anika in mexico

I’ve learned my lesson from the past few days, so I decided I wouldn’t rely on anyone today to do stuff with.

At breakfast Sigrid mentioned that she’d been invited to Gerardo’s for lunch for his son’s birthday, and although she didn’t say as much, it was clear that I wasn’t really invited. That suited me fine. (Turns out that when Gerardo heard I was in town, he and his wife both were soooo sorry that they hadn’t invited me. They thought I’d already left to San Miguel.)

I decided that I’d go to the Museo de Anthropologia. Sigrid was concerned that it was going to be very crowded, but I didn’t mind. I went anyway. I found a parking spot on the road with the help of a “viene viene” and headed over to the Museo through the park, passing the Museo Tamayo on my way.

I was just in time to take a seat at an outdoor stone bench around a venue where the Voladores perform. Four of them climbed up a very tall pole that swayed quite a bit with their movements. They wound up long thick ropes around the top of the pole, and attached the other end around their waists. Then they jumped off head first, and they safely circled the pole as the rope slowly unwound. In this manner they continued to “fly,” getting closer and closer to the ground with each turn. At the last moment they flipped right side up and caught the ground running. Then they asked for donations.

After the show I walked over to the another little show that was going on. Traditional Aztec dancers were pounding their drums and shaking their rattles and playing with fire. They carried on in the hot sun for quite a while. Then they asked for donations.

Next I meandered over to the museum. I passed security and walked into the lobby area. It did look rather crowded, so I didn’t buy a ticket. I figured it would be better to come back on a less crowded day when I can really enjoy the exhibits. I walked over to the gift shop area, but also didn’t go in there because I would’ve had to check my bag, and that line was also long. But the walls of the museum shop were glass, so I got to gaze at all the pretty wares for sale. I spent quite a bit of time looking at some of the painted silk scarves that had amazing patterns all over them. There was one motif of a bug that really caught my eye (it was just one small part of a large intricate pattern) and later would inspire a nifty little patternof my own.

When I left the lobby area, I was surprised at the two lines of people waiting to get in. I didn’t have to wait at all to get through security, but now the two lines wound all across the large entrance plaza, and I had to cut through one of them to get out!

Feeling extra good about my decision not to go in, I crossed Reforma to head down to the Jardin Botanico. They installed an exhibit that is hung on the large fence that circles the park. It apparently changes often. When I saw it last time, a few weeks ago, it was a showcase of photos of the amazing natural beauty of Mexico. I’d expected to see the same photos today, and was glad that I’d get to take a closer look at the photos of nature and animals, but instead there was a new exhibition. It was photos from a magazine that covers the political climate of Mexico. There were photos of death, violence, destruction and presidents. In a way it was amazing to see the images, but it was also kind of unexpected and jarring on the otherwise sunny cheerful day. About 3/4 of the way through I had to just avert my eyes, and continue my walk to the Jardin without looking at the remaining documentary photos.

Once I entered the Jardin, I focused my attention on the plants, trying to distance myself from some of the horrible scenes I’d just taken in. I did a pretty good job of it. It’s a very tranquil place. Some areas are sunny with lots of cactus and shrubs. There’s an area with water plants, and and agricultural display with corn and chiles growing. I found a nice little plaza with lots of trees. There were plenty of benches underneath the shade, and I picked on toward the back edge of the plaza, and sat down to work on the pattern that had been sparked at the Museo gift shop.

I drew for quite a while.

Eventually a couple of ladies came over and sat on the bench next to me. One of them had her son with her. He was full of energy and just wanted to go play, but the ladies were tired, and just wanted to sit. At one point he was jiggling the bench we were sitting on, and his mom asked him to stop because, “ella esta dibujando” (”she is drawing”). That piqued his curiousity, so he peered over to look at what I was doing. He pointed to the lines I’d made with a dark green marker and asked, “es negro?” and I said, no, it’s a very dark green, but he looked rather confused, so I pulled out my black marker, and drew a bit next to the green to show him the difference. Then he started talking about how sometimes trees have leaves that are dark green. Eventually the ladies felt rested and the three of them continued on their way.

