Top 8: Things being sold on the street

1. Ladies underwear, including thongs (so much for victoria´s secret!)
2. Any type of food you can imagine: fruit smoothies, sweet breads, tacos, fried stuff I can´t identify, something on a leaf, etc
3. baby car seats (safety first)
4. A leg massage...some guy was getting his hairy legs massaged at a bus stop.
5. 3 foot tall disney princesses, super heros, barney and other characters
6. Viagra
7. kitchen scissors
8. cameras and accessories (what is the return policy?)

Settling In

I have finished my first week of school and am settling into a nice routine that includes waking up at eight, chatting with Silvia (and beginning to actually understand a lot of what she says), riding the buses to school, sardine style, and having four hours of Spanish. Next week my class of seven is reduced to three. I think each week will be different as people come and go.

After school, I have some site to visit, an adventure to do or I just wander around until I find something interesting. Here is what I have been up to the past few days:

I stumbled across part of a huge peace march. Millions of Mexicans joined together for a march across the city, meeting in one of several famous sites in the city. Everyone was dressed in white and was carrying white balloons and flowers, candles, peace flags and Mexican flags. They are objecting to all of the violence that is happening in the city. I was in a cab earlier in the day and the driver pointed out a few of the walkers getting assembled. He said they are marching for peace, and I asked "world peace?", and he said no, that they needed to start with peace in the city. I found part of the march back at the Zocolo, the part of the city where I saw the flag being lowered because I wanted to return to the book store. The square was already crowded, but people were pouring in from all around to join in. There was energetic chanting, balloons and bubbles in the air, TV cameras and helicopters and lots of cameras recording the whole event. The energy was great; buzzing and hopeful.

Saturday I hopped on the Touribus, Mexico's version of the red double-decker tour buses in London. I was trying to find information about where to find the ticket on the company website, but it was all in Spanish. My (old) tour book promised a information station near my school, so I went there in search of info. Turns out that the tourist spot is now a police something, and some men, possibly criminals, told me to go next door. Next door was a lawyer, also not a tourist site, but he was able to direct me correctly to a tourist kiosk. I got my info, and found a spot where I can hop on the bus. There are two routes; you buy a ticket on the actual bus and you get a wrist band so you can hop on and off as you see fit about the city. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I was loving seeing the city from so high up. I was educated about the history of many of the cites and listened to the Mexican elevator music in between. Other than some sun burnt shoulders, it was a very lovely day.

Wednesday I was feeling pretty homesick, sick to my stomach, had a headache and was generally overwhelmed. I missed home, had no emails other than spam in my email and was overall feeling pitiful. I wasn't at my best with communicating with Silvia and I was getting frustrated because I didn't feel well. I think that the most overwhelming thing so far is the noise. Everything is soooooo loud here; the buses, the cars honking, people yelling to sell their wares, the people selling CDs that have boom boxes with them to sample the play list, the dogs barking, the construction next door, yikes! I didn't know how much I valued quiet times in the day until I had none. Having said that, I have since felt much better and have found several parks to sooth myself from the noise of the city. It is to be expected to be overwhelmed when doing something new, and I'm not trying to complain. I just want to record the true experience.

Today I went to Chapultepc, Mexico City's Central park and saw the castle, now home to a History museum. The walk up to the castle is a winding, paved avenue that slowly rises through the trees up to the highest part of the park. The first part of the museum houses many ancient and not-so-ancient artifacts including sculptures, jewelry, clothes, carriages, tools, paintings, etc. Interesting and beautiful, but I can only take in so much, especially when all of the descriptions are in Spanish. The rest of the castle is set up with furniture as the people of the castle would have had. You can't actually go into the rooms, but you get to peep in the doors and check things out. The views from the castle of the city are amazing. The noise is muffled by all of the trees and it is very peaceful.

I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Revolution street, a famous street in Mexico that has many sculptures along it and statues from every state. The last Sunday of every month the street is blocked for cars and everyone bikes, roller blades, skate boards and runs up this beautiful street. It is really nice to see all the sites at a different pace and to be able to people watch so much. I can’t imagine learning to ride my bike on a street that usually houses eight lanes of honking cars and buses.

Other than that, I have held hands with Antonio Benderas…in the Hollywood style mall that has the handprint and signatures of famous people. Also in the mall there was an opportunity to take pictures with a real lion. Pass! I don’t want to be lunch! One of my first days here, I kept hearing what I thought was music from an ice-cream truck. Finally I heard things just outside the window and went outside to check things out. Turns out it is a traveling band of three guys playing a wooden xylophone that sounds exactly like an American ice-cream truck. They were really happy to see me when I had a few pesos in my hand but not so thrilled to have their picture taken. Tough luck. Lastly, I saw three young boys swimming in one of the fountains in Chapultapec park. It was really cute and I hopped off the Touribus to snap their picture and wander around. There is so much to see here!

