Getting to Guanajuato

Mo and John drove me to the airport and I treated them to our traditional pre-trip treat at Tim's. The flight to Vancouver went well, as did the one to Mexico City. I watched "Mockingjay Part One" and " The Theory of Everything".  As the latter was ending and Steven Hawking was about to bring an audience to its feet with his words about hope and man's resiliance, I saw the lights of Mexico City from the window. From that moment on I could not get my eyes off their glamour. They spread out below in acres of lamé.    We landed and the splendor ended. Mexico City airport at midnight is not pleasant. Fortunately I had no luggage to wait for and haul around because just getting to Terminal 2 involved a tram that was out of order, a bus that only took people who had passes and the help of a lovely woman who got me on the same bus she was taking and entertained me by recounting her complaints about how things don't work in Mexico in spite of the armies of uniformed people who are everywhere doing nothing. This was my Graham Greene in Mexico moment. It was not my last. Air Canada had not issued me with a boarding pass for Leon, so as soon as I arrived in Terminal 2, I went to the Air Mexico desks to get one. There wasn't much happening there. One woman condescended to make me a pass and told me to wait in 'sala'2, an enormous area with nothing but rows of uncomfortable seats. After a few hours there, I went for a walk. It was about 4:00am. The place was cold and empty aside from a few bodies sitting and sprawled in uncomfortable positions. The pnly thing open was a 'pharmacia'. The sole person at the Air Mexico desk told me that my plane would be boarding at 8:20 from sala 72. I went there to spend another 4 uncomfortable hours, only to discover when I had heard no call by 8:15, that my plane had already departed from sala 75 about 10 minutes earlier. My heart survived the shock of that news  and the subsequant running around pleading, arguing and finally buying another ticket for Leon, so I think it's in pretty  good  shape. As in most bad times there is one good person, so on this early morning there was a boy who works at the Starbucks in Terminal 2.  When I couldn't connect with any wifi system, he let me use his phone to email Rolando from the school to tell them I would be arriving much later than expected. His boss almost got on his case, but I convinced him not to. Finally, after about 15 hours in the lowest and coldest level of hell, I got on a plane to be jostled through turbulance to Leon. Rolando met me and drove me to meet the family with whom I will live for the next two weeks. All is well but I'm still not warm. We went for a long walk around the city today. It didn't rain much, but I was only warm when we were walking uphill. Fortunately there was a lot of that. Now, after a delicious dinner, I'm under the blankets, wearing every warm thing I have with me. I even have the hood up on my MEC jacket. 

Mexico Ciy by day, as big but not nearly so bright as by night.