My second and last evening at Uriel's house was very fun. We shared some great music, he gifted me with one of his prints, which I think is fantastic, and we talked with his roomates Polo and Susanita until late into the night. I didn't mind not getting to see live music, because the company at his house more than made up for it. I had become a little more acclimated to speaking Spanish by day two, so the conversation had picked up considerably. Uriel, like all of my hosts at this point was more than hospitable - generous, kind and willing to help in any way he could.
The next morning we left for the bus station together - he to meet his friends to go to Mexico City and I to move on to Veracruz. The ride was short and pleasant, but upon arrival in Veracruz I was absolutely floored by the heat and humidity. I was experiencing some intense period related cramps and decided for my own sanity and comfort to find a cheap hotel in the immediate vicinity of the bus station to decompress. I quickly found a decent spot, and lavished in the luxury of air conditioning, a high flow shower head and alone time for a few hours before braving the hot weather to go exploring. After walking aimlessly in what I thought may have been the general direction of downtown I called Dinorah, my hospitalityclub connection, and she immediately agreed to meet me in the Zocalo that evening. I took a bus going that way, but apparently missed my stop. I ended up in a vaguely seedy neighborhood somewhere west of the city, bouncing around on unpaved roads seemingly headed directly into the ocean. The breeze through the windows and the lively chitchat among other riders brightened my mood, and I delayed asking the busdriver exactly where I had missed my stop because I was really enjoying this little excursion into a part of town that I was sure I would not be led into again soon. Eventually I got off, caught the same line back into the city and ended up in the Zocalo barely 15 minutes before Dinorah arrived. There was an odd little celebration going on in the center of the square which involved a bunch of talk about the importance of happy healthy families by a rather annoying master of ceremonies and a public wedding of three couples who looked more bored and distracted than happy and healthy. After dismissing this event as crap and making the connection with Dinorah, I joined her on a jaunt along the pier and a lively introductory chat in my by now much improved Spanish. I enjoyed our walk.
Veracruz is a very busy comercial port and there is a lot to see on the waterfront including the fishermen unloading their catch of the day, various musicians earning their keep, market stalls selling everything from incense to pottery, and so on. We decided to go and eat and I made a quick detour to the cash machine, where I discovered to my dismay that my debit card, and only source of cash was not in its usual little pocket in my wallet. I looked everywhere, but had to come to the conclusion that I had lost it somehow somewhere between Coyacan and Veracruz - a bit too large of a window to garner much hope of retrieving it. I had enough cash for dinner, and we sat down to explore my options. We were joined at dinner by Dinorah's friends Jose Luis and Rolando and I did my best not to be to freaked out by the vision of my trip disintegrating before me at that very moment.
My three new buddies drove me back to my hotel after dinner and I promised to call them as soon as I finished panicking. After going through every crevasse of my backpack, I had to face the fact that I had made the ultimate travellers mistake - losing all my access to cash without having made any emergency plan. I needed to think about where I wanted to wait out the days it would take to get a new debit card mailed to me, and quickly discarded Veracruz as an option because, as pretty as it is, it is simply too humid to handle. I had a few hundred dollars left on my credit card, and decided to use them to once again return to Mexico City, where I knew my buddies would be able to help. I spent the evening making various phone calls home and to D.F. and trying to heed my friends' and girlfriend's calming advice to not worry too much and to stop feeling like a total idiot.
The next morning I cancelled my card, arranged for a new one, tried to withdraw cash from my credit card and was rebuffed by unresponsive ATM's. In the afternoon Jose Luis picked me up at my hotel and took me to various banks to try and solve my cash flow issue, unsuccessfully. In the end, we went to the mall and simply charged a bus ticket to Mexico City to my card - the one thing I was still able to do. We spent the afternoon together riding around town, problem solving and sight seeing at the same time, and by the evening my panic had made way to dogged determination not to let this issue ruin a perfectly decent trip. We met up with Dinorah for dinner and then went to Jose Luis' house. After hanging out for an hour chatting, we went by Dinorah's where Jose Luis revealed that he is quite an accomplished musician. My travel guitar was clearly pleased to actually have a skilled hand playing it for once - it sounded so much better than when I play it! A litttle later we left to pick up Rolando and had dinner at a tiny hole in the wall restaurant with excellent empanadas. Rolando and I had a cheery conversation about our common love for Michael Moore, and we finished our evening excursion on the board walk, Veracruz's prime cruising, drinking and people watching spot. The action was not as hot as usual on Saturday night because it had been raining on and off all day, but the water was nice, and we had a few good laughs. I spent the night at Dinorah's house, and was happy once again to have found yet another charming, helpful and generous host.
