"We danced our asses off"

The salsa club was absolutely amazing.  We went with a girl we met at the hostel named Veridiana who is from Brazil!  The second we walked in we were already dancing.  If you want a break you have to hide or decline an invite to dance but I suggest you take every opportunity you can.  Everyone I danced with had a different style and it was cool to learn every time.  The ages were very different too.  I danced with as young as 20 to as old as my grandpa and they can all dance!  No matter how old you are, odds are you can dance.  There was a live Cuban band playing which was awesome.  Whether I looked like I knew what I was doing or not it didn’t matter, the dance floor is packed and everyone is sweating their asses off and loves it.

Sunday we saw Mexico City come alive!  We went shopping for a bit and saw a bunch of people in long white lab coats and one guy who had “Yo Soy #17” on the back which means I am number 17.  I asked someone about it and turns out it’s a protest in honor of a doctor in Guadalajara who was killed by a gang.  White represents all of the problems of Mexico and Guadalajara is district 17.  Therefore placing all the blame on Guadalajara.

 We kept walking through the city towards the big golden angel in downtown, stopped and got a 10 minute massage on the side of the street for about 50 pesos, and we noticed a bunch of bikes and no cars, at first we thought it was another protest against pollution or something but turns out it’s called paseo ciclista – cyclist path – where a large amount of roads are closed down every Sunday from 7 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon for bikers and exercise.  Next there was a huge march of people all chanting about animal rights with all their pets walking in the street and painted head to toe like tigers.  They all met up in the cathedral later and kept on with their protest.  At first I thought it was just a Sunday thing where are the protests come out but turns out it’s very common and I’ve already heard about so many more that are going on now, one actually a protest against the paseo. 

 

We left shortly after and drove to Cuernavaca with José Luís who talked to us a lot about the government in Mexico, bull fights, the United States, and much more.  There are about 6 or 7 government districts under the federal government and in each one they have different ideas.  In his opinion, he isn’t too fond of the government.  They took thousands of dollars from the linea ­– metro - which caused the station to go out of business they did not have enough money.  They now have a new metro system and who knows what will happen to it.  The government is also fighting to stop bullfighting, which is only supported by the upper class, yet the lawyers are fighting to keep it alive for the tradition and culture.  Our brother has said that he wouldn’t want to be in the US because even though everyone thinks they have freedom to him there’s more freedom in Mexico.  The US government gives so much money and support to citizens that they begin to depend on the government.  Yet in Mexico, the government is so corrupt that there basically is no reason for laws – therefore you’re independent here.  I’d never thought to look at it like that and usually government and politics isn’t exciting to me but all of the ideas here are so interesting.

The family I’m living with is familia Jimenez and they have a son, Edson, who is 24 and his brother Guillermo, “memo,” who comes for comida during his breaks from teaching.  Comida is lunch here and it’s their biggest meal.  You have a light breakfast usually with fruit, eggs, and coffee.  Our mom packs us a lunch to take to class, which we are at from 9-1 and then we meet with our professor and come back around 2.  And at night there’s a light dinner between 8 and 10.  One thing I’ve noticed with food that is different is when you ask for salsa, they bring you jalapeños, carrots, onions, and the juice of it all.  Salsa is nothing like the appetizers and munchies in the US.  Fried chicken is actually pretty big here too – the only fast food places are KFC and McDonalds.  Turns out the reason why there’s no salt and pepper on the tables here is because of the government – they’re trying to reduce obesity.

Today we went to Taxco - a big place to go for silver.  It is absolutely gorgeous with all of the buildings and houses white.  If someone’s house wasn’t actually white they had to pay a fine monthly and if they didn’t pay the fine they went to jail, then usually got out and repainted there houses.  There’s also a duplicate of the Christ monument from Brazil.  All of the taxis are vintage white Volkswagen bugs and the streets are so narrow that they have to do doble sentidos which means that they can’t even make a complete turn sometimes and have to reverse back to get onto the next street. 

My Spanish has been going really well!! Definitely improving on my grammar with the classes and it helps a lot that I’ve been translating for Dhara – who actually left this morning for New York!  Tonight there’s a party at the school with all the students and teachers and tomorrow is the GAME!!  I’m going downtown to watch it so it should be crazy.  Can’t wait!  Viva México! 

