Weddings, mural, medicine and boats

Life continues to be entertaining and fun. I have been hanging out with a few new friends from school. Josh, a California native is an independent contractor and has a little more flexibility than most. He decided to come down to learn some Spanish because he has so many Spanish speaking friends and would like to be able to communicate better. Another friend, Tracy, is also an American and came to Mexico to get married to Juan, a Mexican. She is so very funny; she lives is Washington in a double wide trailer home from 1958, drives a car from the 1960’s and wants to start her own nonprofit foundation and import crafts from Mexico to the US for sale.

Last week I went to the inside of the palacia de bellas artes with Kathryn, a new friend from Switzerland. We wanted to go to the palace to see other murals but it was closed because of a convention, although the guard thought it was really funny that I dramatically snapped my fingers and said “que lastima!”. I like going to museums with other people who enjoy the “skimming approach” that I do. I am not one to consider a single painting for hours and hours and feel a little tied down by people who do. We spent a lovely afternoon checking out the murals and then having lunch at a new vegetarian restaurant we stumbled across. It was down a few winding halls and up on the second floors but 4 or 5 signs made sure we found our way. I never thought I’d get to eat soy balls in Mexico. Kathryn went home afterwards and I went to a Starbucks to study grammar for a while. Thrilling indeed.

Another afternoon this week I went to the museum of medicine. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find any takers to go with me so I went on my own. The building that housed the museum was huge and magnificent. According to my trusty guidebook this building is the former headquarters of the Inquisition of New Spain. It was a giant square with a lovely courtyard in the middle so all of the rooms had natural light. It would be a neat place to have some sort of party or dance; string lights across the top and strike up the band! The museum houses different antique medical equipment, herbal medicine (thesis flashback!) replicas of old doctors’ offices and interesting medical specimen, including wax replicas of different skin diseases all over the body (ALL over the body…gross). As I’m wandering around, a few young people are there, seemingly on assignment from school because they’re taking notes about the different displays. There are also medical students milling about in their crisp white lab jackets. Because I’ve spent so much time in hospitals, this place felt surprisingly homey to me.

After the museum and a quick lunch of a sandwich from a café and yet another conversation about small bits of meat in the soup actually counting as meat (the shock) I wandered around. You never know what you’ll come across when wandering and I was not disappointed. I found a neat used bookstore that had paperbacks in English for 2-3 bucks and a also found “oh the places you’ll go” by Dr. Sues in Spanish. I had previously purchased the first Harry Potter from a lovely street vendor but it turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated so I’ve needed to scale it back a bit. I took my new treasures to a new coffee shop and the very cute waiter brought me one of the finest lattes I’ve had ever. The foam was super thick and wonderful; well appreciated by this barista!

On Friday I want to Xochimilco, the “Venice of Mexico”; a series of channels that were created to farm. Mexico city used to be a lake, but some people got the idea to drain the lake and build, build, build. The huge cathedral closest to the Zocolo is now tilted because of being built of soft ground. The remnants of the former large lake are these channels. The farmers staked out an area with poles and then filled in the area with dirt to make a little island perfect for growing fruit and flowers and no concerns for watering the crops. Now, locals and tourists are able to hop on a flat bottomed, very colorful boat and be pushed around to enjoy the peaceful scenery. You can also by beer or pop from the drink boat that comes up, tacos from the taco boat, blankets and tablecloths or pay the mariachi to sing you a tune. There really is no place in Mexico safe from people selling something unless you’re inside your own house. Period. It is all very strange and wonderful. I got the brilliant idea that I wanted to “drive” the boat, which involves wielding a giant bamboo pole and pushing along the bottom of the canal to propel the boat. So while my friends are betting if I’m going to fall in or drop the pole, I gave my best shot at what our driver, Miguel, made look so very easy. While I didn’t drop the pole or fall in, much to my friends’ chagrin, I have a much greater appreciation for the boat drivers. Since the pole is bamboo, it wants to float. You have to jam the pole down very quickly in order to hit the soft bottom of the canal or you’re pole floats up before you can make any progress. And, when I actually did hit bottom, the boat is super heavy and not to easy to steer. I gave up rather quickly.