Tlatelolco and a Happy New Year!

We just got back on the 29th from San Antonio where we spent Christmas with James' family and the very same day we arrived he suggested that we visit a place which is historically very interesting and also very close to one of the archives he goes to (of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). This place is called Tlatelolco and it is north of the center. I knew the name because we saw a documentary earlier about a terrible massacre that happened on this big, empty square in 1968. Lots of people, many of them students died or disappeared in the violent confrontation just a few days before the Olympic games started in Mexico City.

Since the documentary discussed the space and the architecture in detail (the square is surrounded by a sea of high apartment complexes where mostly working and lower middle class people live) I was very curious to see it. What I did not expect is that this very same place is also sight of an Aztec heritage and an incredible colonial church which was built using the bricks of the Aztec pyramids. In the ancient times it was supposed to be the largest market place in Mezoamerica, and we could still see the remains of 7 different layers built on top of each other to produce larger and larger sacrificial pyramids.

The large modern square on the side of the Aztec ruin is called Plaza de las Tres Culturas to signify the coexistence of the Indian, colonial and modern/socialist architectural and cultural heritage. It is all too ironic that all three of them are heavily linked to human sacrifice, murder and bloody violence...

With this last short tale I wish everybody all the best in the coming new year!

recent stuff 2

We have been to a few exhibitions as well these weeks, one was at the College of San Ildefonso where we have earlier seen the Vik Muniz exhibition. This time we saw two new things: one was called "Viento del Oeste, Viento del Este" which basically comprised of 20th century Spanish art that is in a way or other related to Mexico. They did have one Miro, one Picasso, and one Dali painting which they heavily advertised (of course) but mostly they were unknown artist with a wide variety of styles some of which I really liked, others were pretty schematic. But the other exhibition which we saw by chance only was a very interesting retrospective of Julio Galán, a Mexican artist who lived in New York for awhile. I did not know anything about him before, but I became a fan. It's hard to describe his stuff because it's really complex with lots of influences that melt into a very personal style. He is called a neo-expressionist by critics mixing very subjective, autobiographical motives (a la Frida Kahlo) with surrealist imagery and gay themes full of allegories from fairy tales and childhood fantasy. He used to hang out with Andy Warhol in New York for awhile but I don't think that pop art influenced him much, although his later works use multiple registers and materials. I am posting a picture here to give you a sense of this. Both me and James really liked his stuff, especially the earlier ones.
We also went to the Anthropology Museum for the first time last week (it will need at least 6 or 7 visits). It was pretty amazing, James will write about it soon...

recent stuff 1

It's not like we stopped doing things on the weekend, it's more like I got a little lazy with writing them up...but here is a brief update.
Two weekends ago we visited the final site of Mexico City that is a major tourist attraction and that we haven't seen yet. It is called Xochimilco and it is on the far south side of the city. Took us over an hour to get there. But it's a very unique place, it shows the original characteristic landscape of the city from the time of the Indians. It is a set of little islands connected by numerous canals. The big attraction, of course is to rent a boat and travel around the canals with many other boats looking at the mainly agricultural landscape. It can be real fun, but I think you need to be a big group of people, because the boast are big for 8 people and up and mostly what everyone does it they have a huge picnic with lots of drinks and food on the boat. Well, we didn't know this, so we were mainly watching as other were having the fun. Although Tod and James did have one huge beer each with lots of chili powder on the side of the cup. James to my great surprise really did not like this "michelada."

Juice on the weekend

This is something I haven't blogged about yet, even though it's probably my favorite thing in Mexico City so far: the fresh fruit juices all year round. They are sold on the street like everything else, at stands which specialize on juices only. There is a great place right around our corner that Julie told us about so we tried it for the first time about 3 weeks ago...and since then we have to have one every single day! It stared with the "Antigripa" when I was sick (still one of my favorites), which contains guava (super high in Vitamin C), pineapple, orange juice, lemon and honey, but since then we branched out in all different directions: mamey and milk(special fruit here, James' favorite cause it tastes like pumpkin pie by itself), grapefruit, strawberries, banana, the "Vampiro" which is red because of the beets, and the "Verde" which is green because it contains mainly celery and parsley...I won't go into further details, you really have to be here and try it. Oh, and the most expensive mix costs 13 pesos (1dollar)! Sometimes I feel guilty for drinking it every day, but then I cannot resists and console myself saying: "What the heck! I won't ever have anything like that once we leave Mexico..."
Here are some pictures with fruits (mamey and guava) and the Pan de Muerto from last week since I didn't post a pictures of it then.
PS: Tomorrow we are going to Xochimilco, very exiting! Will blog about it later.

