š²š½ Mexico City - Life, Love, Al Pastorā¦ 05.21.24
āGo into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.ā
~Kurt Vonnegut
A one-way plane ticket to a far off land has all kinds of romantic connotations. When I made the haul to South America last year I had booked enough tickets to hit 5 countriesā¦ but I had no return ticket to the U.S. When I landed in Bolivia they wanted to see that I had proof of returning to my country of origin (plus a visa and yellow fever vax which I did not have). Luckily, I had just booked a flight back to San Francisco a couple of days before while I was in Peru, and only out of circumstance. My sublet renter was leaving my studio in Taos and I would need to return.
And so, it was a lucky happenstance in Bolivia that I had a ticket home to declare. and the country didnāt fret over a gringo staying long term and eating all the food. Soā¦ now I make sure I have a round trip booked when I travel abroad. I do pay up for āno fee changesā and use an airline thatās not a pain in the ass to make adjustments. Sometimes I cancel for the flight credits.
I call my ticket back to the States, āthe Safety Net.ā Thereās all kinds of scenariosā¦ but reallyā¦ if I need to get backā¦ or need proofā¦ or the Bolivian Army is after a gringo for bank robberyā¦ I have a way out.
When I made my plans to come to Mexico City I had a āSafety Netā return ticket that was scheduled 14 days after my arrival. After my first couple of days in CoyoacĆ”n, I knew I would be digging in, and wouldnāt be robbing any banks, so I moved the flight date 2 months.
I had a list of intentions for my time in CDMXā¦ I thought 2 months would be a good chunk of time to work on projects and sort out some adulting. I have done little of what I had planned and in a short time would come to understand that I would only be scratching, no - nicking the surface of a very large surface of what is life in the State and City of Mexico.
I met some people. Did a little of this and little of that. Ate a lot of this and that. Tlacoyos from here and Tlayoyos from there (there is a difference). Got my transportation card and my La Comer āMonedero Naranjaā loyalty card. Needed to attend to some unplanned medical issues and I now have a file in the MXān health care system. Learned some idioms and curse words in the local dialect of āchilango/aā Spanish. And have a wee flutter of the heart for the people, culture and places of Mexico.
CDMX life is full of glorious distractionsā¦ and I planned on canceling my return ticket for a flight creditā¦ and I would leave Mexico when Iām good and readyā¦ or when they kick me out.
A couple of weeks ago I came across the flight reminder for my ticket out. Iāve been flooded with pensive feelings and heavy emotions since.
Thereās currently a heat wave in Mexico City (and much of Mexico) and itās been 10Ā°-18Ā°F hotter than the average daily tempā¦ since I arrived. There was one single day that temps were normal. Itās not high desert, Phoenix, Denver summer time hotā¦ but add the pollution factorā¦ and if one is focused on healing and has no A/C or adequate ventilation in their cottage ā¦ it sucks.
The air quality is always poor and my eyes burn every day. And the heat of the afternoon and ozone andā¦
Andā¦ I had made a decision several days ago that if the rains hadnāt arrived, the heat wave continued, and my medical appointments and procedures were all sorted by May 22nd, the date of my āget out of jail freeā plane ticket, I would be on that flight.
All those boxes are checked so Iām pulling out in 2 daysā¦ sooner than my adventurous, and fluttery heart would like. Iāll land in Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon where my car and a storage unit of things reside.
Iāll be parked in a tiny bungalow on a street thatās in between the city of Santa Monica and Venice which may or may not be part of greater Los Angeles Countyā¦ for at least a monthā¦ likely more.
Today I have the intentions of focusing on a healthy mind, body and spirit equation while on the Pacific Coast. I also need to find some workā¦ to pay some hospital bills. Also, I seriously need to come up with 45,000 pesos to buy a VW vocho/kombi for the next round in Mexico so I can properly get lost in the Southern and Central lands of North America. And in additionā¦ itās my retirement home planā¦ Iāll be living in the VW in the parking lot of Venture Beach, CA in the year 2034ā¦ if not sooner.
So for workā¦ Iām thinking of juggling candlesticks on Hollywood Blvd for spare change (as soon as I learn to juggle), and/or working at the Grease Monkey in Santa Monica changing blinker fluid. That about rounds out my employable skill set. You seeā¦ I have a severe phobia filling out W-9 forms... and juggling on the streets can count as as a S-Corp.
Anyboop, if anyone wants to buy a bee painting for 45k in Mexican pesosā¦ you can find me 1.5 miles due east of Venice Beach. Come visit and weāll ride a tandem bicycle, wearing matching ācat in the hatā hats, all of the way sipping on lemongrass kombucha. Weāll be a hit.
*****
Part 2 - Mexico life - My Mexico life.
