Pancho Villa, Tequila, y la Policia: Mexico City Day 1

Well, I made it Mexico City and have to say that so far, I am in love. It's sort of a mashup of Venice boardwalk and downtown LA with colonial architecture thrown in for good measure. It's a beautiful, crowded, jumbled city and I love it.

The flight to Mexico was utterly uneventful and I was exhausted from my final week in LA so I slept the whole way here and even had trouble waking up for the landing. I got an "approved" taxi at the airport and we were off to the hostel. The taxi driver was a nice, older man who made small talk in Spanish with me while we made our way through the traffic to the hostel. At one point, disgusted with the traffic, he suggested that maybe I would like to stay at another hostel, maybe one that wasn't so far, but I persisted and we arrived a few minutes later.

The hostel is nice and clean. My room mates have been fine so far. There is a young German woman who was very inquisitive and when she found out what I'm doing and how old I am told me that I am very brave for ignoring societal norms and not become an adult. I wanted to tell her that she was very brave to say that to my face, but I bit my tongue and just said thank you. It really doesn't matter what some German girl thinks, I'm on the right path, I can feel it.

I slept for a few hours and when I woke up, I made a deal with myself that I would just have a beer at the bar and then go back to bed and attack the city this morning. However, as the saying goes, my best intentions and plans were... well...

I was at the bar when I started talking to the bartender who is from Austin, Texas and a fellow guest who is from Belfast and they were going to a party and invited me along. I figured that it couldn't hurt to go out and see a little of the city and so the night began! We met up with Rob and James, two PhD students visiting Mexico for their research and a man from Spain. We walked to a bar called Opera Cafe that was a beautiful old restaurant built at the turn of the century. We joined a bigger group of people who were celebrating a birthday and enjoyed a beer or two while offering birthday wishes. The man sitting next to me explained that in the corner of the room, there were bullet holes in the ceiling from when Pancho Villa had shot the ceiling. To be honest, I couldn't tell from the story if he shot the ceiling as a celebration or intimidation.

After the Opera bar, we walked to the sister hostel to our own and saw a great reggae band perform. We danced to the great music and then Jose, a member of the group decided that it was time to do shots of tequila. I don't usually drink tequila so I felt the shot almost immediately. Still, the night was young and we were having fun so it was time to go to the next party. I started talking to a woman from Spain named Ana and invited her to join us. We wandered out of the hostel and into the streets of Mexico City which is when we discovered that it is illegal to carry an open beer in the streets.

The police came up to us and took the beer away before they began asking questions and talking about arresting us. The police and our group of five took turns saying semi-apologetic, semi-hostile things to one another and looking at our feet. It was finally determined that 200 pesos (about $20) could help the officers forget about the beer and we walked away a little shaken and about 200 pesos lighter. I know it's awful, but there's something about watching people bribe the police that made me feel like I'm truly in Mexico City.

We walked to a museum where there was a party and a bar on the second floor. I think the museum was about the history or telephones, but my comprehension was rather compromised by then, so it could have been an art museum. I ordered a Coca-Cola in an effort to move away from booze. It was a good choice and we danced for a while to some great music.

Finally, it was time to get a little bit of late night food and then crash. We walked to a cafe near the hostel called "Cafe Popular" where I had chorizo and black beans that was so delicious I worried that I had died and gone to heaven. Cafe Popular is an all-night diner manned by round older women who could be your abuela (grandma) instead of your waitress. Finally, full of delicious food and happy to be wandering to the hostel, I climbed into my bed and slept deeply. I'm sure I snored loud enough to make my room mates wonder if they should look for another room.

My first nigh in Mexico City was a beautiful success.

Day 2: Frida Kahlo, Leon Trotsky, and The Cardinal

A Poem

I have been writing again lately and it seems important to go ahead and share these things. If only because it forces me to be honest and admit that I am doing it. I'm trying to treat writing less like masturbation and more like... baking?

Ventriloquist

There is a piece
An ossification
Near the center
   a bone that broke
   near the gut and between the lungs
   nestled at odd angle
   dangling heavy
That whines when a storm approaches
Long before the sky has darkened
   It's a storm I say
   It won't matter I say
The windows permanently shuttered
I am in the root cellar sorting
The rotting from the spoiled
   There must be something left to save
   Then look around

   Who said that?

In Which I Offer Advice

Okay, I'm not much of an advice person. I truly hate receiving it and don't much enjoy giving it as I am almost always certain that I'm wrong. But, I was asked by someone about how I travel and how I make it work. So, here's what I wrote in response.

Hi,

Oh my! I talk a big game, but I am not the most fearless traveler I know. In fact, I've learned a lot from other friends who are far more experienced than me. Basically, I've been very fortunate.

Normally, my travels are fairly brief. I started traveling after my divorce because while I was married, my exhusband always had an excuse for why we couldn't go somewhere or why the timing was wrong for a trip. So:

#1. Get rid of your excuses. None of them matter. 60 year old you will kick you for not doing things rather than for having to save a bit more aggressively for retirement later on or having to pay off debts.

#2. Travel alone. If you wait for someone to go with you, you'll never go. Stay in hostels and make friends with other travelers. I've made a lot of great friends in my travels and now, when I'm in Europe, I have people who can come and meet me for a weekend in Budapest or Brussels.

#3. Ask friends for connections and help. When I went to Slovakia, I was able to work it out with my employer here in the states so that I could take a month off from work. A Slovak friend helped me negotiate an "internship" in a brewery in Slovakia so they provided a base where I could live and work during the week and then spend the weekends traveling by train.