Day of the Dead a la Mexico

These last few weeks I have been busy and lazy, but we are indeed enjoying (if this is the right word) the Dia de Muerto here in Mexico City. I have started attending an intensive Spanish class, so this takes up a lot of time on top of everything else. But one of the good things about the class is my teacher who is really cool and sweet. She brought a special cocoa drink to the last class that the Indians used to make and it has chocolate, corn flour, water and spices. It's a thick and slightly sweet drink, a great way to kick off the day of the dead which here is more a celebration of life (remembering that it's short). The other cool thing is an exhibition that was put out on Paseo de Reforma, with so called 'alebrije's - huge monstrous wonderful creatures made of paper (see pictures). Some are scary but others are really beautiful and full of imagination.

We also had pan de muerto, a sweet bread a few times this week and I am sure all our Mexican friends who live in the US envy us for it because it is truly delicious! It can be small or big, it's a little buttery and eggy, and there is sugar on the top. We bought and hung the 'papel picado's - punch papers made for this festivity especially showing different skeletons figures. We also bought the compulsory chocolate skull and some really cute skeleton musicians to display for our beloved dead ones...Mexicans usually put out a plate with their dead relatives' favorite food and drink. So we are celebrating life this weekend and remembering those we lost.

On this note: my beloved cat passed away this week at home in Romania. His name was Lacika and he was 15 years old. He will be missed and celebrated on every Day of the Dead from now on.

"Our Lady of Guadalupe"

This Sunday the weather wasn't very nice, it was cloudy and chilly but we still decided to check out something new that we haven't seen yet. So we took a pesero from Reforma all the way to the church complex dedicated to "Our Lady of Guadalupe", which is in La Villa the north part of the city. This particular worship of Saint Mary is extremely important for Mexicans for religious and historical reasons.

The story goes that in 1531 a Mary appeared to a Native American at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City. She identified herself as the virgin Mary. She made a request for a church to be built on the site, and submitted her wish to the local Bishop. When the Bishop hesitated, and requested a sign, the Mother of God obeyed without delay and sent her native messenger to the top of the hill in mid-December to gather an assortment of roses for the Bishop. She also left an image of herself imprinted on the natives' tilma, a poor quality cactus-cloth, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but apparently shows no sign of decay 476 years later. This revelation was equally important for the Spanish conquerors in their colonizing project and for Mexican Indians in their quick and peaceful turn to Catholicism. Millions of Mexicans travel to see the miraculous place and attend a mess here.

There are three big churches and a few chapels on the site. The oldest they started to build in 1531 and finished only in 1709. But since the ground was weak (like everywhere in the city) the basilica was slowly sinking and in the 1970s a new, more spacious and modern basilica was built to replace it. Today both are open to visitors but the masses are held only in the new building. If you walk further up to the very top of the hill via a series of stairs there is also a third, smaller church. What was most interesting to me was the incredible dedication of the crowd to Mary, instead of Jesus. All altars have Mary on them while Jesus stays in the background. Also, there are two statues in the old basilica which show the Virgin Mary as a child and a baby girl. They seem to adore Mary already as an infant here, something I haven't seen or heard of anywhere else.

As a consequence of this cult's importance, Mary is now the Queen of the Americas, a patriot of the whole continent. Since the first Hungarian king, St. Stephen also offered the country to the Virgin Mary she is very important for Hungarian catholics also, so the Mexican worship of her resonated very well with me.

pictures

The first picture is the Pyramid of the Sun. The second picture shows churros (yamm) while the third the house of Frida Kahlo (and Diego Rivera)

Coyoacan II and Theotihuacan

So I'm back again with a new entry, but too many things have happened this week so I'll have to be short and probably leave out some interesting details.

This Thursday we went down to Coyoacan again with James and it was truly lovely again. The weather was great and we were in a much better mood too after both James and my cat got better. (On that note: unfortunately, my cat has something like a lung emphysema, which is common amongst old cats apparently, and it is incurable. But at least we know what it is now, and have a little time to spend with him while preparing for the worst...).

We decided to check out some sights this time, so besides my favorite church in the center we visited the Frida Kahlo museum. The house was pretty (bright blue), colonial, colorful, with some furniture to give you an idea about how Diego Rivera and her used to live there for 30 years. There are some paintings too, but mostly by Rivera. This in fact was slightly disappointing: there is absolutely no art by Frida Kahlo and there is not much about her history and past in the house. Apart from the clothes and reconstructed kitchen, we didn't find out anything her except through the lenses (paintings, letters) of Rivera. So, all in all I didn't quite understand why it was called the Frida Kahlo house and not the "Diego Rivera house"...But other than that it was very pleasant. We also had tortas again, in the same place but this time maybe we weren't so hungry or we ordered the wrong thing because both of us felt that it was too greasy (it is true: I ordered one with the famous choriso sausage just to try, so I don't know what I expected...)I also tried a very popular pastry here, it's called: churro, which I really liked. It is a bready stick that is deep fried and just a little sweet from the sugar but it's soft and a little chewy in the middle. I do recommend it to everybody with a sweet tooth! But take it without any filling because that makes it way too sweet (tried that too - with chocolate).

