Saturday, March 03, 2007
Love in the afternoon
Tonight's the full moon -though it looked full last night too - so I'll be thinking of you all, wherever you are.
This city is incredible. The sky is a flat cloudless blue. At dusk, the blue fades, then intensifies, but all of the colors of a normal sunset - the pinks and oranges and purples - stay in the surrounding mountains, which are like big suprises, popping up in the distance between buildings and at the end of streets. In the centro, which is the only part I know so far, the architecture is colonial and the streets are full of vendors selling hamburgers, tlaloyas (kind of like a taco, but much bigger and crispy), sweets, chapolinas (grasshoppers fried and covered with chile), embroidered skirts, pottery. Or they're cutting hair, shining shoes, hawking newspapers, etc. My favorite vendor so far is a little stand called Mr. Potato Face (Senor cara de papa), which sells fresh potato chips.
Right now, there is both a dance festival and an instrumental music festival. Last night I went to the botanical gardens, which are behind the Santa Domingo church and convent, to see a contemporary performance called Chocolat by a Mexico City troupe. It was a man and a woman, dancing to soundtracks and dialogue about relationships from movies and tv shows. I think the point was that men and women can't understand eachother. Though, midway, they each ate some chocolate and were able to dance in synch for a while. Of course, it ended badly. Near the end of the dance, the woman shot the man in the head. Ahhhh..amor.
Speaking of which, couples make out everywhere here. The park near my house is Juarez park according to the map, and it does indeed feature a big statue of the man himself. Two fountains flank him on the north and south end of the park. But everyone calls the place the llano, which means flat. Now the whole city is pretty much flat, so haven't figured out why this park is singled out with such a boring name.
There are always, always, couples making out in the part - in a sweet way. Last week, I saw a young pair of high schoolers in school uniforms kissing under a tree. I turned away for a few moments, and when I looked back at the same spot, there was an old indigenous couple, very short, deeply wrinkled, laughing and hugging...him: hat and green jeans; her: a long skirt, white embroidered top, thick gray braids, and a bundle on her head.
There isn't much privacy in many Mexican homes, and most people live at home until they get married - and sometimes after they get married. We've been joking that those architects who think a lot about public spaces should start taking this into account when they design parks.
This city is incredible. The sky is a flat cloudless blue. At dusk, the blue fades, then intensifies, but all of the colors of a normal sunset - the pinks and oranges and purples - stay in the surrounding mountains, which are like big suprises, popping up in the distance between buildings and at the end of streets. In the centro, which is the only part I know so far, the architecture is colonial and the streets are full of vendors selling hamburgers, tlaloyas (kind of like a taco, but much bigger and crispy), sweets, chapolinas (grasshoppers fried and covered with chile), embroidered skirts, pottery. Or they're cutting hair, shining shoes, hawking newspapers, etc. My favorite vendor so far is a little stand called Mr. Potato Face (Senor cara de papa), which sells fresh potato chips.
Right now, there is both a dance festival and an instrumental music festival. Last night I went to the botanical gardens, which are behind the Santa Domingo church and convent, to see a contemporary performance called Chocolat by a Mexico City troupe. It was a man and a woman, dancing to soundtracks and dialogue about relationships from movies and tv shows. I think the point was that men and women can't understand eachother. Though, midway, they each ate some chocolate and were able to dance in synch for a while. Of course, it ended badly. Near the end of the dance, the woman shot the man in the head. Ahhhh..amor.
Speaking of which, couples make out everywhere here. The park near my house is Juarez park according to the map, and it does indeed feature a big statue of the man himself. Two fountains flank him on the north and south end of the park. But everyone calls the place the llano, which means flat. Now the whole city is pretty much flat, so haven't figured out why this park is singled out with such a boring name.
There are always, always, couples making out in the part - in a sweet way. Last week, I saw a young pair of high schoolers in school uniforms kissing under a tree. I turned away for a few moments, and when I looked back at the same spot, there was an old indigenous couple, very short, deeply wrinkled, laughing and hugging...him: hat and green jeans; her: a long skirt, white embroidered top, thick gray braids, and a bundle on her head.
There isn't much privacy in many Mexican homes, and most people live at home until they get married - and sometimes after they get married. We've been joking that those architects who think a lot about public spaces should start taking this into account when they design parks.
# posted by Anne @ 2:49 PM 
