A Forbidden Picture

This morning I went across the street to a place called Munich for breakfast. I don´t know why it is called Munich, but they have posters of, you guessed it, Munich, on the walls, as well as pictures of some famous German guys, maybe Handel, Bach (was he German?), etc. I had a nice breakfast for half of what my hotel charges.

As I was sitting there, I saw taxis across the street. My plan for the day was to find a taxi driver to take me to some small villages outside of Puebla so that I could see a little bit of what life is like in the countryside and maybe see some more indigenous type places. I sat there rehearsing in my mind what I was going to say, and also checking out the drivers to see if there was one that I felt comfortable with. I didn´t want one who smoked, or looked like he drank too much, or who had an old car that would be uncomfortable.

As I left Munich, the driver who was next in the queue looked like he was ok. I approached his window and asked him how much he would charge me for a full day because I wanted to visit some small villages outside of Puebla. He said he´d charge 100 pesos an hour, which seemed like a better way to do it than per day (because how long is a day anyway?)

So, I ran upstairs and got my stuff and came back down and we were on our way.

I had a little guidebook that they gave me in the tourist information center that had different routes that you could take to visit what the guy in the office called magical pueblos, because they were more indigenous and had more of a mystical quality to them. I chose the huipil and coffee route - for no special reason.

We visited the first little village and where wasn´t a whole lot there. My driver stopped several people and asked if there was anything of interest that we could see. They told us there was some kind of a well or something, which we found, but it was dry and had a cross in it. There was a sign saying that it was commissioned by Hernan Cortes, who my driver told me was a hero of the revolution - scary that he thought that, as Cortes was one of the conquistators. Oh well.

It seemed like we might end up having to go pretty far on this tour and then have to retrace our steps to get back, which didn´t appeal to me once we got started. Seemed like all we were going to find were churches and maybe a few old haciendas. So instead I told my driver I wanted to take a route that took us around the volcano La Malinche and headed back to Puebla. There were some places that we could stop along the way that looked interested.

As we headed around La Malinche, we passed through some beautiful countryside with amazing panoramic vistas of the mountains and several volcanos popping up here and there. We´d stop every now and then so I could take a picture and we would enjoy the fresh air.

We passed one old building that was an old hacienda and there was church next to it. My driver asked if I wanted to go there, and we did. It was built up on a hill above the road we were traveling on. The church was nice but the view was amazing. I took the above photo. As we stood there admiring the views and enjoying the fresh air a car drove by. They saw us and stopped and turned around. I thought either they were other tourists who were going to ask us for directions or maybe someone from the town to ask if we needed help.

Two guys got out of the car and one of them was carrying a walkie talkie type thing. They asked what we were doing. Our driver said we were just taking photos and looking. They asked what we were looking at. Our driver told them we were looking at the views.

They told us we were not allowed to take photos there. That if we wanted to take photos we had to go further up. I of course would have argued with them and gotten all pissy, but my driver just went along with it and apologized and handled the whole thing very diplomatically. This is why I decided to post the photo. Who do they think they are to tell us we can´t take photos of their stinky little town (well, it didn´t actually stink, but they did).

We continued on and passed through several other small towns, each time stopping at the church. At one we climed up the bell tower because we saw people up there. We didn´t realize that they were actually there to ring the bells. The views were amazing, and it was even more amazing when the bells started ringing. My driver said he had never been on the roof of a church, and I said neither had I. It was a special experience for both of us, and fortunately the people there were nicer than in old stinkyville.

After a while I started getting tired and wanted to return to Puebla. We were in the state of Tlaxclala, which is the smallest state in Mexico. We didn´t stop in the capital, Tlaxclala, because I was tired and just wanted to come home.

It was a fun trip and I was glad I was able to help out my driver, whose name was Gustavo. He was really nice and had spent some time in New York working in a pizza shop. I enjoyed talking to him, though after a few hours my brain went into overload and Spanish became unintelligible to me.

Turibus Puebla

I found the Turibus today and went for a ride that I thought would never end. This picture of a guy burning in hell (which apparently is MY fate) seemed appropriate.

