anika in mexico

I’d planned to have an easy relaxing day, or at least in the morning. I thought I would go to Starbucks and luxuriate in internet time, taking as much of it as I wanted to peruse my favorite sites, but also take the time to look up the information for the language school, etc.

But instead, just when I was out of the shower, Siggy called me and said she’d come pick me up and we’d go to the Castillo de Chapultepec. It was a really nice walk up the hill, and I really saw some cool stuff. The castillo itself was beautiful, and they have a nice collection of artifacts from all the eras of Mexican history including ceramics and sculpture, painting and murals, tiles, jewelry and stained glass. Also they have several rooms that are preserved just the way they were used originally. Siggy mentioned that there are quite a few things that haven’t changed in a lot of houses of the upper class like the furniture and some of the decoration, but also they usually have a small figure (doll) representing a saint enclosed in a glass coffin in many houses in Mexico.

There was an area where Porfirio Diaz lived, known as an apartment. It was up one level from the “ground floor” of the castillo, and off to the right of the main offical part of the structure. There is a beautiful, highly manicured garden with black and white marble walkways and fountains. Around the periphery of one side of the garden was the “apartment”. It had separate rooms for Porfirio and his wife. Also separate bathrooms (hers was bigger which I thought made good sense). There was a large salon where many important people enjoyed an evening at one time or another, and along the length of the whole aparment was a hallway with an entire wall that was a big stained glass window that was lit up beautifully from the light outside.

It was a trick taking photos in some of the rooms. In the first rooms there were no guards, but then in some of the other rooms there were guards that would wander from one room to another, so if you timed it right, you could still get a snapshot of something you really liked, though probably not with the best composition.

One of the coolest things I saw was this large green door made of solid malachite with gold embellishments. There were also several large matching sculptures shaped like pots or bird baths. I was also amazed by the detail in some of the jewelry, as well as the size of some of the pieces. They had amazing dangling earrings of all metals and stones, lots of carved coral and ivory pieces, and any other piece of jewelry you could imagine.

Siggy and I walked into an area that had re-creations of the typical rooms from the castillo, and one of them had displayed several poofy dresses that were the style of the era. The style wasn’t as suprising as the size. The dresses were tiny. I really thought that they were maybe for children, but then Siggy asked, “haven’t you noticed how small most Mexicans are?” and I guess I hadn’t, but luckily, in front of the display stood 3 Mexican women who could have fit easily into those dresses. It’s just strange how I hadn’t really looked at the people in terms of size. Sure, they are shorter than I am as most people are, but they really are smaller too.

After the castillo we walked back towards the entrance of the park to meet Siggy’s dad. We got some water and some “chicharrones” but not the real kind. Instead of fried pig fat, it’s made of flour. They put chile and lime on it and it’s really quite tasty.

We saw her dad’s car and ran to catch up with it. He’d parked pretty much in the middle of the street and was holding up traffic.

Off we went back to their house for lunch. We had sopes which are tortillas with beans and cheese. The tortilla for sopes are shaped to have a raised edge all around so the beans don’t fall out. I also had those for breakfast today, and I really love them. We also had sopa (soup) made from some kind of green vegetable that doesn’t have a translation to english. For the main part of the meal we had chicken with a really nice green sauce, vegatables and rice. Agua de Sandia was the drink, and we had some gingerbread that Siggy’s grandmother made for dessert along with tea.

We had lunch with one of Karin’s friends who is very much into the Vedic healing scene. He read my pulse and told me what type I was: Kafa Vata or something like that. He also said that if I drink iced drinks it makes me gain weight, and that I had a headache (which was true) also that bright colors are really good for me to wear because I’m white “on the inside,” plus that I see the world through my sense of smell and my heart/emotions. He said that I probably don’t like stuff that’s too sweet, which is also true. They brought out this quince jelly stuff and I took just the smallest bit and couldn’t finish it because it was SO SWEET. Siggy assured me it’s better when served with cheese, but I’m skeptical. Not sure what it all means, but it was kind of interesting to hear, and he seems like a nice guy.

Afterwards I decided to go with Teocrito to look for autos instead of doing the Tai Chi with her mother. We didn’t find any vochos (I kind of have my heart set of getting a VW Beetle), but I had a really good time with him. He gives me a hard time about my Spanish; makes me practice with him all the time, which I actually really appreciate. He said “no te preocupes” about finding a vocho. I’m sure I’ll be able to get one.

I helped Sigrid water her african violets today. She told me to give the little ones just a bit of water, but to water the rest “just like usual” like I would with normal plants … I’m not sure how much water I was really supposed to give, so I just kind of felt it out as I went. I hope they’ll live.

It was a really full day and I’m feeling very tired this evening. My tummy is a little upset as well. I’m sure I’ll be able to go to sleep early tonight.