What do you get when you combine motor oil, bagged nuts, mangos, sugar cane and bananas, with a few jars of honey thrown in, just to sweeten the image, so to speak?  You get a roadside convienience store, without a posted name located high in the semi-tropical Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range, in the far eastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, that goes by the spoken name of Felipe Angeles.

Photo:  What's in a name?  ... Felipe Angeles doesn't display the name of the business, but if you like bananas, mangos, sugar cane, salsa, honey and other roadside snacks, plan on stopping by.

Jerry, Rodolfo and I had left the charming village of Llera de Canales and were on our way to the mountain town of Gomez-Farias, with our eventual destination pegged at Cd. Mante, but we noticed this colorful roadside convenience store, on the side of Tamaulipas State Highway 85, and we just had to stop.  I suppose we were drawn to the place by the bunches of bananas hanging from the building, or perhaps it was the jars of canned salsa and honey?  I'm not sure, but this place certainly provides intoxicating, local, ambience.

Photo:  Mrs. Gomez poses with her granddaughter on an outbuilding, adjacent to the store.

What's in a name?  We asked the grandmotherly-like lady who was operating the place, and she said that the name of the place was Felipe Angeles, named after a Mexican Revolution-era general, but they didn't have the name of the business printed. OK, so I enquired as to what the family name was, and she replied "Gomez," so I guess you could call this place "Gomez's Place," but without an officially-painted sign, that's just a figment in my imagination.  Names aside, this business caters to the need of the traveler along the highway, as they sell bagged snacks, bottled drinks, plastic litre bottles of motor oil, bagged nuts, fresh bananas and mangos, in-house-made bottled salsa and honey, and a whole lot more.  I suspect if you asked the lady that was operating the business to fix a taco, she's probably be able to do it, Johnny-on-the-spot.

Photo:  Mrs. Gomez shows us bagged nuts, bottled water, orange juice, bagged dried chili peppers and motor oil that make one display.  The first word that comes to my mind to describe this photo would be, "diversity."

We enjoyed staring at the colorful racks that displayed the canned salsa and honey, but we weren't in the mood for salsa or honey, as we were thirsty, very thirsty, so each of us purchased a 1/2 litre bottle of water for the small price of MEX $6.00 per bottle.  We walked around the place, admiring the colorful wares, not to mention the livestock, and the green, very green mountains.  

Photo:  Green, fresh mangos are in the foreground, and if you look beyond, you'll see fresh bananas, motor oil, honey, salsa, and packaged goods; but you have to remember that Felipe Angeles is a roadside convenience store, Tamaulipas-style!

Being very rural in nature, as the business is located high in the mountains, we weren't disappointed to note the livestock that the Gomez family keeps for company, or perhaps most importantly, food.  Chickens, turkeys an peacocks seemed to be everywhere; I've never had the chance to enjoy a peacock taco... but there were dogs, cats, goats and horses out in back of the store, and a cute, white pig, tethered to a large grinding wheel.  I'm not sure if his function is for food or pleasure, but he welcomed every small bit of food that we threw at him.

Photo:  More of the same from the photo above, but this photo gives a good idea of the diversity that greets a customer as they enter the business.  The tall bottles contain honey or locally-produced salsa, jam, jelly or mustard. The green clusters of locally-grown bananas are placed on the floor.  Combine all of this with bottled water, mustard and motor oil, I guess you could say that Felipe Angeles has all of the bases covered.

Photo:  This cute white hog was tethered to a large grinding wheel.  I didn't bother to ask the lady if this guy's purpose in life is business, pleasure or food, but I hope, from the look on his face, that is purpose isn't the latter.

Felipe Angeles is a fun place to relax, enjoy the green mountains, and purchase a bottle of water, or honey to satisfy your sweet tooth.

 

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