Puebla is a lovely city to walk around. The streets are cobbled and there are beautiful buildings everywhere, many of them covered with tiles. There also seems to be no shortage of things to eat. But as far as having enough of interest to justify a 1.5 hour tour on a double decker bus, I think not.

I saw lots of churches, some monuments, and some more churches. We went up a hill at the end of town and saw a very nice view of the city and the volcanoes that surround it. There are three major ones - Popocatepl, Itza (something) and La Malinche. They are pretty awesome. Popo and Itza have snow on the tops. It was too smoggy to get a decent photo, but I am hoping either I will get closer or it will be clear one day and I can get a decent photos. Volcanos fascinate me - they represent the descent into hell I´ll soon be making.

The rest of the tour was kind of boring though. I was irritated by the people behind me who kept talking so I couldn´t hear the announcement (which was in Spanish), and also the guy next to me and the guy behind me both kept coughing.

One other odd thing about Puebla is that there seem to be no physical boundaries. I only experienced this in Japan, but here it is different. Yesterday when I was in the internet cafe this guy kept walking by me and bumping into my head as he passed. I felt like Elaine in that Seinfeld episode when she thought her head was too big. Today on Turibus I felt something on my shoulder and thought it was the woman behind me. Finally I shifted in my seat to see if she would move her hand and it turned out she had put my seatbelt on my shoulder. I am not sure why she did that, but it kind of irritated me along with her husband´s talking and coughing.

It looks like from here I can visit some small villages outside of Puebla that seem very interesting. They are more traditional and more indigenous, and there are also some archeological sites and of course more churches. One town nearby is Cholula, which two of my students told me I should visit. They both said that there are 365 churches there! But, my guidbook says that is a myth. There was the intention of building 365 churches because Cholula has a pyramid that is bigger than the great pyramid of Egypt (it is covered with vegetation and has a church built on top of it), so to show the Indians the power of the church some Spanish person aimed to build that many churches, but they only got around 40 built. It is interesting that these two Mexican students of mine, one from Puebla and one from Mexican City both believed this myth to be true. I wonder how widely believed it is.

I am enjoying samping the food here. Of course the most famous is the mole. I went to a restaurant that my Lonely Planet recommended called Fondo Santa Clara. It was very good. I couldn´t decide what to get, so I got enchiladas with three kinds of mole - mole poblano, red mole and pipian, which is made from ground pumpkin seeds. I have had mole in the past and was not too crazy about it, but this mole last night was incredible. Then I walked to the zocalo and got a lemon sorbet, but she asked me if I wanted chamay. I didn`t know what the heck she was talking about, so she gave me a little sample. She dipped the spoon in this red stuff and then scooped a little lemon sorbet and had me taste it. It was sort of a salt and chili mixture. I got it and it was very yummy and very interesting. I had chili sprinkled on my ice cream once before here in Mexico, and this was similar, but done in a different way - it was in the bottom of the cup.

This morning I tried exercising a little in my gym in my hotel so that I can continue to try all of the wonderful things there are to eat here. The people of Puebla seem to be a bit larger in general, so I´d better be careful.

Ok, off to explore a little more before it gets dark.

Puebla

I´m in Puebla and I found an internet cafe. All is good.

The trip was so easy. I arrived at the bus terminal about 30 minutes early, hung out a little, boarded the bus, and in about 2 hours was here. Hopped in a taxi and checked in to my lovely hotel. It is so luxurious, I love it! Gone are the days of roughing it and staying in places with no hot water. This place has a huge bed with a good mattress and cable TV and I can rent movies. I might rent Hairspray tonight since I haven't seen the new one with John Travolta.