On Friday, my fried Yvonne arrived to visit us from New York and we went to Theotihuacan on Saturday. It was one of the most beautiful and interesting sights I have seen here so far. It is an old Indian city, the largest pre-Columbian city that was built around 500BC but it lost all its habitants and was miraculously deserted by 800AD. At its peak, it had 45,000 habitants, more than the contemporary Rome. It is a vast, long, straight road (2 km) surrounded by ruins of smaller and bigger temples, pyramids, administrative buildings and what looks like remains of streets and houses. The two most amazing and largest pyramids are that of the Sun and at the very end of the road the Pyramid of the Moon. We climbed both of them, and I have to tell you, it was not easy. They are very hight and steep. The Pyramid of the Sun is in fact the 3rd highest pyramid in the world (the second is also in Mexico). It is not hollow inside but a mountain of rubble, imagine: over 3 million tonnes of stone was used to build it...It is just so different than anything else I have ever seen and to imagine the busy life once going on there, the wealth and the rich culture (they already had writing and books) - it is incredible.
Theotihuacan was our first venture out of the city (it is 50 km north, a bus takes you there in an hour for 30 pesos - 3 dollars), but we are already planning the next trip somwhere else. I loved to be outside the crazy big metropolis for a day, it was quiet, peaceful and overwhelming. And we even got suntanned a little.

"Está en Trámite"

A word on bureaucracy here in old Mexico: Lilla and I discussed earlier today why there are so many rules and regulations here, but we didn’t really come to a consensus. Lilla thinks that there is a structural similarity between all third world countries where the (bloated) bureaucracy is not really about serving the consumer/citizen but more about creating service jobs and handing out patronage. Certainly, no one in either Romania or Mexico goes out of there way to make things easier for the poor fellow trapped in the middle of all that paperwork. I have theories. For instance, in Mexico (less so even than other Latin American countries) the military, in the nineteenth century at least, was the most effective mode of organizing society and has a lasting impact. I'm sure this is wrong and a stupid theory. But, at the gym it certainly seems there is a self-appointed caudillo running the place. The signs now say, “don’t use the machines if you weight more than 90kg,” “pick up a pass for the caminadora at the front desk.” Meanwhile, employees roam the gym asking for your pass and estimating your weight.

Everywhere there is paperwork, and rules and regulations that must be followed in order to move forward—or (as the guards say) “adelantar.” Today I registered at the hemeroteca at UNAM—and I followed the instructions to a tee; I brought a stamped letter of invitation from an institution on a “membrete,” an application, an application fee, a copy of my lease, two fotos de tamaño infantil, and a copy of my identidad vigente. Turns out I also needed a utility bill with my landlady’s name on it. Perhaps tomorrow if I take that last item I can at last look at newspapers (what is often refered to here in Mexico as “the patrimony”) from a hundred years ago on microfilm. I am affiliated at a highly-esteemed college here as well, but my paperwork is still going through—a month later. They say that the paperwork “está en trámite.” I think I have to turn in a project description now—and who knows what they ask for next. Meanwhile at the Archive of the Nation I have to use gloves and a surgical mask to touch the patrimony. Further, every time I see a security guard with a button-down guerrera at the archive on I have to show h/er the serial number on my computer. To make things easier, I just copied the number down on a sticker and affixed it to the back of my computer. That seems to work for some reason. But every batch of photocopies I carry away from the archives has to have at least three official stamps on it. The rubber stamp industry in Mexico is positively booming.

Perhaps the paperwork also serves the purpose of keeping the undesirables out.This is a constant concern in Mexico, the only place where I have ever seen an armed guard inside of a Starbucks. At the Sandborns (a local chain something like a Woolworths from the 1930s with the addition of a restaurant), I've seen three armed guards carrying what looked like AK-47s. I guess this is supposed to make the consumer feel special. At the bar we went to in Coyocan tonight, we drank behind a rope guarded by two or three bouncers. And when we left, we had to have the receipt stamped.

But I'm probably just bitter right now. I've been sick. I'll write something nice about the cathedrals next time.

