Breakfast was quieter than usual this morning. I started the finishing work on painting number two and took my laundry in to the local lavanderi'a. I often have to fight with those guys to get my clothes back by at least the next day. They insisted Saturday, I said, I am visiting here and I need my clothes back right away. So, I get them back tomorrow afternoon, so it was a bit of a victory anyway. I am glad that my Spanish is adequate enough so I can deal okay with these kinds of situations.
Later I went to San Angel for my second visit. This time I used the metro bus, which is similar to our B-Line buses in Vancouver. It is long, bright red and it runs always on the same lane in the middle of the street. You have to board it using a special station situated in the middle of the street, where you buy from a machine a special card that you then load with cash, very much like a smart card. I found it all confusing and a nice older Chilango helped me out with it. You know every time I am on the verge of consigning the people in this city to the outer darkness I am suddenly surprised by such unexpected acts of kindness and courtesy. The bus was quite crowded most of the way, but it was nice to see passengers giving up their seats to elderly people. In San Angel I wandered around in one of their big leafy parks then walked the maze of cobble-stoned streets, very quiet with lots of old colonial houses behind high walls, bougainvillea and other flowers everywhere and small parks everywhere. It was very quiet and peaceful which is something I always want to find in this city.
I finished with a visit in a cafe that is part of a bookstore, from where I looked out on another big leafy park across the street.
I wasn't too crazy about the metro bus so I walked an extra five or ten minutes to return by subway. This rather obese fellow with a huge growth on his lower stomach that he was showing to everyone came on behind me announcing that he is unable to work because he has cancer or get social assistance and was asking for alms (if you must know, yes I did give him something). On his way back he touched my shoulder and said ¨Dios te bendiga¨ (God bless you) Regardless of how he is going to spend the money, which is none of my business by the way, I have long believed that the blessing of a beggar is a powerful gift that should not be despised.
At the next stop came on a woman selling Chiclets(TR), then at the next stop came on this fellow selling classical opera cd's. You know I could go on feeling sorry for these people and how they have to struggle but I also have to respect and admire the chutzpah and tenacity they show in fighting against all obstacles. While this is certainly no excuse for keeping people in deep poverty I do find myself in awe of their resilience.
Friday, November 6, 2009, 9:18 PM
I didn´t do a lot today, not that I´ve been doing all that much since I got here three weeks ago anyway, since I am on vacation, but I´m scaling back on the tourist stuff. It´s tiring after a while and I find it´s better to get to know this city simply by being in it, observing people, listening, asking questions, instead of running around between museums and tourist traps. I had a long and lovely breakfast this morning with several guests who are now on their way home. All six of them, three different pairs, live in Seattle. I have particularly enjoyed visiting and getting to know these people and hopefully some of us will be in contact over the future. This bed and breakfast is a highly social atmosphere. This doesn´t mean of course that guests are in any way pressured to congregate but the nature of this place encourages people to visit and mingle, while those who prefer not to are respected. I tend to thrive in this sort of atmosphere.
So, following a long after breakfast nap I walked over to Chapultepec Park and came out again along Paseo de la Reforma, but I didn´t go further than the Angel de Independencia, and stopped along the way at a bank to change a five hundred peso bill. That would be about sixty dollars Canadian, and most places don´t accept denominations that big. Banks in this city, for me so far, are an interesting experience. I´ve been to two. The one in my neighbourhood has a double security door. The second door will not unlock until the first door is securely shut. I didn´t know this the first time, and the Chilango who came in ahead of me tried to explain it to me in Spanish that was incomprehensible to my ears. Then he finally yelled at me ¡Cierre la puerta! which means Close the door! There is also a whole list of things we are not permitted to wear or bring into the bank with us, including hats and sunglasses. The bank I visited today is something altogether different. It´s like visiting a Revenue Canada office. There is a greeter at the door who asked me how they could help me. I replied that I would like to change a five hundred peso bill into denominations of one hundred. He directed me to the ticket dispenser and told me to take a seat while waiting for my number to come up. While waiting I was watching on an overhead screen a video presentation of a cooking lesson for home-made tomato soup, silent with Spanish subtitles. (Serve garnished with cream!) Then my number came up, I went to the teller and got my note changed.
On my way back I stopped in a small cafe. I am starting to do this more often, now that I´m no longer so keen on sight-seeing, then returned to the RTH where I spent a couple of hours in the courtyard working on the new painting. It got very cold later in the afternoon and when I went out for dinner I had to wear both a sweater and my poncho. We seem to be having a cold snap right now, not quite as cool as Vancouver, but almost.
I´ve already mentioned several times that this neighbourhood reminds me a lot of Yaletown in someways, especially with all the dogs. Not mutts but purebred everything, and naturally I have to watch where I step when I´m out walking. I am puzzled over this social phenomenon of dog ownership these days. Is having a dog now a status symbol? Does it mean that these people are lonely? Or is this a great way to get a date with someone? I really question how much this is in the dog´s better interest, given that there are so many of them having to live in confined urban spaces. Worse I think in Yaletown where a lot of them get squished into tiny condos and apartments. This also brings to mind how much both in Vancouver and in Mexico City you have so many people totally fixated on maximizing their personal freedom without expressing much in the sense of social responsibility. I could rant on about this but I won´t. And I´m sure some of these people just happen to love dogs? But I wonder about the quality of this love if they don´t seem to consider how much a confined urban space can impact on an animal that needs a lot of free space, not to mention the other social ramifications.
I have promised not to complain again about traffic here, but I have made some observations here. Over breakfast this morning I remarked that in Vancouver whenever a cyclist sees a sidewalk he thinks ¨bike path¨, while here in Mexico City whenever a driver sees a sidewalk he thinks ¨parking space¨. And they park bumper to bumper here leaving absolutely no room for the next car to wedge its way out. On my way back from dinner I saw one poor woman trying so valiantly to extricate her car. I don´t think you can really blame the drivers here, rather the fact that this city is so huge and over-populated and since owning a car here, like in Canada and in the US, is considered a sense of entitlement, well, this is the result. This also calls to attention how unprepared most of us are for unlimited growth, and how in the long run unhealthy this is for us as individuals, for community, and for the environment. It generates so much strain on one´s capacity to cope, not to mention feelings of loneliness and social alienation, is it any wonder that so many people are getting dogs?
I am sharing a bathroom with one other guest. Not so bad when it´s just one guest, but trickier when there is a couple in the room,expecially given how much extra time they are going to spend in the can making themselves pretty for each other. Right now the other guest appears to be sick in bed with something. I´m not going to bother to ask since it is none of my business. But I hope whoever it is is okay and that I´m not going to catch anything. |
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