I'm sitting in the shade with Barb on the roof of her casita. There's a slight breeze, a cacique is sipping from the hummingbird feeder and all's well with the world, at least here for the moment. I've been paying less attention than usual lately to the news of the world and trying to read about Mexico in Spanish, so I will begin with something that interested me while we were having our week of classes.
On a small hill in Santiago de Querétaro where Maximilian 1 and two of his commanders were executed there stands an impressively huge but not finely detailed stone block statue of Benito Juarez. He was the president of Mexico before the conservative upper class Mexicans together with Napoleon 111 forcefully installed Maximilian 1 as emperor of Mexico. He never officially resigned. And he was president again after Maximilian's execution. He is the only President of Mexico to be recognized with an annual day of remembrance. The current President of Mexico, AMLO as he is usually referred to here in the news, considers Benito Juarez to be his mentor. I think both were born in Oaxaca, and Benito Juárez was indigenous by birth. I don't know enough about the current situation in Mexico to comment but I do admire the quotation from Benito Juárez that appears beneath his enormous statue:
Entre los individuos como entre los nationes el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.
1872
Between individuals as between nations respect for the rights of others is peace.
1872
And in spite of the fact that one of my teachers in Querétaro and my dentist in Puerto Vallarta take a
dim view of AMLO, I can't help but think well of a person who is inspired by Benito Juárez. Reading a bit about AMLO recently in an attempt to improve my Spanish has been a hopeful and welcome break from the venality that pervades all the Trumped up news we have been smothered in at home. That's not to say that Mexico's new government has had much success changing long established ways of doing things yet. The level of violence in some states is still staggering and the lines of cars waiting to buy gas in The Bajio as a result of the pipeline breakins and explosion were very long. Jalisco and Nayarit are less affected as usual. Tourism here brings in so much money that the government somehow always keeps a tight hold on things.
Now to get back to the trip. Mo and John drove me to the airport and all flights went well. I was a bit freaked out before we landed in the Mexico City Airport because the last time I was there I had had to wait ten hours for my flight to Leon, which I slept through. Consequently I had to buy another ticket for the next plane. But all went well this time. I read a very good blog, Eternal Expat, before leaving home and confidently followed her advice. I walked straight to the taxi stand she recommended, bought a ticket for the address of the bnb Barb had rented and was there in as little time as is possible considering how huge Mexico City is. The last time I was there was with Jim and Jay in January, 1986, not long after the devastating earthquake of September 19, 1985. It's probably bigger now but it was enormous then too. The main difference was that this time there were no crumbled buildings and armies of people with loaders and trucks and shovels and wheelbarrows working to clear the rubble.
Barb had found us an Airbnb in Mexico City on the 15th floor of an apartment building just a block away from the Teatro des Belles Artes. It was a bit chilly and minimalist but had a great location and view and suited us well.
We spent our first day visiting the Museum of Anthropology and Chapultepec Park. The former is a spectacular structure and contains really well set out and informative exhibits. It and the park are much as I remembered them; although the park paths and the whole area have been worn down by
the passage of millions of feet over the past 33 years. Jay was saying the other day that he’s the same age now as I was when we were first there.
This is the stone of the sun
Jay bought a copy of it one time when he was in Mexico. I wear it now because he gave it to me on a silver chain before he left for Korea this
time.
This was my favorite statue in the museum. It’s called Pareja De Ancianos. It seems that from well before Aztec times and continuing on,the idea of duality has been central to indigenous stories in Mexico, the sun and the moon, the eagle and the jaguar. This ancient couple was considered to be the progenitors of people who carried their spirits down to earth
The next day we took an Uber to the North Bus Station and went to Teotihuacán. It was as grand a site as I had remembered, but the pyramids were more breathtaking, literally, than they were when I was 38. We climbed as high as you are allowed to on the Pyramid of the Moon and gave the Pyramid
of the Sun a pass. Before leaving we climbed the Temple of the Feathered Serpent which was impressive. I don't remember it from the first time. The other difference that really struck me was the fact that instead of being surrounded by the sound of flutes being blown by the vendors selling them, the weird screech of wild cats filled the air. The big for sale now is toy jaguar.
Barb has mastered the Uber App on this trip. My excuse for not learning to use it is that I don't have a data plan in Mexico while she does. We learned about how great Uber is in Mexico by reading the Eternal Expat blog. We took an Uber the next day to Coyoacán, a part of Mexico City that Barb wanted to see. It's where Diego Rivera, Trotsky and Frida Kahlo, among many other artists and activists lived. We visited Frida's family home where she and Diego lived as well. I had not appreciated the extent to which her illness and accident had handicapped her. One of the most interesting displays was of her clothes. It was very impressive to see how she designed her outfits to accommodate the body brace she had to wear and at the same time be flattering and incorporate elements of the Oaxacan indigenous style and fabrics she admired.
The next day we took an excellent Uber to the North Bus Station again and caught a bus to Querétaro to begin our classes. The Airbnb Barb had reserved was near the edge of the old colonial town, an easy walk to our school which was appropriately named Babilon Language Coaching. We were the only students there at the time, so the different level group classes we had signed up for were not a possibility. But things were soon arranged so that we had private classes and fewer hours for the same rate as we had been quoted. There were two teachers and we each had one for two days and the other for three. They were both good, but the status of the school remains a mystery to us. There was one administrator and at least two women in the office at all times, class rooms were named New York and Beijing and the school remains on line as one of the best language schools in Querétaro, but why weren't there more students there when we were. We went to classes in the mornings and walked all over Querétaro in the afternoons and evenings. We were very lucky on our first night walk to catch the last of the Christmas light show and entertainment, music and dancing from hip hop to ballroom.
