Mexico City-Culture,History and a whole lot more

It is said that every one should do something that challenges their comfort level.

Traveling to Mexico City as our first stop on our two plus week Get away does that for me.  It is impossible to truly intellectualize that nearly the population of the entire country of Canada resides here in the sinking former lake that was home to the many pre-hispanic people who were the original Mexicans.

With one previous trip 3 years ago as my experience and equipped with Trip Advisor, Google Maps, and booking.com reservations we arrived on Interjet, Mexico's national low price carrier.   The widebody, full leg room, camera on the nose experience puts other carriers to shame.  An easy taxi ride and we were welcomed to our fully modernized mansion turned hotel on the Alameda.  The day happened to be a religious celebration and the crowds were on the street carrying their icons.  Crossing Hidalgo/Reforma is not for sissies as traffic travels in 2 directions on each side of the divided road.  Nevertheless; the opportunity to see Palacio Bellas Artes, the Zocalo and have our first night dinner at Cafe Tacuba enticed us out walking well after dark.

Day One and we have dedicated this day to Centro Historic.  Templo Mayor, the once magnificent Mayan temple now only partially visible alongside the great cathedral,palace and zocalo. From there, in the midday heat and crowds we wanted to see the magnificent Diego Rivera murals in the national palace.  Not realizing that an extensive collection of pre-hispanic artifacts are also housed in the palace...we were in complete museum overload.  Luckily we found The  opera bar and had our first meal of the day in this classic complete with bullet hole of Pancho Villa in the ceiling!  

 A siesta later and wearing our best clothes; the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico charmed us after not quite so charming a stroll through some seriously disturbed art in the gallery.  Louise Bourgeois... There is a diagnosis for your obsessions I'm sure.

 Day 2 dedicated to Chapultepec and Museum of Anthropology.... Suffice to say it was like a time travel through all of Mexico.

 We left 4 hours later with the identities of Mayans vs. Aztecs still a burning question for another day.

 The view from the castle was stunning...the walk home via Rosa totally entertaining and we were done.

Day 3 and time to see the real Mexico city.  The streets just outside the main tourist zone attractions called to me.   So after promising Gene he would not be disappointed with breakfast at Sanborn's Casa de Los Azuelejos we went exploring.

We found where the Mexican people shop and I loved every crowded, noisy street.  Starting with a street dedicated to buying and clothing Baby Jesuses, moved thru the cloth, paper, light, and electronic areas ending in Barrio Chino just in time for Chinese lunch and to see the Lion Dance welcome New year of the horse.

Our last stop is an evening out to hear the mariachis at Plaza Garibaldi.  I have my Zihuatanejo amigas words in my head,warning me of the dangers of that area after dark.  But I don't want to miss one last chance for a sensory treat in this city of diversity.  Diversity that feeds the mind and soul and that sets the stage for our early morning flight to Guatemala.  Mayan immersion to continue.......

Giving with heart...and chiling out on a trip to the heart of Indigenous culture

This is the height of tourist season here in Zihuatanejo.  Each day in our wanderings through the city, we run into someone whom we've met here over the past 6 years.   Just like the locals, we greet them with huge smiles and hugs and say "Bienvenidos"!  The streets of are little neighbourhood are once again full of middle aged or older non-Mexicans' living their winter fantasies here in the sun.   The town depends on this, and we don't seem to have let them down. 

Here at Casa Ceiba,  the majority of the long term renters are back.  A great mix of US and Canadian residents from both West and East coasts, these returnees are happy to find their friends back for the season.  The days are full of the familiar poolside games and happy hour groups.  This year a new game, pickleball,  has started in the small basketball court.  I want to join in but yoga is my morning routine and after 0830, well it's just too hot to play.   Familiar groups head out for their morning walks and shopping trips, in this strange place where what you do at home or what kind of home you have really doesn't matter.  We are all equals here and we share a love for the tropics, Mexico and Mexican people.  And we adjust to a life here that is in some ways similar to our lives at home but in so many ways such a different environment to live. 

