Escribo en el aeropuerto de Mexico — en la sala de espera
20 de Febrero, 2010

Hola —

OK….
Peter (friend who lives in Mexico City) came to the Casita (del Patio Verde) at about 5, and the three of us took a taxi for about an hour and a half.. meandering (mostly on city streets, because the “freeway” was totally bumper to bumper) from the southern part of Mexico City where Coyoacan is, through Condessa and El Centro, and further north. Eventually we started to climb very narrow, winding streets with lots of activity.. commercial, social, etc. going on all around us. We were in Molina and then Nacaulpan, where Peter had lived some years ago (in a rented room). The larger neighborhood is called Benito Juarez and it is outside of the DF (District Federal, which is actually Mexico City, home to about 22 million people). Benito Juarez is in the area that circles the city.. and is home to another 5 or maybe 10 million people. Pretty much, everyone just refers to all of it as Mexico City, but in terms of governance and other social and political infrastructure, it’s its own locale.

The area is built on the hills that surround Mexico City. (If not for the poverty and the construction and the general conditions, it could easily be an Italian hill town — sort of!) Forty years ago it was all trees and farming, and now it is wall to wall housing – most of it built by the residents, initially as small one room houses for families too poor to afford Mexico City but who relied on Mexico City for employment and goods. These self-help houses (begun with limited available materials and using the skills of the family and neighbors) have grown over the years to three- and four-story houses — mostly with adhoc “design,” fantastic decisions about the color of some of the houses, and all the amenities of any other community: sidewalks (albeit with almost no room to walk, because of the outcropping of shops, especially at night when the town comes to life with dozens of taco stands and vendors on every single street), shopping, water lines, sewers, electricity, etc. (which were not in place at the beginning). Bus lines, taxis, and the home grown van systems enable people to come and go freely, and there is an ever increasing ownership of automobiles in the area (creating all sorts of new jobs to repair cars locally, which is a thriving “on-the-street” enterprise).

The neighborhood climbs and climbs the hillside with stairs leading every which way to get to streets that sometimes go nowhere and sometimes open up to a whole other neighborhood.

This has been very interesting for us since we had visited this area when these houses (if you could call them houses at that time) were first being built — in the late 1970s. At that time, there were dirt roads and a few walking paths, no public transit, jerry-rigged electrical systems (well they are sort of still jerry-rigged, but official now), etc. It was clear then that this neighborhood and others on the other side of the city would become established given the huge population growth..  Basically they were squatter settlements, but not any more.

We walked a while (as Peter reconnected with people he knew when he rented a room in the area).. and then settled onto a bench at one of the hundreds of street-side taco stands and had fantastic (and huge) beef tacos with all the trimmings. We all wanted beers, but the stand didn’t sell them.. But no problema .. The guy sent his son (about 5 years old, maybe 6) down the street to get us beers.. Later, when we paid, the kid had to go back to find out the price and then return again to pay the little grocer from whom he had bought the beers. It was a great lesson in local economics, as obviously the taco guy had credit with the beer guy. Anyway, together we consumed 4 huge tacos and 3 beers for the grand total of 70 pesos ($5)!!

We walked around and eventually arrived at the hair salon run by Adrian/other name hard to understand..  (Adrian is male, but lives her life as a woman). The salon was about 250 sq ft including a bathroom which was behind a curtain (no privacy). Adrian has shoulder length blond (bleached) curls. “She” was extremely friendly to us as well as to all the customers and when I explained my work (in Spanish) — saying something about the fact that I was both a professor (which was easy to say and to understand) and that I had a company that worked “con organizaciones que ayudan los communidades pobres y nosotros trabajamos sobre comunicados y problemas social que afectan los colonias…” (or something like that) she said (in Spanish) that she, too, helped people with social problems.” I agreed that hair dressers are generally very involved with personal and social problems impacting their clients.

