Mexico Trip
OK, I finally updated with all the details about Mexico. Actually, these are the five emails I sent out to friends while in Mexico City. Enjoy.
¡Hola!
So I´m not dead yet, but I´m amazed how complicated life can
be when you cannot communicate with anyone.
Case in point, after leaving getting into a cab to take me
to the hostal, the cab driver asked where I was going.
Granted, at this point, I had been up for almost 24 hours
and I was completely disoriented. But I had no idea where I
was going...the only thing I could do was point to the piece
of paper with the address of the hostal. Of course, he had
no idea where it was, so I was playing navigator with the
driver. He would ask me questions, and I would become so
flustered I would begin a sentence in English, switch to
French, and end that same sentence with Arabic. So I was
speaking different languages, just not the right one.
After I had gathered my wits, I pulled out a map and a
translating guide, and gave him directions to the place. My
Spanish was starting to come back to me for elementary
school. I was impressed that I navigated the guy from the
airport all the way to the hostal.
Now I´m settled in a posh neighborhood. (Granted, it´s posh
by Mexican standards, but whatever.) My balcony has a
beautiful view and there are palm trees and other tropical
vegetation in the neighborhood. I´m the only American in
the entire hostal, but there are a lot of German tourists
with limited English and one French girl with limited
English. I spent some time with her talking in English and
French. It´s wonderful to be educated.
I have no plans for today except buying toiletries b/c I
forgot to bring shampoo. There is no toilet paper so I have
to buy that too. I think I will lose a lot of weight b/c
nothing looks appealing, but who knows. I may come back
still looking like a blimp.
Side note: I actually look like a light-skinned Mexican b/c
I brought my poor clothes so I don´t look to well off. Yeah
for planning ahead.
That´s all for today. I´ll feel you in on my happenings
everyday.
Hasta la vista mi amigos!
Nope, still not dead. I know some of you would like that--
ahem, Ben--so you´re GPA will be go up, but fuck you.
I told you about the first day. My second day here was not
that exciting. I slept in, grabbed some lunch, got on the
roof of the hostal, soaked up some sun, then read
Slaughterhouse 5 and the Polysyllabic Spree (Hornby), went
to dinner with some people in the hostal, grabbed a few
beers and went to bed.
Today I actually ventured outside of the neighboorhood to
the Palacio des Belles Artes and the Zocalo. The Metro was
intimidating, but I got used to the brown people. It´s
amazing how much you can ignore when you have no idea what
they´re saying. I´ve been wearing the Stupid Face for the
last three days and it seems to me a perfect fit. When I
went to the Palacio, it was comforting to see so many
tourists. My Spanish is improving a lot. I can now order
at restaurants--well, I order whatever words I recognize.
I thought I was ordering tomato soup, but instead I ordered
tomato juice...whatever.
Since I have been feeling out of my elements the last few
days, I went to the top of this tower in the center of the
city, found the Ritz Carlton and Gucci (both next to each
other), took the elevator back down and went shopping. If
there´s one thing that makes me comfortable, it´s spending
money. Since it´s Sunday, most of the stores were closed,
but I did drop some cash at this shop called Zara´s. The
people even spoke English. I guess the dollar does speak
louder than the peso. So I was pampered for about two
hours, and such bargains! I´ll probably go back tomorrow
b/c there were so many gay guys--and not just Mexican gays.
I don´t know what I´m going to do tomorrow. I´m either
going to sightsee or go to a spa. Everything is so cheap
here that I will hate myself if I leave without a full-body
massage.
Hasta luego. (I´m pretty sure I know what that means...)
I´m going to make this short because it´s time for a nap.
Last night, I bummed around the hostal, talked to some of
the residents, and watched Duece Bigalo in Spanish. The
power went off, so there was an impromtu party on the
rooftop. I relaxed and enjoyed the night.
I´m never been so relaxed before in my life. I sleep like
14 hours a day. I´m becoming a real Mexican.
I went to these two colonial neighborhoods--San Angel and
Coyocalono (sp¿). Very beautiful, but as I got off the
Metro, the first store I see is Super Wal-Mart, followed by
a BMW dealership, followed by a Starbucks. I felt right at
home.
I walked around the neighborhoods for a few hours, stopping
at cafes and restaurants every hour or so. The waiters knew
English so I didn´t have any trouble ordering.
On the way back to the hostal, the Metro broke down for over
an hour. But I survived.
Tomorrow it´s Frida and Deigo.
