Day 16: the view

It's been a week that we're working at a "shelter" studio, because our own is under renovation. It takes an hour to get there, which is way longer than my normal 5minute walk. But if we didn't have to work there, I think I wouldn't have seen Mexico the way I did.

Have a look.

Days 12-15: WWW (work work & work)

Computer is what I spend my days with. 9 hours at the office is not an amazing way to spend my time in Mexico. But every day I get some new clues about this world.

For example, on Monday (Day 12) I've found out how hard it is to get home after working hours. It took me three metro trains to actually get on one. And still we were like sardines in a can. Although I'm not sure if sardines have been underground.

Day 10&11: Camping

It's been busy and tiring week and it's not over yet. But I've finally sat down to write about my weekend.

Thanks to my house mate Renee my weekend's plans changed completely. She was going with some friends to the Hot air Balloon festival out of town and when she figured they were gonna cap out there, it took me only 10seconds to say yes to her invite.

And so I've packed my backpack in about 3 minutes and was off for an adventure.

Of course, we were not the only people going to the festival; so it took us 3 hours to get there and we weren't actually moving all the time.

Although we did move, unfortunately, on our feet when we had to reach the top of the volcano. Yes, the festival took place inside an old volcano. Sounds amazing, but it was not that great when we had to climb the mountain for an our with our backpacks, tents and water supply on our backs. And the road was 30-45 degree angle. Girls got smart - when we got tired, we walked backwards, which really helped. Still, that walk was not the happiest I've had.

A road and a path lead to a glorious mystery

And you can probably imagine our surprise when we got up the volcano and saw car parking full of cars, who belong to people, who know a "secret" road up.

Nevertheless, the view was worth the tiredness.

We camped inside the crater. It might not look very big, but believe me, it's about 50-60 meters deep. There were lots of tents, fireplaces, smoke (cos it's not that smart to have a fireplace inside a big bowl) and, of course, some balloons. There were mostly lanterns and only two hot air balloons, which were not operated by very skilled people. But nevertheless, the food court was great (at least in the evening) and we did have some good time.

Honestly, the festival wasn't that great. It wasn't well organised, because it was more of a mass camping and food place than a lantern and balloon festivity. Although there was one stage with music.

At some points of that night I did regret going there. But I did miss the cold (Mexico is such a stable-weather city) and I did get it - it was around 2-5 degrees Celsius that night and I was really happy I took my snowboarding jacket to Mexico. Drinking tea or coffee wasn't an option to get warm, because the toilets were the place where you only go once. I mean, I'm OK with extruding the tea into a hole in the ground topped with a wooden apple box, but the "door" was a curtain. And I had to pay. So as I said - the less drinking the better.

Looks like volcano woke up. But then I remembered I am in the crater, so it can't be.

But at end of it all, I'm glad I went. I mean, how may people can say that they've been camping in the volcano in Mexico? Now I can.

It's over and we've heading down hill

Day 9: the palace

After a long and tiring day of work my co-workers took me to the Centro Historico to eat. It was dark, it was Friday and there were so many people, you feel like a fish in a can.

But, boy, it was beautiful. As I wrote before, it took as an hour (or more) to get there and about the same time to get back home. But I've had a very nice dinner with nice people at a great place.
OK, the food was not amazing, although locals say "Sanborns" is the best place to eat Mexican. I've ate Italian : ) I've tried Mexican food form my friend's plate and it was not extraordinary. But the restaurant itself was extremely beautiful.

We've ate at "Sanborns de los Azulejos" - a former palace of Los Azulejos, now - a shopping place and a restaurant. It's a really beautiful building - it has frescos and mosaics and all the other good stuff that palaces should have. And there also are huge old mirrors on the second floor. I would dare to say that the hall we were eating at used to be a dance hall.

Although it might have been a little hard to dance, because it was a little hard to walk for me in that building. And it just because when you walk from the left to the right of the building - you walk uphill. The whole building is sloping. I was told it's because, apparently, "the whole Mexico is built on water" (I understood that as "on swamp"). 

So the whole time I was eating I could feel I was falling backwards. The sloping is not that big; maybe 7-12cm in total building width, but I could really feel it.

