Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 6:34:37 PM
Subject: water
I´m still recovering from that mild bug. This always seems to happen when I visit this country no matter what precautions I take. I wonder if it´s also from washing my hands in contaminated water then eating with them afterward and some noxius greebie has decided to stay fastened to my fingertips just before it can get into my mouth. I wonder if hand-sanitizer would work. Speaking of water I sat again in front of the same fountain in Condesa. This city must have thousands of fountains which is ironic since the water isn´t safe. I spent two hours in a cafe indoors to work on drawing number four, then walked into an unknown and rather ugly neighbourhood, all traffic, twelve lane autopistas and box stores, etc. It is almost as though the motorways ring the beautiful areas of the city like guardian dragons and one has to bravely fight one´s way past them for the reward of beauty, peace and culture. I made my way back to Chapultepec Park and went up to the Castillo which is now the museum of national history. It is magnificent and the rooms are lavishly decorated with such detail and objets d´art as to make one´s head spin. I will provide a link for those who want to see for themselves. http://chapultepec.tv/castillo_de_chapultepec.html It left me wondering how one could get jaded to such ostentatious decor and visual beauty and detail but this was the accustomed life style of the aristocracy and the wealthy and powerful. Now we live in a post industrial age and our living and work and recreational environments are often bleak and sterile by comparison. It makes me wonder if we could ever come to a place of being able to use art to beautify our surroundings again without having to worry about cost, but now that everything is available now for those who can pay beauty carries now as it always has a very steep price tag. I still think this is something we should strive for, though, perhaps even to rescue art from market values. While standing in line to pay admission I heard a couple (mother and son I think) comment on this small group of Koreans nearby. Any visible minority here is still considered a novelty by many. I mentioned to them that we have many Koreans as well as Mexicans and other nationalities living together in Vancouver and this makes for a very rich living environment. They seemed quite uncertain of how to grasp the concept but they did compiment me on my Spanish which usually is quite good but still kind of uneven now that I have to use it all the time. I know that I would find it very strange and uncomfortable living in a mono-culture and this along with the poisonous water is what among other things keeps me from wanting to live here. It´s been cold today and cloudy. I really should have worn a sweater.
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 6:26:53 PM
Subject: a Vancouver day in Mexico City
It's been cold and rainy all day today. Temperature was at around ten or eleven and drizzly throughout, just like Vancouver today. I noticed that very few people here use umbrellas, perhaps one in thirty or less. I found it enjoyable actually, the cool wet air feels welcome after several days of hot sunny weather and it's kind of like being back at home. I squatted in a local cafe to work on drawing number five then walked in the drizzle without umbrella to Chapultepec Park where I visited the Museum of Modern Art. A real bargain, just over two bucks Canadian for a space equal in size and showing art superior in quality to the Vancouver Art Gallery. There was one show of large minimalist drawings of lines and geometric shapes that made me think of the music of Philip Glass (do a google search if you are not familiar with his music. Worth the effort.) There were some great paintings, some by Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo, and a really impressive show of the photography of Hector Garcia. Two stood out to me, one of Che Guevera (not because I like el Comandante, I don't like him at all and if it wasn't for his film star looks I am pretty sure that so many millions whom would have been taken out and shot by el Che would be wearing his pretty face on their t-shirts.) and another of Spanish surrealist film maker Luis Bunuel, a friend of Salvador Dali who lived in France and in Mexico throughout the Franco dictatorship. Not a lot else happened. I find it amusing that whenever I ask someone for the time in good Spanish they often still assume that I don't speak the language and try to show me the time instead. Taking the Metro subway back was interesting. At one point the car was fairly packed and one impatient dumbass behind me started nagging in English "Move it, move it" as we were getting out, So I replied in Spanish "Por favor ten paciencia" (please be patient).
Last night one of the waiters at the hotel restaurant told me that the minimum wage in Mexico is one hundred pesos or eight dollars for an eleven hour day. I don´t know what he earns but it can´t be much more than that. Everybody does what they can to make a living. There are always vendors everywhere on the streets on the Metro in the stations, everywhere.Occasionally there is some real talent as well. Today we were entertained on the Metro by a performance poet, very good, who would have looked at home on Commercial Drive.
I spent the afternoon in Coyoacan. Didn{t do much. I wandered outside the area into a working class neighourhood then had dinner at La Pause which is elegant and by Mexican standards expensive. I cannot imagine that a lot of the people I see every day would be able to eat there. It´s been cold today and cloudy but mostly without rain. It´s almost like being in Vancouver, weather wise. Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 6:22:47 PM
Subject: The Ugly Mexican, or, Hell is Other Hotel Guests
Of course I´m not going to blame anyone for what happened this morning because I know that I did instigate things with my less than flattering comments that I made to a couple of particularly rude (Mexican ) guests at breakfast this morning. And I know that I can also be hell for other hotel guests. Anyway, these two older gentlemen got upset with me to the point of apoplexy. Even though I found a lot of their Spanish invective too rapid and too accented to understand clearly I picked up enough to realize that they really hate North Americans as well as making strident remarks about my alleged mental health, etc. It was very ugly and different staff appeared on the scene wide-eyed and appalled, so loud those two were yelling at me, then continued to yell at and interrupt me more as the hotel manager tried tactfully to get my side of the story. Anyway, I ignored them (they kind of reminded me of two yapping chihuahuas which actually made it all kind of funny. Still, I had no business opening my mouth and setting them off in the first place, I acknowledged this and apologized to the general manager. And I suppose it gives me something to forgive ;-}. Anyway, I have since learned that they have left, maybe they were angry because the general manager was going to stay neutral. It really seems that money is king in this country. It doesn´t just talk, it screams. Not only does money scream, it sings, in operatic grandeur. Wagnerian. With Mariachi rhythms. Visualize if you are able Sigfried wearing a big sombrero instead of a horned helmut and Brunhilde shaking maracas that match her brass bra as the flames rise up around them... |
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