I got up shortly thereafter, and decided to head back home after a brief pass through the greenhouse.

I got back and continued working on the patterns I started. Met up with Sigrid, had some supper, then to bed.

We had another meet and greet conversation in my Spanish class. It was with another level one class, and it was conducted entirely in English. It was kind of funny because one of the guys in the class is from New Zealand, and as near as I can tell he’s an artist, but he introduced himself as an alchemist, and my eyes glazed over a bit. He was totally loopy in that very artsy way, and very funny to listen too. When we were talking about what kind of transportation we preferred (I said driving was fun here, and everyone laughed), the New Zealand artist guy said that he absolutely loved the Metro because it is truly beautiful because you can see “real” Mexicans. How delightfully pretentious, and yet fully committed his ideas was he.

The other guy is from Australia and works for the World Bank, and seemed genuinely interested in practicing his Spanish, but the New Zealand guy would complain that he couldn’t understand what we were saying everytime we spoke in Spanish.

The professor of their class liked to talk about tacos and made a lot of poop jokes about the effects of chile on one’s system.

The whole thing was totally random, yet highly entertaining.

I think my up-tight, by-the-book professor was more than a little flustered, and as we left she said, “well, at least you got to know another part of the campus.” Ha.

The rest of class went by ok, if not very quickly. I talked a lot which is what I prefer.

After class it was a beautiful, sunny day, so I decided to go right to the Chapultepec park to go for a walk. I parked and started walking, and not 5 minutes later I saw Siggy’s car driving by, and she parked nearby. She had swung by my house to see if I had wanted to come to the park with her for a walk. She had her roller blades, and while she kept me on my toes, we were able to stick together for our walk/roll.

Peluches was with her too, and he is kind of dumb we decided. He can’t hear or see very well, but insists on wandering around all over the place, not caring if he gets lost. He’ll get a little panicky if he doesn’t see you, but the moment he sees you he feels secure, and then turns right around and wanders off in the other direction again.

We had a good time and after the first lap we stopped and got a fresh juice and a small fruit plate from the stand on the circuit. It was really good and the owner realized I was not from Mexico, so he practiced his English a bit while I practiced my Spanish. He lived in California for 8 years and was familiar with San Francisco as well as Southern California.

We did one more lap together before Siggy went to meet a friend for lunch. I did yet another lap around the lake, then drove home.

I had a simple, but really great lunch with Sigrid. Some kind of thin meat with noodles and beet salad. Just perfect.

Afterwards I headed over to Starbucks to catch up with this here journal, and catch up with some email too.

I’m going to predict that I’ll go home, have supper and then do my homework and/or draw or get some more photos ready to upload, so I can post this journal entry early and not wait til tomorrow. I wonder if I’ll be right, or if I’ll have more to add.

I woke up at noon but thought it was much earlier. I made myself some eggs with tomato and salami, and a black tea. Then I went back to sleep and woke back up at 5pm. Erg. I felt that gross feeling when you sleep too much in the afternoon, so I resolved to take a walk.

What luck! Jenny was just arriving to drop of Sigrid, and was also planning to go for a walk, so she invited me to accompany her. Igor was with her too, and I ended up walking him after a while because he can be a bit hard to handle, and Jenny has a broken toe that’s still healing.

It was really fun. We walked twice around the lake before Jenny wanted to leave, but I went once more on my own, then walked the short distance back home.

I felt so much better after my walk, but I still had a hard time doing my homework.

Anne also was leaving that night, returning once and for all to Germany, so I said goodbye to her when Chucho picked her up. Sigrid had wanted her to pay another night’s stay, but since she was leaving at 3am anyway, she decided to just go to a bar and not go to sleep instead. I might be visiting her in Berlin in January if I go to that textile show.

