Filed under: Photo, Update | Tags: Acapulco, animals, DF, flowers, food, Guanajuato, swine flu, transportation, Veracruz
Somehow the year has gone flying by, and I find myself with only a few weeks left before I head back to my other home, Chicago. While I haven’t quite left yet, the nostalgia is already kicking in, big-time…
Partial list of things I’m going to miss about living in Mexico City:
1) My Mexican family (if they don’t kidnap me to make me stay, as they often threaten)
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4) The weather. As much as bad weather doesn’t bother me, I’m going to miss knowing that every day the weather will be perfect.
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7) My neighborhood taco stand, and the sweet, sweet tacos campechanos it serves up.
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15) Neighborhood fruit stands (and other markets of all types). The Chicago farmers markets are great, but once or twice a week in summer doesn’t quite match every day all year, and low low prices. Plus, there’s no mangos or dominicos in Chicago.
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22) Guanajuato, Acapulco, Jalapa, and countless other cool cities to visit within a 5 hour bus ride.
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37) Bugambilia, Jacarandas, and all the other flowers that are everywhere in the DF year-round.
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44) The Metrobus. Having to wait more than 30 seconds for a bus to come is going to be a rough reminder of US public transportation.
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102) Boing de Guayaba, the startlingly addictive bright pink guava drink available at taco stands and convenience stores everywhere.
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1,345—1,347) (Tie) Toss up between mosquito bites, air pollution, and lack of Ethiopian food as what I will miss least
Fun Mexican Word: Tapaboca – Literally “cover mouth”, the tapabocas craze kicked off several weeks ago when swine flu hit the news. While their use has dropped since the end of April—perhaps because people calmed down about the “pandemic”, perhaps because pharmacies and hospitals ran out of them—they still are a fairly common site on the street in Mexico City.
Picture: La Granada waterfall. I’ve already posted several pictures of this, but as it was one of the coolest things I’ve done in Mexico up to this point (or maybe just the coolest thing I’ve done recently, but whatever) I think it’s earned the right to show up multiple times on the blog.
La Granada
Something I miss (aside from all of you, of course): Oak Street Beach. I expect to be playing Frisbee there the evening after I return. June 2, you know who you are.
Something I like about DF: The lizards that I see every day scampering away as I walk by their sunning spots. (If you’re interested, that’s #256 on the list from above)
Saludos,
See you Chicagoans soon,
k
From el Pipila
Probably worth clicking on to make it bigger…
EDIT – Ignore above advice, it appears wordpress no longer allows you to do this. Try here instead.
A callejoneada in Guanajuato
See Sept 23rd’s post (under “Fun Mexican Word”) for an explanation
Jose gets the Guanajuato rundown from an under-aged guide
I forgot to bring my camera to Jilotepec and then later to Katie’s concert, so instead of a picture of either of those, here’s a picture I meant to post a long time ago from Guanajuato…
El Mariachi Loco Quiere Bailar
Chile peppers, sombreros, and tequila may all be strongly associated with Mexico, but even these can’t quite match the Mexicanismo of a night full of mariachi music—in large part because it generally involves all of the others to one extent or another. While the state of Jalisco is the true home of the Mariachi (as well as tequila… coincidence?), Mexico City’s Plaza Garibaldi almost undoubtedly has the highest density of Mariachi groups anywhere in the universe. During the day, this dusty plaza on the northern edge of the Centro Historico is underwhelming—if not downright unpleasant—populated primarily by homeless drunks and stray dogs. As afternoon blends in to evening however, musicians slowly begin to trickle in. At first, they are primarily old men with heavily worn guitars, willing to play an out-of-tune love song for 10 pesos, and inexperienced ensembles looking to break in their mariachi chops. As evening blends into night, they are slowly replaced with established groups of 8, 10, or even 15 confident, well-dressed men (read: guys in matching suits with lots of buttons and/or gold embroidery) offering a full repertoire of time-honored songs, many times complete with choreographed movements of horns, violins, and guitars of various sizes. Surrounding these hundreds of musicians is a crowd teetering on the brink of complete chaos, indulging in tacos, tequila, and liter sized Micheladas (a combination of chile powder, lime juice, and most importantly, beer). As night drifts steadily towards morning, the crowd becomes rowdier by the minute. While a fight or two may break out (complete with flying glass bottles!) and briefly seize the plaza’s attention, the real entertainment remains the musicians, playing the same songs that mariachis have been playing for decades, perhaps even centuries.
And just in case someone is not interested in hearing Cielito Lindo for the 42nd time, there are clubs, bars, and “table dances” all over.
