Things to Do in Aurora: 2. Mexican Popsicles

One day, the girlfriend and I decided to bike down to Del Mar Park. The park is inside Del Mar Circle, a geographic feature smack in the middle of Aurora that always gets me completely turned around just when I think I've figured out the area. It's a gorgeous park, though, with big grassy areas, a fantastic playground, and a huge pool with a giant waterslide that I think might be just for kids (but I really want to go on it anyway).

Glorious summer paradise! And probably only a little bit of pee.

Girlfriend and I are chilling on our picnic blanket, enjoying some homemade ricotta and Costco figs while we watched the giant bucket at the top of the mini-waterpark fill up with water and then dump out over the shrieking children below (seriously, this thing is awesome). A guy walks over and asks if he can share our shady area, so we say "of course," not being assholes. He then proceeds to turn on some music, light up a cigarette (or joint? Hey, it's Colorado!), and take out a flask-sized bottle of brown alcohol. So this dude knows how to do Del Mar Park.

We get to talking to the guy, and he tells us that his name is Ray Ray, and he's been coming to this park for years. In fact, he now lives an hour away, but comes over here just to hang out in Del Mar because this is his place: he calls it "Del Ray Ray." When we tell Ray Ray we're heading out soon because we were thinking about getting ice cream at the King Soopers (the adorably-named local grocery store chain), he informs us that King Soopers ice cream is crap and we should instead check out the place that sells Mexican popsicles, between King Soopers and the Cinema Latino (Spanish-language movie theater).

Movies I could probably understand okay in Spanish: Shaun the Sheep (because there's about 2 words of dialogue in the whole film), and Mission Impossible (because it will make just as much sense even if I can't understand the dialogue). The Paleteria (popsicle place) is on the left.

Ray Ray did not steer us wrong. The Mexican popsicle place, which I think is called La Michoacana Paleteria, is just as fabulous as promised. At the front of the store, there's a case filled with popsicles in flavors like fresa (strawberry), cajeta (caramel), arroz con leche (rice pudding), and even pepino y chile (cucumber and chili pepper).

Lime! Tamarind! Mixed fruit! Nance! (Apparently this is some time of stone fruit? I don't know, but I want to try it)

Girlfriend got pistachio, which was light green, packed with pieces of nuts, and creamy like ice cream. I got frutas, which was mixed fruit, including chunks of pineapple, strawberry, and kiwi. The array of paletas (popsicles) was so beautifully overwhelming that we didn't even consider the case of helado (ice cream) further back in the store, or this intriguing menu of other options:

I don't know what it means but I want ALL OF IT.

I looked up esquimal and it means "Eskimo." The "paletas esquimal" seem to be popsicles dipped in chocolate and coconut. But what are "bionicos"? This is pushing the limits of my self-taught Spanish.

Oh, that's the other great thing about this place: I got to practice my Spanish. Or rather, girlfriend and I got to make fools of ourselves trying to ask the lady working there "what kinds do you like best?" in our rather broken and elementary Spanish. I'm sure I accidentally asked her "what pallets do you cheese?" or something equally ridiculous.

See, I've been teaching myself Spanish with a selection of apps, so I regularly impress myself with the useful things I can say in the privacy of my own home, such as: "la officina de turismo es muy lejos de aqui" (the office of tourism is very far from here) or "los elefantes beben agua" (the elephants drink water). This doesn't translate very well to having real conversations with a real Spanish-speaking person in real life.

So I prepped a little for my second trip to the Paleteria, and when I got up to the counter I said "me gustaria una paleta de cajeta, por favor." (I would like a caramel popsicle, please)

Delicious cajeta with some not-so-delicious brown stuff on it that I think is quince paste.

The good news is, I think my Spanish was correct, I got the right popsicle, and it was pretty tasty. The bad news is, the lady asked me for my order in English so I probably looked like a total weirdo responding in Spanish. Oh well!

This is me, the crazy pineapple. Also, doesn't this look both insane and delicious? When I try it, I promise there will be pictures.

Next time on Things to Do in Aurora: 3. High Line Canal Trail! (I know a walking trail sounds pretty lame but here is a preview: more animal sightings and a very creepy piece of yard art)