so much to learn

For the first few days I hated the subway, but now that we`ve learned how the monster works and how to use it, we really really like it. Granted, it`s about 20 degrees hotter underground, often a sardine in a car of sweaty patrons. People hop on and off at stops to shout about the candy their selling, or blasting a CD from the speakers in their backpack, only 10 pesos!!! During rush hours in the morning and after a certain time in the evening, the women and children are in seperate cars (by choice, I just stay with Ian). All this urban-mexican fun for only 2 pesos! The metro lines snake from the far reaches of the city, taking you anywhere you want to go more quickly, less confusingly, and cheaper than by bus or taxi.

And the busses, short and small like the rest of Mexico. I can`t count how many times I`ve bumped by head on doorways or wrung my neck on the tarps that hang over the market. On the metro I have at least 2 feet of head space! A miracle!



Yeeeeeeeeesterday, we made it to a gallery in the Polanco neighborhood, called Ginocchio Galeria. I found the place because I thought they had photography up, but they were showing a beautiful exhibit by a single artist, in oil and graphite. Still way worth it.

Then we made our way back into the Bosque Chapultepec, where there are a bunch of museums, to see the Rufino Tomayo Contemporary Art Museum. It was SOOOOOO great. Their current large exhibition was a mix of chicano artists (everyone that I read on was from LA) commenting on the Chincano art movement, but also working in a post-chicano movement. Everything was beautiful and enriching. A lot more fun for us than the History Museum. The image is by Hugo Lugo, one artist that stuck in my mind from the museum.

After discovering that the Modern Art Museum is closed for some reason, we walked down the Avenida Reforma to La Zona Rosa - D.F.`s neighborhood that seems to hint at something like the Castro. Several sex shops, `LGBT clothing stores` as the tour guides call the pleather shops, expensive shoe stores and all.
There are a couple yuppy markets (like people selling antiques and used books for ridiculous markups) and a lot of cafes and restaurants, but mostly things like McDs and Burger King, KFC and Dunkin Donuts, etc. A noticable majority are young and often punk, this aspect reminded me of Haight Street. A couple times I had a sort of brain lapse and thought I was in San Francisco.

After our busy days we`re usually wiped, and spend the darktimes in the apartment reading or cooking, drinking coffee. We get internet to get out of the house because it`s inside of our secured complex. In a couple days we`re going to a new host in a new neighborhood, so I hope we`re closer to more fun things to do and I hope that makes it okay to go out at night.

Today was a nice Sunday. We went to the weekend market and got fresh delicious salty cheeses (the cheese at Mega is super bland) and fresh veggies and such for a nice homemade spaghetti sauce for the roommates.

ciao