Coyoacan

We haven't blogged for awhile now because the week was pretty monotonous and not very pleasant in general. James still isn't feeling very well, although since yesterday he did improve considerably, but the recovery is slow and painful. Besides, I am totally freaked out about my most darling 14 years old cat, Lacika who fell sick this week. He has some kind of lung infection and is on antibiotics, but mom is very worried about him. I cannot even imagine the prospect of losing him, he is our most loved little kitty and has been the sunshine in our lives for so long now... Besides these two serious issues, I also had some minor annoyances that made things worse. So all in all life is not the best right now, but we are hopeful.

And yesterday finally we did go to Coyoacan, the "university neighborhood" and met up with Pablo for lunch. James was supposed to go to the UNAM library first, but he didn't feel strong enough yet, so we just went down in the afternoon. We met Pablo in this adorable and very low key torteria and finally we had our first "tortas" in Mexico. Tortas are very similar to US sandwiches, lots of different kinds of stuff put in a bun, but I thought that they were more delicious than their northern counterparts because: 1. they are lighter and smaller, 2. the combination of ingredients is much more carefully thought through, 3. they are much more varied. So for instance, James had a vegetarian torta with eggplant and cheese, but the eggplant was so deliciously roasted with garlic and different spices and the cheese was perfectly melting and it had avocado and a tartar like sauce on. Mine was with squid and a special pesto kind of sauce - amazing combination of tastes - and Pablo had one with 2 different kinds of meat. Meat of course is big here, so we eat it quite often although I still cook a lot of vegetarian dishes at home.

Coyoacan itself is very cute, no high buildings, it's like an old colonial town (used to be totally separate from DF) with lots of young people, students and such, very funky, great pubs with kegs even, cobblestones, bookshops, and an amazingly large and beautiful church surrounded by a park in the center which hosted the weekly "hippy market" full of jewelry, t-shirts, hair extensions, incense, etc. I bought a very cute and warm sweater kind of hoodie, woolen, hard to describe, maybe I'll put up pictures of it later...The streets are narrow with lots of pedestrian traffic... Loved it! Although it takes about an hour to get there from where we live, I'm sure we'll be back to Coyoacan very soon and we'll also visit the Frida Kahlo museum then.
Above are some pictures just to give you a taste...

Sunday sunshine

Although yesterday it was unusually cold in the morning, finally the sun came out in the afternoon as we were over for a delicious 5 hour lunch at Julie and Jonathan's place!!!! And it stayed out all day today, too. These are the first sunny days since we arrived, so we decided to enjoy it but also to take it easy because James is still not so well, although he is on his way to recovery (had to leave lunch early because he still can't eat or drink except broth).

The last few weekends they had this amazing flower and plant market on Avenida de  La Reforma right between Diana and San Angel which is very close to us. So after a coffee and an hour of work in the Starbucks next to the US embassy (which, by the way, is almost reasonably priced here since people cannot afford US prices), we decided to take a walk and choose a plant that will be ours during our stay here. The variety was amazing... now I understand why Julie is so into plants. They had a hundred different kinds of flowers in incredible colors and shapes and the same is true to the green plants too. We liked so many that in the end we bought a big one (don't ask me its name), a smaller pink one (found it on the web and it's called "pink splash/polka dot" plant) and two cacti since James really liked them...Altogether we spent a whole $9 (90 pesos)! 

So we have sunshine and plants now, we are just waiting for James' health to be back, and everything will be perfect!

PS: On such beautiful days even hand washing is easier on the roof in the specially placed stone basin and washboard...

La Opera, Cafe Tacuba, and Sickness

Despite the title, the cantina, the cafe and James' sickness have nothing to do with each other. Yesterday we had a great time with Gabriel, James' friend and colleague from Stony Brook. It turns out that he is here too for research until the end of November. Gabriel and James ran into each other in the archive on Tuesday, what a nice surprise! It looks like we have one more friend here...

So yesterday I joined them in one of the most famous cantinas downtown, La Opera Bar, which is from the beginning of the century and it's most well known for a gunshot on the ceiling allegedly from Pancho Villa himself...(if you look carefully at the picture you can see it on the top right corner) The place looks really nice, old-times flavor, elegant but welcoming, and very much used to tourists...James hasn't even started asking the waiter, and he already pointed to the mark on the ceiling...

So the first impression was great, not cheap, not too pricey, nice waiters, nice atmosphere. James and Gabriel were drinking beer as usual, but since we arrived I have been drinking a lot of cocktails here, so I ordered a sangria...it was one of the worst I have ever had (lemonade and bad red wine mixed). To give the benefit of the doubt, next I ordered a Margarita, which is a real Mexican cocktail, so I thought if anything they must know how to do this right...I was wrong, it didn't taste anything like a Margarita except for the salt on the glass...it turns out Gabriel had a bad experience with another mixed drink, too. So even through the place has the vibe you'd like I don't think we'll be going back there a lot.

