It all began when I tasted a mexican bottled beverage (I forget the name) that was simple and great: mineral water with lime juice. Not only was it sugarless (I can only take so much sugar), but it was also refreshing and tasty, and in those glass soda bottles that I enjoy oh-so-much. Cheap, too–maybe $0.60 a bottle, after taxes.

Unfortunately, every single time I returned to Wal-Mart and tried to purchase more of the drink, they didn’t have any in stock.

Yesterday, fed up at having tasted the perfect beverage but once, I went to the local Latino market, located in the slightly run down Big Lots shopping center on Rt. 3 (about a mile or so before the newer, sprawling, SUV-infested mega-shopping mall known as Central “I Hate Driving There” Park). The front window of the shop, for whatever reason, was filled with row upon row of cowboy boots.

Once inside, I took my time and looked around. There was a whole new world to explore, after all. A world that I soon discovered was much like my own. I did spot a few jams and jellies made from exotic fruits (but not too exotic), and fruit pastes that left me clueless and mildly intrigued, but that was it. Maybe I missed a few things. Maybe the drink I was looking for was one of them.

I finally grabbed a bag of fried plantains (muy bueno), a Coke and a Pepsi–both bottled in Mexico–and made my escape.

I’d heard that soft drinks in Mexico are made with actual sugar, as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. I don’t know if that theory panned out or not (the label indicated it could go either way), but the tastes were subtly different. Maybe.

The plantains were definitely great, though.

(I was going to embed a youtube video related to plantains, but they all sucked. So you get Queen instead.)