Cutting hair is a bit different here in Nacaulpan, as there don’t seem to be “licenses.” I did notice that the same comb was used over and over again without any disinfectant .. (Ah, I am so American.. worried about such details.. )

We had beers with Adrian (sorry I don’t know the name she likes to be called) and joked around about the neighborhood and different people who frequent the shop. (Her family built — or started to build — their house 35 years ago when she was 4 years old. She remembers what it was like at the time and said her parents (with whom she lives) have old photos (which Mike is dying to see)… So Mike will be back to visit when he’s in Mexico again in two weeks (sin/without Fern).. While we chatted, Adrian cut hair.. about four young Mexican guys, and then Peter. She was trying out some new styles — very short on the sides and back and very punky on the top. They all seemed pleased. Peter just got a very close crop cut, no punk — he’s the coordinator of the foreign language department at the universidad, so I think he felt short and close was a good solution. Hair cuts and styling cost 20 pesos (about $1.50).. She wanted to do my hair, but I chose to pass. Apparently the guys who were getting their hair cut belong to a particular gang in the neighborhood, but it sounded like a club and a turf definition.. All of them had jobs (limited education, so mostly delivery jobs and construction). One had lived in Florida for a few years and did odd jobs — everything from McDonalds to house painting. He returned to the colonia because work dried up in Florida with the economy. His English was weak but he understood a lot.

It was very difficult to have any kind of conversation (although they were all talking up a storm the entire time) because of the street noise. (You have to understand that the shop edges directly on the street with about 5′ of sidewalk and trucks and buses and cars are all driving by in two directions on the most narrow street you can imagine.. and the vehicles are not exactly Priuses… so add to all of this, honking horns and screeching breaks and radios and passersby talking .. and there is no door to the shop.. just a garage door that opens when she’s there.. so you are literally on the street.. And then inside the shop there is music playing (loudly).. So, given the sound / noise situation and my weak Spanish, I can’t really say I know everything that was discussed… I do know that Adrian lives with her parents (her father does not approve of her lifestyle, but her mother is very supportive); she’s got about six or seven siblings; several live in the US and the others live close by. One works with computers. She’s been doing hair for 15 years and likes it mostly because of the interaction with the customers who are all regulars by now.

I gathered that some of the gang guys were gay, because when I asked Peter why they come to her for their hair, he said that she was good but also she was gay-friendly.

In any case, Adrian hopes we’ll return (perhaps for a new “do” for me) and it would be fun to visit in the daytime and stay into evening in the neighborhood to see the real life of the place..

We left at about 9 (actually when things were just beginning to liven up on the streets.. so we felt un-cool) and walked to the “sitio” where you can get an “official taxi”.. The taxi dropped Peter off in the Centro so he could party.. and we headed back to Coyoacan. Naturally the taxi driver from that great distance did not know his way around Coyoacan, but by now we are pretty good with directions and were able to help navigate to the Casita.

This morning we headed to the Bazaar Sabado at Plaza San Jacinto in San Angel and meandered through the myriad stalls which had the usual broad array of high quality and low quality goods. It was fun; we bought a few trinkets and stuff, and Mike fell in love with an incredibly fantastic line drawing (pen and ink) with unbelievable detail that was about 40″ by 40″.. He’s made arrangements to see it again when he’s back .. and I think it’s going to find a home in our house. It is quite amazing because of the drawing skill, the embedded stories, and the grand scale of the piece in proportion to the line elements. While it’s not cheap,
I’m certain framing it will be twice the price of the piece. What a statement!

We hurried back to Coyoacan to finish packing.. and now we are officially en route to Oakland, via a three hour stop at the Phoenix Airport.

Adios.
Fern

 

 

 

Escribo 19 de Febrero
Hola Amigos —

This will cover both el Jueves y el Viernes.
My classes are going well and now they are over (terminado). I’ve learned a lot about Maria Luisa in the past two days. The conversations have been fluid and difficult .. and slow, but it is more enjoyable than what I did in Guatemala when there was so much concentration on grammar. That said, I think I can make myself understood on some fairly complex social and political issues, but my grammar is quite atrocious, so there must be a happy medium somewhere.