However, Cafe Tacuba, just one street over, is a real treat!! We have been there last Sunday already, but I wanted to go back because I really liked it. It has plenty of tourists as well, but it still has more of a genuine feeling to it, with its colonial architecture, tiled, colorful walls, many small tables, uniformed waiters, etc. And more importantly, it has great food and good drinks (haven't had a cocktail there yet), good wine and ... absolutely fantastic cakes!!!! Finally I had my first tres leches cake there and it wasn't a disappointment, to say the least. We spent a couple of hours there, too, and I think this is a place to visit regularly downtown. We also had huge, delicious tamales...for less than 3 dollars each!

And now onto the last thing: James hasn't been feeling well since Tuesday, he still went to the archive yesterday, but by the evening he could barely walk. It's the second time in three weeks he has this stomach virus. We have no idea where he gets it from (I haven't been ill with my stomach yet). Last night was a nightmare, and all day today he couldn't get out of bed. Luckily we brought antibiotics from the US, and they have stuff for it here in the pharmacy as well. But it's a 5 day treatment every time. We were told that this is common, but I thought it was only exaggeration...well, it's not - at least not for James. And we don't even eat from the streets and only go to good restaurants. I sanatize all vegetables, peel fruits and we never drink tap water. I have no idea what this could be, but I really do hope his stomach will adjust soon...

Today we went to the Templo Mayor. Notice how you can see the ruins of the Great Temple--which made Cortez's blood curdle--behind that, the Metropolitan Cathedral--constructed promptly on top of some Aztec horror after the Conquista--and further back, the campana de Delores 1810 to 2008. Que Viva México! So, we have Aztec, colonial, and national all in one picture. 

In Mexico, the layers of history are laid bare to the outside world. Sin Vergüenza. 

 

In the United States (and Europe) we have history painting which shows the individual in history, in Mexico it's social history painting in the great cathedrals of secular government. So, in the Palacio Nacional, Diego Rivera has shown how the sick man of Europe raped and sacked his way across Mesoamerica--an important aspect of the cosmology of Mexican history. Further, scenes of la vida cotidiana populate the walls of the palacio nacional. Could you imagine, instead of Napolean or George Washington, to have scenes of the metate and Indians dying their linens? Social history painting. Much hipper than regular 'ol history painting. Really, somehow the social has been incorporated in old Mexico. How sincerely, remains an open question. 

So, basically Indians and Peasants are celebrated in Mexico. The United States doesn't have peasants of course--the individual that goes out into the woods and sets himself up in a shack and two acres away from society is a hero. 

Talk about lonely.

Bar Milan

On Friday, our friend Pablo invited us once again to have lunch with his family. Lunch is truly the biggest meal in Mexico as opposed to dinner in the US. Although lunch is the most important meal of the day in my part of the world as well, I have to say that it is nothing compared to a Mexican lunch. They stop working to eat at around 2:30-3:00PM and it lasts for two hours after which they return to work until 7:00-8:00. Except on Fridays they often don't go back to work! I have no idea how they can do any work being so full as I was after the incredible lunch at Pablo's family...

His mom made the famous chile en nogada, a seasonal dish that we mentioned before. But that came later... before we had a soup that I am a huge fan of now and will regularly cook it from now on. It's a black bean soup (mashed) with angel hair pasta in it, simple but never had any better bean soup. Then there was a "middle dish", tortillas with nopale (cactus served with every meal) and rice. And only after all these were we served the deliciously rich chile en nogada, which is so creamy (pure walnut sauce), somewhat sweet but with ground pork, and it's very-very filling... I could barely move at this point, but there was also dessert coming, a very interesting fruit mashed and mixed with oranges, but the whole thing was black. It is called "sapote" (had to look it up) and it is very unique, not very sweet, a little tart.

Anyways, apparently everybody went back to work after this feast, but me and James could barely make it home for a nap... In the evening when we were ourselves again, we took Pablo's friend's advice and went to check out a new bar called Bar Milan, which is not very far from us. We even took a pesero (bus) there, which means that we have started finding our ways slowly. The Bar is pretty cool, you have to pay at the cashier and exchange your money to "Milagro" which is their "currency" that you can use at the bar. They have a great variety of cocktails, decently priced although not cheap, but tip is included in the price. We had two very good mochitos (the best so far here), hung out, didn't meet anybody, but were intensely observing people...younger, older, really mixed crowd, more man than women, definitely more single men than single women...Then we came home (again on a pesero) and checked out a neighborhood place, as it turned out more American than Mexican (free peanuts), but we had a great spicy guacamole (for the first time since we are here).
Tomorrow is our day off, we have lots of plans, we'll see what happens. Oh, and almost all museums are free on Sundays!