Fun facts: The elevation of Mexico City is 7,420ft. That surprised me. Boulder, CO is 5,430ft. Taos, NM is 6,969ft. Venice, CA is 10ft above the sea. Deep breath!
There was an earthquake early this morning in CDMX. I heard a rumble but I thought it was the chilaquiles I ate the day before. The average number of magnitude 4.0 and above earthquakes in Mexico is 1,598 a yearā¦ thatās about one every 5 hours. š³
Star Wars, the Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980. It was popular with comprable GenX population in Mexico. Language is funnyā¦ we hear what we think we hearā¦ and that makes sense. The robot character R2D2 was understood by the Mexican audience as, āAr-tu-ri-toāā¦ āArturitoā o en inglĆ©s, āLittle Arthur.ā And yes, I laughed for days when I heard this.
Soā¦ the literal translation of R2D2 in Spanish is, ErreDosDeDos. It really doesnāt workā¦ so lilāArt it shall be. I guess it was 15 years later (according to some accounts) that the error was understood. Hardcore Star Wars fans (so Iām told) get upset when someone references, āArturito.ā I only have 2 things to sayā¦ Ham Solo would think thatās hilariousā¦ Andā¦ I am now on a very focused mission to find a Mexican R2D2 tshirt.
Case study 2.0; Twisted Sister had the 1984 hit, āWeāre Not Gonna Take it.ā And of course, had its following of Mexican fans. The band showed up in Mexico for show and was alerted ahead of time that the Spanish speaking peoples of Mexico interpret the lyrics as, āhuevos con aceite...ā Which translates to; āeggs with oil.ā Again, I laughed for days. I asked about the, āā¦anymore!!!!ā partā¦ and yupā¦ thereās a Mexican fan interpretation. Read onā¦
Soā¦ apparently the band was amused and when Twisted Sister hit the stageā¦ Snider began to comment about, āhuevos conā¦ā and in good olā rock and roll style, the band started playing the song with the new found lyrics;
āš¶ huevos con aceiteā¦ š¶huevos con aceiteā¦ š¶huevos con a-ceiteā¦ y limĆ³n!!!! Yup, eggsš³with oilā¦ and lemon!!!!š and thank you so GenX people of Mexico for making the world a better place.
My Mexico life; I had another chunk of my arm removed the other day at a medical center in Colonia Roma Norte. I was prescribed a round antibiotics. Iām not fan but Iām doing what Iām told at this point.
My biggest aggravation with the meds is that Iāve worked very hard at dragging my feet through Latin America the last 2 years gathering multitudes of bacteria (good and other) for a super āLucha Libreā immune system. I convinced itās totally a thingā¦ the only time I seem to catch a bug is when I scape through California. Whatās up with that?!?
Soā¦ I guess Iāll be starting my āBacterias de AmĆ©rica Latinaā odyssey when I return to Mexico.
My friend, and the doctor, call me a ābarbarianā - because I will have to take out my own stitches from the surgery thingy, and I said I would do it on the plane back to L.A. take that as a compliment for the record.
I had to get some blood work , an EKG, ultrasound and tomography. Thereās a laboratory clinic within walking distance of my cottage in Santa Catarina. Salud Digna.
*Founded in 2003 by the First Lady of MX at the time (I was told thisā¦ fact check me) Salud Digna clinic provides diagnostic services that are accessible to low-income Mexicans, enabling patients to seek early treatment, improve their chances of survival, and avoid costly medical interventions that could strain their personal finances as well as those of the public health system.*
This place is a combination of public and private. And for a gringo walking through the door I paid $40US for blood labs, and $7US for an EKG - seven dollars. The clinic runs like a machineā¦ one visit we showed up to a line out the door. It chunked down in 10 minutes. Scanned in the QR code. Paid. One EKG. Out the door in about 30 minutes.
I told myself Iād stop certain comparisons in my postsā¦ but hereās a public/private affordable preventative health clinic/organization that works for the people. And the rest of this political rant is on my website if anyone wants to argue about it. For the record, Iām left of left and entirely bored with the two-party system that has me casting a vote against someone rather than āforā the person I believe would be a good representative for the people and the leader of the free world (audience laughs).
On a fun noteā¦ and only lightly politicalā¦ a few days ago a small taco stand in Mexico City, TaquerĆa El Califa de LeĆ³n, was awarded a coveted Michelin Star as part the guides first Mexican addition.
And guess where Iām eating tomorrow?
" It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn.
- Itās an irritating reality that many places and events defy description. Angkor Wat and Machu Picchu, for instance, seem to demand silence, like a love affair you can never talk about. For a while after, you fumble for words, trying vainly to assemble a private narrative, an explanation, a comfortable way to frame where youāve been and whats happened. In the end, youāre just happy you were there - with your eyes open - and lived to see it.ā
- Anthony Bourdain
#mexicocityblues
#cdmxlife