I saw a lot of Veracruz on the prowl around town and was struck by how much larger it is than I originally thought. It is a tourist destination for many Mexicans and has some pretty beautiful spots, though no beach to speak of really. Too bad it rained so much of my time there. The sun finally started to shine and the air dried out on Saturday. The ride from Veracruz to D.F. was beautiful, and I can only recommend this part of the country as a destination.
Being on the bus back to D.F. once again, I was slowly becoming aware that this trip will now change form totally. I will have to wait at least 7 to 10 days for my new debit card to make it from the bank to my house in the States, to Mexico City. That puts me in the third week of May before I could even begin my journey towards Guatemala. I don't much go for trying to see a country in a week, and that is all I would have available in Guatemala, much of that time being spent on various means of more or less uncomfortable transportation...so with a pang of regret, I am cancelling all plans for Guatemala for now. I may end up regretting this decision. Every single traveller I have met who has been to Guatemala swears up and down that it is absolutely the best place to backpack, and I believe them. Nevertheless, since this trip has been so much about Mexico allready, and I am nowhere near done looking around this country, I will simply stay until it is time to visit Pandora in Belize at the beginning of June.
This is my third day back in Mexico City. I spent Saturday night with Georgina after she picked me up from the bus station, and we went first to some of her friends' house for dinner and a few glasses of wine, then to an italian restaurant to celebrate another friend's birthday. I enjoyed myself - especially at dinner, where I was endlessly entertained by the 6 month old Jorge and had my handwriting analyzed by a kind Spaniard who's name I forget now, sorry. (I am healthy, intelligent, stubborn and apparently able to control my emotions well) This man does this type of analysis professionally in a hospital where it aids in the early detection of debilitating illnesses. Very interesting. The evening didn't end until 3 am, and I was absolutely exhausted.
The next morning G. and I went to Coyoacan and checked out the famous Sunday market. It is kind of a hippie scene, and we strolled around looking at earrings and T-shirts for a while. Lunch was delicious at a taco stand in the main market building, and afterwards I headed to the Frida Kahlo museum. I am psyched that there are at least a few things that I had really looked forward to last time but couldn't get to, that I am finally accomplishing. Renovations of the museum are completed, and I saw Frida's beautiful house, including her bed on which sits the urn holding her ashes. Creepy but cool. The house is a lot larger than it looks in the movie by the way.
I have to reiterate my appreciation for the south of Mexico City. I have spent a lot of time in Coyacan at this point, and even though I keep saying that I could never live here - if I had to, I would survive in Coyoacan. G picked me up in a cute and quiet little park a few blocks away from the main cathedral called la Conchita, and we breezed off to her friend Ceci's house. I have met Ceci a couple of times and she lives just down the street from Sandra. Since Sandra's workload is out of control during the last week before her final exams, and because Ceci and her girlfriend Pilar are the average super hospitable Mexicans, I am staying at their house for a few nights. We played cards so late into the night, it was nice to be able to simply drop onto the floor and pass out.
Yesterday I went on a daytrip to Tepoztlan and hiked around the incredibly beautiful mountains around this rather quaint little town. It was fantastic - absolutely breathtaking scenery, and a welcome bit of exercise for my heavily neglected/abused lungs. I took a few pictures on a regular point and shoot, since my digital camera was full at the time, but will try to share somehow. The landscape is very hilly; rolling farmland with spots of small forests here and there. In the middle of this very soft profile juts out a chain of sheer cliffs and somewhat fallic mountain behemoths. It is impressive to say the least, and is said to have quite a spiritual power over its human visitors -it definetly did over me. I had fun climbing a tree to enjoy a more comprehensive view and thought of my best friend Luka - you would have liked this place!
Well. here we are. It is Tuesday, I am back on the museum prowl in Mexico City and will try to receive some money being wired to me from Portland in order to leave for Morelia tomorrow. I will spend the next two weeks cruising around central and southern Mexico - Michoacan, Guerrero, Estado de Mexico and Morelos probably. So. Guatemala will wait until next time I make it to this part of the world, and Mexico will get even more time to solidify the hold it has on my heart at this point. Who knows, maybe one day I will live here for a while.