Zach and I stumbled across this little scene the other day, and luckily he happened to have his camera with him.
Fun with Swine H1N1 Flu
Overlooking Jamay and Lake Chapala
On one of the hills overlooking Jamay, there is a church, a plaza, and a large Jesus statue. While it’s hard to appreciate in this picture, the statue’s most striking feature is its grossly oversized blessing hand. The story I was told was that the statue’s original hand was damaged and fell off, so a local businessman paid to have the replacement made and installed. Whether the size discrepancy was due to the businessman’s desire to inflate his contribution or just poorly measured sculpting on the artist’s part, the statue now sports a cartoon-like hand larger than its head. Having said that, the view from the plaza over the town and the lake is amazing.
A few other Jamay highlights: Delicious fish, climbing through a mango field to a supposedly haunted cave, the traditional Sunday night walk-around-the-plaza (guys clockwise, girls counterclockwise), the massive blue and white monument to Pope Pio IX (my picture sadly didn’t turn out), and of course, a lot of tacos.
Cross in Cuautitlan, Estado de Mexico
Saw this on my excellent adventure on the Tren Suburbano with Mike a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the film of my $5 camera developed this week and have some shots of my trip though Jalisco up soon as well.
It’s all been building up to this point, and it hasn’t been easy. Months spent acclimating to the city, making contacts, identifying locations, and becoming familiar with the necessary materials is all about to come together into the ultimate accomplishment of my time in Mexico. No, I’m not talking about my Fulbright project. I’m talking about “Taco Week”.
Yes, the humble taco, a tiny pair of tortillas, some meat, and a little chopped onion and cilantro, will be the focus of my attention for an entire week as I search high and low for the Perfect Taco. Will it be suadero in Del Valle? Pastor in Condesa? Tripa in Xochimilco? Carnitas in el Centro? There is only one way for me to truly find out.
My friends, I plan to eat a full 100 tacos in 7 days… and enjoy every last one. That’s more than 14 a day—easily two meals; a taco practically every hour and a half; enough corn flour, animal parts, and salsa to kill a weaker man. Stay tuned: I’ll post my notes and totals online from this epic challenge against fullness, intestinal parasites, and future coronary artery disease.
Ambitious? Yes. Delicious? Clearly. Completely and utterly disgusting? Absolutely.
“Taco Week” is simply a working title, by the way, so please, send some creative suggestions as to what I should call this timeless pursuit of glory…
I know it’s been a long time since I actually updated you all on what I’ve been doing, so here’s the last month and a half in abridged form: I finally made it to Michoacan for my project, and had a very productive interview with the director of Seguro Popular (the program I’m studying). After that, I took a couple days after that to travel around the state, enjoying both the historic, Spanish-influenced capital and the heavily indigenous island-village of Janitzio in mystical Lake Patzcuaro. Our midterm Fulbright reunion was towards the end of February, complete with each of us giving a presentation on our research (and other experiences). I spent about a week earlier this month back in Chicago, partly to take care of taxes/financial aid/a haircut, but mostly just as a birthday visit. The past few weeks have involved a few short trips, one hell of a soccer game, the same contacting-of-interviewees-problems on my project as before, many coffee shop hours spent relearning medicine, and, of course, many, many delicious tacos.
Fun Mexican Word: Porra – The serious fans at soccer games, as well as the cheers they do. A-mer-i-ca! AGUILAS! A-mer-i-ca! RAH RAH RAH! (not that I’d ever cheer for the NY Yankees of Mexican Soccer…)
Picture: Unfortunately, some fool left his camera in a cab at O’Hare when flying back to Mexico City. Lucky, that fool’s sister and girlfriend rescued the camera, though it remains in Chicago.
Statue on Janitzio, from the last Mexico set I have
Something I miss (aside from all of you, of course): Vegetarian food. I enjoy meat, and I love Mexican food (after all, why else would I do “Taco Week”?), but various vegetarian meals while home a few weeks ago reminded me how much I love those, too. While it’s not impossible to find the sort of vegetarian foods I like here, it’s definitely not particularly easy, either.
Something I like about DF: Art Deco buildings. They aren’t skyscrapers like most of the cool art deco in Chicago, NYC, Detroit, and other American cities, but smaller residential and commercial buildings stretching from el Centro through Roma, Condesa, and up and down much of central Insurgentes. Less cluttered than the heavily decorated colonial facades, with more character than the sleek modernism of newer buildings, and often painted bright colors, they make for very attractive streetscapes.
Saludos, wish me luck,
k
Entrance to the world's largest bullring
One stadium I have yet to visit in Mexico City is the massive Plaza Mexico, located directly next to Estadio Azul and built during the same time period. While there are still regular bullfights held here, it is just as common for the stadium to host concerts and other large gatherings.
