Which Came First?

Eggs:

These are quail eggs--commonly known here as "cordoniz." One of the families we have met here sells them. One week he had "too many to eat and too few to sell" so he split them between the two temple couples. We probably received 25-30 eggs each, so he must need a hundred or so to make it worth his while to sell them. If you have never tried quail eggs, you should--they are divinely delicious!

We fried some of them to compare the sizes with regular eggs. If you look closely you can see that on the left there are two quail eggs next to the chicken egg on the right. They say that they are very low in cholesterol and full of vitamins with exotic numbers and names, so we figured a little frying wouldn't hurt much :-) .

 We boiled most of them and liked them so much that we ended up eating them like popcorn. Just in case you decide to try it for yourself, boil for just 5 minutes to get this perfectly cooked egg.

Birds:

In our Monterrey life, the birds actually came first. The following all found us as we wandered through the neighborhood and park on our walks. The Aratinga Holochlora, or green parakeet, swooped over our heads one afternoon screaming at the top of their lungs. They are very similar to the ones we had in Argentina. Their show was so stunning that everyone on the street stopped to watch. We have seen them many times since in the trees at the park. 

Not long after, we were surprised by a large flock of all-white ringneck doves. They were almost completely quiet and swooped and circled above us as if they knew they were being admired.

The last two stunning specimens  were the yellow-breasted Great Kiskadee and the Ladderback Woodpecker. Both of these birds have large populations here, but the woodpecker is a little shyer and so more difficult to spot. We found our first one walking up and down a telephone pole near the house (the bird was on the pole, not us). 

The final commentary on birds is that the ones that roost on the telephone pole in front of our house, also happen to roost directly above the only place to park the car. The birds vary slightly from day to day between pigeons and grackles. You might be able to guess what they do to the car. It is a constant battle to keep the windshield clean, but it gives John something meaningful to do each and every day.