We find Proper Pasties!!

We find Proper Pasties!!

We left Teotihuacan for the mythical town of Mineral del Monte in Mexico – the town that eats the most Cornish pasties in the world. Surely this cannot be true? We did contribute to their count, tho!

But first we visit the interesting rock formations at Basaltic Prisms of Santa María Regla. We’ve never been to the Giants Causeway in Ireland, but it must be similar in nature. Columns of five sided rock formed when lava solidified in a marshy/wet environment. We had a look around, made some sandwiches and had lunch overlooking the gorge before setting off for the Pasty Town.

Arriving in the parking at Mineral del Monte, we wondered – where will we find a pasty shop? No need to worry, there was a stall selling them in the car park! And then, so was every other shop in town! So how come this Mexican town is pasty mad? It started in the 1800s when silver was discovered. Needing mining expertise, they turned to Cornwall and offered positions to its world famous miners. And many settled here over the years and they bought their love of pasties with them. Although they never lost touch with home – we visited the “English Graveyard” where every grave points to Cornwall.

Wanting to take some pasties away with us, we started to sample the various pasties on offer. David immediately settled on the ‘traditional’, meat and potato, but with a kick – the Mexicans add jalapenos. Delicious. But these were too hot for Francine and she preferred chorizo and red bean filling.

David then checked out one of the mining museums in town and found relics of Cornwall beam engines and old ledgers with listings of very Cornish names.

The next day we drove up into the surrounding hills and hiked one of the trails in Parque Nacional El Chico. Of course we took a packed lunch: pasties!