Holly Larson-bad ass navigator

I had a sucessful and fun day. For those of you who don´t know, I am possibly the worst navigator on the planet. Whenever I´m at my parents and drive somewhere, a phone call of ¨I´m lost¨ is never far away. Bearing this in mind, it is a huge accomplishment that I had a wonderful day going around the city today....without getting lost!

I have school from 10 until 2 each day. For some reason, I thought school started at 8:00, and was quite wrong. I walked to the first bus stop, about two blocks away, and got on. It was still a bit dark, but the streets were busy with people setting up their various wares to sell; clothes, meat, sweet bread, baby-blankets and clothes, furniture, fruit, whatever. You name it, you can probably find in on the street (except for english books). I switch from the bus to the metrobus, which is a tall, two unit long bus that has its own lane in the sea of traffic. You get on the bus at station in the middle of the street. There are cops there, making sure you don´t cause any trouble, and you wait for the next bus to arrive for a few minutes. These buses are packed as tight as sardine cans; sometimes you can squeeze in, sometimes there is literally not room for another body. I recognized where my school was and got off at the right stop, thank goodness. The school has a guard at the door. I told him, in my super spanish, that I was here for school. He told me that it started at 10, and I insisted that it didn´t. He let me in, and I waited in the empty class room until people started to arrive at 9:30. Super. In my class there are three students from korea, one from japan, two from germany and one from england, and me. The teacher started class 20 minutes late, very mexican, and jumped into grammer without much of an introduction. I am fine being in a beginners class right now because all of the grammer is pretty rusty. I may try to switch to a more advanced class in a week or two, when I feel more warmed up.

After class yesterday, I had lunch with some of my new friends at a mexican restaurant a while from the school...we were on the hunt for a specific restaurant but never actually found it. I had black bean soup, which the host insisted had no meat in it, but actually did have pieces of something in it (flavoring? I don´t know). I picked those out and topped the soup with cheese and cream and washed it down with half melon juice, half lemonade, per host recommendation. All for $3.50 plus tip. I went home to finish a John Grisham book and do my homework.

Today, I arrived at the correct time, dispite bailing out on my first bus too early and having to walk for a while to the metro bus and had another grammer filled lesson. I walked towards the Mexico equivalent of central park, and stopped in a restaurant that turned out to be argentinian, aka, lots of meat. I ended up finding a delicious salmon salad and was happy to be eating a few vegetables. I gave up on finding the park because there was thunder and headed back to the school for a clean bathroom and directions.

At the school, I explained that I was looking for a specific bookstore I had found in my guidebook and could she please help me find it? Between her little english, my little spanish and the help of one of her friends more familiar with the area of the bookstore, she found directions. I had to take the metrobus to the metro, change metros and then walk a few blocks. Mission impossible? Maybe! I carefully wrote the directions into my little notebook and went over where I was going, twice, on my poster-sized map (very convenient for use in busy streets), as well as how to get from the bookstore to my house. I took the metrobus, and with the helpful nudge of a nicy lady, found the metro stop and the right metro, in the right direction. I was humming mission impossible theme music to myself to keep up my courage.

When I emerged from the metro station, I realized I was at the Zocalo (duh, zocalo stop). The Zocalo is a HUGE HUGE HUGE city square surrounded with beautiful castle-like buildings and the biggest mexican flag I had ever seen. I wandered across the square, taking a few pictures and then got down to business. ¿Donde esta la calle bolivar? I asked a pair of non-threatening ladies. They motioned, vaguely in the direction I was already headed and I was off (dun dun, dun dun, dun dun; the mission impossible music continues). The streets around the square have the most beautiful architecture I had seen yet and my eyes were taking it all in. There were lots of jewelry stores, as well as food, ice-cream and clothings stores. There were very few street ventors; only those selling newspapers and magazines. I new from my careful directions that the street should be only 3 or 4 blocks from the square, and sure enough, I found it! I made a guess which way to turn and voila! I had found the bookstore! I am a navigating champion! I quickly found the paperbacks and selected running with scissors. The books are about twice as much as in the US, but I didn´t care; that $25 book was my prize!

I walked across the street to a cute little coffee shop and ordered a decaf vanilla latte (I´m trying to get used to not having coffee three times per day...rough business) and settled in for a great three chapters. I didn´t want to devour it too quickly, so I stopped when the coffee was cold and left.

