Mexico City, 2009, 5

Fri., Oct. 30, 2009 at 2:46 p.m.

For  the first time during my visit here at the Red Tree House I breakfasted alone this morning. I was the only one at the table then someone who just doesn't  seem pleasant or sociable sat at the other end of the table, and since I don´t enjoy sharing a table with people I can´t talk to I got up and took my stuff to the living room.  It was rather nice for a change, the peace and quiet, since things can get a little bit more social around here than what I´m used to.  It´s day three for the  dysentery I have been suffering, but I am feeling stronger today.  I just don´t really enjoy eating right now, which is fine with me since I want to lose weight  anyway, and this always happens to me when I travel. They have erected an altar for the dead in the foyer of the Red Tree House here.  It is quite  impressive, with marigolds and sugar and chocolate skulls and candles and fruits, and bottles of whoopee (booze) and two big bouquets of marigolds and some magenta flowers I don´t know  the name of but are shaped rather like marigolds flanking a statuette of the Virgin Mary.  The principal colours are orange and magenta.  It´s quite overwhelming.  Even though there is a certain creep factor about the Day of the Dead celebrations, for me anyway, it seems like a very healthy way of embracing the reality of death, while honouring those who have gone before  us.  This seems to particularly make sense in such a country as Mexico whose history seems particularly soaked in blood (well, whose  isn´t?) but you know, given the particular brutality of los Conquistadores, as well as the barbarity of the religious practices of the Aztecs (80,000 human sacrifices in one week, anybody?  Okay, when you try to work out the logistics of this one it must be an exaggeration, but still...) it seems only logical that they would have this mentality here about death.  But I think I might buy a chocolate skull and take it up to my room  and eat it!  I can only hope that the chocolate is Fair Trade... I went to Coyoacan today for the second time.  I skipped the Frida Kahlo Museum this time (it´s nice but once is enough) and I did a long walk in Los Viveros again.  The place has very much the feel of a sanctuary.  Lots of people go walking or jogging  there.  There are squirrels everywhere.  They seem a bit bigger than ours and they are grey with rust-coloured markings.  There are also geckos all over the place.  At the Zocalo,  they have converted  the Coyote fountain into an  altar for the dead, and it´s covered with marigolds, skulls and these images of skeletons wearing colourful floppy hats that  make me think of the Raging Grannies, though I don´t think any of the Grannies are quite that old yet. (for those of you who don´t live in Vancouver and have never heard of the Raging Grannies, it is a group of senior women who dress in outlandish floppy hats and colourful shawls and attend demonstrations where they sing satirical songs in support of progressive causes.)  I got back to the bed and breakfast just when it started raining and we´ve been having a thunderstorm.  I am told that it is unusual to have rain here this time of the year. Fri., Oct. 30, 2009 at 4:27 p.m. By the way, on my second walk in Los Viveros today, I encountered a sandy, grassy clearing where several young men were practicing their matador skills.  There were eight altogether I think.  One was holding a cape (pink, for some reason, instead of red) and the other holding a set of bull horns would pretend to be the bull and come charging at him.  Bullfighting, I have heard, is still a popular sport in Mexico, though no one here at the RTH has mentioned it to us.  Either bullfighting is not in season or they know how squeamish North Americans and Europeans tend to be about animal cruelty (though none too squeamish about tucking into their steak dinners.)  This brings to mind the song ¨Matador¨ which is by one of my favourite Latin American bands, ¨Los Fabulosos Cadillacs¨ from Argentina. Sat., Oct. 31, 2009 at 11:12 a.m. I took a walk this morning outside of the neighbourhood I am staying in.  I wanted to see what it looked like, how it felt.  There was nothing beautiful about it.  Traffic, ugly buildings, but lots of trees for compensation.I must have covered about three miles.  I ended up at Chapultepec Park, in the military zone.  No sidewalks, busy traffic and a pedestrian overpass, with guards and restricted to military use only. I could not understand the guard´s Spanish but his accent was dreadful.  He also looked rather silly in his white sailor´s hat.  Try to imagine what Venezuelan president and wannabe dictator Hugo Chavez must have looked like twenty years ago or  so.  There was a subway station  nearby so I returned by metro.  Even though it isn´t enjoyable I appreciate these walks as a way of getting to know a city better.  It is easy to get the feeling that most people who live in Mexico City really have to struggle to get by, much less  succeed in life.  If you have not been born into wealth, or blessed with good  family, social and professional connections, chances are you will wind up shining shoes  or hawking cd´s on the Metro.  Or selling drugs.  I have read in the newspapers that they are beginning to call Mexico a failed state.  I shudder to think how much Canada is beginning to slide in this direction as well.  I think we can still change the current if we act  now.