Anyway, Maria es muy religiosa and she believes more in prayer than in science. So she has a lot of trouble understanding how anyone can deal with illness or other infirmities without a strong belief in god. I explained that I trusted science and evidence, and she said that it was important to pray so that god would tell the doctors what to do! She also wanted to discuss Adam and Eve, but I think she was a bit put off when I made some comment about the “powerful apple.” In any case, we have had some very good discussions and I think she became aware of my politics, just as I did of hers. While she says shes has friends – both male and female – who are homosexuals, she is totally opposed to same sex marriage and is actually not all too pleased to know that she has homosexual friends because it appears to her to be “not normal.” We had a very brief conversation about homosexual priests and she believes that this exists in the church (to her dismay.)

Maria is also very curious about the fact that I am Jewish (or at least by the fact that I am neither Protestant nor Catholic).. Lots of questions and difficult to explain that I’m not an overly engaged Jew.

She’s very obsessed with the fact that the great majority (98% according to Maria) of married men are not faithful. When I asked about women she said 60%.

In any case, Maria was patient and curious so the conversation moved along.. albeit slowly because of my low level Spanish abilities.

It poured again yesterday and was very cold (unusual weather for Mexico City), and we had a few more power outages. Today it is beautiful — sunny, blue skies, low pollution, etc.

Following class, I have been (unfortunately) coming directly back to do work, so my extra curricular activities are minimal… Last night Mike and I had dinner with two of the Mexican faculty and it was a good and stimulating conversation. They are both quite enjoyable. Eduardo is the chair of the Architecture Department and Andrea has been on the faculty at UAM for many years. Her husband is a scientist and is now head of a major department at the Gates Foundation in Seattle. She commutes every other weekend to Seattle and stays for about 4 days. He is the head of a special project that is dealing with the eradication of some diseases that are found in Central and South America. It’s a pretty demanding position and he travels around the world quite a bit. She did her graduate work at MIT so she’s very fluent in English. Eduardo is a real character — studied in London so his English is good too. Apparently he translated for Mike when Mike gave his lecture to the university a few weeks ago.

We ate in the San Angel neighborhood at a local fonda and we closed the place down.. lots of drinking.. And we began the meal with a dish of assorted pre-historic specialties (that’s how it was referred to on the menu)… consisting of fried worms (guisillas), ant eggs (escamole – which we had tried a few nights ago) and grasshoppers… They were all delicious.. You put them into a tortilla with some guacamole or salsa.. roll ’em and eat.. ) Believe me, I was a little skeptical, but they were all really really tasty .. I probably would have eliminated the worms because even though they were fried, the shapes remained.. Eating the ant eggs was like having caviar.. and they are mixed with other finely chopped ingredients and herbs. The grasshoppers were like a powder, so they mixed easily with the guacamole…

Oh, forgot to mention that we finally talked with the other guest here at the casita — Andrew Fierberg — a filmmaker from NY (producer) whose actually produced more than 20 films and has won several awards. He did “The Secretary” and a version of Hamlet that had Ethan Hawke in the cast. He’s here to consult on a film (fictional story) that will be released in conjunction with the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence — the story involves a house and the memories of the house over 200 years. It’s written by a well known Mexican novelist who is a friend of Andrew’s.. Anyway, lots of strange interconnections — turns out Andrew’s wife commutes to Cambridge, MA where she is a professor at Harvard at the Carpenter Center and the GSD, so we know many people in common.

Not much else to report, except that the commercials on television are quite hilarious.. Anybody interested in having me bring back “Slim Ice”.. Apparently you rub it on and lose lots of weight and decrease your clothing size by about 2 sizes… I’ll be marketing it in the US next week.

OK.. Back to work for me.. Maybe one last report tomorrow from the airport. We plan to get to the Saturday market in San Angel as soon as it starts at about 10 (a very special mercado we are told, that only takes place on Saturdays) and hope we can see enough of it before we taxi back to the hotel by noon so that we can leave for the airport at 12:30.. it’s a bit tight what with the unbelievable traffic and unpredictability of the taxis.