As I was wandering back across the square, I noticed that a crowd had begun to gather. My quide book had discussed an interesting flag lowering ceremony every night at 6 pm, but I had no idea what time it was and saw no harmless ladies to ask. I waited in case this was the real deal and was quickly rewarded. A silent group of about 60 or 70 soldiers is full uniform marched out of one of the castles and split when the got to the square. One by one, they stopped about 15 feet apart , creating a giant square with the flag in the center. Then, other soldiers shooed the rest of the bystanders out of the square (¨we´re trying to lower a giant flag, people, move out!¨). Next came two groups of musicians and three groups of sullen soldiers with guns. They marched around the square and gathered near the flag pole. After more marching and heel tapping, a group of the soldiers began to lower the flag, which is no simple task because it is easily 30 feet tall and 60 feet wide. Huge. There was a line of men waiting to catch the flag- they did a formal heel click something and then made a dash for their section of the flag. They rolled the flag into a giant tube and formally walked off (I was wondering how they were going to fold it). I didn´t stay, but apparently they raise the flag again, sans parade, half an hour later.

Very satisfied with myself, I headed home, and didn´t get lost, again. Wow.

Black bean soup for dinner with cheese and tomatoes. I´m off to do my homework!

First weekend

I am learning more spanish by the hour as my first weekend zooms by! I got to meet my hostuncle, Carlos, Silvia´s son. We hung out at the dining room table for a while and chatted, sometimes understanding, sometimes not. Silvia is a good teacher for me because she will keep talking about something until I get the drift. Carlos helps too because he speaks some English, but gets a little more frustrated when the message between us isn´t clear. But, they are both incredibly patient teachers and I am feeling right at home. Friday night I was again exhausted from thinking so much, so I just went to bed pretty early.

Saturday, I had my first outings beyond the corner store. After a leisurely breakfast, we drove past some of the famous monuments and visited my school (I hope I can find it again tomorrow). We parked, went into a mall and found a map for the poor gringa. I was excited that my credit card worked, thank you 5/3, and we walked across the street to buy a metro pass. I am all set for school!

Next stop was sushi. We went to a really nice sushi restaurant and stuffed ourselves. It is a little funny that my first restaurant was sushi, not something local. Oh well, there is still plenty of time. We drove around a bit more and then went home for naps. I explained ¨food coma¨ to carlos and he thought it was funny.

Last night, Carlos, his friend and her daughter went outside the city to a small town that was celebrating the birthday of the abuelo´s patron saint. On the way, we were stuck in lots of traffic. In the street, there are tons of people selling sweet breads. They put a few breads in plastic bags and tie two together so both of their arms are completely covered with bags. I didn´t see anyone buying any. The party was a carnival, complete with lots of small rides, lots of food I didn´t recognize and beer. It was fun, I tried beer with chili powder and lime, different, but good. I rode some rides with the eight year old daughter and tried not to throw up :) There were fireworks to celebrate the saint and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The funny thing, was that even though it was no less than 60 degrees, everyone is bundled up as though they´re in alaska. The kids are wearing hats and scarves and puffy coats, the adults are wearing heavy jackets and vests. Very funny. I ate some cheese quesadillas and did a bunch of people watching. I wish I had brought my camera!

Today I watched more of the olympics and I am off to see some local art (I think). I am greatful for the internet in the house so I can chat with friends, email and post blogs and feel connected to the world. Hello OHIO!

Over and out!

Mexico City- the first 24 hours

Well, I´ve officially started my Latin American Adventure! I am in Mexico City, landed last night.

The few days before I left were a blur of loose ends to tie up such that I didn´t really have time to feel nervous. When I drove to the airport with my mama, however, it began to sink in. I tried not to throw up. For those of you who claim I´m brave, I wasn´t feeling too brave just then.

The first flight was to Hueston and was very bumpy, and I was glad when we landed and I could stop feeling like a pair of dice. The second flight was on a much larger plane and was much smoother. While everyone was getting settled in their seats, I´m staring out the window, trying not to panic. ¨HOLLY LARSON?¨says a loud voice in the aisle. I startle and turn around, wondering what I did wrong and the flight attendent says that he has a vegetarian meal for me. Whew. Close call.

As the plane got closer to the city and went below the clouds, I almost gasped at how HUGE the city really is. I know that this is one of the largest cities in the world, but it is hard to truly comprehend how big that is. Mexico City is surrounded by mountains and the size of mountains help to grasp just how huge the city is. For as tall as they are, the city is soooo much wider. Being a strong contendor for the worst navigator on the planet, I am wondering what I´ve gotten myself into.