Vik Muniz

Ok, we saw this exhibition at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, which right north of Zocalo last Sunday. I know that it has almost been a week, but I wanted to write about it separately because it was soo interesting and great. The only thing I don't know is why haven't I heard about this guy ages ago and why haven't I seen any exhibitions by him in New York...it might be my ignorance (James has heard about him before), but I think he is certainly not as well known as he should be.

Although he lives in the US, he was born in Brazil and could be mostly associated with the pop art movement (although goes way beyond it, I think). Apparently, Warhol really liked and appreciated his work. I think his work is in fact more complex and interesting than Warhol's. Basically everything he does is exhibited as a photograph (larger or smaller), and he works with all sorts of materials such as wire, diamond, thread, ketchup, ink, chocolate sauce, dirt, and sugar reproducing famous cultural imprints in our brains, mostly photos or paintings. So, for instance one of my favorites was the portraits of young black boys who worked on a sugar plantation, and Muniz took their photograph and reproduced them perfectly using white sugar on black paper. It is the least of all that this technique is self-referential in many interesting ways, but it also comments on sugar's cultural and economic value in conjunction with questions of race, child labour, etc.

Another set of pictures reproduced the Warhol series of Jackie Kennedy in ketchup. Again, the reproduction is incredibly realist, but also a funny play on Warhol and American consumerism both of images and of ketchup. Anyways, these are just a few examples, the exhibition was very extensive and every section was surprising and refreshing. There were thread created landscapes, diamond created image of Elisabeth Taylor and Monica Vitti, as well as the famous photo of the young soldier boy in the Civil War recreated with toy soldiers...(see above).

I think you, art enthusiasts out there, would have loved this show! If anything by him comes up in NYC please definitely go and see it, you won't be disappointed. More on him on this blog:
http://www.vikmuniz.net/www/index.html

Indepence Day

The last three days we have spent celebrating the most important national holiday of Mexico: the day of its Independence! In fact the real thing is today, and even now I can hear the crowd outside on Paseo de la Reforma passing and chanting.

We were invited yesterday to a celebration party by Julie's friend, Alfredo. It is incredible, but he also lives in walking distance from us (so does Julie and her boyfriend, Jonathan). Living in this part of Mexico City corresponds to a combination of the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Lower East Side and Lower West Side...Anyways the party was good, we were the youngest but everyone was so nice. There was a lot to eat and drink, but it was potlock, everyone brought something. I made my famous layered cauliflower, but I have to admit I was nervous, firstly because they like to put their food in tacos (I didn't know how well it would go with tacos) and secondly because I was up against soooo many delicious Mexican dishes! Luckily it turned out pretty well and everyone liked it.

At 11:00PM watched the president's short talk on TV (he repeats the same few chanting sentences every year - very ritualistic), after deciding against going down to the main center Zocalo where hundreds of thousands of people were celebrating. But I'm glad we didn't go cause 1. it was raining again, 2. there were way too many people, 3. it only lasted 5 minutes literally, 4. we had a great view for the fireworks. The TV didn't show Lopez Obrador's talk of course which was competing with the presidents'...

On Sunday we also went to Centro Historico and saw an amazing exhibition, I'll write about that next time.

Observaciónes sobre México

James is here to offer some observations after almost a full week in Mexico:

The street vendors are legion. Ever since we got here we have heard an amplified voice calling out loudly, every night, right around dusk. I thought perhaps we lived around a mosque. And then I remembered that Mexicans don't have mosques. Or at least not many of them. Finally, last night I realized that the voice was ambulatory, and was indeed gaining in volume as it approached ever nearer to our quiet little apartment. "Tamaaaaaales....Tamaaaales"

I have been taking the subway everyday to work in the archives and my favorite vendors are the ones selling CDs caseros--i.e. homemade mixes. "Salsa Romantico! Como le guste! Come se acuerde, más de cien éxitos!" (You have to imagine the curious pitch that the barkers use, high and long and then tapering off into something that sounds like a question). Yesterday I took the train. When I at last disembarked at San Lazaro I walked from the last car to the exit on the far side of the platform, meanwhile taking the moment to peer into the individual cars through their gaping open doors. I observed pencils being sold in one car, flashlights in the next, a reggaeton mix in the next....