Well, Puebla is a trip. It is very different from Mexico City. It seems very lively, at least what I've seen of it so far. Lots of people out and about shopping, watching the clowns in the zocalo, taking their kids to have their pictures taken with the three wise men (or three kings as they call them here). I saw three kings in the zocalo standing next to Santa. Neither one of them were getting any business, but these kings in this little shopping center had quite a line along with some maidens and swordsmen controlling the crowds. I wanted to have my picture taken with the ones in the zocalo, but they didn't look too friendly. On the other hand, if I pay them I'm sure they would get into it. Maybe later this week. I think they will be there until January 6, when they finally deliver their gifts of frankinense, murrh and gold, or the latest electronic thing that kids want these days.

Before stumbling on this internet cafe I was walking around exploring trying to get my bearings. The streets have an odd numbering system. There are streets and avenues and north and south, but it's hard to figure it all out. I think I may have gotten it and at least know where my hotel is.

I stopped to take a photo of an interesting old church covered in tiles (there are a lot of churches covered in tiles here) and there was a vendor selling corn who looked kind of lonely. I had a hankering for an ear of corn with lemon and chili, so I bought one. But instead of lemon and chili he slathered mayonaise on it, and then sprinkled some grated cheese (maybe parmesan) and then he put some chili on it. It was soooooo GOOD! I am definitely getting another one of those before I leave. How bad can it be? It's only corn.

Well, I am excited about Puebla. It seems very walkable and if I get bored here there seem to be lots of small villages and other places to visit nearby. Tomorrow I'm taking the Turibus tour to get a better idea of what there is to see.

Smog and Nosejobs

I snapped this photo yesterday morning as I was heading to the Turibus stop on Paseo Reforma. It was a beautiful clear morning. I think the pollution has not been so bad because everyone was out of the city. Yesterday it seemed like they returned...and then some.

Check out the way the reflection from the building is lighting up the smoke from the cars.

I think two things have been in my favor - one, it has been warm, which makes the air rise and the smog doesn´t get trapped at ground level, and two, it has been a holiday, and things have been quiet. So, while the air is nothing like San Francisco, it is not as bad as what I expected.

Now about the nose jobs. I don´t know if it is just the gay boys here in Zona Rosa, but it seems that nose jobs are the new status symbol, or at least a status symbol. I´ve actually never seen one before here. At first I started noticing guys with bandages on their noses and in some cases black and blue noses. But then I started noticing these noses. Not the beautiful aztec or mayan noses that most Mexicans have, but these cute, pert, little turned up things. In one case the guys´s nose was so thin and straight it looked like one of Michael Jackson´s incarnations. I guess they must be cheap, but I think it is sad that they don´t realize how beautiful their noses are and are putting themselves through that. As big of a honker as I have, I´d never consider having it altered, especially for one of these things that they are turning their noses into. I´m going to have to try to get a picture of one, but am not sure how I will do that. For now, just imagine the kind of nose Barbie might have (does Barbie even have a nose?)

The Museum of Anthropology

The reason I decided to take a chance and spend a week in Mexico City was because they have this incredible museum of Anthropology. I figured if nothing else, I would return to the museum every day, or at least for several days. The last time I was here it was after a half-day city tour that was supposed to be in Spanish (after studying Spanish in Cuernavaca for three weeks I wanted the practice) but instead was in bad English. I stayed at the museum at the end of the tour, but was kind of tired to take it all in.

I went on Sunday, the day after I arrived, but for some strange reason, the museum was dark. They let us in for free, which was nice, but it was kind of hard to see things. The good thing was it wasn´t crowded and I got to see some of my favorite pieces like the big Aztec calendar and a giant Olmec head without having to struggle with the crowds.

Well, today I decided it was time to go back. What I missed two years ago were the upper floors (they were not even open on Sunday due to the lack of electricity). I didn´t realize it at the time but in each section of the museum which is devoted to the different cultures in Mexico, the upper floors show how they live today. So, while you can see ancient Maya on the ground floor, you can learn about current living and breathing Maya upstairs.

When I got to the museum today there was light. There were also huge crowds. So, I went to the first gallery and went up the escalator and to my delight, the upper floors were hardly crowded at all.