¡Hasta luego!
so i had a horrible experience today--i was pickpocketed.
it was bound to happen, but like with everything mexicans
try to do, they even failed at successfully robbing me.
here´s the scenario: so i was tired of listening to spanish
everywhere, so i went to La Reforma and saw a movie. the
only movie in english was constantine. i really didn´t want
to see it, but i wanted to hear some ol´ english. so the
movie ended at 630, and now i have to take the metro home.
i´ve ridden on crowded metros in dc, nyc, and london, but
nothing like this. i was standing on my tip toes, i
couldn´t breathe (partly b/c of the stench) and hands were
everywhere. that´s when it happened. i could feel hands
going down my pockets and normally that would be welcomed
but not in this situation. i couldn´t even turn my head to
see who it was without kissing the brown person next to me.
anyway, whoever it was didn´t get a peso from me b/c
everything i had was in my bag, which i was holding onto for
dear life. so i just let whoever it was cop a feel.
whatever, i haven´t had any action in a while, so it was
refreshing.
then i knocked some woman over b/c the crowd pushed me to
get off the train. i felt guilty, but those feelings
quickly subsided as i realized that there was nothing i
could have done b/c the crowd had already pushed me into the
wall of the station.
yesterday, i went to frida´s house. not impressed. i mean
the architecture was nice, but all of her good paintings are
in other galleries. the only pieces were portraits of
friends and family. so i´ve been in frida´s bedroom and
virginia wolff´s (is it two O´s or two F´s?) bedroom. HOT!
after frida´s, i became drunk off of mezcal in this posh
restaurant. it was the first time i´ve been drunk since
i´ve been here and it was the middle of the afternoon, so i
felt relatively safe.
i did some more shopping today.
kirk: thanks for the email. the outlets here are like the
ones in the states, so no worries. beer is about 2
dollars. a big meal is about 7 or 8 dollars. a metro ride
is 20 cents. a typical museum cost 3-4 dollars for
admittance. the weather is about 75-80 degrees. the smog
doesn´t bother me. i´m doing better here than in the states
with my allergies b/c there is no plant life! what brand of
cigs do you smoke? there very cheap here, so i´m bringing
some back. also, i have a lot of tequilla and mexcal that
i´m bringing back.
that´s everything.
bien, amigos. this is my final mexican email.
i spent the day shopping. i´ve bought some alcohol and cigs
for the trip back.
i´ve been hanging out with people from africa...go figure.
i´ll be back in town on sunday. it´s time for me to bid
adieu or hasta luego. i´m going to miss mexico. i´ve never
been so relaxed in my life...
hasta luego mexico. yo queiro un chico cafe americano por
favor con leche y un grande coca sin hielo. (i said that
phrase a lot.) lo seinto por mi cabeza. gracias,
senorita.
¡Hola!
So I´m not dead yet, but I´m amazed how complicated life can
be when you cannot communicate with anyone.
Case in point, after leaving getting into a cab to take me
to the hostal, the cab driver asked where I was going.
Granted, at this point, I had been up for almost 24 hours
and I was completely disoriented. But I had no idea where I
was going...the only thing I could do was point to the piece
of paper with the address of the hostal. Of course, he had
no idea where it was, so I was playing navigator with the
driver. He would ask me questions, and I would become so
flustered I would begin a sentence in English, switch to
French, and end that same sentence with Arabic. So I was
speaking different languages, just not the right one.
After I had gathered my wits, I pulled out a map and a
translating guide, and gave him directions to the place. My
Spanish was starting to come back to me for elementary
school. I was impressed that I navigated the guy from the
airport all the way to the hostal.
Now I´m settled in a posh neighborhood. (Granted, it´s posh
by Mexican standards, but whatever.) My balcony has a
beautiful view and there are palm trees and other tropical
vegetation in the neighborhood. I´m the only American in
the entire hostal, but there are a lot of German tourists
with limited English and one French girl with limited
English. I spent some time with her talking in English and
French. It´s wonderful to be educated.
I have no plans for today except buying toiletries b/c I
forgot to bring shampoo. There is no toilet paper so I have
to buy that too. I think I will lose a lot of weight b/c
nothing looks appealing, but who knows. I may come back
still looking like a blimp.
Side note: I actually look like a light-skinned Mexican b/c
I brought my poor clothes so I don´t look to well off. Yeah
for planning ahead.
That´s all for today. I´ll feel you in on my happenings
everyday.
Hasta la vista mi amigos!
Nope, still not dead. I know some of you would like that--
ahem, Ben--so you´re GPA will be go up, but fuck you.
I told you about the first day. My second day here was not
that exciting. I slept in, grabbed some lunch, got on the
roof of the hostal, soaked up some sun, then read
Slaughterhouse 5 and the Polysyllabic Spree (Hornby), went
to dinner with some people in the hostal, grabbed a few
beers and went to bed.