So "Sanborns" of Los Azuleros is really worth visiting and experiencing.

(I'm sorry, but I had to google the pictures, because my trip there was unexpected and I didn't have a camera. Still, the pictures represent what I saw really well)

Dancing (?) hall on 2nd floor

1st floor

1st floor

Day 8: Traffic

There's lots of traffic in Mexico city. The streets are wide (and mostly one-way), but the amount of cars makes the streets very crowded. Especially on Friday (Day 9), when it took us an hour to drive 5km. Traffic policemen are whistling and waving their hands while the drivers are honking.

And while driving on not-so-crowded-as-on-Friday Thursday's streets with my colleague, I've found out that
if you're a woman and you drive alone during dark hours, you may cross a red light. This does not apply if you are not alone, even if the passenger is a lady too. Or if you are a lonely man.

I think it's like an unwritten rule, because as I understood, if you do cross a red light and there happens to be a policeman he wouldn't stop you (if you are a woman and alone).
I guess this is some kind of a safety issue although it's not that safe to cross a red light.

So you can imagine how "safe" is Mexico city during nights, even though everyone says it's the safest city in this country.

Day 7: Bakery

There is a bakery almost on every corner. Some are specialized in cupcakes (there's so many of them), but most offer various choices. Some are bigger (huge), some are smaller or even tiny.  In most you may pay with a credit card, some one is special. The 'special' one is called "La Espiga" and is at the corner of Insurgentes Sur and Baja California (metro "Chilpancingo").

It not super-extra-amazing, but it has a big variation of pastries and is very cheap. AND I was surprised about the paying method. When I saw their cash register I immediately understood there's no way I could pay by card. The machine was from around 1940s and I've never seen anything like it. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, but it looked something like this one:

 

Oh, and I got some pastries, of course. One of them was so funny - a chocolate mouse. It's like soft chocolate cookie with a hard chocolate topping. Lithuanians know it as 'bulvyte', but I've never seen it made so beautifully. 

By the way, the ears are made of almonds and the tail - of a toothpick. And it's very tasty (the mouse, that is, not the toothpick): )

Day 6: work. Again

This is where I spend my mornings, evenings and nights

Not so much interesting happened today. Although it was a bit better than yesterday. I've finally got something to design - a logo. Thing is, I was told what it's supposed to be, so it was more of variations than actual creations. Still, I've spent about 1,5 hour putting myself to a good use. The other 7,5 hours of my work day I was peeling the vinyl foil off the metal block (which was not so easy and my fingernails hurt), then having lunch with the guys from work (where they all spoke Spanish about football with some added inside jokes - meaning, I was kinda bored) and then I've spent a few more hours by the computer reading newspapers, facebook and googling stuff. I did get to know how to use a printer at the office and even printed 8 copies of something which was a high point of my afternoon.

Finally the girl who is looking after me came back from where she was (where ever that may be) and after I showed her the best way to fix some problems she had in the software I was told I could go home.

I could have done that 4 hours ago.

But I did get a very nice salad on the way home and had a great dinner. So that made my evening.

Now I'm hoping I'm gonna have some dedicated friends or family who would wake up really early in the morning to talk to me before I go to bed. Cos now that I'm working (sort of) there aren't many time intervals when I can talk to the people from across the pond.

The Birds

To my maybe unnecessary surprise, people are really into Angry Birds here.
We don't even have such things in Europe, even though Angry Birds are Finish (European, that is).

 

There are also lots of toys, candy, soft drinks, piggie (birdie?)-banks and so on and on.

One lady was selling huge - about 70cm (over 2feet) high birdie-banks at Coyoacan. Those were spectacular ceramic beer glasses with an Angry Bird on top - all you have to do was just choose your favourite flying hero.

Day 5: A job

I had to be at work at 10.30h; I didn't how long I would walk so I happen to come early. Great news - it's only a 6min walk from my home. Nice.

But the girl that had to meet me was very relaxed about our appointment and came in only 11.45h. So all that time I was sitting boringly at the studio.
When she got there I've finally had something to do - clean aluminium cubes and wrap them in vinyl foil. Seems weird, but it wasn't that easy, because all the lines had to match... etc.