The first section I visited was about the Nahua, the descendents of the Aztec, who are from central Mexico but are now spread all throughout the country. They showed the effects of colonization and there were short films talking about current day Nahua migrations, and my favorite one was about Nahuatl words used in present day Mexican Spanish. It was quie entertaining as well as informative. I watched it twice and took notes. Some Nahuatl words even made their way into English - tomato - from jitomate, and avacado from aguacate. I´m looking forward to spicing up my Spanish with a few Nahuatl words.

I had a great time exploring the upper floors of the museum and then headed down to the restaurant for lunch. The waiter looked at me for a minute and then handed me the menu, which turned out to be in English and was completely unintelligible for me. Even things like guacamole (which is a nahuatl word by the way) were translated into English. So it said something like mash of avacado with lime and cilantro. I was checking out the broth with corn, pork, radish and onion and thinking it was pozole. I had some at Sanborns the other day and the pork was just cubes of fat, so I´ve been wanting a good bowl. But then I noticed that they had cebich on hard tacos, which I guessed to be ceviche tostadas. The pozole seemed like it might be too rich, so I went for a tortilla soup and the ceviche tostadas. The waiter and I both had problems interpreting the menu - he wasn´t sure if the broth with corn was the pozole or not.

The ceviche was marvelous. It came in blue corn tacos that were formed in little bowl shapes so it was really easy to eat. It was so fresh and refreshing. The tortilla soup wasn´t that good, but it was a perfect lunch, made even more perfect by flan for desert.

I had a great time at the museum, the memory of which was soon destroyed by the wait in the traffic and then the Turibus kidnapping. I am glad I got to write about it though so that now I can recall the delight I felt as I explored the nearly empty upper floors and learned a little bit about the cultures that many of my students come from as well as the cultures of the people around Puebla where I will be heading tomorrow.

I hope to make one more visit to the museum before I head back. I think next time I will walk.

Kidnapped by Turibus

I´d heard all of these horror stories about Mexico City. One of my Chinese students said they kidnap Chinese people. And my Lonely Planet warned me about taking taxis because people get robbed in them. But I never thought I would experience any trouble on the Turibus.

Turibus is this double decker bus that runs along major routes and past different touristic sites. I took it the first Sunday I was here after I went to the antropology museum that was mysteriously with out lights. It was a great way for me to see the city without having to walk too much or worry about taxis or subways. But I only did one half of the ride, so today I decided I would do the other half that goes through the posh neighborhood of Polanco, through Chapultepec park and to the trendy Condessa. I planned to get off at Chapultepec to visit the castle, and head to the Condessa and grab a bite to eat and then possibly take the bus to the centro historico at night to see what the city looked like at night.

Well, all good plans...what do they say?

It all started off well. I picked up the Turibus on Paseo de la Reforma, not far from where I´m staying. It was a beautiful day and I sat on the upper deck enjoying the relatively fresh air and the beautiful sunshine and perfect temperatures. We went up Reforma past the anthropology museum and through Polanco, which was very ritzy but not inviting enough for me to get off the bus. Oh, important thing to insert here - Turibus is cool because you buy a ticket and it is good for the whole day and you can get on and off at any stop.

We went through Chapultepec Woods and saw lots of different fountains, an amusement park, some lakes, and a few museums and things. We arrived at the stop for Chapultepec Castle, and I got off. I follwed the crowds through an assortment of vendors selling all kinds of different things from wrestling masks to sandals to fried pork rinds. As I was walking, I thought ¨this is a zoo¨. Well, turns out it was. I had somehow missed the turn to go up to the castle and instead ended up heading to the entrance to the zoo. I didn´t enter, but instead went to the anthropology museum, which was just terrific (it deserved its own post).

After the museum, I went back to the stop in front of the museum, deciding that I would get off in Polanco and explore a little and then head to Condessa.

I waited over an hour for the stupid bus. The most irritating thing was that there was a bus stop there and as buses do, they would stop and let people get on and off, but the drivers behind the bus apparently didn´t think that was a good idea, so for an hour I had to sit and listen to these idiot blow their horns.

Finally, Turibus arrived, and it was full. But there was another one behind it. That one was full on top, so I sat in the lower deck, which is not as much fun, but I wasn´t going far. Turns out I COULD have walked to where I was going.