I woke up suddenly for no particular reason very early. The curtains were open, so the first rays of sunlight were gently illuminating the room. I was about to roll back over to go to sleep, but I was curious about the time. I don’t remember what the clock said, because as I turned to look at the time, my attention was caught by the sunrise. It was already spectacular, even though it was just starting. I struggled for a second: go back to sleep, or stay up and watch the sunrise. I opted for the second option, and, although sleepy, I watched the sky get brighter and brighter, the clouds get more and more vivid. It was really incredible. The view from my window was already really awesome–over looking a ravine with guayaba (guava) orchards in the distance. With the amazing sunrise, it was truly a captivating sight.

Once the sky became typically blue and the clouds typically white, I indulged my sleepiness and went back to sleep for a little bit.

I woke again to sounds coming from the kitchen. Teocrito was frying plantains! He and I had some instant coffee and a lot of the plantains with sour cream. It was a great breakfast. Little did I know at the time, it was only the first breakfast of the day.

Karin stayed in bed for a long time. When she got up we started making breakfast #2.

This was really interesting because we made eggs on a plantain leaf. Karin hadn’t ever done it before, so she put too many egs on the first leaf. Teo looked at the 3 eggs that were struggling for space on their green bed, and exclaimed, “it’s just supposed to be one egg per leaf!” Those first three didn’t turn out so great, but Teocrito ate them anyway. The first batch looked a little undercooked for my taste, so the next batch I made scrambled. I think they turned out a lot better, and my were they tasty. The banana leaf really added a different flavor. I ate it with one of the typical rolls that they use here often for tortas. I also had a tuna (cactus fruit, not the fish), and a bit more coffee.

After breakfast Karin and I took a long walk all around the rancho. We walked through lots of mud. We meandered through the guava orchard and made our way to one of their bordos. There was only a small ascent to get to the bordo, but when I turned around, the view was amazing. You could see their orchard, the field where they used to grow tomatoes, and still grow some raspberries and flowers, the house, other ranchos in the distance, and the distant blue mountains that provided a dramatic backdrop. Plus the sky was filled with white clouds, and just a bit of blue sky that peeked through here and there.

We sat together for a long time, appreciating the view and talking about life.

We mosied back to the house, and before I knew it we were leaving to get yet more food. This time we went for “gorditas” which as far as I can tell are the same thing as sopes–a thick tortilla with and the edged pinched up all around to make a little dish to hold the ingredients. I’ve seen gorditas that are more like a little pocket, with the ingredients enclosed into 2 tortillas that are pinched together, but sopes are always like the open faced thick tortilla with various ingredients.

To get the gorditas, we drove a short distance down the road to an outdoor style restaurant. Also a simple operation, like the place with the tamales from last night, but this place seemed a lot more cheerful. The exterior of the house was painted bright blue, and there were tarps arranged to make a reasonable roof under which there was one line of long plastic table where you could sit. Each table had it’s own set of chiles and pickled vegetables to be added to the gorditas if you liked. Not that the gorditas really needed more chile. The first one I had was one with chicken. Then I got one with mushrooms. They came with some frijoles smeared as the bottom level, then were layered with some previously prepared chicken or mushroom mixture, and topped with queso fresco. The chicken one was good and a bit spicy, but the mushroom one left my lips tingling, it was so picoso. Karin and I both bought a small jar of honey from the same place. It smelled amazing, and it tasted even better.

Next we went over a hill, through a valley, and then up another hill to a little town. We first stopped into a bakery that Karin and Teo are familiar with. They’d sent most of their products to the plaza where they have a market every Sunday. But they were working on some more rolls, both dulces (slightly sweet with some sugar on top) and some salados (salty) that they promised would be ready in 45 minutes if we wanted to return.

They were so gracious at the bakery, and let me take tons of photos. I watched as the baker reformed each roll after it had already risen the first time, letting it rise once more before he’d put it in the horno. It was a very repetitive process, and he was very fast. The horno was a traditional wood-burning oven, and they baked everything by the wood fire. It wasn’t rounded, but instead rectangular with a seemingly open top. The burning wood was arranged in a semi-circular formation around the mouth of the stove. It was very warm, and the smell of burning wood brought back memories of winter fires at home.

