anika in mexico

I arrived yesterday in Mexico. I flew into the Toluca airport. What a difference in the view from my window seat when compared to the view when flying into the Mexico City airport. Instead a vast gray ocean of buildings that swells from horizon to horizon, I saw green hills and fields sectioned off by brown dirt roads, some winding, some straight.

I could discern individual features in the landscape instead of absorbing the impact of the anonymous inorganic city. Details of the area popped out as I flew overhead. A bright yellow VW Beetle parked in the middle of a yard. Colorful clothing hung out behind a small house. A person on horse back, trotting along a dusty path. A small group of tiendas with their brightly colored signs.

I held some concerns about getting through the customs/immigration. Not sure why, but it’s always makes me a little bit nervous. It was no problem, even though I didn’t know the address where I’ll be staying, and even with a one-way ticket (they didn’t even ask about it). There was a small oval shaped belt at the baggage claim that went through a window so you could see the bags arriving outside, and see when yours was off-loaded onto the belt. People were crowding the luggage, so I had to ask a man 3 times to grab my 3 bags for me as they passed by, which he cheerfully obliged.

I’d like to mention that I overpacked my one suitcase on purpose. By overpacked, I mean that it was over the allowed 50 pounds, and I just expected to pay extra for it. Turns out I didn’t have to. I went to the curbside check-in at DCA, and the porter checked me in and took my bags–didn’t even weigh them at all. I gave him $5 and he seemed happy enough. If my insides had an expression, at that moment they would have been sporting a gloating grin.

I was quite sleepy, but in good spirits. The night before I left while I was packing the power suddenly went out and stayed out. A transformer seemed to have blown, so it only affected the houses on my street. I had to pack by candle light and flashlight. I only got a quick 15 minute nap with Otto on my lap.

The hardest thing was leaving the Otto and Kasi Kas. They are both so freaking adorable. Some how I managed to pry myself away. With Bobby Okuda driving and Pup in the backseat, we headed off to National. We made really good time. Not too many folks on the road at 4am.

Once checked-in and through security, I was delighted to see a Mayorga Coffee Roasters AND and Einstein’s Bagel Bros. I first got my large cappucino at Mayorga, then got a egg and cheese sandwich from Einstein’s.

The flight to Houston was pretty uneventful. I even slept for a bit. The one nice thing about the window seat is that you can see what’s going on below, if there’s something to see. I saw rivers. I saw ox-bow lakes! That’s the one thing I really remember from my geography class, and I still find them quite fascinating, in all their various stages. At first I only saw a river flanked by well established lakes, and I wished that I could see a river with curves that were just coming together again–the start of the ox-bow lake. Early on the flight to Toluca I got my wish. It was so neat to see the river connected, and know that in time, the river would press its new connection, blocking off the old curve, eventually creating a lake, which would then eventually cease to exist, only to do it all over again over time.

At customs in Toluca I pressed a button and got a green light, so I didn’t have to go through any more process. I managed to wiggle out of the customs area by walking backwards–it was really something to try to manage 2 big suitcases and two small bags. Once through, Siggy’s dad was waiting. I didn’t see him at first, but we found each other, and soon we had everything loaded in his old brown truck and were off.

He said he didn’t speak very good English, which I find a lot of people say before they reveal through conversation that they are actually fluent, if perhaps a bit rusty. He helped me to practice my Spanish though and taught me, “Barbacoa de Borego,” “Autobuses,” y “Tratar”. He also asked me some basic questions about what I studied, etc. and then had me answer (with maybe a few english words) in Spanish.

We met Siggy back at the house with her friend who stayed for a bit. I drank a cup of hot water a la Dr. Lindy, and then gratefully took a shower. I then lay on Sig’s bed and snoozed for about 20 minutes when a huge thunder clap woke me up. It was probably a good random alarm clock because I was really quite hungry, and lunch had just started with a celery soup. We then had chicken tacos with guacamole y arroz con chile. Delicious.

For a light desert we had some little berries that were cooked with cinnamon and had pits a bit like cherries, but not as much fruit on them. I found them quite tasty.

We came to Siggy’s grandmother’s house, also named Sigrid, where we dropped off my bags and then went to the supermercado. They let me get a few “treats” like cookies and cereal, and a couple of traditional mexican sweets. I tried the sweets today, and I quite liked the one that Siggy had recommended which had the same ingredients as the other, but it was shaped like a sausage with the ends cut off. I also got a couple of magazines in Spanish that Siggy said would be good to look at. One of them is about the 80’s in Mexico and looks amazing.