2 Business Cards and a Napkin Rose

My flight here I mainly slept but the lady, Tammy, sitting with me along with her son, Leo, were coming to see her husband who was deported.  Last time they saw them was 4 years ago.  Her son was 4 at the time and will be turning 8 this weekend.  While I was waiting on my ride, I got to see them reunite and it was amazing.  Tammy was crying with excitement and Leo ran and hugged him.  This was all he could talk about on the flight here.  It was truly breathtaking.

I got to my “taxi” which was basically a maroon kidnapper van that the door had to be opened from the inside because it was jammed … but aside from the van itself the taxi driver, José Luís is super sweet and gave me his card which I actually ended up using later on.  The traffic here is just like Brazil – CRAZY!  There basically is no point to even have lanes here, which there rarely are.  Cars just cut through anywhere and there was a cop right next to us at one point when someone did that and I asked José Luís about it and he said if you pass them some money they turn a blind eye.  Cops basically flood the city here – at every corner and in front of every building.  Yet when cop lights go off they have nowhere to drive because the traffic is so bad.  They just sit there.  In the U.S., cop lights go off and every car gets curious looking around while pulling over at the same time.  I’ve gotten so accustom to sirens that it’s just a background noise now. 

Spicy Margaritas

The next day we went on the bus tour throughout Mexico City and went in some of the museums.  The bus you paid for a day tour so we used it as a taxi all day – seeing as when Dhara says “Oh I know where we are” we end up doing circles for about 20-30 minutes .. between the two of us it’s the blind leading the blind.  We stopped for lunch and we didn’t realize until after that what we had ordered was actually cactus - nopal.  It wasn’t too bad kind of sour – probably wouldn’t get it again.  The margaritas we got had hot sauce and spices in it … especially around the rim of the glasses – not my favorite idea.  In the states we have this idea of what margaritas are and you start to picture how great they will be in Mexico.  Which yes they are good but much different than what we Americans think.  I asked the manager of the hotel we were at today about it and he said you only like it if you’re Mexican.  Kids used to use it to show how tough they were by eating these spices whole, just like us ‘90s kids and sourheads – if you soaked it in water you were a wuss. 

Cactus

We went to La Terraza – a terrace bar - that night and had a few beers and tried some of the local drinks.  One of them is sambuca – which basically tastes like black licorice … disgusting straight liquor.  The guys at the table next to us had recommended it – bad decision, which I could still taste in the morning.  We tried Paloma, which is tequila, lemon juice, and soda water I believe – could be wrong.  It was pretty good.  Another drink was cereza, which was vodka and raspberry juice – way better than cranberry vodkas.  We got nachos con queso – which was basically the lunchable chips and nacho cheese – still good but not the queso America has portrayed as Mexican seeing as it does not exist.  We ended up calling José Luís for a lift home. 

Today has overall been the best day so far.  It started out with just shopping in the local square – Zócalo – and we were gonna just go back to the hostel – which is very nice – but decided to check out El Gran Hotel de la Ciudad de México – best decision so far.  We walked in and the stained glass ceiling was absolutely gorgeous.  We went upstairs to check out the terrace, which was a view of central Mexico City.  The manager, Ricardo, of the restaurant gave us a tour and convinced us to stay for brunch – 290 pesos for unlimited buffet and drinks.  Our server, Julio, treated us like royalty.  He constantly brought us more things to try – both food and beverages.  He brought out the executive chef, Oscar, who specifically asked if we wanted anything and went out of his way to make us flan and mole.  He later came out for a third time with a translator and gave us his card and told us to email him if we wanted anything and to find him on facebook.  Ricardo and Julio both spoke English and told us about their trips to the U.S. and what to do here in the city.  We tried octopus, cactus once again, pacinta – apparently the hangover cure which was amazing, jamaica – amazing juice made from a flower in Mexico, guanabana – a sweet fruit mixed with tequila, and Mexican green juice – made from cactus, celery, and much more.  Out of everything I tried, the most authentic would have to be the huitlacoche tacos – the fungus that grows on shucks of corn – not my favorite but I tried it.  By the end of the 5 hour-long meal we were completely stuffed of Mexican cuisine with 2 business cards and a napkin rose. 

For now we’re taking a catnap and will be at a salsa club tonight! More stories to come J