Mexicans are among the friendliest people in the world. Even in the busy metropolis of Mexico City it’s very common to have a complete stranger tell you “buen provecho” (the local equivalent of bon appetit) at a restaurant, help you with doors, or just greet you on the street. Basically, they want to be liked.
However, there is a downside to the Mexican desire to be seen as helpful and friendly, at least for us non-Mexicans unfamiliar with this custom. While Mexican will gladly tell you ‘yes’ when they are willing and able to help, they will rarely tell you ‘no’ when they are not. One example of this habit often occurs when asking for directions. It is almost certain that you will get detailed directions to your destination. Unfortunately, these directions are often completely fictitious and only serve to further confuse your path. In order to appear helpful, a Mexican would rather make up false directions to your destination than simply tell you they don’t know how to get there.
While providing false information to a stranger is one thing, dealing with friends or business associates is another. Instead of making up information on the spot, a Mexican will instead try to avoid having to provide any information at all.
How to say “no” in Mexican:
Step 1: Say yes.
Step 2: Avoid person who initially asked the question at all costs.
Step 3: If contact is unavoidable, assure the person that their request will be met “ahorita”.
Step 4: Repeat steps 2 and 3 as necessary until the other party gives up.
Where am I going with this? My project, of course. While I like to think of my project as moving along well, I am plagued by the Mexican “no”. There is undoubtedly a number of patients who I have and will interview who try to tell me what they think I want to hear. While frustrating, this is expected in survey research and not an overly grave concern.
The larger problem is instead the “Mexican No” I’m getting from the doctors who I’m looking to for help. I have called a doctor at the state health department of Michoacan nine times since I was initially put in touch with him last Monday, each day, and at different times. I have not been able to get him on the phone once yet, as he has always “just stepped out”. I left my phone number with a secretary Friday morning, but I have a hard time believing I’ll hear from him without making at least a few more calls. If this process has to be repeated with the four other state health departments I hope to meet with, I may go crazy.
Otherwise, the year continues to fly by. I’m starting to get to the point where I have brief moments of panic when I realize how much medical knowledge I’ve forgotten and that I’ll be back in the hospital in a few month’s time. For the most part, though, I’m content to just relax and enjoy Mexico City.
Fun Mexican Word: Maguey – Unlike several of Mexico’s other pre-Columbian agricultural products (corn, chiles, squash) that have become part of so many of the world’s cuisines, the versatile maguey is rarely grown outside of Mexico. Numerous species of maguey are heavily used in landscaping, and the plant’s fibers have long been used for in cloth-making. However, the most important products made from various maguey are all alcoholic—the frothy, fermented pulque; harsh, smoky mescal; and, above all, tequila, Mexico’s gift to the world of booze.
Picture: Eagle carving at the Monument to the Revolution. This fascinating dome was initiated during the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, and was originally intended to be the new meeting chambers for the Senate. However, Diaz was forced from power before the building’s completion. Its shell was later repurposed into a monument celebrating the event.
La Aguila
Something I miss (aside from all of you, of course): Ethiopian food. Most food cravings can be at least partially satisfied one way or another in Mexico City. Within a short walk I can find Argentine, Chinese, Polish, Brazilian, and Japanese restaurants, and of course various Mexican options (plus American fast food, if for some inexplicable reason I feel like Subway or a Big Mac). Numerous other options are found throughout the city. While I have one lead on a possible “Indian/Ethiopian/Ghanian restaurant”—quite a combo—I think I’m probably just going to have to wait until I’m back in Chicago to fill this particular craving.
Something I like about DF: Cantinas, the traditional Mexican drinking hole. Have a few beers, get dinner free! Add dominos, live music, and a soccer game on TV and you are bound to have a good time.
Saludos,
k
Mexico City coat-of-arms at the Buenavista Train Station
I spent a long time wandering around a part of the city I rarely go to yesterday. North of the yuppie neighborhoods of Condesa and Roma, west of the Centro Historico, east of upscale Polanco, on what was likely the edge of the city as recently as the 1940s, sits the train station. The current 1970s building is undergoing a dramatic reconstruction as the terminal for the new suburban train after sitting largely unused for over a decade, when the privatization of Mexico’s railroad left the country with no true passenger train service. Currently, only one line, designed an operated by a Spanish company, has been put into use. However, various routes and extensions are planned, reaching areas of the conurbation currently unserved by rail. Perhaps someday in the future, passenger service will return to other parts of Mexico (besides the Tequila Express…).
Without enough change for a single ride and unwilling to deposit 200 pesos onto a transit card I have no real need for, I decided to save my ride on the tren suburbano for another day. I hopped on the metro and headed back to the familiar neighborhoods to the south.
Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco
Outside the Polyforum, painted by David Alfaro Siquieros, third member of the big 3
Polyforum and the World Trade Center
Odd architecture + crazy muralist’s painting = landmark