Tonight we are headed to a very poor community north of the city that began as a self-help barrio about 40 years ago and is now quite established with a strong social and physical infrastructure — complete with bars and shops and other amenities.. Peter, our American (soon to be Mexican) friend is taking us there as he once lived there and has friends there. Our visit will include going to some kind of Mexican transvestite bar.. We’ll let you know how that pans out.

Best to all.
Hasta Luego… probably mas informacion que desean.. Sorry.
Fern

P.S. — OK, I promise to update you on tonight’s escapade.

Hola Amigos:

Llovio muchismo hoy y es esta muy frio en Coyoacan.

Miercoles, 17 de Febrero —

Woke up to real rain and cold.. it’s truly nasty today. Decided to hop a taxi to the Biblioteca en Parque Mexico where I would have lesson #3. The walk to the Metro from the casita is about 20 minutes and what with the rain, cold, and cobblestone streets it seems wise to just go by taxi. Again the trip was less than 8 miles, but it took more than an hour because of mucho traffico!

Too bad about the weather because the park was lovely — one of the nicest city parks I’ve seen.. oh well.. the rain is needed, so no complaints.

Taxi ride was pretty smooth (although the driver didn’t really know where the park was and luckily I had a map), but at the end it was comical as I only had a $500 peso bill (about $35) and the tab was 80 pesos ($6) and the driver didn’t have any change. I suggested (in my nearly perfect Spanish) that we could stop at a bank, but there weren’t any banks close; I suggested a farmacia on the corner, but they wouldn’t do it; I suggested the cafe on the other corner, but they wouldn’t do it. Finally I spotted a guy who looked like he might have a few hundred pesos (and I guessed that he spoke English, which he did), but he had only $400 pesos… He actually offered to pay the taxi, but I said no…

So, the resolution was that the taxi driver would meet me back at the park at 2 pm and take me back to Coyoacan and somehow we’d figure it out… which is what we did. Lesson learned: always have small denominations of money.

My lesson went well. I’m fairly good if I begin the conversation because then I have a general idea of where it’s headed and can actually maintain a conversation for several back and forth questions and discussions. My grammar is quite horrid, but I’m working on it.

Anyway, today we talked about a host of different topics. I learned that Maria is divorced and that her ex is a musician (piano). He works many jobs including teaching at the conservatory (classical); playing at the Sheraton (contemporary and jazz); doing assorted gigs and events; etc. Anyway, his flexibility enables him to pick up five-year-old Ricardo who attends a Catholic school (which the ex pays for).. I found out about Maria’s many sisters and brothers all of whom have professional jobs and I learned a bit more about seguro popular (the healthcare system which Peter thinks is phenomenal and Maria thinks is terrible, based on her experiences when her father died in a Mexican hospital.)

Came directly back to the casita; had lunch at the main square here in Coyoacan; worked on office and university stuff for several hours; and then it was dinner time. Mike’s class is doing mid-term presentations, so I meandered alone to a quite good, small restaurant a few blocks from here relying heavily on mi paraguas (umbrella).. I also found a flashlight in the casita which I took with me and used when I was on dark, cobblestone streets en route. Mostly I was watching the paving to make sure I didn’t trip and watching above to make sure the umbrella didn’t get caught in one of the very many low overhangs from trees, canopies, and other impediments. Made it safe and sound, and am now back to work in the room with the fireplace going strong!

Hasta luego
Fern

Martes, 16 de Febrero

Amigos:

Today, my Spanish lesson was at the casita. I walked to the Viveros Metro station to meet Maria (who is not very familiar with either Metro — she relies on buses — or Coyoacan). I, on the other hand, am now quite familiar with the little neighborhood and with Metro. Maria and I connected easily and today she wore Nikes instead of high heels. I mentioned yesterday (as she struggled on the city streets) that Coyoacan had cobblestone streets.