In customs, the guy didn´t speak English (didn´t I get in the foreign visitor line?) and asked me a few questions I didn´t understand. Then he came around the counter and looked at my shoes, and seemed satisfied with what he saw. Beats me. I got my first stamp in my passport (which shouldn´t have been, but the tricky tricksters in Eurpoe felt no need to stamp it a few years ago) and I was off. When I got my bags, I moved towards the door and was stopped by a customs person who motioned that I needed to push a red button. I did, a light went on and she nodded me to move on. Again, beats me. I found Silvia, the sweet lady who is my host for these 6 weeks and we went in search of a taxi. We needed some ticket to get a taxi that we didn´t have, and it took some time, and some pesos, to acquire what we needed. We loaded my luggage into the trunk and motored off.

The driver needed to more than an inch margin to merge from one lane into another. The trip to her house wasn´t long and before I knew it, I was pulling the huge duffle back out of the trunk. The entrance to the house is two huge gold doors. We walk into a space the size of a one car garage that is tiled with powdery pink tiles. I get a quick tour of the place, find my room and unpack a bit. The house has the homey, comfortable and worn feel of some grandmothers houses. It also feels like a rabbit warren a bit because the apartment was added onto at some point so it isn´t a square. We walked to the corner bakery and bought sweet breads for me to try. I had one called a concha, because the sugar pattern on top looks like a conch shell. We hung out in the TV room and ate our treats while watching spanish soap operas and commenting on the handsome men (muy guapo!). I am not understanding plenty of her spanish, but I am getting more than I thought I would. I tried to wait for her son to get home from work, but I was almost falling asleep at the table so I went to bed.

This morning, I helped myself to the yogurt smoothie I bought last night and talked with Silvia for a while. I asked to go on a walk so I could find a phone card and some fruit and she made sure that I meant a short walk. I think she had no intention of tromping all over the city just yet :) I got to call my sister to tell her that the I was alive and well and then hung up fast because my pesos were being used up quickly. Be bought some fruits from a shop that sold chicken (pollo) and fruit...interesting combination. As I picked out a huge papaya and some mini bananas, someone is pounding chicken as flat as a tortilla right behind me. We did walk around a bit, passing store that are very different from the US; most of the time, you walk up to a window of sorts and ask the store keeper to give you whatever you need. There are bars across most of the windows and many of the buildings are very colorful. It is a little run down, but I feel safe.

That is about it. I am happy to have figured out the computer and internet so that I can send a few emails and delete my spam...just like home :)

50 pound luggage max; emotional baggage need not apply

I have had a whirlwind three weeks in Oxford working at the local Starbucks, buying things I need for the trip, studying for and PASSING the exam to be a registered dietitian (I get to put RD after my name now!) and visiting with friends and family. I am about to walk the plank!

I am leaving for Mexico City tomorrow and am tying up several loose ends. Copy of passport? Check. Computer and cords? Check. Suspend cell phone? check. Luggage under 50 pounds? Barely! What I am really excited about, though, is ridding myself of some emotional baggage from a few hurt feelings and poor situations over the past two years.

In true ceremonial fashion, one of my best friends and I decide to host a "bye-bye bonfire" to start the next chapter of our lives with a clean slate. We write letters about past injustices and parts of ourselves we wish to part with and take a trip to the local woods. Because we're not actually allowed to be there after dark, we arrive at the park entrance at dusk, park, and ride our bikes to one of our favorite spots in the park; the dam overlooking Acton Lake. One of our bikes is changing gears on it's own accord so the peaceful evening is punctuated with the crunching sound of the chain and gears (ka-chung, kaaa-chung!) When we arrive, much to our chagrin, the place is swamped with people doing archery and making out on the benches. Not the best place for a magical ceremony! We go to plan B and bike to a different car entrance (ka-chung, ka-chung, ka-chung!) and bike to the trail head. It is getting dark as we park our bikes and begin to walk down the trail. I try not to remember the details of the blair witch project as we make our way to a different shore of the lake with our letters and our mini bottles of champagne. Our eyes adjust as we walk the familiar trail to the perfect sandy beach. There is a log for us to sit on and a few twigs about so that we can build a teeny fire to send our letters to heaven (or maybe hell? I don't know). We quietly build the small fire...there are boats on the water and noise carries easily across the water. We take turns reading our letters aloud and burning them and feel much lighter than when we started; we have let a lot go. We celebrate with a champagne toast and think that there is something missing....we stand up, grasp hands and shout "FREEDOM" at the top of our lungs across the lake, William Wallace style....BRRRRROOOOMMM. A boat motor starts, very close to our little (illegal) fire and my friend and I fall over each other grabbing our few belongings and race up the trail. The trail follows the edge of the lake for a while, so we don't stop sprinting until the trail went deeper into the woods. Giggling, we slow down and decide it couldn't have been better. We have our clean slate, felt a little bit like spies and have a good story to remember. We bike back to the car (kaaa-chung, ka-chung) and go in town for evening and get ice-cream!

If you're interested, my email is halarson@gmail.com

My next posting will be from Mexico City!