Because so many N. American tourists are here, it is also the height of our charitable season.  For many people, it is their reason for being here.  A small list of the charities that I'm aware of would include:  Sailfest/Por Los Nino's which supports the areas poorest children to receive education in functional class rooms.  Related to that group is the Nino's Adelante program which funds selected students to finish high school by matching donors with children.  Our lives have been made infinitely richer here by our 4 year long relationship with Doraliz and her family...more later. 

This year one of the American women who is a permanent resident here decided to share her talents for cooking gourmet meals and has started a "Cooking Hot in Zihua" class to fund the charitable program called "Rice and beans" which guarantees the areas poorest children one hot meal/day while they are at school. 

 Sailfest is also a destination for many of the coast cruising yachties from the US/Canada who are on beautiful ocean going sailboats.  Unfortunately with the recent problems for boaters, the number of boats in attendance this year will be less, but that doesn't stop the boat owners who do come from being keen to volunteer their shore time for such a worthwhile project.

 I'm participating in the street fair once again; this time vicariously.  Lety's bags for Sol Sisters will be on sale once again at a table manned by Cathy in the new location in front of Restaurant Arcadia on the waterfront.

 

We recently attended the first of 3 concerts put on by a US band who travels the world doing charitable gigs and enjoying the locals who join in on instruments their group is lacking.  Great turnout and the M-docks band gave it their all. 

There is also a seniors home(s) that routinely requires donations of medical equipment and basic supplies...never mind someone to simply drop in and visit.  Having a senior's care facility is a new concept in a country where it was an expectation that every aging person had a family to care for them.  Seniors who are alone for whatever reason now have a place to live when they need support.  We're going to miss a fabulous concert being held here this week as a fundraiser,...the best way possible to get people to donate...a 60's themed band bringing us all back to the days of our youth! 

Local Christian based churches are full on Sundays as we stroll down Calle Adelita...I believe the focus is on giving to the community. 

Guitarfest, although not really a charity, brought out the charitable giving in us as we were asked to fund in advance the travel costs for the various performers...we took a leap of faith and it would appear to have been successful as Guitarfest is scheduled to happen March 2-9th...yippee....this is a great addition to Zihuatanejo's music scene and a great benefit to the entire community. 

So when I recently met with the local director of the school children's charity, Nino's Adelante, I was surprised to see him express some of my concerns...what has this taught the Mexicans?   Are we, the strangely alone and often elderly "gringo" perceived as having unlimited funds?  Do any of  the locals support their own people in need?   According to Jose, although there are at least 100 well off families here in Zihuatanejo, no, the do not participate in supporting the charitable work.  He feels that they have decided the people in need are a bottomless pit...   And the risk is that we might begin to feel the same way.

Gene and I were recently invited to Doraliz's aunts wedding and were requested to "sponsor" the photos, which was quickly amended to asking Gene, and his sophisticated camera to take the photos...we had a choice.  Should we risk taking someone's wedding photos, or should we yet again, pay more money for a "professional" photographer?   Doraliz's Mom who seems to realize that really we didn't have any relation to the bride/groom encouraged Gene to take the photos himself.   We saved 4,000 pesos (about $350 Canadian) and had the experience of a lifetime. 

 

A fabulous Mexican wedding shirt, 4 hours of shooting and a host of happy Mexican's faces later...our part in the wedding was done.  No short of miraculous to consider the team effort that happened to bring the bride and groom the wedding of their dreams....it was lovely and we felt honored to be in attendance, even though as the only non-Mexicans there, we were the first to leave.  

