Sat., Oct. 31, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
I went out for another walk that took me past Paseo de la Reforma and back again. It is a wealthier neighbourhood with nice restaurants, shops, etc. On the way over I had to dodge two youths who were break-dancing for donations on the crosswalk of a very busy street with at least eight lanes. They didn't seem to care that I was coming and I had to yell at them, ¨Dejame pasar!¨ or let me pass. Mexicans do not have a concept of personal space so it is easy to get annoyed with strangers in my face all the time. I have noticed today that my nerves are especially on edge from the constant noise, and I am wondering about the wisdom of staying here for an entire month, but as my mother used to say, ¨You made your bed, so lie in it!¨ There was also a pleasant pedestrian mall, but I think I mentioned this in a previous entry. Then I came across a small lump of matted feathers on the pavement then realized from the reddish-brown feathers of what used to be wings that it was the remains of one of the many little doves that live here. They are tiny, just a bit larger than a sparrow, with a pointed tail and as I said these lovely red wings that show only when they fly. They are everywhere and they are so delicate looking. Upstairs at the RTH I was serenaded by a crying baby. She is eighteen months old and the daughter of a young English woman who works as an anthropologist in Honduras. Right now she is visiting Mexico City along with her parents from London. Despite the noise from the kid they are lovely people and I heard her mother playing wonderfully on the baby grand in the living room. She is classically trained and her compositions sound a lot like some of the work of Philip Glass, who is also one of my favourite contemporary composers. Meanwhile I was in the courtyard working on a new painting, and it is freezing today. The wind is cold and it feels no different from Vancouver this time of year. Afterward I went back to El Pendulo for dinner. Frustrating. A man joined the young woman at the next table and started noisily sucking face (kissing passionately) which is done quite openly here because, as I said, these people have no sense of personal space, and this wasn´t exactly great for my appetite, so I moved to a different table in what I thought would be a quiet corner, but it was also the dvd section, and suddenly different people wanted to browse nearly hanging over my head while I was eating, and one woman started on her cell phone, which got me to dramatically move my table and chair to get away from her. Then a couple parked on the couch right in front of me and started sucking face and that´s when I asked for the cheque, which the waiter took his sweet time delivering so no one got a tip tonight. I honestly don´t know how people can live in this city. Yes it is fascinating with lots to see and do, but this is insane. I think this will be my last big city visit for a while. One pleasant couple from Seattle are sharing their docent with me, a lady who has been giving us all kinds of fascinating information about the history of Mexico City and the Aztecs, for example about how human sacrifice began as a way to propitiate the sun god into continuing to shine in order to guarantee good harvests, and that this happened on a cycle of every fifty-two years, and of how they would meticulously align their temples and other buildings in order to correspond with the positions of the sun, moon and stars. Hey, in spite of my bitching I am glad to be here, and I will be bringing home with me memories that I will likely treasure for the rest of my life. I just hope that I can leave Montezuma and his revenge behind.
Sun., Nov. 1, 2009 at 6:22 p.m.
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