In addition to several late nights (early mornings? not-so-early mornings?) in Garibaldi, I’ve been busy (finally) with my project. “Busy” may be a bit of a stretch, but the point is it has started and I’m interviewing, transcribing, and planning most days of the week. While I haven’t made any groundbreaking discoveries, the project has started off quite well. People are generally willing to talk and don’t hold back about what they see as benefits and problems in the health care system here. I’m hoping to interview medical students sooner than later (NU med kids—expect a possible companion project in the States when I return…), as well as spend a couple of weeks in the city of Zacatecas interviewing patients there.
Outside of the project, Annie was able to visit for a weekend (wonderful but way too short), I had dinner with a high school friend who it turns out lives here as well, I keep teaching Vicky the maid English (funny story there… ask if interested), and continue eating my weight in corn/cheese/chile based foods.
Fun Mexican Word: Caguama – basically, a 40. We’ve joked about playing “Eduardo Caguama-Manos” (manos = hands) at some point; for our livers’ sake I hope it stays a joke. Interestingly, they’ve now started selling what they call a Caguamon…27% more beer than a caguama!
Picture: Night taco stand, Guanajuato.
A nighttime snack
Something I miss (aside from all of you, of course): Being able to fit on a train (even if it’s uncomfortably crowded) during rush hour. I never thought I’d find myself wishing that more people drove, but after spending a half hour trying to get on the metro without success (and this is with huge trains coming every 2-3 minutes or so) I definitely felt that way. You haven’t seen a crowded subway until you try taking the booger-green line in Mexico City at 7 pm or so.
Something I like about DF: Churros. Sure, you can get churros in the states, but the overall quantity and quality here can’t be matched. Mmmmm, churros….. now I’m going to have to get some on the way home…
Anyway, hope everything is going well back home. I’ll be around for a week and a half or so around Thanksgiving, hopefully I’ll see some of you then. And let me know when you are coming down to visit; we both know you want to see Mexico. Especially the mariachi.
Saludos,
k
I’m running on Mexican time now. This is basically just a nice way of saying that I take forever to do things, and expect the same from others. For example, I’m in the process of registering as a foreign national in Mexico. This needs to be done during the first month in the country, which for me means by Thursday. I finally got my forms completed yesterday; I’m going to be waiting all day for a copy of my host mom’s ID to prove I live with her, and then I expect all day tomorrow to be spent in various lines with other foreigners hoping to collect all the stamps necessary to be legal (I think something like 17% of the Mexican government’s annual budget is spent on rubber stamps. Yes, I just made that up, but it honestly feels like that could be true). I think in the US this same process would probably be completed in 15 minutes by filling out an online form, but then again I’d miss out on all the cool stamps.
I’m hoping to start my project in October, as well as spend the month rotating with Mexican medical students at one of the hospitals here in the city. I’ve gotten confirmation from the doctors I’m in contact with that both are in the works so theoretically there’s a good chance they’ll happen soon, but there’s an equally good chance I’ll spend another month waiting for both to actually get rolling. Mexican time strikes again.
My Chinese classes (my one productive-feeling activity) have been going well. I’m now able to say such useful phrases as “My little brother’s phone number is 815xxxxxxx”, “Do you want coffee?” and “I am not Mexican”. I think my host family probably thinks I’m a little nuts when they hear me sitting in my room mumbling things like “Wŏ shì mĕiguó rén”, and in their defense they would probably be right. It’s fun though, and gives me a scheduled activity at least 2 nights a week. And perhaps most importantly, as it’s run by Chinese and not Mexicans, it actually happens when it’s scheduled.
Fun Mexican word: Callejoneada – Imagine 25 young Mexicans (15-30 years old or so). Now imagine they are dressed in fancy medieval costumes and carrying a variety of unusual string instruments. Now, imagine that you are wandering around steep alleys and hidden plazas with 40 other people watching this group sing 500 year old ballads. All while drinking. Yeah, you don’t find that in the States…
Picture: From a march protesting several recent kidnappings and demanding the government take action. I’m not sure if anything concrete was accomplished, but it was an impressive and moving demonstration.
La Marcha en Blanca - Crowd gathers at the Angel
Something I miss (aside from all of you, of course): Lake Michigan. I miss the sudden change you get going from the skyscrapers of the city to the nothingness of the lake.
Something I like about DF: The plants. It’s amazing how things grow here. There are waist high impatiens, 12 foot tall poinsettias, Calla lilies that grow practically as roadside weeds, what might be coffee trees that scatter their beans all over the sidewalk, and more sculpted ficus trees than you can shake a stick at.
Viva Hidalgo! Viva Morelos! Viva Allende! Viva México! Viva México! Viva México!
Hope all’s well back home.
k
