Roma, Mexico

Last night I had some very minor drama with the front desk. When I checked into my room on Saturday I was thrilled that it was on the 10th floor and had a great view. I was bothered initially by the smell of smoke in the bathroom, where someone had obviously been smoking even though the hotel (I thought) is non-smoking. But I just bought some lavender spray and opened the windows. But then Saturday night I had a hard time sleeping as some very loud rock music and other noise from the street was still making its way up 10 stories and through the closed windows of my room.

I got up Sunday morning with very little sleep, but I seemed okay, even after my marathon walk to the Basilica.

Thinking that the live music was maybe only Saturday night and not wanting to give up my view, I didn't say anything.

But Sunday evening, the music started again. It was really heavy, almost punk-like music, with lots of drums and heavy guitar and shouting. After several hours of it, I knew I would not be able to sleep another night, so I went to the hotel and in my best Spanish asked if I could change rooms. The front desk clerk told me in his best Spanish that it was not possible, and I'd have to wait until the next day after 2 (check-out).

I came back up to my room and the noise continued and I became more and more agitated. After another few hours, I went back again and said in my best Spanish, "I don't want to be difficult, but I don't understand why I can't change rooms today." It seemed like there were many empty rooms in the hotel.

After a little back and forth, him asking me why I didn't advise them earlier and me stating that I didn't know there would be music on Sunday night, he finally relented and sent the security guy up with me to assist (I guess) me in changing rooms.

So now I am on the 6th floor in a no-smoking room in the back where it is very quiet and I don't have a very nice view, but I don't care. I'd rather sleep than look out the window.

So this morning rested up, I set off after breakfast to find something to do. First I went to the neighborhood I stayed last time I was here to see if I could set up a facial. The place where I had my chocolate facial is now a family clinic. Scratch that idea.

Then I decided to walk to Roma, a neighborhood not too far from here. It's a lovely, tree-lined neighborhood with deco and other ornate buildings and this weird statue of Michaelangelo's David (a bad reproduction in a park). I sat down in the park and watched the goings on. Some school kids were hanging out, some chatting, some playing football. People were walking their dogs, sitting on benches, one guy was smoking pot and a small film crew was filming what looked like a scene from a novela (soap opera). The scene started with several people walking past the camera and then a guy walking in the other direction. A young woman ran up behind him and grabbed his shoulder and they both sat down. They had a serious discussion and then the woman got up and walked away forlornly. The guy sat there looking very distraught and then he got up, looked in the direction the woman went and then walked the other way. They did this twice. It was kind of cool to see.

I walked a bit through Roma, but didn't see anything else of interest, so I headed back to my hood. I went to a little artesania market but got tired of people trying to lure me in with "I'll give you a good price" and so I left. I needed to pee, so I headed towards Starbucks.

On the way I passed a Korean restaurant (apparently my neighborhood is now heavily Korean) and saw they had kalbi-jim, a spicy stew that my friend Jennifer recommended I try when I was in Korea, but I couldn't find it. I thought it was too early for lunch, so first I went to Starbucks, used their bathroom and had a cold fruit beverage.

After that I went to the Korean restaurant and tried to decode the menu which was in Spanish and Korean. I couldn't figure out where the kalbi-jim was, so when the waiter came, I asked him. Turned out they didn't have it (even though they had a picture of it outside). He recommended a soup with ribs and vegetables. It was quite good and nice to get some veggies, which were mostly greens.

After that, I walked down Reforma to see about renting a bike but the bike rental place was closed. I was striking out big time today. I decided to head home and take a nap and on the way passed a paper shop and went in to see about getting a tube for the posters I bought.

I said, "necisito un tubo" - I need a tube. The woman told me it was called a "tubo portaplano", which I knew but forgot. Years ago when I went to Cuernavaca I bought a poster and needed a tubo portaplano and went crazy until I finally found one. It's not like in SF where I can get everything at Walgreens.

Well anyway, they didn't have them at this store and she told me where I could get one, but I was too tired and came back to my hotel where I read some news, did some e-mail and finally went back out again.

I found the shop I was directed to which was a kind of package, mail place. They had all sorts of boxes, bubble wrap, etc. They had what I wanted, but it was too long, so the guy cut it down for me. Now my posters will stay uncrumpled in my suitcase on the trip home.

I came back to the hotel and watched some TV, ah, but first stopping and getting a taco. I discovered this great taqueria on the corner where I can sit and watch people go by. I love watching the assortment of people - lots of young gay couples holding hands, and at this time of day, there were also a lot of office workers, as well as an assortment of many other kinds of people.

I got a beef taco which comes with fried onions and some french fries (on the taco). I also got cheese, and it was kind of like a Philly Cheesesteak taco. I thought it would be a great thing to sell for those on low carb diets!

After watching a little TV, I decided to try this Italian restaurant nearby for dinner. It's called Italianni's. I had a salad, which was good, and a glass of wine, which was good, and linguini fra diablo, which was not good at all. The spaghetti seemed overcooked or something and the sauce was not that cook. I was hugely disappointed. Plus the service was really weird. I could not quite put my finger on why it was weird, but it was. And on top of it boxing was on the big screen right in front of me. What a stupid sport - just hitting one another until one person goes unconscious? After reading so much about the rhetoric that possibly led to the violence in Tuscon (and I do believe words have consequences), I had a hard time sitting there watching these two guys beat the shit out of each other for sport.

And so it was a fairly uneventful day. I am ready to go home. Things I had wanted to do like ride a bike or get spa treatments seem like they are not going to happen. I've walked enough, eaten enough and rested enough. Tomorrow will be spent packing up and maybe treating myself to a nice farewell dinner.