We sat in the totally charming courtyard of the casita and began today’s discussion (about Mexican politics!) I learned that Maria is one of the more than 60% who do not have seguro (health insurance) although according to Peter (our American friend who has lived here for 15 years and is planning to stay permanently), by 2012 all Mexicans will be covered through seguro publico and that already the majority are covered. I think Maria is referring to private health insurance which she thinks is far better than the public plan.

Oh, I forgot to mention that last night we took a taxi that we hailed from the street and got a little Volkswagen bug.. with the front passenger seat removed so that we (or any other group of two) could easily get into the taxi. .. clever??

I also learned about the three major parties and where Maria thinks they each are on the political spectrum. Mostly I found out that she (and according to her, all Mexicans) thinks all the Mexican parties and government are corrupto! with the PAN (the most conservador) being menos poco corrupto.. or a tiny bit less corrupt than the others. She also says that the Catholic church is behind the PAN so it has a lot of money to fight off opposition. (Peter is a bit more optimistic and believes the PRI stands a good chance of winning elections in 2012.)

Maria talked about the fact that there are no results from the taxes that Mexicans pay so they believe all the money goes into someone’s pockets. We discussed American taxation and how all of our money goes to la guerra.. so it’s a matter of spending for the war or spending to increase the size of someone’s bolsa. I learned that agua is a major problem for Mexico and that some apartimientos are rationed as to water use. Maria’s mother watches su hijo y cuidado por los ninos es muy caro (just like in the states)…

Tomorrow we meet at Parque Mexicano.. in a small biblioteca located on the grounds.

After my lesson, I met up with Mike and we walked to a cute cafe/bookstore located a few blocks from the casita. I then went back to the Frida Kahlo Museo which was quite interesting (and where I saw the bed that Trotsky slept in when he lived with Frida and Diego, when he was in Mexico), walked back through the market and el Parque Allende, and then returned to get some work done.

Later Mike and I walked to the Viveros Metro station to catch the train to meet Peter for dinner. We caught the train to Banderas where we needed to change to the train to Insurgentes. As we got to the platform we realized that during rush hour (which goes from 4:00 until 11 pm) they have different lines to wait for the train — separating women and children from the men… to avoid problems. Since I was with Mike I had to go in one of the cars designated for hombres.. Quite an experience. The men’s cars were packed body to body.. The women’s cars were spacious. Anyway, we made it to Banderas and then attempted to get out of the train, but huge groups of men were trying to get on the train and everyone was pushing — those trying to get off the train and those trying to get on the train. I walked close behind Mike as he elbowed off the train.. but then suddenly he was surrounded by men trying to get onto the train and I got literally pushed (shoved) back onto the train and for a short time, thought I’d be headed wherever that train was going.. But Mike grabbed my arm and literally tugged and pulled me through the crowd.
Geesh… makes NYC subway system seem polite, controlled, and peaceful.

Finally made it to the transfer train and to Insurgentes station and a short walk to the restaurant, where we met up with Peter. Fonda el Refugio is an old Mexican restaurant that has been in operation for more than 50 years. Food was quite good, and we started with escamole (ant eggs) — a delicacy, which was fantastic (and pricey)..

After dinner we chose a taxi over the Metro.

Ah, Mike had an interesting experience. He was scheduled to give a lecture and had it in his calendar (but apparently for a day later than the actual date). So as he was quietly strolling neighborhoods taking photos, when he got a call on his cell from the chair of the department asking where he was.. Mike said he was checking out neighborhoods.. They said there was an auditorium full of people waiting for him to deliver his talk.. Fortunately Mike had his thumb drive in his pocket but he needed to get to the University and he was about 30 minutes away by foot.. he hailed a truck driver who was about to enter his truck.. and in his phenomenal Spanish said … “Yo soy Profesor y es necessario voy a universidad.”… The guy motioned to jump in and delivered Mike to the door of the building.. given that things often begin in Mexican time, seems like he made it just fine.

Hasta luego; mas manana en dia cuatro.