After our Friday classes we took a bus to Leon where we stayed for two nights in an Airbnb, walked many more kilometres around town, through the leather district and inside churches and other sites. My back was steadily improving, right arm still mostly useless and downright painful at times, but the feet and legs performed well. Barb and I both have
We flew on Interjet: cheap, quick, comfortable and free beer, from Leon to Puerto Vallarta, stayed that night in a hotel and the next day Barb went home to La Penita and I got a cab to the Baughan's, no more Uber Barb, where Ken met me at the door. It was fun to see them once again settled into a comfortable condo with a great view of the Bay of Banderas. I went to the dentist, had good meals and chats with Ken and Carolyn and walked up and down the Cuale River visiting our old houses and other places I wanted to see again.
Baughans are in a new place this year, smaller then their last but new and well made, with a great view of the Bay of Banderas and a spare bedroom for me. Bonus.
Now I'm in La Penita with Barb. The ride here on a Pacifico bus revealed even more development than there had been last time. The Riviera Nayarit is booming. Huge chain stores, car dealerships and every possible business connected with tourism completely covers the distance between PV and the north end of Bucerias. Then you drive through a bit of relatively unchanged countryside where the branches of trees arch over the road before arriving at the sprawl that is now Sayulita. From there to here is pretty much built up. But Barb's casita is still shady and overlooks an entertaining estuary full of life. I've seen the small crocodile on the shore and five iguanas in the palm tree, not to mention innumerable birds:
Anhingas, Kingfishers, Tricoloured herons,Yellow crowned night herons with amber eyes,Great white egret and cattle egret, White,green legged, pink footed storks, just to name a few. Barb and I have continued our marathon walks, around town and on the beach. We've had swims in the ocean followed by drinks at restaurants on the beach and we've eaten out many times. It's been a very restful holiday. My back is almost better and right arm is improving too. Because of the latter I haven't been able to cut my hair in a couple of months. One of the highlights of the stay here was a visit to Barb's hairdresser. Barb had told me that she takes her time and that I might have to wait quite a while as she carefully cuts the hair of the client before me. That certainly was the case. I waited at least half an hour as she meticulously trimmed the hair of the young man in front of me. But I didn't mind. His hair was glorious and deserved the attention. Plus it gave me time to discover something Barb had not told me; Mia, the hairdresser is transgender. Her voice is still quite low but her skin is beautifully smooth and her body feminine. She wore a plain but smart dress covered by an apron. She cut my hair with a professional authority that unnerved me and precluded all thought of my giving her suggestions. In the end it was shockingly short. I looked like what my mother would have referred to as a peeled eel. I have since bought gel for the first time in my life and spray and am slowly beginning to work with it. It is well cut, much better than I have ever done myself in these last years. I will soon be as happy with it as I ever am with my hair. I have met some of Barb's friends and been included in dinners out. We have walked on the beach many times, which I love, and continued to build up our kilometres covered which we started in Mexico City. We walked and biked, she has three bikes, all over. La Penita is now the only place where I swim in the ocean and even though age and injuries keep me from serious swimming, I love bobbing in the ocean waves.
It's my last evening in Mexico. I'm back in PV. I've seen the dentist a second time and had a cap put on the one really problem tooth. I'm back at Carolyn and Ken's, sitting on their balcony. They've gone out to a dinner party. I was watching the end of the work day for the guys building the new condos around here and now I'm sipping a weird drink I bought at Ley's and watching the sunset and the action in the surrounding restaurants, sometimes using dad's binoculars and sometimes not. It's a warm breezy evening. The sun is bright and there are a few clouds so my last PV sunset might be a good one.
I was really happy to see Dick and Ellen today. We met at the Hotel Rosita on the north end of the Malecón and walked and talked our way to a restaurant further south. They remain an admirable couple. We met them at the tennis club early in our stay in 1995. It's largely thanks to them that we met so many people and had such a good time that year. Our yearly meetings in Montreal for the tennis Masters and their visits with us after were always a wonderful time. And we had some fine holidays with them at their homes in Kennebunk, Maine and Peacham, Vermont. They didn't get here this year until last Sunday because Ellen had an operation on the veins of one leg but they're happy to be here now given the horrendous winter in central and eastern Canada and the USA. I'm very glad that I was able to see them again.
I return to Vernon tomorrow. The winter there has been relatively mild. I think tomorrow might be the coldest day they've had since I left a month ago. I've been feeling ready to get back to some 'bracing' weather for the last couple of day, but as I sit here now I wonder if I should give myself a slap. The mornings and evenings in PV are perfect even if the days are too hot for me now and the Baughan's balcony has a wonderful view.
The clouds have blackened as I've been writing this, so perhaps there won't be much of a sunset. The breeze is wonderfully warm though.
I'm going to go in now and heat up the pollo al carbon I bought earlier today and have my last supper in PV. The moon is a fine bright hammock hung in the dark sky.