Next, two observations about class: First, there is definitely an underclass here. And let's not mince words--they are definitely darker. It's not that the United States doesn't have a similar underclass, (Katrina?) it just seems they are more hidden in the furthest reaches of our urban corners. Or waiting on us in large bureaucracies like hospitals, the DMV, Verizon's phonebank, etc. The Mexican "middle class" (let's call it that) and above, likewise, have people waiting on them constantly. But they are anything but invisible. There is an army of chofers, shoe shiners, maids (even we have one), etc. serving often lighter-skinned, better-off, Mexicans. The difference: in the United States good self-respecting liberals feel bad about this fact. That doesn't excuse it or really make it any better however. 

But, more importantly, second: it's wonderful how you can feel social protest in the air. Maybe the government allows manifestantes to make their presence known, even if the changes that the protesters are pushing for will more than likely never transpire. Maybe, the protesters are even paid to protest and promote the actions of one faction or another. But the fact remains, we've seen at least two small-scale protests (something about the earth) and one large-scale protest (about Panismo in Morelos) since we've arrived. It's wonderful that there is allowance for social protest in the Mexican national space. I also think that, if the whole doctoral "ex-slaves in Mexico" thing doesn't work out, I am going to move here permanently and open up a banner production shop. "No al cierre de Michoacan," "Primero los pobres: ¿Cómo Dando Delgado?" We see a new sign every day around here in Colonia Cuauhtemoc and in Zona Rosa; they're always white banners hanging from balconies with large block letters printed on them. In the United States, they wouldn't let that shit stay up. No way. Which is more Democratic? If Mexico had money would  a stratified class society exist like it does in the United States? Or does the state allow the protests to happen and absorb some of the leaders in order to maintain status quo? At least there is consciousness here.

Finally, a word on Chiles en Nogada. We had the vegetarian version of this wonderful dish for lunch today. It is a chile stuffed with pork (or in our case, ground soy) and covered with pomagranite seeds and  a purée of walnut sauce. Like, a lot of walnut sauce. The special thing about it is that the chile (verde), the nogada (walnut sauce-blanco), and pomagranite (rojo) together comprise the tri-color of the Mexican flag. So ¡Qué viva México! Y esperamos con ansia el 16, o el aniversario 198 del grito de Hidalgo desde la iglesia de Delores. We'll take pictures of the celebration: maybe we'll even see AMLO speak...seems like a good occasion for a protest.

quick impressions

The last few days were a little more monotonous than before, I guess we are waiting for the weekend to do new stuff. James started to go to the archives (hopefully he'll tell you more about it) and I started working on my job applications...So just a few quick thoughts now about the last two days.

1.I decided that I will consider knowing this city when I figure out its bus system. The Metro and Metrobus are fairly straightforward (did I say how cheap they are? 20 cents a ride for the Metro, 45 cents for the Metrobus), but the buses are the most confusing and chaotic I have ever seen. First of all, they are not numbered - they only state their first and final stations (but where they route is in between is a mystery). Secondly, they only have two official stops (the first and the last), in between they stop by the sidewalk wherever and whenever anybody hails them (usually on street corners), but only for a second before they move on quickly. Thirdly, they are tiny and usually travel with their doors open. And lastly, there is no universal fee on them, it depends on both the line you take and the distance you are going (it can vary from 3 pesos to 7 pesos - 30 to 70 cents... luckily the conversion is easy between dollar and peso). Now, what do you think? We'll venture down to Condesa this weekend by bus, that's the most convenient way to get there apparently...

2. Besides being notoriously dangerous to hail just any taxi on the street (although they are super cheap which would make them a great and a quick form of transportation), taxi drivers apparently often "forget" to turn on their meters and most of the time they don't know how to get where you want to get. So simply giving them the address is not enough, it's best if you know exactly how to get there... Otherwise they often just keep asking each other and driving you around.

3.  Yesterday I went to our nearby market with Julie and now that I also bought stuff there my heart is even happier. I spent about 30 dollars (300 pesos) and could not carry the stuff home by hand (hence the first taxi experience) - just a short list: mangoes, a delicious fruit called mamey, avocado (not the cheapest btw), potatoes, reddish, cauliflower, peas, chicken, onions, beans, rice, parsley, cheese (3 kinds, James' favorite is the one with chili pepper in it)... everything fresh, cheap and delicious. They don't negotiate like I expected, but they also don't try to scam you for being a foreigner, which is nice. And they have flowers and plants that I've never seen for one 10th of the price in New York. We'll have fresh flowers in the house all the time now, it's a different feeling. I hope James will come with me next week and take some pictures...

Well, we have big plans for this weekend, it's Independence Day and we'll visit some places. We' want to take more pictures and James promised to put them online so you all can see (if he doesn't don't hesitate to send "encouraging" emails:-)

Sunday in Mexico City

Yesterday we had a great day even though it was raining almost constantly. Apparently it rains a little every day in Mexico City...something I didn't know and wasn't prepared for. In fact it's raining right now again. We went to pick up our mobile phone from Julie, our landlady who also told us to check out the Sunday market and art in the park event not very far, just down the street.