Fern

Pretty tame compared to other travels

Hola —

Arrived in Mexico City at about midnight on Saturday (February 13) and was glad we had decided to spend that night at the airport, especially since when we left the airport hotel the next morning to get to Coyoacan the taxi driver had a hell of a time finding our place.

We got to La Casita del Patio Verde in Coyoacan around 1 pm on Sunday and were greeted by Marta who is about 4’5″.. I feel like a giant! La Casita del Patio Verde has only two rooms. It’s a wonderful house with cottage. The house has one room that is currently rented to a filmmaker from NY and then there is the casita where we are staying. The main house and casita are separated by a fantastic jardin.. with patio areas, benches, sculptures, and well-tended growth. Patio Verde is located on a small narrow street that only goes about two blocks.

After settling in to our very gracious casita, furnished with Mexican artifacts, a wood burning fireplace, and tall ceilings, we walked through Coyoacan to San Angel where Diego Rivera lived. We visited his studio which was quite wonderful, and looked as if he might walk in the door at any moment. We followed this with great margaritas at the San Angel Inn (and decided to make dinner reservations for later that night.) Both San Angel and Coyoacan are old neighborhoods that have been restored and attract an upscale artsy crowd and residents.

En route we passed through the major squares of Coyoacan and San Angel, and dozens of colorful old churches.

Today, Monday, I began my intensive one week (4 hours per day) Spanish classes, and Mike resumed his teaching at the university (UAM) at Xochimilco — so we went our separate ways immediately after desayuno at the casita.

The taxi ride to la escuela took about one hour although it was probably only about 8 miles. Traffic was unbelievable and I felt like my life was at risk for at least 30 of the 60 minutes with the taxi weaving in and out of lanes and stopping short about once every five minutes.
I arrived at the school and met my instructor Maria Louisa. Just as I requested, it’s just me and her.. and four hours of chatting. Today we left the school, took the metro bus for about 20 minutes to UNAM and talked outside the bibloteca for about three hours. At first she suggested we’d chat inside the library, and when I questioned the fact that libraries are supposed to be quiet she shrugged. Anyway, we wound up in the outside courtyard because we couldn’t find any free tables inside the library.

UNAM is huge — sort of like ASU, but buildings are very far apart. Students were everywhere. I gather most commute from family homes. UNAM is the more upscale university; Mike is at UAM which has a majority of first generation college students and many commute from barrios two hours away from UAM. Both universities have good reputations and are highly competitive.

My lessons are interesting and I’m hoping they create a miracle … When I spent a week in Guatemala 18 months ago, I spent five hours a day with an instructor and it was pretty boring. Pretty much conjugating verbs and reading passages from a book and answering questions. This time I wanted to talk… so today we talked politics – American politics — what works in the US and what doesn’t, why the US won’t deal with the immigrantion crisis to legalize long term residents.. health care, etc. Problem was that I’ve got a lot to say about all of this, but have second grade language skills to keep the conversation going.

Anyway, following my class I came back to Coyoacan and then walked to the Frida Kahlo house about a mile away only to find that it’s closed on Mondays, so I came back to the casita and did some work..

Tonight we ate in the main square at a simple Italian/Mexican restaurant. .. Now we are in the casita about to watch “Hurt Locker” which I brought with me in DVD.. Our room has a large scale, flat screen TV and DVD player!

Adios. Mexico is a lot more predictable than Turkey, so my ramblings won’t be anywhere near as interesting. It’s also a country I’ve been to many times, so it’s less exotic… but fun and interesting nonetheless.

Adios. Hasta luego.
Fern

Hola —  One very very long travel blog.. covering the entire 2.5 days in Mexico City..

Quick trip to Mexico City (where Mike is teaching intermittently during this winter term…)

Half Day – Friday
I arrived at about 4 (after braving unbelievable weather in Phoenix, forcing the plane to be about one hour late) at Mexico City Airport. Mike was waiting — he flew in from Merida where he had been for the past week with students (half are Mexican from UAM and half are from UW)..

