Living With The Wild Boys…

Today Lola and Michelle’s class was scheduled at a different cafe than mine, so we started out walking together and then headed our separate ways. We did end up at the same park though – another beauty! Maybe I didn’t get enough sleep last night, but I have been feeling a bit off. As a result, I was struggling a bit more to keep up in class today. I am learning a ton, but I didn’t feel as confident. Michelle and Lola and I were joking that the first day I was flailing, yesterday I was nailing it, and today I felt like I was failing. Hopefully tomorrow I will be back to sailing!

I did get a little distracted by the dance class across the plaza- the music was infectious and the dancers were great!

There was also some boxing lessons happening next to us.

After class, Michelle and Lola and I headed to Woolworth’s (remember them?) to pick up a couple of things, then headed to the Medellin local market where we had a lovely lunch.

The market is divided into different areas, and is clearly a market for locals to get everything they need. Lola and I and shared another vegetarian plate of alambres, along with some great tempura, and I tried Michelle’s fish filet and lemonade with chia seeds – all delicious!

I always love to wander a good market!

Here are a few fun photos of things I noticed while walking around:

I have been feeling slightly off today, so when Michelle and Lola wanted to have a quiet afternoon I decided to chill too. Also, my first draft of last night’s Lucha Libre post was almost entirely erased by accident, so I had to recreate it. Thankfully after some down time I seemed to feel much better.

Michelle and I went for a walk around the neighbourhood to get out of the apartment and stretch our legs. When we came home we had a light dinner. I ate a fried egg on half a piece of toast and the other half of the toast had peanut butter. I wanted to take it easy as my stomach hasn’t been quite normal today.

My teacher Carmen told me about a dance class offered at a club called Mama Rumba on Wednesday nights from 8:45 – 10:00pm. It turns out it is only an 11 min walk from our apartment! Latin dance lessons in a club in my neighbourhood? Yes please!

Michelle and Lola wanted to go to bed early so I headed out there on my own. It was great!

They started out with an instructor calling out the steps that we could follow as a big group for awhile as individuals, then they sent the individuals upstairs while keeping established couples downstairs. Once upstairs, they split us into male and female groups. We each learned our parts, then they put us in two sets of couple lines and rotated the guys through ( there were more girls than guys). It was a lot of fun! Bucket list item checked off for me! Around 10 I walked home. What a great activity 🙂

Now to do my Spanish homework!

Buenos Noches!

When Michelle, Lola and I were talking about this upcoming trip, Lola mentioned that she has always wanted to go to see Lucha Libre in Mexico City. Michelle was not at all interested in going. When I decided to come on the trip, I agreed to go with Lola so she would not have to fulfill this bucket list dream alone.

Whenever I stayed with my Mom and Len growing up, Len would often be watching WWF in the 80s – the days of Hulk Hogan, Randy the Macho man Savage and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. I even went to see the WWF once with my friend Jason Tanner when he got tickets. So, although I was never passionate about it, I had early exposure to the professional wrestling genre of entertainment.

Lucha libre is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. They are known for their colourful masks, dramatic high flying aerial manoeuvres and audience participation. It was a cultural experience I was not going to pass up, and I certainly was interested in witnessing Lola realize her lifelong dream.

It was around a 20 minute walk to the Arena Mexico from our apartment. We knew we were getting close when we saw the bright lights emitting from the merch and snack vendors around the venue. The energy was palpable around the Venue.

The concession stands near our seats

We got there super early so we could soak up every part of the experience that we could. We were among the first ones there.

As usual, the focus was on the snacks. They were selling all sorts of chips, hotdogs, tostadas, fruit cups with hot sauce, beer with a salt rim, beer with a chili powder mixture on the rim…the atmosphere was amazing.

Finally the time had come for the matches to start. The was so much fanfare in the introductions, huge screens, flashing lights, theme songs blaring, people cheering and booing, it was all calculated for maximum drama.

The crowd was very invested. Many people wore the full head masks, and were very enthusiastically participating in the spectacle -sometimes chanting and yelling at the wrestlers and/or the refs – all for fun.

