Olivia

As I attempted to close my eyes the bus rolled and swayed, bumped and rattled itself all the way to Oaxaca del Juarez (6hrs) from Mexico City. Upon arrival we found a nice clean hostel and quickly took up the task of locating the mercado and some good food. This is not an extremely hard task as the Oaxaca region is renown for it food.

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Even though Mexico city is the capital of Mexico and the food is delicious, Oaxaca is Mexico’s culinary capital specializing in Oaxacan cheese, mole, chapulines, chocolate and artisan bread. If Mexico city was a rushing river of people jousting to get places Oaxaca is the calm mountain stream, the local vacation spot where everyone goes to slow down relax and enjoy all these tasty morsels. It was a surprise to me to see how strong the European influence was in the architecture of the main square. The main square was surrounded by beer gardens and coffee shops churches and musicians. A few streets down this old town feel seamlessly merged into the colorful bustle of the mercados. Under the cover of a tin roof a full block had been devoted to only food stalls, nothing but grills, kitchens, stacks of poultry, beef, veggies, cheeses and mole pasts arranged gently on beds of cilantro for ascetic appeal (it did indeed make a pile of intestines look a little more bearable). After getting a feel for all the food available we settle down to start our culinary adventure. I methodically started with the mole colorado

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The following morning we return to this food market in hopes for a late breakfast and early lunch. As the rush of lunchtime consumer floods the food stalls we stand dumbfounded looking for a way to grab a table. After a failed attempt we grab one with suprising efficiency and start our ordering process
“Holla queremos eso”
Many a families sat at the surrounding tables eating delicious family style grilled meats and veggies with hand made tortillas. Having no idea what it was actually called we decided that pointing would be the most efficient method. Our mersero sneakily eludes our request and starts out by asking what it is that we wanted to drink. We reply some coffee and the renown hot chocolate (with porous pan de yema aka. egg bread) would suffice. We obtain our drink and we wait for him to come back asking us for our food selection. We wait 5 minutes, 10 minutes, the family that stole our previous table gets served yet still , we sit there lacking substantial food. So naturally we flag down the waiter and repeat that we want what everyone around us was earting. This time we get a slightly clearer no. A no! Why in the world could we not have what everyone else in this darn area was having.
Having absolutly no idea what we had done wrong and how to obtain this food, ignoring the fact that we were starving, cranky and well on our way to pissed we decided that maybe the waiter was from a different restaurant payed for out drinks and got up to try again. Again we got flooded by offers of food by the many waiters and vedors surrounding us and again we sat down. Again we told the waiter
“Nosotros queremos ese, carne de res…”
The waiter again shook his head and (we think) made an attempt to explain that we need to get a basket buy the meats and veggies seperatly and then bring it all to him to grill. But with pity in his eyes he decided to help us and ran off to obtin a mixed platter of all the meats Let me tell you all this hasstle and humiliation was well worth the taste!
All of our other meals were just as delicious (though much less problematic). Enchiladas con mole negro y coloradito.

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Tlayudas

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Even the chapulines (fired grasshopper in chilli powder with a splash of lime

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In addition to all the delicious food and relaxing atmosphere we happened to be there on the weekend of Nov 20th resulting in additinal parades, live music and city wide events. All were commemorating November 20th the Mexican Revolution that ended in the production of the Mexican Constitution in 1917.

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After a full day in oaxaca we took the night bus to San Christobal del las Casas. Now, allow me a slight interlude concerning this bus. We left at 7pm and would find ourselves in San Cristobal a 6am the following morning (11hr). After many warning from Sean about that unpleasantness of night buses I still confidently informed him that I have absolutely no problem sleeping on busses and that this ride would be relaxing and well deserved. I popped in some headphones (a nice little ipod shufftle with ~2hrs of songs repeating over and over and over and over….) and close my eyes. And so there I was, music playing, lights off, curtains covering all windows and the bus dancing its way through the unknown curvey mountainous roads. Now that I think about it the ‘word’ dancing might have been overstatements of its grace as truly it felt more like a scared rabbit trying to throw off the hounds. None the less with my eyes closed the world tossed and turned, bumped and rolled, and convinced my stomach that these disturbances to my inner ear wear clearly a sign of poisoning and I was in need of a purging.

Against all odds, with a lot of suffering, I managed to keep the contents of my stomach in its appropriate container and eleven hours later, a little after sunrise, the bus spits us out in the mountain town of San Cristobal de las casas. Exhausted, starving, and freezing, we found the city barely recovering from the previous night and clearly not yet open for business. Resignated we sat on a park bench waiting for a place to call home for the day. We obtained a room barely big enough to fit one bed and no room around it.

This town is frequented by tourists that come to see the traditions of the zapotec people in the surrounding villages. In general it can also be considered a strong for the Zapatistas and is full of yoga studios, vegetarian restaurants and museums.

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After exploring the coffee museum, the Mayan medicine museum and the town in general our night ended meandering the town square and running into…..a Mexican rave…in the town square with a light show pointed at the church.