Polanco was a rich part of town, but not my cup of tea. I walked around a bit, got some gelato which was not that good and headed back to Reforma where I knew there was stop for the Turibus in front of the National Auditorium - a sort of concert hall.

I saw two Turibuses there and ran to catch them. There were long lines for both. I stood in one line but realized it was going to the pyramids at Teotihuacan, so I moved to the other line which was boarding. There were two groups of people - one group boarding and one group standing there waiting. I joined the boarding group because that was what I wanted to do.

It was a little strange. The guy checking tickets tore the little headphone portion of my ticket off - it was a symbol with headphones - I don´t know why he did that, but I soon noticed that there were no jacks for my headphones. As you ride the Turibus you can hear recorded descriptions of the places you are passing, and in between they play this lovely latin muzak. Corny as it sounds it is really a very relaxing way to spend a day.

Well, with no jack for headphones the guy who collected the tickets was the recording. He read from the same script and told us what we were seeing. It was in Spanish, whereas with the recordings you can choose Spanish, English, French, Italian, German or Japanese. I enjoyed hearing the Spanish since I had already done this part of the tour.

We passed the Chapultepec Castle stop but didn´t stop. I thought it was because the gate was closed and therefore the Castle was closed. When we got to Condessa I could see that we were approaching the stop. I went down to the lower deck and the guy was reading from the script so I didn´t want to interrupt him. We passed the stop and didn´t stop.

So, then I asked,¨are there no stops?¨ - to my dismay he said yes.

I told him I wanted to get off.

He asked me if anyone had told me that this bus didn´t make stops.

I told him no.

He told me this bus didn´t make any stops.

I told him no one had told me and I wanted to get off. I told him when I got my ticket it said I could get on and off all day.

This was all good practice for my Spanish.

He told me that there were no stops but that they would make an exception and let me off at the next stop.

I told him I wanted to get off at the last stop, which was Condessa. I knew the next stop, it is where I was yesterday when I tried to find Condessa on my own and couldn´t figure out how to get there. I wanted to just be able to sit at one of the nice looking sidewalk cafes in Condessa and not have to walk from the next stop.

He told me to sit down and wait and read from his script.

He stopped reading and I said ¨it´s far¨.

He told me we could not stop at an unauthorized stop.

I told him that when I told him I wanted to get off it was an authorized stop.

He told me that this bus didn´t make stops.

I thought about just kicking the door open.

Finally they stopped and opened the door. It was not the authorized stop, but it was near it. I was furious. He lied to me. He told me he couldn´t just stop anywhere, but that is exactly what they did. I then had to walk about 15 minutes to get back to where I wanted to get off originally. I was so furious that I didn´t enjoy myself. I also wasn´t sure where the stop was since they didn´t let me off at it and it wasn´t obvious after I walked back there in a rage.

Well, things eventually worked out. I stopped and had some tacos, I found the stop, got on the next bus and rode to the Centro Historico which was quite a disappoitnment at night. Other than some Christmas lights that were lit up in the Zocalo, the rest of the city was in dire need of a lighting designer. Even the beautiful palace of Belles Artes which is magnificent during the day, was terribly lit.

Ok, so I wasn´t really kidnapped, but I was sort of held hostage by this officious Turibus ticket collector who wanted to play games because no one had told me that the bus I boarded didn´t make stops. Turibus riders - beware. I´m writing to Lonely Planet so they can include this in their next edition - under ¨Dangers and Annoyances¨!

Shopping Center

This is a big, fancy new shopping center in the Zona Rosa near where I´m staying. It´s still pretty empty, and on this day, I think Christmas Eve, it was really empty. It´s a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city streets. There is a cinema complex on the top floor, a food court where I had some really terrible Lebanese food, and a gelateria (uh oh, there goes the diet). There is also a Sanborn´s, which I thought was just a restaurant chain, but apparently it is also a department store. It´s a nice place to stroll around and I bought some really hip t-shirts to go with my new hip Mexico City hairdo (all on that later).