Today I actually ventured outside of the neighboorhood to
the Palacio des Belles Artes and the Zocalo. The Metro was
intimidating, but I got used to the brown people. It´s
amazing how much you can ignore when you have no idea what
they´re saying. I´ve been wearing the Stupid Face for the
last three days and it seems to me a perfect fit. When I
went to the Palacio, it was comforting to see so many
tourists. My Spanish is improving a lot. I can now order
at restaurants--well, I order whatever words I recognize.
I thought I was ordering tomato soup, but instead I ordered
tomato juice...whatever.
Since I have been feeling out of my elements the last few
days, I went to the top of this tower in the center of the
city, found the Ritz Carlton and Gucci (both next to each
other), took the elevator back down and went shopping. If
there´s one thing that makes me comfortable, it´s spending
money. Since it´s Sunday, most of the stores were closed,
but I did drop some cash at this shop called Zara´s. The
people even spoke English. I guess the dollar does speak
louder than the peso. So I was pampered for about two
hours, and such bargains! I´ll probably go back tomorrow
b/c there were so many gay guys--and not just Mexican gays.
I don´t know what I´m going to do tomorrow. I´m either
going to sightsee or go to a spa. Everything is so cheap
here that I will hate myself if I leave without a full-body
massage.
Hasta luego. (I´m pretty sure I know what that means...)
I´m going to make this short because it´s time for a nap.
Last night, I bummed around the hostal, talked to some of
the residents, and watched Duece Bigalo in Spanish. The
power went off, so there was an impromtu party on the
rooftop. I relaxed and enjoyed the night.
I´m never been so relaxed before in my life. I sleep like
14 hours a day. I´m becoming a real Mexican.
I went to these two colonial neighborhoods--San Angel and
Coyocalono (sp¿). Very beautiful, but as I got off the
Metro, the first store I see is Super Wal-Mart, followed by
a BMW dealership, followed by a Starbucks. I felt right at
home.
I walked around the neighborhoods for a few hours, stopping
at cafes and restaurants every hour or so. The waiters knew
English so I didn´t have any trouble ordering.
On the way back to the hostal, the Metro broke down for over
an hour. But I survived.
Tomorrow it´s Frida and Deigo.
¡Hasta luego!
so i had a horrible experience today--i was pickpocketed.
it was bound to happen, but like with everything mexicans
try to do, they even failed at successfully robbing me.
here´s the scenario: so i was tired of listening to spanish
everywhere, so i went to La Reforma and saw a movie. the
only movie in english was constantine. i really didn´t want
to see it, but i wanted to hear some ol´ english. so the
movie ended at 630, and now i have to take the metro home.
i´ve ridden on crowded metros in dc, nyc, and london, but
nothing like this. i was standing on my tip toes, i
couldn´t breathe (partly b/c of the stench) and hands were
everywhere. that´s when it happened. i could feel hands
going down my pockets and normally that would be welcomed
but not in this situation. i couldn´t even turn my head to
see who it was without kissing the brown person next to me.
anyway, whoever it was didn´t get a peso from me b/c
everything i had was in my bag, which i was holding onto for
dear life. so i just let whoever it was cop a feel.
whatever, i haven´t had any action in a while, so it was
refreshing.
then i knocked some woman over b/c the crowd pushed me to
get off the train. i felt guilty, but those feelings
quickly subsided as i realized that there was nothing i
could have done b/c the crowd had already pushed me into the
wall of the station.
yesterday, i went to frida´s house. not impressed. i mean
the architecture was nice, but all of her good paintings are
in other galleries. the only pieces were portraits of
friends and family. so i´ve been in frida´s bedroom and
virginia wolff´s (is it two O´s or two F´s?) bedroom. HOT!
after frida´s, i became drunk off of mezcal in this posh
restaurant. it was the first time i´ve been drunk since
i´ve been here and it was the middle of the afternoon, so i
felt relatively safe.
i did some more shopping today.
kirk: thanks for the email. the outlets here are like the
ones in the states, so no worries. beer is about 2
dollars. a big meal is about 7 or 8 dollars. a metro ride
is 20 cents. a typical museum cost 3-4 dollars for
admittance. the weather is about 75-80 degrees. the smog
doesn´t bother me. i´m doing better here than in the states
with my allergies b/c there is no plant life! what brand of
cigs do you smoke? there very cheap here, so i´m bringing
some back. also, i have a lot of tequilla and mexcal that
i´m bringing back.
that´s everything.
bien, amigos. this is my final mexican email.
i spent the day shopping. i´ve bought some alcohol and cigs
for the trip back.
i´ve been hanging out with people from africa...go figure.
i´ll be back in town on sunday. it´s time for me to bid
adieu or hasta luego. i´m going to miss mexico. i´ve never
been so relaxed in my life...
hasta luego mexico. yo queiro un chico cafe americano por
favor con leche y un grande coca sin hielo. (i said that
phrase a lot.) lo seinto por mi cabeza. gracias,
senorita.