First: Santiago’s mercado - It’s a place where you can also order from tacos of “canasta” (they’re set into a handmade basket or “palangana”-a big plastic plate-) and those go from “papa con chorizo” to “chicharrón” (smashed potatoes to … well I don’t know how to translate, but you gotta taste it!). Thera are also tortas of everything and delicious fresh fruit water. Usually Meridanos go mostly to church on Sunday, so they stop at Santiago’s church and when the mass is over, people go next door to the mercado to have lunch (about 1:00 pm).

Another “must go” place is “GALLITO”. If you have gone there… you know what good service and LOTS of food per beer you can get there. There you find the best beers (ask for Pacifico beer, the best to drink while your’e eating). This is a small place in which usually only men go. It’s not that it is a “cantina” because I have gone and there are couples and sometimes students from a school nearby, but it looks as if it was a cantina. Anyway, many couples go there after a day of working because the beers are inexpensive and suddenly your table is full of dishes (chicharrón, remolacha, papa, spaguetti, crema de ajo, tostadas, frijol, salchicha, X’nipec - a sauce made with pepita-, and later they offer pan de cazón, scrambled eggs with chorizo and frijol, relleno negro and much more). I go there every Saturday with my husband around 1:00pm. After working I know a fresh beer and plenty of snacks and food are waiting for me and my hungry stomach for only $40 pesos. We usually get two beers each and we eat to get really llenos (full of food), then we go for a walk on Paseo de Montejo, which is not far from there. Believe me, you have to visit GALLITO.