I’m kind of behind in my postings (we’re supposed to be switching writing responsibilities every other restaurant) but damn, driving makes me tired. Especially since we were driving through so much desert… I had pocas ganas at the end of the day to sit and stare at the computer. And we have seen and eaten so much in the last couple of days, so it may be hard to truly remember. But here goes!

We try, when possible, to do something active in the mornings before getting in the car, since eating big food (everything’s bigger in Texas, yo) and sitting still all day are a potentially hazardous combination. So on Monday morning of last week we decided a quick hike in the Franklin Mountains, in the north central part of El Paso, would be fun before hitting the long and boring road to San Antonio. And indeed, it was….well, fun is maybe stretching it but it was definitely active. Things started out okay; we were the only ones there besides a prison work crew doing some maintenance. The paths looked clear, and the day wasn’t too hot. We headed for some low cerros, over white rocks and along paths between vicious cacti, and crested a hill easily. There was a dry arroyo below, so naturally we went to try and figure out how on earth a car could have wound up in it. We are nothing if not investigators! No clue, though. (NOTE: pictures  of all this are pending)

Anyway, there was another small hill on the other side of the arroyo, so we decided to climb it, the lack of an actual path notwithstanding. It turned out that if you are trying to climb a dry rocky hill with lots of loose stones, being surrounded by vicious cacti is maybe not so wonderful. There was a lot of swearing, shall we say. But we persevered, finally getting to, if not the top, then the end of our collective patience with this rather obtuse plan to hacernos el camino al andar. Anyone who knows either of us, though, will not be at all surprised to find out that we decided to arrojarnos at the mountain with no path or specific plan  or escape route. And it’s that last part — the escapatorio — that almost proved our downfall. Haha, get it? Cause we had to go down? And I fell…? Anyway.

Right, so having gotten to the top of the hill, we obviously had to get down. Turns out, climbing DOWN a pathless hill covered with dry loose stones and surrounded by vicious cacti is also really challenging. Perhaps even more than the way up. Imagine if you start to slip, and the only thing you have to grab onto is a cactus? Eeesh. Fortunately, I didn’t tumble until the very end, when it was “only” rocks and small bushes, and the damage was minor. My legs still bear the marks of the — como se dice espina? thorns? — vicious cacti, but we emerged victorious and STARVING from our wilderness adventure cactus safari.

To assuage the hunger pains sustained by so much poking and prickling and climbing and slipping we went to Carnitas Querétaros, as recommended by one of Crissy’s infallible friends.

Carnitas Querétaros is a local place specializing in, of all things, mole. No, not really…if it comes from a land animal and you can put it on a grill, they serve it. Grilled pork, grilled beef, grilled chicken, grilled lamb, grilled goat, todito. Max explained to me that carnitas are often made with some kind of alcohol and are eaten throughout Mexico. Queretaro is not necessarily the birthplace of the dish, but is likely the birthplace of the restaurant owner.  There are three locations in El Paso; we were at the North Zaragoza location. Inside, it looks like a sort of generic chain restaurant, new furnishings in the “tasteful suburban development” mode. We ended up ordering a half pound of carnitas — grilled pork — and a half pound of barbacoa de borrego — sort of a pulled lamb. The carnitas were dry and not especially memorable, but the barbacoa de borrego was delicious. A little on the greasy side, true, but really flavorful. The lamb taste was totally discernable, and went very nicely with the tortillas and the salsas. The platters were also served with a side of frijoles charros, which reminded me very much of the beans served at Cactus Cantina in DC. Not, probably, a coincidence. It’s essentially a small cup of bean stew with hunks of celery and carrot and bacon. Apparently it’s usually served as a whole dish in Mexico, but in the states has become part of Tex-Mex cuisine.

The food was filling and tasty, but the road called…so we packed a little snack bag of pineapple empanadas (SOOOO good) and headed east, ever east, towards southern texas and San Antonio and friends…