A big part of Lucha Libre is the audience partipation. This guy in the old school Blue Demon mask, surrounded by kids was maybe a little bit too into it…

The first match was a three member tag team. One team had two big scary looking wrestlers wearing masks and one short guy not wearing a mask – his stage name was Shockercito. He is 45 years old, stands at 50 kg and is just over 4 feet tall.

Lucha Libre is famous for dramatic storylines. Each match has a storyline of Técnicos (heroes with clean technical skills) vs Rudos (villains who will often use dirty tricks). In the second match, the Rudos were way more engaging, and I found myself rooting for them rather than the “good guys”. And, they had a cool bird mascot in a cool costume!

Lucha Libre is a huge part of the culture here. It is a form of pure entertainment and escapism which has a very long history. The CMLL ( in English: the World Wrestling Council) is celebrating its 92nd year!

In 2018, Mexico City officially declared Lucha Libre as an intangible Cultural Heritage of Mexico City.

Masks are an integral part of the costuming for Lucha Libre, but not all luchadores (wrestlers) wear masks. The ones that do take it very seriously- it is supposed to be illegal to take someone’s mask off while they are in the ring, but some of the Rudos do it anyway – threatening to do it is often a part of the drama. Most unmasked characters distinguish themselves through hairstyles: either completely shaved heads, long luscious locks, or boldly coloured hair styles and intimidating makeup

Here are some highlights from the evening:

On our way home we came across people doing dance lessons in the park – I can’t begin to express how much I love this concept.

On the way home I picked up a late night snack from my current favourite: El Califa Taqueria – the vegan tacos al pastor hit the spot. I needed fuel as I still had to finish my homework!

Am I going to follow professional wrestling from now on? Probably not. Would I recommend checking it out? Absolutely! I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing another fascinating aspect of Mexico City culture.

We started our day taking the red metro bus to meet our teachers at a cafe in a different area of town. Michelle and Lola met their teacher at the same cafe as mine so we travelled together. It was rush hour so that was an experience. As I explained in a previous post, the red metro bus is on an exclusive road that runs down the middle of the Avenue with platforms to get on and off like look like a subway station.

On the platform, there are screens that show you the timing of the bus departures. This morning there were buses running constantly, and they were all full! We managed to get in the bus, but were squished in like sardines. The ride was about 35 minutes long and at some stops, people really had to push their way out. Luckily our stop was a popular one, so we were able to go with the tide of others that were exiting.

The cafe where we were meeting was called Hey! Brew Bar (insert Hebrew puns here).

One of my classmates moved up to a higher level so it is only me and two others now who are much better than I am. I feel that I improved a lot, mostly because I spent a decent amount of time on my homework, so I felt more prepared. Unfortunately, Japanese, and French vocabulary were still getting in my way at times.

I tried a new warm beverage called Champurrado. It is made from Mais, and this one contained cocoa, cinnamon and sugar. It was was a bit thick, was not overly sweet but quite tasty.

It was not as cold as yesterday but I still wore my fleece all morning. We then headed to another gorgeous park and enjoyed some time in the sun.

After class, we made sure that Lola go to her bus stop and then she headed home for a quiet afternoon siesta so she would be awake enough for the night’s festivities.

Michelle and I headed by Uber to another area called Coyoacán. It was a charming area filled with markets, shops, cafés, ice cream places, and restaurants. I really enjoyed the feel.

We met up with the Brazilian family we met on the trip for lunch in the main market and had a delicious plate called Alambres – mine was vegetarian – potatoes, onions, peppers, cheese and nopales ( prickly pear cactus leaves) it came with tortillas to make tacos.

We really enjoyed chatting with Sergio and Daniella. After lunch we each headed our separate ways to explore the area. I regret that we forgot to take a group photo with them and their two teenage boys. They were so lovely!

I found a cool interactive art installation, which I of course had to interact with.

We will be returning here on Thursday to see the Frida Kahlo museum, I am looking forward to coming back.

Michelle and I headed back to the apartment for a break and then Lola and I went to see Lucha Libre. That activity warrants its own post…

We started our day early and walked to class. We left around 8am because we had to be there by 8:50. As expected, we took a few wrong turns but still got there a tiny bit early. Michelle and Leslie-Anne ended up in a class with just the two of them – again. I am in a class that is definitely above my Spanish level. I talked to my teacher about moving down, but that class is already full, so I will just have to work that much harder to keep up. It’s ok, I will be learning lots. We started off in a cafe and it was quite chilly – around 6 Celsius. This cafe was not heated and was pretty much an outdoor cafe with walls. I was so happy I brought my fleece.

