Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

Latin America Files - Volume 3

We've compiled the best of Anthony Bourdain's Latin America trips in The Latin America Files - Volume 3, in which he further explores Mexico, Panama and Nicaragua.  Tony meets his friends Carlos and Martin in Mexico City at Cantina La Mascota.  In Mexico City, a cantina is a bar where the more you drink, the more delicious food is brought your way.  After that, they head off to one of the training centers for Lucha Libre.  Similar to the American WWE with a bit more flair, Lucha Libre is one of the great Mexican sports beloved by all.  Champion wrestler El Octagon teaches the three friends a few moves in the ring and shows them why he is the reigning champion.  Then they explore a bit of Mexico's history, traveling down river just as the Aztecs did hundreds of years ago.  At the end of an isolated canal, the three come upon Diego Rivera living on the Island of the Dolls, a weirdly creepy wonderland filled with headless doll bodies, doll heads, and various body parts strewn throughout the trees.  Sufficiently creeped out, Tony and friends need a drink to calm their nerves and head to a neighborhood joint serving up suspicious-looking fermented cactus sap that provides a happy buzz.  Carlos takes Tony back to his family home in Pueblo, Mexico, where his relatives have gathered for a feast of epic proportions... from tamales to tortillas to the perfect mole poblano.  In Panama, Tony treks through the Darien Gap, one of the most dangerous jungles in the world.  From malaria to snakes with heads as large as your fist, the Darien is about as primordial as it gets.  After braving the gap, Tony savors his continued existence.  In Nicaragua, Tony meets up with a local, Walter Delgado, to discover what it truly means to live in Managua today.  Tony moves on to the city of Esteli, and is given a traditional Sunday supper of mondongo, a tripe and vegetable stew.  Finally Tony is taken to the butcher to buy pig's blood to help make blood sausage.