If you haven’t read it yet, probably best start with my first post from Tulum – or or don’t. Tacos don’t really need an introduction. Anyways if you want to read it click here.
So, there’s a lot of good food in Tulum: a variety of Mexican places, international cuisine, and some fine dining over in the hotel zone that I assume is good. But honestly to hell with all that, because street tacos. The going price for a taco is 10 pesos or about 0.50 USD, some nicer places charge a bit more, and cheese costs a bit extra. But unless you’re in a sitdown place aiming purely at tourists, they won’t be more than 20 pesos (if you don’t want to do the math, that’s a dollar). I need to eat three or four to make a meal, but still – not exactly breaking the bank. Also, they are awesome!
There are a lot of taco places here. So, the local taco shops aren’t fancy, just a roof and plastic furniture, but let’s face it, anything more than that would be just a distraction. You choose your type – there are of course ordinary tacos (just meat in a tortilla) or you can get panchutos or sopas, which vary a bit but basically have a couple of veggies and thicker tortillas. Or for a change, you can get your meat completely enclosed in an empanada. There’s no real bad choice. Then choose the meat. I almost always go al pastor, which is spit grilled pork, which evolved from lamb shawarma brought over to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants. Classics like steak or chicken are great too, but you really can’t beat spit roasted pork. Then it’s served with a couple of types of salsa (which range from mild to mostly just habaneros), limes and usually chopped veggies (often just onion and cilantro, but sometimes tomato or cabbage make an appearance). It’s a bit of a choose your own taco adventure situation, but one where the ending is always a happy one.
So this is why tacos have been on the menu for me and Elani at least 5 nights a week. There have been a couple of two tacos meal days. Do I get sick of tacos? Yeah, but it lasts a day. Then the taco withdrawal sets in and it’s back to the taco stand for a fix. Speaking of which, I’ve got somewhere to be…