I was also very happy to order a chai latte to sip on while we were working.

After a couple of hours we had a short break, and then shortly after that we headed out to a park where we could warm up in the sun.

There are 3 other students in my class of various ages – all American. They all seem to be very interesting people, and all super nice. Classes wrapped up around 1pm.

We were all hungry so we went to a cute little lunch spot called Frutos Prohibitos (Forbidden Fruit). They had excellent sandwiches. The sandwiches menu had a theme of “sins”. I ordered the Sexenal – a warm wrap with cream cheese, goat cheese, Brie manchego and mozzarella. It was fabulous.

After lunch we walked back yo the apartment to have a short siesta. Here are some photos I took along the way.

After our rest we headed back to Zocalo as we were going to meet Leslie-Anne’s niece for dinner at La Casa de Azulejos (photo of outside from yesterday’s post). On the way I had to find new reading glasses as I managed to break one pair and lose one pair in only two days. I spent the whole morning trying to hold my broken glasses up to my face with one hand while writing with the other hand. Not fun. I spent some time last night wandering around searching for a pair to no avail. Luckily I found a street vendor while we were transferring from a bus to the metro and got two decent pair for equivalent of just over $10!

We took some time to revisit the Nopales art exhibit – still amazing. I took too many photos- will restrain myself and only add 5 more here but you can go back to yesterday’s post to see the rest. I loved almost every one of the Nopales sculptures- there were so many!

Suddenly I looked over and saw the Brazilian Family we met at the Chapultepec Castle from a couple of days ago! What are the chances? In a city of over 22 million people in an outdoor exhibit with over 200 sculptures…we made plans to get together for lunch after class tomorrow.

Next stop was dinner with Noelani, Lesley-Anne’s niece. The restaurant was positively beautiful. The outside is covered in the traditional Azulejos tiles, as well as inside. There are two levels and there also breathtaking murals throughout the building. My food was also very tasty. Michelle and I even ordered cocktails – mine was a Lychee Mojito. We really enjoyed spending time with Noelani – she has such a nice energy.

It is late and I haven’t even started my homework yet, so I will sign off now. Buenos Noches!

Every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Paseo de la Reforma (a major route downtown) as well as many other thoroughfares are closed to car traffic with the purpose of allowing cyclists, skaters and pedestrians to move freely.

We decided to rent bikes from the regular city bike rental system Ecobici and check it out. What a great experience! We saw riders of all shapes and sizes, riding all types of bikes. There were thousands of runners, walkers, dogs walking and in strollers, it was a great vibe.

Part way along we stopped to participate in a large group of people doing a Latin dancing fitness class – so much fun!

People were cycling with speakers playing music which was for the most part great, but there was awhile when the cyclists next to us were playing screaming heavy metal. I was happy when they moved along. All in all we cycled only about 8 km. We hopped off the bikes and then walked for about 30 minutes to make our way down to the Zocalo.

On the walk we passed through Chinatown.

We also witnessed a very large march for animal rights

There is currently an art exhibition in the main square called “Nopalera en el corazón” which means “prickly pear cactus in the heart”. There are around 200 Nopal cactus forms that have been designed and painted by various artists. While Michelle and Lola took at a look at the cathedral, I wandered among the Nopales. Each was more interesting than the next. It reminded me of the moose program similar to this that we had in Canada many years ago. Here are a sampling of the range of pieces that were designed: click on them individually if you would like to zoom in on any.

The highlight of the day was meeting our Spanish teachers’s brother and sister-in-law. Kira teaches Spanish at the Bowmanville Older Adult Association and we all adore her. When she heard we were going to be in Mexico City she connected us up with her family. They came to meet us and took us to a fantastic and fancy traditional Mexican restaurant called Villa Maria.

I tried many different traditional foods I have never even heard of before. We of course had to order guacamole (my favourite) and there was the option of ordering it with a side of Chapulines (grasshoppers). They were surprisingly good.

