Mexico City, 2013 12

 Wed., Mar. 27, 2013 at 5:14 a.m.

Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 5:13:59 AM
Subject: short and sweet with a touch of bitter

I tried to send this out yesterday but something either went wrong with the computer or with the person (me) operating it.  Then later in the evening I wanted to resend it but only two of the computers were functional and one was occupied by two women and the other by this guy who wanted to see the soccer game on it.  It somehow didn´t occur to the selfish twit that the game was being broadcast on all three of the big plasma screens in the hotel restaurant.  After forty minutes or so of trying to get the other barely functioning machine to work one of the hotel staff and I decided to give up the ghost when the brilliant idea struck him to kindly ask the selfish twit to get his heinie away from the machine so that I could perform one short and simple task on it, and reluctantly and very grudgingly the stupid young jock permited me to use HIS computer (he had already been on it for well over an hour!)  Anyway, that´s when I found out the e-mail was lost, tried to retype and resend it a couple of times, no success, and in the meantime stupid young jock was impatiently hovering around waiting for me to get off  HIS computer.  I think I must have been on it for five to seven minutes max.

Anyway yesterdays report was short and sweet, beautifully coloured houses in a new (for me) corner of Coyoacan and of course lots of bougainvillea.

 

Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 2:38:11 PM
Subject: wrapping up

 I had a strong intuition-leading to go to the laundromat today instead of tomorrow and good thing.  It turns out theyre closed tomorrow till Monday and I am due home Sunday so it is a good thing I heard the ínner voice again.  Now I have clean clothes and except for a few books and toiletries I´m already packed and ready to leave.  I always like to get an early start on these things, especially when I feel eager to go, which by now I do.  I am still not going to make the mstake of vowing not to return to Mexico City.  God, as he often does, just might have other ideas for me so it´s wait and see, but I still hope to have a rest of at least a couple of years if not longer from this madness.  The problem for me here is that so much beauty is interlaced with so much ugly and I really have to take it all together. 

I did a walk in Chapultepec Park today in the quiet area.  It´s almost like a weekend here because many people are off work and out of school for Holy Week.  In one of the lakes I noticed that one of the egrets has returned.  So beautiful and I think this will be the subject of my final drawing while I am in Mexico City.

I had a lovely pause in the audiorama today that grotto where you can relax while listening to music.  Today they were playing Beethoven´s Emperor Piano Concerto (ask Uncle Google if you must!) and one of the gorgeous bright yellow butterflies here seemed to be fluttering to the music.  When I left, further off on a parallel calzada was a mob of around twenty or thirty soldiers jogging and singing martial songs which was rather strange to hear after hearing Beethoven.  Then I remembered that young soldier who helped me find my way out of the restricted area where I got lost a couple of weeks ago, of how courteous and kind he was and reflected on the huge contrast between humans in groups and us as individuals.

 Thu., Mar. 28, 2013 at 5:10 p.m.

Mexicans generally take all or most of Holy Week off and today the streets have been absolutely tranquil and largely traffic free.  The air feels better too.  Sitting in different cafes I noticed a lot of families out enjoying the day together.  It is good seeing people look more relaxed here today and enjoying themselves and each other.  I have mentioned how tight the family unit is here in Mexico, so tight as to be impermeable.  It´s as if these people are all covered in thick coats of teflon.  Family, life-time friends and work and nothing else seems to exist for them.  This is still in many ways a very conserative society and almost everyone works or studies six days a week for ten hours or longer so they are not going to have a lot of time or energy left for anything else, such as working actively to change their society especially given all the guns that are pointed at them.  Too much work and risk so they hang together, cope and enjoy life.  At the gate of Chapultepec Park I asked a short little indigenous guard, about my age, for the time in impeccable Spanish.  He insisted after I asked several times that he did not understand me and doesn´t speak English.  Then three women standing behind almost in chorus told me ¨a la una y cuarta¨(1:15) I suspect the guard simply does not like talking to outsiders and there could be some racism there but it´s hard to say.

Even though this hotel has been okay to stay in I am not at all going to miss this place.  The public areas areas are always noisy and none of the guests talk to each other and seem otherwise quite unfriendly.  The staff are all great by the way.