My current adventure is that I'm moving to Peru to get TEFL certification. Then, I'll look for a job and hopefully teach. I'm paying off all of my debts before I go and hoping for the best. I'm selling almost everything I own.

For me, life traveling alone has its ups and downs. It's great most of the time because you can do/see/eat exactly what you want and you don't have to discuss it with anyone or accommodate anyone. It can also be incredibly lonely. You may have made it to the Eiffel Tower, but guess what? There's no one with you to take a picture of you in front of it. So, you ask a stranger, and that's fine...

I've heard good things about couchsurfing.org I'm about to visit Mexico City and I'm thinking that I'll try it out to see if I can get someone to show me the city.

I hope this message isn't too totally pedantic and that at least some of the information was helpful. Buy your plane ticket and then just keep going!

Cheers,
~peigi

Things I've Done in Los Angeles

On May 22, 2004, I moved to Los Angeles from Las Vegas. I've had a very full life here and to celebrate, I sat down and made a list of some of the things I've done while living here:

1. Gotten married
2. Gotten divorced
3. -----
4. -----
5. Assisted at the births of five babies
6. Built numerous bonfires on the beach
7. Been engaged twice
8. Rear-ended, side-swiped, and clipped other cars
9. Ridden a Critical Mass
10. Trespassed in a Pelican Reserve
11. Fed a llama through a kitchen window
12. Shot at a bobcat with a bb gun
13. Found a snake in the bathroom
14. Eaten a rattlesnake that was killed by a neighbor
15. Swam in a salt water pool on the edge of a cliff
16. ----
17. Attended an art dinner
18. Attended the LATimes Festival of Books with an author
19. Attended a televised awards show in a gown
20. Got a friend to tell a crude joke in front of Leonard Maltin
21. Hiked to Griffith Observatory
22. Written for a music magazine
23. Brewed beer
24. Won a ribbon in the county fair
25. Attended a concert alone
26. Seen the following bands perform live: Cat Power, Pedro the Lion, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Band of Horses, Ryan Adams, Porter Wagoner, Marty Stewart, Maroon 5, Dwight Yokum, Billy Bob Thorton, Radiohead, M. Ward, Dengue Fever, Andrew Bird, Tom Brosseau, The Mountain Goats, Zoe Keeting, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Carol Channing, Michael Palin
27. Taught young offenders to knit
28. Volunteered at a homeless shelter
29. Ridden the metro
30. Been on the board of a brew club
31. ----
32. Ridden a motorcycle through the Angeles National Forest
33. Danced at King King in Hollywood
34. Puked in the bushes in Hollywood
35. Puked at a metro station
36. Biked down the coast
37. Eaten chicken satays at a curry festival
38. Taught people to brew beer
39. Worked in a yarn store
40. Taken a lot of classes: flamenco, yoga, stained glass, sewing, draping, pattern-making, doula-ing, writing, anatomy, human development, microbiology, statistics, biology, nutrition, homebrew, BJCP, beer flavors
41. Gotten a friend pregnant
42. Gone to a movie premiere for a movie voted "worst of the year"
43. Lived in: North Hollywood, MarVista, Hawthorne, Westchester, South Robertson, Little Armenia/Thaitown, Koreatown, Burbank, Altadena
44. Knit for a fashion company
45. Gone to Dodgers game
46. Eaten nachos at a Galaxy game
47. Had a beer at a UCLA hockey game
48. Gotten loads of parking tickets
49. Eaten cow tongue
50. Threatened someone with a knife
51. Been interviewed by the local news
52. Been interviewed for marketplace on NPR
53. Gone wine tasting
54. Learned to make gumbo
55. Dated online
56. Sabotaged a blow-up doll
57. Learned to be alone
58. Been painted nude
59. Bought a train case at the Pasadena Swap Meet
60. Been painted clothed
61. Gotten a colonoscopy and two endoscopies
62. Watched The Big Lebowski 500 times (at least)
63. Eaten Korean BBQ
64. Seen Mary Roach speak at USC
65. Been to a private presentation at the UCLA plantarium
66. Learned to navigate celestially
67. Worn a bear suit to my birthday party
68. Worn a bear suit to a political rally
69. Played croquet in Griffith Park
70. Gotten a turkey drunk
71. Had a chicken steal an egg from my plate
72. Watched a family of deer from a few feet away
73. Taken the ATV route to a campsite (in my Neon)
74. Taken a sound bath
75. Started my own business (as a doula)
76. Sewed a period costume based on a picture
77. Catered an art opening
78. Sat in a cubicle
79. Written short stories and poems
80. Started a novel
81. Attended a critique group at Beyond Baroque
82. Had five wisdom teeth removed
83. ----
84. Eaten from taco trucks
85. Attended a tattoo convention on the Queen Mary
86. Pet sharks, a starfish, and a manta ray
87. Given a cat cold medication
88. Invited strangers to parties and Thanksgiving
89. Take a sock monkey to a party at a museum
90. Broken up, a lot.
91. Gotten together
92. Been to the Magic Castle
93. Spilled red wine on a "serious magazine journalist"
94. Fed a Lorikeet by hand
95. Used a washboard to wash clothes
96. Watched a movie in a cemetery
97. Had fancy cocktails at the Edison
98. Ice skated in Pershing Square
99. Marched in an antiwar protest
100. Been invited to a "naked hottub" while dancing in Santa Monica
101. Pet a police officer's horse at the Blessing of the Animals
102. Taken Burlesque classes
103. Gone fabric shopping in the fashion district
104. Gone to the enormous flea market at the Vernon station
105. Raised worms on my patio