We taxied to the hotel — Hotel de Cortez  — which is a former convent from the 15th or 16th century. We stayed here eons ago .. it’s still a haven from the hustle and bustle of Mexico City, but it’s had quite an “up-do”… with very modern amenities since the last time we were here. But the courtyard is still wonderful and unchanged. The Cortez is located near Parque Alameda, very close to all the major landmarks in the centro historico. So we settled in quickly (with a great margarita) and then set out to walk the neighborhood — through the park to the Palacio des Bellas Artes, several major churches (all of which are sinking into the ground), and the Zocalo. Then we set out to the Polanco neighborhood for dinner at Izote — an upscale Mexican fusion restaurant that was wonderful (with mini tamales and other goodies), but definitely several price scales above what the average Mexican can afford.

Dia Uno – Sabado
On Saturday we set out for Coyoacan (about 10 km south of the centro) — via Metro, which was — as always — totally crowded and filled with music of all sorts — boom boxes, live accordions, guitars, etc. We walked through the delightful colonial neighborhoods of Coyoacan – eventually ending at La Casita del Patio Verde — where we hope to stay when we are both back in February. (Mike is actually staying in Mexico this next week and then back in California on Feb 1; we head back to Mexico, together, on Feb 13)

Got to La Casita to find no one there. Turns out, it is a charming house with just one guest room and one guest cottage. We phoned the owner who came by about 15 minutes later.. and we settled that we would stay there. It has a wonderful garden, and whoever did the renovation did a hell of a good job. I plan to study Spanish in February and am hoping for a miracle.. Mike will commute that week from Coyoacan to Xochimilco — 15 minutes without traffic (which is never) and about an hour at other times! Fortunately, I think his hours may enable him to come and go during non-commute times (and he is heading in the opposite direction of most traffic that will be going into the centro.)  After meeting with the proprietor, Jose Luis .. we walked all through Coyoacan — which was once its own town and has now been incorporated as a neighborhood into Mexico City. Coyoacan is considered very middle class, with lots of professors, artists, etc. choosing to live here. It’s picturesque and quiet.

Mexico City — with its 25 million+/- people — goes on forever.. .sort of Phoenix but with lots of buildings, no empty lots, and at a higher altitude. It’s much larger than it was when I was last here (about 20 years ago).. but it’s as lively, as noisy, and nearly as polluted as I remember. Indeed it’s hard to describe the city without the smells and the sounds, especially the music.

After leaving Coyoacan (a bit more complicated to get back than we had planned because we opted for a taxi — they are very cheap — in lieu of Metro, thinking it would be faster since it was a long walk back to Metro.. but it actually took three times longer), we headed back to the Bellas Artes to meet an old friend who has been living in Mexico City for 15 years and now definitely calls Mexico City “home.” Along with two of his friends (one an interior and furniture designer and the other an executive with Banamex, who says the US banks used money it got from their Mexican subsidiaries which are profitable to pay back the government), we all trekked to his new house which is located north of Mexico City by about 12 miles (but it takes him about 2 hours to get to work each day.. via a bus and then Metro… On the way home he gets off the bus and has to run across the freeway.

Anyway, Peter recently purchased his home through a Mexican program that
offers loans to residents. The house is part of a new complex (really a city in and of itself) with 60,000 new units… Peter’s being one of those 60,000. It was fascinating. The house is just under 400 sq ft, and has been designed so that the owner can expand upward creating a second or even a third floor (which he plans to do next year. The house cost $20,000 US dollars which is equivalent to one year of his salary (as the coordinator of the foreign language department at the university). It will cost $2,800 to do the extension which will nearly double the house size. The house is a long rectangular box about 10′ x 35′ and it’s set back from the street. There are a few different prototype houses, but basically they all fit this module.