We walked on up the street to the Zocalo of the town, and soon entered the area of the “plaza” where they had the market. Actually in small towns they just refer to the market as the plaza. So to be accurate, we went to the plaza. There was lots and lots of fruit and vegetables. Also lots of tarp-roofs. I saw red cactus fruit there! I told Karin I wanted to try them. One of the vendors peeled one right there for me, and I ate the delicious fruit right in front of the stand. It was really good, so I bought a bag of them to take home. Truth be told, the green ones are tastier, in my opinion, but I love the color of the red cactus fruit. Once peeled, the fruit is bright fuschia, and it’s fun to eat such a bright shade of pink.

I also bought a green pomegranate (they call them “granadas” here.) It’s bright green on the outside, but the seeds are just as red as any other ripe red skinned pomegranate I’ve had at home. The guy who was selling them offered me a free taste of them, and shoveled three teaspoons of loose seeds into my waiting hand. They were so good I just had to buy one!

After we’d bought a bunch of other fruits and vegetables, we returned to the bakery. They were in full swing, placing the uncooked rolls onto a long wooden palette that the baker masterfully and precisely placed within the oven. When the rolls finished baking, he’d just as accurately fish them out from the horno and tumble them onto the waiting wooden table where his wife would organize them to cool, and dust off the excess flour before transferring them into a waiting basket.

The baskets were large and round. On the first visit I didn’t think too much about them, but now I took a closer look. They were woven in such a way that there was a rather large bump that rose from the center of the basket. The sides were about the same height as the central bump. The rolls could be neatly arranged in a radial pattern to fill the basket. Then one of the other workers in the bakery took up the basket, and placed it right on top of his head! It was like a giant sombrero, filled with bread. The “bump” in the center was just the right size for a head. Really ingenious.

The baker pulled out lots of little brown rolls. The few that were odd shaped or sized or a little too blackened, he set aside, ostensibly for the family. He also pulled out some rolls that were bright pink! These were the dulce rolls, and later I saw him dusting some unbaked dulce rolls with the pink sugar just before they went into the oven. Another fun bright pink thing to eat! We were offered some of each type of roll to try, hot from the oven. They were really so good, both the salados and the dulces. Karin bought a big bag filled with both varieties.

We were soon on our way back to the ranch, and in the car we kept eating the rolls. I had the idea to open the honey to dip bits of the salado roll. It was delightful, and soon we were all dipping the bread in the honey and getting rather sticky.

Back at the rancho we all just relaxed for a while, had some fresh mint tea and yet more bread with honey. I started a couple of new patterns based on the decorative iron work that’s in front of many windows in Mexico, including those at the rancho. Eventually we were back on the road, and thankfully we didn’t stop to eat anything else (I was stuffed!).

It started raining on our way back, but we’d been fortunate to have such great weather during our stay. It’s really been raining so much here. A lot of rain, everyday. I got back to the house by 9pm, did most of my homework and went to bed.

I woke up at about 10am. I heard Sigrid and the other guests in the hall, but when I finally got up and went downstairs, everyone was missing. So I made myself breakfast, took a shower and tidied up my room. Just when I was thinking I’d go for a walk, Karin called and asked if I’d like to go to the Rancho. I said, “yes of course!”

The plan was that they’d pick me up around 2 or 3 and then we’ll stay over night. Karin said that we would have “la cena” in a small town near the ranch tonight, go for a long walk in the morning around the ranch, and then check out a market tomorrow which is supposed to be very interesting to see.

That’s pretty much what happened. They picked me up, and we were off to the Rancho. We stopped at a big restaurant right on the side of the highway–we didn’t even have to exit, just pull off onto the side of the road and park. We had tacos among other things. Everything was ok, but I definitely have had better tacos.

We got to the Ranch and settled in a bit. Karin and I took a walk across the road, down a sandy lane. There was a meadow to the right that had tall grass that was in bloom, and the whole field looked soft and silvery green. There was a small “bordo” (water reservoir) off to the left that we walked up to through some of the same tall grass. There were little white butterflies fluttering around the bank of the bordo. We might have walked further, but the farmer had blocked off the lane near his house.