I like this photo that I took from above. It is a Mexican restaurant, which was pretty empty that day - the tables are set outside of the restaurant so it´s kind of like they are outside, but they aren´t, they are in the center of the shopping center.

Frida´s House

This is Frida Kahlo´s House, known as the Casa Azul (for pretty obvious reasons). I was forbidden to take any photos inside, which is too bad, because it was quite lovely. It was filled with art of Diego Rivera´s and some of Frida´s , but what I loved were there collectiosn of Mexican art, especially these little paintings that people had done to give thanks for being cured of different ailments. There was an entire wall of the house covered by them. Also, in the kitchen, someone, maybe Frida, had made these amazing designs using these little ceramic pots - they were arranged on the walls in the shapes of birds and flowers and such. The only problem with the house is that it was too small to have hundreds of tourits tromping through at one time. I really would have liked to have been able to tour it myself (like I did in Trotsky´s home, which was not as lovely, but was empty of tourists). This is the outside wall of the house.

Trotsky´s House

This is the home of Leon Trotsky, who was exiled from Russia and hid out in Mexico, befriending Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. He lived for a bit with Frida and had an affair with her, but then they had a falling out and he moved a few blocks away with his wife.

It was here that he was assassinated. The first attempt failed and there are bullet holes still visible above his bed - he and his wife survived an all out assault by three gunmen by hiding behind the bed. The 2nd time he was not so lucky. His assassin, who was the lover of one of his secretaries or something like that, approached him while he was working at his desk and jammed an ice pick into his skull. He died the next day. His home is really worth a visit as it is left pretty much the way it was when he died - with clothes in the closet, books and papers on the desks. It makes me want to learn more about who he was and what he was doing.

El Metro

On Christmas Day, I overcame my fear of taking the Metro. Even in New York, I still prefer to walk or hop in a cab, but here it was Christmas, and the streets were relatively empty except for some tourists and other down and out types. I walked from the Zona Rosa, where I am staying to the Centro Historico, to the Zocalo and the Metropolitan Cathedral. I would have hung out there longer, but I didn´t have as much money with me as I thought I did, so there wasn´t a whole lot for me to do but walk. My feet were very tired as my shoes are turning out not to be so great for doing a lot of walking, and there I was at Hidalgo Station - I decided to take a chance.

First I paid for my ticket, which was 20 pesos (less than 20 cents) and went through the turnstile. Immediately, I was confused about where to go, so I returned back to the turnstile where two police officers were chatting ( the police seem to be omni-present, which I guess is a good thing), as soon as one of them saw me walking in their direction, the other, who was on my side of the turnstile, turned and asked how he could help me.

I told him where I wanted to go and he pointed me in the right direction. I took that train for a few stops and at another station transferred to another train and soon I was at Insurgentes, where I discovered what is now my favorite internet cafe.

So, yesterday, now brave after a successful metro experience, I decided to take a longer haul to Coyoacan, the small village, which is now part of Mexico City, where Frida Kahlo was born and died.

At the guesthous where I am staying, two Brazilians were telling me that it took them forever to get back from Coyoacan by subway, but they said it was rush hour. So, being smarter than them, I decided to time my trip so that I would avoid the rush hour.

I left here around 10, and was at Viveros Station near Coyoacan by ten thirty, more or less. It was a quick and easy ride, with only one transfer. I even got to sit for most of it.

At Viveros, I followed the directions in my Lonely Planet and walked through a lovely park on my way to central Coyoacan. I found Frida´s house, saw some other sites, including the home of Leon Trotsky, who was befriended by Frida and Diego, and who was assasinated by a Stalinist while he worked at his desk. His assassin drove an ice pick through his skull - brutal.

Because I had to walk a lot to get back to the station that I arrived at, I decided to walk in the other direction to see Trotsky´s house and also to see this ex-convent that was near the metro station. Exhausted after walking so much, I got to the station to find the train was sitting on the tracks and already quite full. I walked all the way to the last car hoping to find a seat, but someone snatched it right before me. So, I stood and waited for the train to start moving.