When he went to the meeting with all the other buyers.. they were told the “rules” (sort of like condo rules).. which included the fact that these were all residences and owners should not be creating businesses in the front of their houses… Peter said that when he moved in (and he was one of the first to occupy … people were already setting up businesses in the front of the houses, and by now — two years later–he’s one of the very few people who don’t have a structure that has been built in front of the house nearly occupying the entire lot with some kind of business, from fruit stand to car mechanic to beauty shop to dentist! So now this rather sanitized complex has quite a life going on.. and the community can truly be — as Peter says — very “sustainable.”

Speaking of rules — Mexicans don’t really follow them. There are stop signs at nearly every corner (mostly 4 way stop signs).. and no one, not even the police ever stop at them.. the story is that someone got a contract to print and install all the stop signs through some corrupt government at some point, and they don’t make any sense… Traffic is sort of like a symphony with everyone just weaving around and pedestrians creating their own pace between the cars. And while many things take a long time in Mexico City, where people do seem to savor a certain waiting time (no one ever gives you a bill at a restaurant unless you ask for it.. you could wait forever).. the one thing that is not slow, is driving. Indeed the little green man on the traffic light is literally running.. not walking (in order to remind you that you are taking your life in your hands as you cross very busy intersections)

We came back into town with Peter and had dinner at one of those venerable old Mexican restaurants with lots of mariachis, and big portions (low prices) and lots of people… We over-ordered, not realizing how much food would come.. but we had a good time, and walked back to the hotel.

Dia Dos – Domingo
On Sunday (yesterday) we had breakfast in the wonderful courtyard of the hotel and headed out to explore in more depth, the centro, Alameda, and zocalo areas — starting with the Parque Alameda and the museum that houses the fantastic Diego Rivera mural – Sueno de una Tarde Dominical en la Alemeda Central (Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park)… about 50′ x 15′.. It goes through three periods in Mexico history. A class at the university was assigned (as far as I can tell from reading all the information in my limited Spanish — although my reading comprehension is 10x better than my verbal skills) a project to create contemporary images of the park today… which includes lots of photographic details of people and things one sees today. Anyway, the mural used to be in a hotel lobby. The hotel was severely destroyed during one of the earthquakes and the mural miraculously survived unscathed.. It was transported to this space where they created a museum around it.

We ventured through many areas in the downtown — went to the 41st floor of the Torre Latino Americano — what was until recently the tallest building in all of Latin America… From this vantage point (and on a somewhat clear day — or at least clear for Mexico City ) you can literally see “all” of Mexico City and get a sense of what it means to have a population of 21 million (+more than 2 million in the ring around the city) in an area that is about 1,000 sq miles (by comparison, I believe that Houston has about 2 million people and is 600 sq miles; Phoenix has 1.5 million people and is about 520 sq miles).

We walked through (or peaked into) dozens of great courtyards; passed scores of churches; wandered through many walking streets (which didn’t exist when we were here years ago) with great street performers; had wonderful flavors of ice cream and made it to the Zocalo… where there were protesters directly across from the main cathedral — objecting to the church’s stand on abortion, gay marriage, and gay adoption.  Apparently Mexico City has approved gay civil unions and most recently the leading political party in Mexico City (PRD) announced an amendment to the Civil Code to legalize same-sex marriage. This is opposed by the second largest political force in the country, the right-of-center PAN and the Roman Catholic Church. So now Mexico City became the first Latin American jurisdiction to legalize same-sex marriage.

We also visited the Museum of Popular Art (Museo des Artes Popular) which was fantastic.. Must return when I’m back.

Eventually, we headed back to the hotel for a margarita and then went off for our last dinner here in Mexico City (actually Mike will have several more dinners, but last for me as I head back in the morning)… We taxied to a very sweet, unpretentious Mexican restaurant called Fonda del Refugio.. Food was quite good… and then back to hotel..

Oh — on the political front. Some people are hopeful for a swing to the left in the next Mexico City election.. and even nationally.. but ??? I guess the periphery around Mexico City which has its own government has swung more left recently.

Now — to pack and return.
Adios — or rather Hasta Luego!

I hear it’s raining again in the Bay Area — Not looking forward to that. Weather here has been in the 70s or higher during the day and drops down to 40s at night.