MEXICO

Impressions of Mexico: warm and sunny, loudspeakers, food everywhere, people selling stuff everywhere, guys with greased hair, lovers littered on benches, steps, the ground... and everything for DIEZ PESOOOOOOOS!!

I got to Mexico Monday afternoon; it was hot and humid. I lugged my suitcase to the metro and on the way to my hostel I watched the sunny streets with the painted buildings roll by. People came through the cars every couple minutes selling gum, candy, cd's, little toys, all for five or ten pesos. The food cooking in the jumble of a market in front of my hostel smelled amazing, and was everywhere. Yup! I was in Mexico. Annnnd loving it.

I went for a walk once I got established in my hostel. Got a cell phone from Telcel. went back for an umbrella, and then walked through Zona Rosa (cute area with pedestrian walks, restaurants, erotica shops, and gay bars.) It started raining as I walked back along Reforma, but I had my umbrella (one of about 3 other people that had one, poor suckers), and it was still warm, so it was a beautiful walk back to the hostel under the trees on the wide sidewalk.

That night I hung out with my hostelmates on the roof, one Uruguayan, two Americans, and one French-Canadian from Ottawa, and then we went for a drink in Zona Rosa. All in all... I was super happy to be here at last.

Tuesday: I slept in, then went with the Americans from the hostel to the Castillo in Chapultepec park through some protest that had taken over Reforma. We did the mini train ride through the park and then headed up to the castle - nice path, beautiful building and gardens, and view of the city. We headed over to the Zócalo afterwards (main plaza in the city) to see if there was anything interesting to buy at the stands there, but there wasn't, and it was just hot at that time of day. Basically, since the thunderstorm on Monday, it's been beautiful weather. In the morning, not too hot, nice breeze, by afternoon it gets hotter in the sun, but still tolerable. Perfect weather really, just what the doctor ordered. Or not, considering I caught a bad cold somehow.... but whatever, I am loving the weather.

In the evening on Tuesday a guy from Couchsurfing, Pedro, picked me up to show me a couple apartments, and then we hooked up with a couple German girls he knew to go to a bar for some mezcal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezcal). We drank it together with orange slices sprinkled with chili. It seemed pretty strong to me, and I could only sip down the shot slowly, but yesterday my roommate gave me a couple shots to help with the cold, and it wasn't as worthy of making a face. But I digress.

After the mezcal, we got some tacos, and then to another cute bar that sold pulque (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulque). I didn't order it, but I tried some of Pedro's. Seemed alright. Afterwards we checked out another apartment, but the room was taken already, so my housing thing wasn't solved, but it was still a nice night.

Wednesday: Jeff, one of the Americans, had lost his passport at a bar the night before, and he was flying out that day. So we grabbed a taxi in the morning to the bar, and luckily there were people waiting to start work and even more luckily, they had his passport. So it was off to the airport for him.

Burns had arrived that morning, so we met up outside my hostel. Woo! Reunion! I got her a cell phone at the same place, and we walked through Zona Rosa, before going up to Presidente Masaryk to find our place of work come Monday. The building is super nice, you can check it out on Google Maps: Masaryk 29, Mexico City. There are lots of trees and also lots of pricey restaurants and shops around - I guess Masaryk in Mexico is comparable to Yorkville in Toronto or whatever your upscale reference might be. A kind of ritzy neighbourhood, but it's not crazy or anything.

At night we met up with a couple guys from Couchsurfing and went to the Coyoacán area to get some food and then churros. We sat up on the second floor in this tiny churro place where Salvador couldn't even stand up straight and it filled with smoke... but the warm churros were delicious, you could pick your filling... I got Nutella, of course.

Thursday: I went to go look at the apartment where I'm living now in the morning, and then went to pick up Burns from the clinic, where they gave her a shot to fix her swollen eye. Goddamn hostel. We moved my stuff to my new apartment - Avenida Baja California, 318. You can also check it on Google Maps. :P It's a pretty big apartment, right on the edge of Condesa, which is a nice, chill neighbourhood with a lot of young people and restaurants, and a bike-share program. My roommate is Luis, he's 35, from Mexico City, and works as a credit analyst at WalMart, oh yeah.

Anyway after dropping my stuff off, we did a bit of shopping near Zócalo, walked around Condesa and got some supper at an organic food restaurant (first salad or really, greens at all since I'd been in Mexico), and then I headed home to have my cold hit me with a vengeance. When Luis got home we moved all his entertainment shit out of my room and into the living room where we left it in a pile on the floor.

Friday: sick. I managed to take a shower and go with Luis to get some groceries, but I spent the rest of the day laying around with my throat and glands killing me. I did reorganize the kitchen cabinets while Luis put up all the electronics, posters and hammock in the living room. Burns slept over since she left the hostel and hadn't found a place yet.

Saturday: felt a little bit better, and decided I didn't want to spend the whole day in the house, so when Sarah found a house she liked, I jumped in the taxi with her to go drop off her stuff. Her apartment is pretty far from me - it's a ways north of Reforma, whereas I'm a ways south. But there is a fairly direct Metrobus line that runs along Insurgentes that connects us pretty well, The Metrobus is basically a metro that runs above ground... with buses, or I guess like a tram system where the buses have their own lanes in the middle of the street and closed, elevated stops.

Once we dropped off her stuff, we took a walk to a nearby Walmart to get a few basic things, and then we took the metro to Polanco, which is the nearest stop to work, to see how long it would take from her house. We still have to figure out how to get a bus from the metro station to work, cuz it's still a bit of a walk even from the metro station. IIn my case, I might end up taking the Metrobus to the Tacubaya metro station, then take the metro to Polanco, and from there, a microbus to work. 5 pesos, 3 pesos, 3 pesos. Shit, stuff is cheap here. 5 pesos is about 40 cents. In Toronto it costs what now, like 3 dollars for one ride on the subway? ......

The whole microbus system... I really have no idea how that works. There are no marked bus stops. People just stand at the side of the road and somehow know if they flag down the bus, it will stop there for them. Every bus is green and white and says "Ruta 2" (Route 2) on it. In the windshield they put a sign that says where they're heading. As for the stops until you get there... that's anyone's guess. We observed where the buses were going by and positioned ourselves near some other women, and took one down from Masaryk to Chapultepec. Success! Now just to find out one that goes down Masaryk...

I was still feeling kind of shitty so we headed back to Sarah's pretty soon. She's living with two young Mexican guys, a photographer and an engineer apparently, who have a bookshelf I already took advantage of, and an orange corner couch. It's a cute, small-ish, sunny apartment with a retro feel. I just wish it weren't so far away!

Well folks it's been a crazy long post I know, but everything is just so exciting and it all needs an introduction. Do forgive me dear readers if I write too much, but I kind of use this blog so I also remember what I've been up to.

I'm totally excited to be here for these two months. It feels great to be speaking Spanish again, and yes, I have dropped the Spanish lisp. Que me perdonen los españoles. "Work" starts on Monday. I'll keep y'all updated.

Pictures are on Facebook, it's too much of a pain to put them in here.

love, moi.