Mexico City, 2013, 9

  Monday, March 18, 2013 5:57 PM

Subject: Blind Buskers

 

This morning after breakfast I wandered into an unknown neighbourhood on the other side of Reforma.  On the way there I chatted for a couple of blocks with a young woman who seemed interested in Canada .  Then I went into an area that seemed quiet, working class-low income but clean and well-kept.  I really enjoyed the brightly coloured building facades, which I wish there was much more of in Vancouver , and the sidewalk market nearby.  No graffiti anywhere which is unusual for Mexico City .  Still the vibe didn´t feel safe so I found myself watching my back all the time I was there. I have been advised to stay away from side streets but I still explore them anyway sometimes because this gives me a much fuller experience of this city.  I know that I´m okay because I feel protected and my inner voice (I don´t know wherther it´s God or intuition or both) seems to be very helpful.  I actually had a couple of test runs with my inner voice today.  This morning on the way down to breakfast I had a strong feeling that I should use the stairs instead of the elevator.  I decided to go on the elevator, which is very tiny, capacity three persons.  The elevator arrived and already there were three smiling Mexican hotel guests on board.  I smiled back and took the stairs.  Later today while crossing Reforma even though the way seemed clear the inner voice almost shouted ¨¡Corre!¨(Run for it!) and I ran and good thing too because suddenly there appeared a stream of speeding vehicles from a completely unexpected direction and I would surely have been flattened had I not been running.  Cue the theme for the Twilight Zone... I walked as far as the Hiistoric Centre went through Alameda Park which is much nicer now since they cleared out the vendors and went as far as Palacio de las Bellas Artes where I went on the subway.  It was a very unfamiliar route for me but one of the transit police (they are so much nicer and more helpful than the aggressive uniformed idiots that troll our own Skytrain in Vancouver) helped me find my way around.  A man wearing sunglasses and singing  Rancho songs, which is Mexican country and western, was followed by a woman with a white cane (actually it was grey) while shaking a plastic cup full of coins in time to the music. Later in Polanco I did another walk along Calzada Horacio which is very beautiful with all the trees, flowers and shrubs that line it.  While crossing at one intersection a driver actually stopped and gave me right of way.  And he was talking on a cell phone! I have started drawing number six today.  I have never had such an artistically productive vacation. Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 7:26:57 PM Subject: The Pretty, the Ugly, and the Pretty Ugly I spent the day in Coyoacan which is always enjoyable, spending two hours in Restaurante La Pause working on drawing number six while sipping coffee and eating chocolate pastries to the sound of water from the two fountains in the courtyard.  The restaurant used to be a private home.  It is a place I always like to sit in.  I´ll say nothing about the traffic today since you must be as bored reading it as I am writing it.  However I did get back to my hotel alive.  I want to discover more of Coyaoacan and did today.  Slightly altering my route I found a park and interesting looking cafes within a couple of blocks of Calle Francisco Sosa.  On the other side of the town I came across for the first time an open air market under red canopies.  I ordinarily don´t care for markets but this one I enjoyed wandering through and didn´t even feel terribly grossed out by the meat displays (by the way, I have sometimes wondered if the murder rate is the same between vegetarians and the general population.  Hitler, a famous vegetarian among other things, does not count here!) I discovered another interesting cafe, with art on the wall and servers who looked like art students or aspiring musicians.  I found it a bit noisy and pricy but I would still like to check it out again.  Razor wire is everywhere there are wealthy homes. It´s like a lawn ornament. Graffiti too.  Hideous.  There is a river that runs through Coyoacan that would be otherwise picturesque if it didn´t smell like an open sewer.  Too gross!!! I had some lovely moments of peaceful reflection in the huge enclosed garden of the Casa de Cultura, another mansion converted for public use.  The gardens are green with flowers and so lovely and peaceful.  In one of the upper rooms I could here a ballet teacher at the piano drilling her young students.  The trees here are almost as big as some of our old growth cedars and douglas firs in BC! There were lots of vendors on the Metro train as always.  I am sure many of them must be desperate.  I have often wondered what their lives must be like, where they live, how they live, how they must cope. I had a dinner of vegetarian lasagne in El Pendulo the bookstore-restaurant.  It was very good but cold but I still left a tip.  I walked back about one and a half miles to my hotel.  Two Mexican women tried to stop me on the way, asking me if I speak English because they have something special for gentlemen who speak English.  I declined in Spanish and beat a hasty retreat.  I walked along Insurgentes on the way back to the hotel.  Surely one of the ugliest streets in the world after dark. All for now.