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As you may know Sean and myself are different in many aspects and one such aspect soon discovered, is what we perceive to be the ideal temperature. So rather crank about the 40F weather, Sean soon persuaded us to get moving out of the Mexican mountains and into the jungle.
It is on this bus to Palenque that I realized that not seeing what was going on outside of the bus during the trip to San Cristobal must have been in fact the best thing for my stomach,and my heart (which resided in my throat for the entirety of the bus ride to Palenue).
As the doors opened of this exclusive 1st class bus the humidity and heat attacked full force. Walking to find a hostel I note with sadness that the main footwear for sale here was galoshes. No more refreshing mountain air only rain and mosquitoes from here (at least for a while)

The magnificent ruins of Palenque and the beautiful Agua azule waterfall definitely made up for the treacherous weather

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I will leave you all with a little explanation about this last picture. So you see, very excited about the insect population of the area (since up till that point I hade only seen two cockroaches) I stopped to closer examine the local praying mantis. As is stated scaling my shoulders I realized getting a better picture would not be possible due to the angle and asked Sean to take the picture. With hesitation he takes my camera and looks to the screen. There on the camera screen, much like on a large screen projecting “The Deadly Mantis” (1957), the praying manta made a jab resulting in my camera being flung leans first onto the ground. I have forgotten the general public does not necessarily feel as kindly towards insects as all the ecologists and entomologists that have surrounded me for the last 6 years. Oooops!

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Tomorrow we see the Guatemalan boarded. “Or so they say”

One more thing. Here is the fruit of the week...anyone ?

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Imagine, a city where everything is moving, everything is on wheels, everyone is yelling and in a hurry. The streets are crowded with people trying to cross streets of barely moving traffic jams. You close your eyes and you smell the meats grilling on the heated pans, the onions and the peppers nestled among piles of fresh cilantro, all fighting to get their smell above that of the smog ridden air. The vibrant colors dancing around you as you stand there surprised that you have become merely an obstacle amongst the flowing river.

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After some tender goodbyes exchanged between Cesar and myself I found myself shaking along on a Volaris bus to the Tijuana airport. At the boarder (from my understanding) they chose one person off of the bus to check. If they got the green light the whole bus went across with no worry, is they got the red…well then I might have been late to the plane. Luckily for us we got the green and continued shaking our way to the airport. After some broken Spanish, una casa de cambio, a one hour delay a lot of hand waving at the immigration officers and an eight hour flight I found myself stepping on to firm Mexico City ground. I was very ecstatic to find Sean (my traveling companion) and Fernando (a new found friend and host) waiting for me (this is much more important that it seems as none of us have telephones and I had absolutely no idea where I was sleeping that night). Quickly getting aquatinted with the well developed metro system we headed for some delicious posole at a local eatery at Roma Norte and then home to Roma.

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The beauty of this city it that as crowded and dirty and fast pace as it may seem, each person plays an essential role, generally without too much government interference. For example, individuals that privately own trucks (specified for collecting trash or not), make rounds around the neighborhoods ringing bells and shouting on megaphones that they are taking out the trash. If people have trash they run out give them the trash and a few pesos. The trash gets taken away to a designated location and every one is happy. Similarly, some road constriction works the same way. If something is broken someone will fix it and the people that use it will pay.

One of the first things we went to check out is the D.F zocalo (center) in the centro historico off of Alemeda st. The centro historico is the area surrounding the zocalo, the historic heart of the city where one can find art exhibitions, the presidents palace, many old notable building, small museums and a cathedral sitting atop Aztec ruins.
What you might not now is that just a little but north of the zocal we found what I consider one of the best meals I have had so far.

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Juarachas sold from a very crowded street vendor. With salsa buckets handing on the wall…delicioso

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Even farther north you run in to a huge mercado. Now the way this works is very convenient, is seemed as if all the stores in a given area are all devoted to the same thing. We walked through the stationary section, which gave way to the wedding sections which rolled right into the communion sections, the furniture section, handbags, fruitas y otras cosas. Now, understand that these sections are 3 blocks minimum each! All the while each street corner has food vendors shouting enchiladas tostadas para diez and other slogans. Oh, yeah since it may not have been crowded enough, there was also an elementary school right in the middle of the most crowded section with parents trying to claim their children befor they got swept of in the rush of people.

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One of the evening Fernando decided to acquaint us with the local pulqerias. Pulque is fermented beverage made from the maguey plant. It has been a traditional drink in Mexico since the pre Colombian societies where the drink was highly rationed out and only allowed to be consumed by certain classes of people. In texture it was like drinking cold boiled flaz seed but the tastes…well they get very creative, for example celery flavored with the cup rimmed with powdered pepper, any sort of fruit and of course original un flavored.

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After the night of pulque an essential day should (and was) spend on the Museo de Anthropologia and traversing the Bosque de Chapultepec

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Exhausted from the museo Fernando sent us on our way to see our very own live Lucha libre event. Sitting in a huge arena with a wresteling ring in the middle the matches started with two trios (triplets) of women fighting and preceded to the more saught after male trips fighting.. Slapping, scratching, vaults, and chest slapping, yes, chest slapping…were just some of the moves that were exhibited here, did I also mention that the consumes are generally made of shiny leotards and include face masks with names like el angel de oro? The crowd would scream with encouraging words “…..:ooooOoOooo p*to”, and the sound section would beat the drums and play the horns and general make noise.