Finally we were off, but at the next station we sat again with the doors open, waiting for the train to move. I don´t understand what this delay was about, but it happened at almost every station. We´d arrive at the station, the doors would open, and we´d sit and wait.

This is exactly what the Brazilians had described, and it was only three o´clock!

The trip took a lot longer than it had for me to go to Coyoacan. But there was entertainment along the way. We´d stop at a station and the entertainment would board. The first entertainer was a woman with a bunch of CDs. She shouted to us above the sounds of the train and the station ¨LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? i HAVE FOR SALE A DVD THAT WILL ANSWER ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FORMATION OF THE WORLD (SOUND OF TRAIN WHISTLE AND ANNOUNCEMENT AND DOORS CLOSING DROWNING HER OUT) YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT THE TECTONIC PLATES (and on she went). Nobody bought her DVD but she was soon replaced by a blind guy being led by what looked like his son. No one gave him any money. Next was a semi-blind guy with a glass eye playing a guitar and singing, which was quite a feat since the train was moving. There were ice cream sellers and people selling gum and candy. More and more people got on the train and it was hot and we´d sit there in most stations for what seemed like forever, but was probably slightly over a minute. I amused myself by counting how many more stations I had before I could get off of this train from hell and get on the train that would take me home.

Finally, we arrived at Pino Suarez station, where I was to transfer. I followed the masses of people up escalators around corners, up more escalators and down stairs. We passed a huge sulpture that looked like a sun dial, which must have been something they found when they excavated the station. It made me think that there must be untold treasures buried beneath this city. Every time they build something where they have to dig, they find something new. I got to the tracks for my line and it was also packed. I guess rush hour starts early here. Not one to stand on a crowded train pressed body to body, I decided to walk to the end of the train. It was not nearly as crowded as the rest of the train, but I still had to stand.

One more vendor got on the train, this time with a CD of music. Someone bought one of his CDs and he got off at the next stop and moved to another car. As I got off at Insurgentes, I could hear his music playing.

I was relieved to be ¨home¨, but left the station by the wrong exit, so that rather than walking just a block to get to my guesthouse, I had to walk several blocks. It gave me an opportunity to see some of the street life that has been missing for the past few days as the city had pretty much shut down for Christmas.

So, even though I overcame my fear of the metro, I now discovered that I´m not too thrilled with the prospect of a 20 minute ride lasting 40 minutes and having to stand the whole way - entertainment or none. Today I plan to walk around the neighborhoods near where I am staying - Condessa and Roma. I´ll save riding the metro for the weekend.

Up to now

I have been in Mexico City for um, what day is it? I think today is Thursday, which means I´ve been here for 5 days depending on how you count. I have found it to be more enjoyable than I had imagined. Mexico City, seething metropolis, overcrowded with displaced rural poor looking for a better life, riddled with crime, overcome by choking smog and streets clogged with traffic. How could such a place actually be a good destination for a vacation? This is my fourth visit here (again, depending on how you count), but it is the first time I´ve spent any time here. I´m so glad I came. Here is what I have learned. Yes, it´s a big city, and yes, supposedly there is crime, traffic and pollution. But there is so much more. I´m sitting here in this very pleasant internet cafe at Insurgentes Station of the Metro looking out on to the central plaza of the metro station. There is a very cute young guy who works here and keeps us all entertained by a diverse selection of music. Police zoom by on their segways and every now and then I get a whiff of some spices from nearby restaurants. The weather is very pleasant and the air is really not that bad. This is Mexico City, the enormous capital of a hugely diverse and rich country. Unlike our capital, which is more of a monument to an ideal and and otherwise ignored population who can´t even vote, this is where all of Mexico meets. This where it happens. This is where it began and ended. This is a place of history, culture, infinite sites and sounds and experiences. It is not a place for the unitiated traveler, and I like that - no tour buses full of Iowans looking for a quick and easy getaway. This is where most people might just spend a few days. I´m thinking it is worth coming for a few months. That is why I decided to start this blog.