Mexico City, 2013, 1

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Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2013 6:44 PM
To: Aaron Zacharias; albertogriera@gmail.com; Koci, Alison [VC]; ana.ortiz58@gmail.com; Webborn, Ann [VC]; enrique aguilar; Jorge M; Tim Adam; Bawlf, Barbara [RH]; brycething@hotmail.com; gabriel bandala; Peter Brouwer; Ross Bliss; clare; candelaplace@telus.net; carla wilson; Caron Smed; Crozier, Cathy [RH and VC]; cepapin@telus.net; Christina Papineau; clarity@clarityharp.com; Sesula, Debbie [VC]; Tailor, Dipesh [VC]; Rose Desrochers; Lorne Epp; Fiona Stevenson; In The Field; Scotton, George [VC]; gsargisson@gmail.com; Garries, Sue [VC]; Jim Loney; john.vanderlee@shaw.ca; Jose Llosa; lanice1@telus.net; Lbourne1875@gmail.com; lorena.ubierna@gmail.com; Roberto Lazo; moritherapy@shaw.ca; Myer; Sanchez, Norma [VC]; Peter; richard reeves; Rolando Villegas; shokeid@post.tau.ac.il; shirley_stockdill@alumni.sfu.ca; Steve; McKinnell, Kathrene [VC]; leilalaa@hotmail.com; yasheet@hotmail.com
Subject: basic hotel

It is taking me a while to adjust to the altitude but so far so good.  The hotel where I´m staying is kind of low budget, but clean, quiet and secure in the Colonia Roma which has a lot of interesting restaurants and architecture.  My room is spacious and kind of lacklustre but I try to focus on elements and details that I find attractive and interesting so it´s working out.  The breakfast is okay but I almost gagged on the greasy fried eggs since I had stomach cramps on the flight yesterday but so far nothing to worry about. My room is on the fourth floor and overlooks an enclosed parking lot.  it is surrounded by bougainvillea, not much of it in bloom but the splashes of magenta help beautify it. Colonia Roma, like much of Mexico City has a general cramped shabbiness despite the beautiful buildings and many trees and flowers. It is chilly today with temperatures of around fourteen or fifteen and even in the sun it feels cold which they tell me is very unusual this time of year.  I was talking with one of the chamber maids who says she is seventy-seven years old and has to work because there were problems in the paperwork for getting her pension. She is a very hard worker and is doing a split shift here today. I stopped in at a church nearby, Parroquia Sagrada Familia.  I unintentionally crashed a wedding ceremony which seemed a very subdued affair and the couple getting married looks fairly mature.  I was surprised how toned-fown it was given that I´m in Mexico where the people really love spectacle.  Perhaps marriage isn´t such a big deal here in Mexico City which seems to be pretty progressive and sophisticated. They were the first place in Latin America that okayed same sex marriage and also they now have the eighteen month trial marriage so that if it doesn´t work out in the first year and a half they can separate without owing each other anything.  I sat in a cafe where I read for a while a Spanish translation of CS Lewis´ Mere Christianity.  I actually bought it in Chapters in Vanocuver a day or two before I left and in my church we are doing a study group with this book so the timing is very convenient. Later I sat in another cafe where I began an abstract drawing using coloured ball point pens and coloured pencils. I got lost while trying to find my way to Chapultepec Park , which is bigger than our own Stanley Park but not as beautiful.  I was sore and tired so I sat down on a bench near the entrance and a young guy came over and asked if he could take my picture.  He said he is a photography student and, you know, maybe he is.  I even smiled for the camera after teasing him about not having enough gueros (white people) available for his portfolio. I walked back to my hotel for dinner along Reforma which is immense and very beatiful with plantings of trees and staues and monuments. The traffic here is every bit as scary as I remembered it, and worse. I still find it difficult to find adequate food in restaurants here being vegetarian and I am thinking of returning to two pleases where I used to frequent until my last stay in Mexico City .