-squeezed orange juice from the adjoining cafe - El Café Mejor - The Best Coffee. Three of us ordered juice, so this lady had to squeeze a lot of those oranges. A large glass is 20 pesos, about $1 U.S. The cost of living here is way below that of the USA or Canada, which is a great bonus.

As for Greg's coffee, he opted for "café oscuro", his usual dark roast "bold" coffee. I call Greg a "coffee snob", but I mean it is a positive way. At home in Canada he enjoys looking for coffee beans that interest him, and he's a purist; none with additives such as vanilla or hazelnut for him. He rarely buys ground coffee. However, where we're now living he resorts to ground coffee, but it's locally grown and roasted.

This is the front and back of the same bag of coffee; it's just my photography skills (or lack of) makes one appear bigger. The front shows it was a semi-finalist in the "Expo Café 2015", and the back shows it's from "Riviera Nayarita" - the Nayarit Riviera - which is where we live. We were told the beans are harvested just about an hour away from here. Was this at some gourmet shop in town? No, it's from a "tienda", a small grocery store just a block away from our home. When asked today how he likes the coffee, his answer was simply "marvellous".

A book I found interesting is The 100-mile diet: A Year of Local Eating, written by two Canadians. The title clearly explains their goal, and although it has been some time since I read it, I remember they faced many challenges. That's not the case here, as local produce is readily available. It also extends beyond fresh produce. I'm one who reads food labels, not only for the nutritional value, but also for the place of origin. Most things we buy here say "Hecho en Méxio", "Made in Mexico". How would your economy change, where you live, if most things were made locally? Hmmm.

As is usual for me, I'll end with some colourful flowers. Well, one to be exact. In keeping with the theme of the book mentioned here, this water lily is less than 100-steps away from our home, on the grounds of the complex. It's the first water lily we've seen in bloom here. Greg tells me it's a different variety to the ones in our pond back home in Canada. Apparently different varieties require different depths of water, and this one is in shallower water and could not survive in the cold Canadian climate. You can tell who does the work for our pond back home, as that was news to me.

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Location: Lo de Marcos, Nayarit, Mexico
Weather: High of 76ºF (24ºC), low of 68ºF (20ºC)

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