At the end I had to leave early (6pm) because I couldn't help not falling asleep. For some reason I was very tired. Maybe I'm not as good with time zone travelling as I thought.

By the way, our studio works 10am-7pm, which I was told is quite common in Mexico. And our lunch break took 1.5h. Quite nice, very delicious, but not very effective (in a working way).

Mexicans also walk very slow! This is kind of annoying, because their normal walking speed is like my grandma's relaxed walk in the forest. And I am extra fast even for normal European people.

I guess  have to relax and try to fit the local speed (and timing).

Day 4: The Independence day

Since I was told it was not a very good idea to go to the Centro Historico (Old town) on Sunday, me and Lucy went to see the parade.

To my surprise we were at the most famous icon the the Mexico city - El Angel.

The parade was marching (with songs) for two and a half hours. So go here for all the pictures.

Day 3: Coyoacan

It's an amazing place. Looks like a separate town in the city. It was the night before the Independence day, so there were quite some policemen and -women. And that was also the reason why after going on the metro and on the bus, the bus suddenly stopped and everyone had to leave - the streets were simply closed so we had to walk a bit more than we expected. But, boy, that was worth it.
In general, we walked, we ate, we listed to mariachis, and we saw the fair.

Just look at the pictures and imagine the goodness.

More pics of Coyoacan

 I liked a lot that there were many people wearing traditional clothing, or at least clothes in Mexican colors.

And almost all the little girls wore Mexican dresses. Beautiful! 

More pics of the people

Day 3: Day before the Independence day

 
After spending half of my Saturday thinking where to go and then realising that I don't have enough time to go anywhere in case I want to come home before dark, I was not so happy.

And then Lucy (Lucia) - my house mate, knocked on my door and said she gonna go to town. Yey!! We were supposed to go to a mall and then to Coyoacan (realy nice neighbourhood) to eat, but we had to change some of that.

Saturday was the day before Independence Day and it has a tradition of being in the down town and shouting "Viva Mexico!". A president says a speech and so on. Still, the locals (people from my house) told me that it's not safe because of the amount of people and the possible shootings in the centre (some people are not very keen on 'el presidente'). So we decided to have a nice celebratory dinner at home.

This meant we need a celebratory soup. It takes the whole day to make, so we'd better get it from a nice restaurant.  And so we went there.

It was nice, because I found out how the Metro works here. Which is very simple and very cheap ($3 = 0,18 eur)

And then we saw the restaurant.

The mob in the middle is the one waiting by the restaurant

There were two crowds - one to get inside to eat, another waiting for a take-away. We were a part of the second one. And we were waiting for at least an hour to get that soup. Most of the people had their own containers and so did we. But with asking for 4 litres of soup we were very humble. I saw a man with three normal-sized plastic buckets. That makes it 30 (!) litres of soup.

Luckily we've got a taxi home, so it was fast, cheap (1eur) and very easy on my hands.

And an hour later we were having a very nice Mexican dinner while watching TV - greetings and music (and boxing) on a Mac.

Strangely (or not) very special Mexican soup was taken with Coca-Cola. It didn't matter that they have a 'mui rico' (very tasty) fruit drinks here in Mexico - they are very popular. But apparently not on such a celebration.

The soup contained some kind of liquid, corn, radish, chicken, lettuce and spices. I've also ate that with a crisp with cream cheese. Very Very good!








P.S. We did go to Coyoacan after bringing the soup home. But this will be in my next post.

Day 2: dollares a pesos

My new belongings of the Day 2

And so it happens that if you live in another country than your own, you might need local money.

I was told by my landlady that there is an HSBC bank just across the street where I can get money for less bank taxes. And so I went there. Although HSBC is an international (American?) bank, they don't speak English, so I had to try remember my still not-so-fresh Spanish. "Si puedo... (change!! change!! How is 'change' in Spanish?) aa... dollares a pesos?" The answer was no. The man behind the glass told me I should look for a "casa de cambio" which is somewhere two blocks away.