 

 

We're heading off on our annual "vacation within a vacation" and this year, much to his chagrin, Cori is staying home with dog-sitters.  He doesn't really know this yet but, tomorrow, when we walk away and he's with his new "Mom and Dad" I know he's going to experience a lot of anxiety.  We're off to Mexico City and then the country of Guatemala...the whole country.  We love the mix of indigenous culture, nature and Spanish colonialism - at least that's what we're expecting to see.  And we want to feel cool air,..ironic as it may seem, we are craving a chill.  And invigorating cool, crisp air.  It's a vacation of our dreams and we are rewarding ourselves for selling our apartment but also more to the point, we are aware that these trips to remote and off the grid places are only possible while we have our health.  This year has taught me that things can change at any time, and no one is immune to changes in health.  I am not invincible and I want to travel with Gene now to see what Aldous Huxley called the "most beautiful lake in the world" in the country of trees.   Guatemala - here we come after a few days in the grandeur of Mexico City.   Monica has volunteered to be my long-distance travel agent if we run into trouble in the big city...she's my amiga and I love her!  And she tells me to take taxi's everywhere rather than walk...we shall see!

As Kristen reminded me, when I commented on my normal fear of losing something "don't be so scatter brained"...out of the mouths of babes!!   Well I am a bit scatterbrained, cause I am always looking for that next great sight, that next great experience that will mark the quintessential reason for being here...in the winter world I love.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life on the Streets....they're happening places in a tropical town

 

I spend a lot of my time walking the streets of Zihuatanejo...or at least the areas closest to our home in the Colonia La Madera, and in the downtown areas.  I also spend a lot of my life walking in Victoria, our other home; and it is the differences between walks that strikes me as one of the most significant differences in our two homes. 

 

Early morning, I head out down Calle Adelita, the main street in my neighborhood to check out the sights.  I can count on seeing Dona Chechna, the elderly matriarch of one of our neighborhood families nurturing her garden, which grows on "common property"...but is a delight to all of us who make our way past and over the bridge into town.   The cheerful Papele picado flags which were put up at Xmas will wave in the breezes until next summers storms take them down...or a passing tour bus gets caught and pulls them down.

 

Sometimes our neighborhood is a political place.  Recently the residents decided to show their displeasure with the local administration over the lack of water delivery via city pipes.  Since the big hurricane Manuel, many of Zihuatanejo's residents have had no city water supply, despite receiving regular water department bills.  They arrange for their own water delivery via water tanker trucks called Pipa's which grind through the streets of the city carrying megaloads of water to fill cisterns.  My neighbours decided to stage this very visible protest and apparently it worked, or at least it sort of worked.  Within 24 hours, we heard water flowing through the drains in the neighborhood...will it last..who knows...but I was proud to see our normally very accepting Mexican neighbours become political for such a good cause. 


Mornings are spent shopping for our daily food purchases...  This year there is a new enterprise in town...on Saturday mornings, the "Ecotianguis Sanka" are a fun place to have coffee and visit with friends...including my local go-to expert on Guatemala, Linda.  She's set me up for a great trip coming up this month. 



I buy my coffee at the local men's hangout.  Inside the bustling little shop, cappuccino's and latte's are made at rapid speed, but it's the guys out front who I love to say "hola Buenos dias" to...as they look at the gringa with her little white dog who walks everywhere! 


Most evenings we walk downtown.  Unlike our suburban location in Canada, we are ideally situated an easy and relaxing 10 min. stroll from the action of Zihua central.  The photographs show you how our last Saturday evening unfolded....

We had heard that a group of young people were playing some great 60's Rock and Roll on the street.  A crowd gathered as these talented Mexican youth funded by some sort of government initiative set up and then delivered some of the best tunes of my youth.  The really interesting part for me, was that none of them spoke English, but they had memorized and delivered tunes flawlessly imitating some of the best bands.  They were great. 

Further down the street, in Zihua's local version of a zocalo, our "cancha municipal"...children were painting ceramics to take home   and the local men's teams were playing some very competitive ball while the local "gypsy" groups danced with fire nearby. 

 

Watching the world of Zihua from the streets is one of our favorite past times...and back in Canada where our streets are empty and our homes are huge, we can't help but ask...which is better...a huge home full of comfort that keeps you inside...or modest homes and a chance to be outside 24 hours/day 365 days/year....Ok...well not in the tropical storms, but other than that...this is where our world is!  Now off to begin mine with this view on my way to yoga!