So we turned around and went back. Then we all piled into the truck (including Marco ((who takes care of the ranch when noone is there)) and his wife and kids) and headed off to Tapatino for tamales. This is the same little town where Siggy and everyone ate tacos when I went to the ranch the first time, but this time we headed up the road away from the main town square. We stopped and a conspicuous looking little “restaurant”. They were cooking the tamales on a small gas stove that was on top of the a table on the sidewalk. Through the doors that lead into a cement entry way, was another table. This is where we sat. I got one green tamale and an atole flavored with some kind of fruit. Atole is a hot drink made with rice or oats that is flavored with everything from chocolate to fruit to caheta to ground up cookies. I don’t usually like atole because it’s typically VERY sweet, but the fruity one I had was only a little bit sweet.

After dinner we walked around the town square. There were lots of people, and a few stands with jewelry. Karin bought me a little silver ring and I bought myself a big bracelet made with lots of small reddish orange opaque glass beads. There was a guy there selling little kits to blow bubbles, but he had one that was making these HUGE bubbles. I’ve never seen them so big. He said it was some kind of industrial formula of soap that allowed the bubbles to get so big.

After we’d seen everything there was to see, we all headed back to the ranch. I took the opportunity of having a tv and dvd player and movies in my room to watch a movie. I saw the Red Violin. It was pretty good, and it was pretty late when I finally went to sleep.

Sunday morning. Got to wake up “late”. Around 10am, helped put together a nice breakfast for everyone including scrambled eggs, sliced tomato, avocado and toast. Afterwards a walk seemed like a good idea since it was a gorgeous, sunny day. Anne came with me, and we walked up to the Lake at the nearby section of Chapultepec Park. Probably takes about 15-20 minutes to walk up there, then we walked around the lake a couple of times. It’s really very picturesque, although very manicured. There were tons of dogs that got great workouts with their owners. Dogs of all varieties, and not just street mutts, but lots of different kinds of purebred dogs. Chihuahuas of course, but also sharpeis, retrievers, poodles, dalmatians, great danes, pomeranians, yorkies, dobermans, and even a big fluffy sheep dog that seemed to jiggle all over as he patiently followed his owner’s jog. Wiener dogs were conspicuously un-represented.

We walked for a good 2 hours or so, and by the time we got back I was definitely quite tired. Anne was still full of energy and really wanted to “do something”. She wasn’t clear about what that something might be, and somehow I ended up in the role of tour guide, with pressure to find something interesting to do.

Siggy and I had talked about maybe going to Metepec to check out the market, but we’d all had really full, busy weekends, so I wasn’t sure she or I would really be up for that anyway. I had a hard time getting a hold of her, so I kind of abandoned that idea, and floundered around for a while, trying to figure out what fun thing we could do.

Finally I did talked to Sigs and she suggested I take Anne to a little neighborhood that is very nearby to have a nice lunch, and then we’d meet up after and go see a movie.

Sounded perfect to me, so we headed over to Prado Norte to get something to eat. We went to a little restaurant called, “La Raclette”. I got the spinach ravioli and a limonada which was really good. Our waiter caught on pretty quickly that we were not native speakers, and then took the opportunity to work on his very rusty english.

We met Siggy and then followed her to drop her car off where her mom was, and then continued on to the movie. Saskia was with her, and we also met up with Santiago and Pancho.

We had an hour to kill before the movie started, so some of us got dessert from various locations in the food court. I got a big parfait glass filled with cactus fruit and I was in heaven. Siggy got some weird burrito wrap thing that was filled with bananas and strawberries and some nuts and watery chocolate sauce. She made me eat half of it.

We saw Hairspray, and when it was over, I felt very knowledgeable when I could fill everyone in on all the cameo appearances that were in the movie that they’d missed.

I drove Siggy home. She then tried to give me the directions back to my place by making hand gestures and saying, “ok, just go up there 2 streets and turn left, and then go this way and then like this, and this and then you’ll be on Virreyes.” Riiiight. Luckily I had my map, so she showed me on there, but Anne and I somehow got a little lost anyway. We eventuall ran into Reforma again, and then it was easy to get home.

I still had homework to do, but I kind of did the bare minimum, and then went right to bed.