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I will not bore too much longer with grueling details of other sites like our visit to Mercado Sonora where, other than finding everything else you may want ,you can also obtain a spiritual cleaning, love potions and aerosol cans to call upon different deities but I do want to say that what ever you may want to find you can find it in Mexico city. I found a great hair salon and some amazing friends! Thanks everyone I enjoyed chillin with the chilangos.
P.S Darn it I swallowed some tap water while brushing my teeth….

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And then I blew the whistle three times. Within a few hours of entering San Diego Cesar, my gracious host, decided to take me to see the sunset at Mt. Soledad. A rather controversial monument, Mt. Soledad hosts a giant latin cross built in 1913 as a memorial to the Veterans of the Korean War. Since it is on government property it has become a very controversial monument testing the separation of church and government. However, the fact that it has been declared unconstitutional as of this year, does not seem to prevent any of the locals or tourists coming t see the amazing sunsets overlooking San Diego while paying their respect to the veterans. Walking down the steps of this monument we were stopped by a gentleman asking us to help him properly lower the flag. A great honor that neither of us have had the opportunity to do before. So that is where I was, on the steps of this monument with the sun setting blowing the whistle three time signifying the lowering of the flag. As is traditional, the flag was then folded into a triangle looking like a tri corned hat reminding us of all those who served under General George Wahington and Captain John Paul Jones, with each fold representing a tribute to life, our belief, freedom…(there are 12 folds).

The next morning I woke up with the mission of obtaining a bus pass and riding in style to Balboa Park and the famous San Diego Zoo. Cesar dropped me off at Von’s where internet rumors stated a week pass could be obtained. My triumph was quickly curbed as I found out I could only but a month pass there. Groggily I started on my hr long journey to the closes bus station. After a few transfers and a lot of mixed information from the different bus drivers I found myself at the San Diego Zoo with a week bus pass. The San Diego Zoo is a 40ha park hosting more than 800 different species. Determined to see everything I started, monkeys, elephants, sun bears, snakes …..4.5hr later I finally sit down on the “Great apes” exhibit. While chowing down on one of the 100+ granola bars my mom hid into my backpack I heard an interesting conversation.
“Mommy Mommy, why are they so black and furry?”
“Well…they just are…eww what is he doing”

(I realize this is not an ape but rather a tapir :D)

Having just finished the book ‘War with Newts’ by Karel Capek I realized that very similar words were spoken by a child at the zoo looking at the new breed of newts discovered by Capitan van Toch. Now there is a book I would recommend to many people. Written in 1936 this dark satire follows the discovery of a very intelligent newt community (almost human sized)that has great capacity for learning. The newts are taught to dive for pearls in exchange for knives to defend themselves. The story then precedes to examine many human follies as the newts learn quickly from the humans forcing humans to reexamine the way of interacting with this animal. So, sitting watching a little kid question his mother about the great apes I relaxed while considering the social transformation of the newt from a working animal, to a race with constitutionals right in the eyes of law, and started considering what would happen if it were these apes and not Capek’s newts (Evidently some of the concepts are touch on in ‘Raise of the Apes’).
Realizing the sun was starting to set and I had been in the zoo for 6hrs I returned to Cesars place stopping only to pick up highly recommended Indian food. Imaging naan with coconut inside…

The following few days were mostly dedicated to sight seeing Balboa Park, La Jolla Cove, climbing and meeting Cesar’s collection of characters. Balboa park is the equivalent to New York’s Time square or Chicago’s Millenium park but much bigger (490 ha). The is one of the oldest areas dedicated to public recreation containing gardens, theaters, the zoo, many different museums, restaurants and more. Locals go jogging through the garden while tourists and locals alike bask in the sun listening to guitar players flexing their skills near friendship pond.

La jolla cove is a host to seals and sea lions warming on the shores and rocks like plump little sausages roasting over a grill, The scent of seals and sea lions seems to me to be a combination of unwashed bellybutton with rotting fish.

One evening Jeff invited me to the premier of ‘The forbidden tomb of Genghis Khan’. A UCSD student goes on a journey to non intrusively search for Genghis Khans tomb using all the latest technology along with citizen scientist. A truly inspiring story both in terms of methodology and sheer physical feat.
http://exploration.nationalgeographic.com/mongolia/content/forbidden-tomb-genghis-khan-airs-tonight-nov-9-9p-etpt
Other sites worth noting are in general the UCSD campus and San Diego’s Historic District.

(Any one know what recent movie this library was used for?)

Finally the last night was a perfect summary of the many different type of people living in San Diego. The night started out in the upscale swanky area east of La Jolla, where we had dinner hosted by Martin at his absolutely gorgeous house on the mountain side and ended up learning about the abdominal strength needed to pole dance at ‘The Flame’.
I am extremely grateful to Cesar for hosting me this previous week and Jeff for showing me around UCSD and finding time to catch up. I send my greeting out to all the people I met in San Diego, you will be missed.
Mexico City via Tijuana….you are next.

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