So I was going those two blocks away with no exchange place in sight and with my $300 in the pocket. And that was in the city where everyone tells you not even bring your phone with you. So I wasn't feeling very comfortable, but then I just tried to look relaxed like I know where I'm going and I'm totally local. Which I'm not. At all. Cos it's the first time I see this street and these houses and these people.

Luckily there was a policeman in the street (with bullet-proof vest, of course). I was hoping a policeman is someone I could trust so I asked where I could "aa... dollares a pesos? Cambiar?" He explained me the way, which was NOT two blocks away and in a completely different street. At least I can understand Spanish way better than I speak. And so I went for another half of a kilometre to the exchange place, with happened to be a huge bank. Not HSBC, of course.

The bank appeared to be very contemporary, very spacious. It had numbers on the paper, so I thought it would be just like home. The lady working there helped me to print the correct number and I was waiting.

And then I understood that the numbered paper system works a bit differently here. The number only says after who you are, but it doesn't mean that when your number hits the screen it's time for you to go to the window. It like this: the lady shouts the numbers: "728, 729, 730!" Then people with those numbers line up in a queue and wait. I was no.732
When the window is free, the lady lets you go there. It doesn't matter any more what was your number. With my 732 I walked to the window when the screen showed 736. It seems that screen numbers go by time or so. I didn't get it well. I think Mexicans didn't get the numbered system either.

When I got to the window and showed my passport, gave my local address and so on, I've got a receipt to sign on what amount of pesos I will get. That was supposed to be $3516,00 (pesos' sign is the same as dollar's). Guess how much I've got?
6x500, which makes it $3000. I was like "aaa... tres mil? (three thousand) No bueno?" "A! Si." And then I've got my other 500, which is $40 US. Not that little, hm? I didn't even ask for those 16 pesos. That's like 1 euro.

So, if you happen to be in Mexico, DO check the money you're given. Always.

Day 2: Call me

This is how it is: if you want to have a SIM card to call form Mexico to Mexico, you have to buy a phone. There's no such thing as JUST a pre-paid card. It only goes together with the phone. So now I'm a proud owner of two Nokias - my regular one with Lithuanian number and an "amazing" pink Nokia 100 for 299pesos (23eur). It even has three games!! OK, it's a good phone. But I didn't even think they still make phones with no cameras. Apparently, they do.

PS. I do not have a smart phone, because I feel smart enough myself. No offence.

Postings

Although I didn't have much to do for the first days of my stay here in Ciudad de Mexico [siuda de mechico], but I wasn't so keen on writing either. Sleeping was my favourite thing to do. But now that I didn't write for a few days I feel obliged to enter new posts, cos, well, I promised  to (try) write a blog. So I'm trying.
My Days no. 2&3 will be here soon. But now I have to downstairs and celebrate El Dia de Independencia de Mexico (independence day) with my house-mates. We've got some great Mexican food so I can't wait.
I'll tell you all about this as soon as possible.

Buen provecho!

Day 1: friends

I feel so lonely. I don't know anything, anyone and I have nothing except my clothes and computer. And I'm hungry. Sandwich from McDonald's was horrible. Yoghurt was better.

Lucy showed me the supermarket called "Superama". I've got some food. But, boy, was that difficult. There is no brand that I know (well, except Danone). It's not only that I don't know where stuff is put in the shop, but also I know no foods at all. At the end I've got some tomatoes, bananas, cereal, yoghurt (not Danone), pasta, tuna, sugar and flour, and "Real American Orange" juice. So I can make some dishes that I know (pasta and pancaces) before I get to know the Mexican eating habits.

Later I've found out that most of the foods have fake paints in them. So when I drank a red ice tea, my spit was bright red. How great is that?! (that'd be sarcasm if you could hear my thoughts)

Got back home. I'm tired. It's early afternoon here, but it's already late evening at home (Europe that is). I don't know where I could go and my house-mate already went with me to the supermarket, so what could I ask more?

I've surfed the internet and watched some films. Finally, I've talked to my family. But when they hang up, my only friend here was Mr.David Crews. He's like my Wilson on this lonely island of Mexican house.
 

Hm, everyone told me "AY! Que te encanta mucho en Mexico!" (You're gonna love it in Mexico!)
Sorry, not yet.