Hasta Luego, México

I’m so far behind on this blog, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to catch up. Since my last entry there have been trips to México City (I still want to put up some video of the amazing Ballet Folklórico), trials and tribulations of life in Pachuca, an evening at the fíºtbol stadium watching the Mexicans’ beloved Tuzos, exploration of Teotihuacan and a black market mercado outside México City, and of course lots of teaching and hearing the dog being beaten.

As of last night I’ve survived 72 hours in the classroom. (I succeeded in getting my children’s class back from La Maestra.)

I left Pachuca this morning. Here is my luggage, with La Serpiente blocking my escape.

When my taxi didn’t arrive as scheduled, I dragged my stuff a block to the busy street, while Reina yelled at me and rolled her eyes. Apparently she had some better idea, but who knows what. Oddly, when a cab arrived and I said goodbye to her, she started crying. As I wrote to my mother, it was probably because I didn’t grease her palm before departing.

I survived one part of the trip I’ve been dreading: dragging all my stuff from the bus station to the airport terminal to the shuttle area to my hotel. After dumping my stuff I had a free afternoon to explore la ciudad muy grande. First I went to Mercado de Sonora, which is the strangest market I’ve been to, with all kinds of herbs and flowers and bark and candles and magic stuff related to Santa Muerte. I don’t quite understand her yet, but she’s fascinating. She’s sort of a barrio version of La Virgen de Guadalupe: much more sinister. I like her. The Virgin has a soft, gentle smile. Santa Muerte has a skull for a face, and she carries another skull and a scythe. Of course I bought a small statue of her. Her devotees were a bit wary of the only gringa within miles, so I didn’t linger.

I also found my way to El Museo de Arte Popular. I know how to ask directions pretty well, and by now I understand much of the reply, listening for key words: “block,” “straight,” “corner” and “walk a really long way in that direction.” Trouble is, after I walk a really long way in that direction, I find that the direction-giver had no idea what s/he was talking about. I remember my first ex-husband telling me years ago that Mexicans never want to disappoint; if they don’t have an answer, they’ll make one up, just to be helpful. It’s true.

Way-finding aside, my Spanish is worse than ever, but my Spanglish is on the rise. I had a blast today in México City talking to Mexicans who have equivalent amounts of English to my Spanish. Our conversations were colorful collages of never-before-heard linguistic structures.

And lastly, I visited El Palacio de Bellas Artes. I love the city’s public gathering places. They’re full of life and music and old buildings and the smell of Mexican street food.

As I left Bellas Artes I looked way up at the Mexican version of the Sears Tower. When I saw what I saw, I said right out loud, “Aw, hi Dad!” There, in bold glowing letters, was his name: Ears (short for Earlobes). It’s a nickname I gave him — I don’t know why — a million years ago. I suppose it seems silly, but it was like he’d come all the way to Mexico —  land of celebration of the dead — to visit me.

The metro, on the other hand, I didn’t like as well, particularly just after dark when I headed home tonight. It’s confusing enough not to know where you’re going or what the signs mean, but to do it at top speed is especially novel. During rush hours they divide the platform into a men’s and women’s section, allegedly because the men are pushy while the women need a kinder, gentler environment. I was a little surprised to be nearly squished to death by herds of forceful, armpit-height mujeres.

To regress all the way back to last night: I’ll pop one video up here before I leave. It’s of three of my students on our last night together: the painfully shy Illaly (who wanted to drop the class because she couldn’t understand me, but stuck with it), Jaime (talkative and muy amable) and Alexis (whom I aptly dubbed “Motor Mouth”). I was very touched by what Jaime said, and you’ll see why.

[flashvideo filename=wp-content/video/jaime.flv image=wp-content/video/jaime.jpg /]

And at this same class, I produced a Freudian slip on the white board, which sent me into hysterics, much to the mystification of my students. I was drawing a grid so we could play Basta, in which people race to think of words in a particular category, as you can see. But instead of putting the names outside the matrix, I got confused and wrote the boys in the wrong column. Or did I? I had to stop the class so I could take a picture.

Okay, now I’m caught up on today pretty much. Guess I’ll have to work backwards from here. But for now… I’m out of the clutches of the Evil Forces in Pachuca, and headed for Philadelphia tomorrow and Vermont the next day and who-knows-what after that.