Well, the market is truly incredible...although we didn't buy anything you can find just about everything you might be looking for and more. I have seen vegetables I've seen before but also good old fresh green peas familiar from home, cauliflower, all sorts of beans, rice, cut and mixed vegetables and a million different kinds of fruit, many of which I couldn't recognize. Apparently, it's the season of mango now so I'll be buying a lot of those in the next few weeks. The Art in the Park event was nearby - you all would have loved it. It is practically an opportunity for any painter or sculptor to put his pieces out for show and sale in a park. The whole small park was full of different artists and their paintings from the most cheesy and tacky to very modern and interesting stuff. And people walk around, have discussions with the artists, and also buy pieces...

After this, we took a Metrobus (which is a big bus that goes fast on its own lane and doesn't have many stops) to meet our friend Pablo and his family for lunch. It was a great introduction to exquisite Mexican/Spanish cuisine. I can't enumerate the many different appetizers, dishes and drinks we tried. It's important to know that Mexico City does have very good seafood and fish dishes. I also tasted a good tequila and for dessert I had the most amazing fresh figs with cream. Pablo and his family are just the nicest people on earth, I think we'll enjoy meeting people here.

After lunch we decided to check out Condesa, the trendy Williamsburg-like part of town, which was a little disappointing maybe because of the rain maybe because of the prices...We'll have to go back and explore more on a better day.

I'm reading a great book that we got from James' sister, Katie about Mexico City, the title is "First Stop in the New World: Mexico City the Capital of the 21st Century" by David Lida. I swear to God ever word that I read was absolutely truthful to my experience so far, except he adds his historical, economic and cultural explanation to the facts.

Well, so far so good, we are a little homesick too, to be honest, and a little lonely missing all of you!
Love
Lilla

Finally here

After having to deal with the new airport policies regarding luggage (of course they will try to rip you off as much as they can) and paying extra for the - true enough - fairly heavy suitcases, we arrived to Mexico city in no time (2 quick hours). Everything went well here, we found the official taxi, where you pay in advance and don't give any money to the driver, that took us to the apartment on Rio Lerma.

Julie, the landlady was here and she is super-nice, even helped us bring the luggage up (3rd floor, no elevator- can't escape our fate, it seems) and bought us some exotic fruits...We have settled in somewhat, the apartment is big and with lots of light. there are hummingbirds appearing from time to time in front of the window to feed on the sugary water left outside for them...never seen a hummingbird live before. We also went to see the small market that they have on Fridays just around the corner, not bad but apparently on Tuesdays there is a huge one close. We ate quesdillas for 8 pesos (80 cents), they tasted amazing...

Today, on Saturday we took our first sightseeing trip to the Zocalo which is the heart of the Centro Historico, it is a big square with governmental palaces and the Catedral Metropolitana, a huge and amazingly decorated baroque church from the colonial 16th century. We also saw the Templo Mayor, an Aztec place of worship that was quite recently excavated after they demolished a bunch of colonial buildings sitting on top of it. It is the foundation of a pyramid church from the Aztec times...

We didn't go in (next time) because we couldn't get into the Palacio National either (they asked for ID, the home offices of the president, which is decorated with Diego Rivera murals, so we need to go back there anyways...

Pictures and more will follow...

apartment

We were incredibly lucky to have already found a great apartment in a great location in Mexico City. We put an ad on craigslist in Mexico and a very nice and friendly woman from South Africa answered first, as it turns out with the best option for us. The apartment that she rented out to us is on a street called Rio Lerma in Cuauhtémoc, in the center of the city near Condesa and Roma. It is also on the subway line that James need to take to the archives. So all in all we are very happy and consider ourselves very lucky. Here I am posting the pictures she sent us so far. Once we get there we will update this description with more pictures to come, too!

airplane ticket!

Hi all,

It is irreversible now.... Yesterday we bought our plane tickets to Mexico City. Here are the details:

Friday, September 5th

San Antonio, TX - Mexico City

Mexicana Airlines

Departure: 10:00AM

Arrival: 12:00PM

Get ready Mexico! We are coming!!!!!!!

Welcome to the blog and to Mexico!

Hi All,

James had the amazing good fortune to win a good sized fellowship from the SSRC to spend nine months in Mexico starting in September. 

We want to share our life in Mexico with all of you. We will write about our experience with this huge city, about learning a new language, about our travels, works, and funtime...

Check back at the beginning of September! Hola Mexico! We are coming!!!!!!

Lilla and James