We also tried something called Escamoles – also known as “Mexican Caviar”. It is a Mexican delicacy of edible ant larvae and pupae – also surprisingly good.

We had another appetizer called Sopes. Ours were made of blue corn masa flour made into disks with a lip and fried and then topped with crumbled cheese, refried beans, sauce, shredded lettuce and Mexican crema.

We also had tiny two-bite fish tacos with pineapple (called Tacos de Pescado al Pastor). I also had a brilliant tasting soup made from Squash Blossoms with poblano chili peppers.

The bowl was beautifully presented even before the soup was poured in.

For the finale we shared Churros with dulce de lèche and chocolate sauce AND coconut ice cream, even though we were all completely stuffed!

Kira’s brother José and his wife Ceci were so warm, generous and hospitable. We really enjoyed our time with them.

They also presented us with beautifully presented gifts which we all loved.

My Spanish is not on the same level as Michelle or Lola, but I understood most of the conversation. It was strange though for Michelle to be in a social situation where I was so much quieter than everyone else! I did try to contribute but I was focussing more on comprehension.

We didn’t get home until almost 5 so we relaxed and then I went for a walk later on to look for some reading glasses – I broke one pair and lost the other – no luck so I will push that mission to tomorrow. Now I am planning on studying for an hour or so before I go to bed. Class starts tomorrow – I am very excited!

This outstanding production was mounted on the grounds of the Castillo de Chapultepec.

The original Ballet Folklorico de Mexico was a project created by dancer and choreographer Amalia Hernández in 1952. It brings together the music, dance and costume of Mexican folklore from pre-Colombian civilizations to the modern era. She incorporated traditional dances and cultures from all across Mexico. The version we saw last night was a Christmas version, including the nativity scene with certain Christmas elements.

It was spectacular. There were live musicians and a cast of at least 40 dancers, and more than 20 singers. The costumes and props were fantastic, there was audience participation at times, including a singalong portion at the end. As a former theatre director, I was so impressed by the sheer magnitude of the show – the logistics were dizzying- so many costume changes and moving parts.

Bonus was that we were sitting next to the father of one of the main vocalists – he was beaming with pride the entire show. Occasionally he was providing commentary (in Spanish and sometimes in broken English). He also sang along at times in a beautiful voice.

I put together a small video compilation of moments from the show, but it doesn’t do it justice.

https://youtu.be/WiXnxtxnTm8?si=SKWZ6CiGxX0paQqm

Overall a fantastic day, but barely have time to process it before the next adventure that Michelle has planned for us!

I would have to say what stood out for me the most was this feeling of irrepressible joy that was bubbling up in my chest for the entire 90 minute show. This is something I think all of us desperately need. Yesterday’s activities remind me that sometimes it is easy to forget the importance of having beauty in art and music and theatre and culture in our lives. In our darkest moments we need moments like these.

Today was a great day, we travelled by bus, two Ubers and by over 20,500 steps!

After a bit of a slow start this morning we took one of the very slick rapid transit, bus-only lane buses that had platforms in the middle of the road – very efficient. We had a little bit of trouble with the machine trying to get a transit card, but I find that is often par for the course in the first day in a new city.

It took around an hour by bus and foot to go to the San ángel area around the Bazar Sábado. “Sábado”means “Saturday” so this collection of artisans have their “stores” in this 18th century home/building, and it is only open on Saturday. There is a bit of everything – so many beautiful handmade artisanal items. Michelle returned to a sculptor whom she had seen two years ago, and always regretted not buying a piece from him. She found something beautiful to bring home this time from his shop. I bought a beautiful piece of clothing from twin sisters who design clothes and jewelry. Their names are Paulina and Malinali Fosado. Check them out on instagram: @paulina_malinali

The area around this Bazar was fantastic – so many artists who worked in different media! I was in heaven!

Michelle brought us to a great cafe for lunch called El Comal de mis amores which she had gone to before. Food was delicious, and there were incredible musicians playing traditional live music. Also noteworthy was a special coffee they served there called cafe de ollo. It was good Mexican coffee with a mixture of spices. I can’t believe it, but as a life-long coffee hater, I can honestly say that I actually liked it!

After briefly stopping at the apartment to drop off our purchases and change our clothes, our next stop was Chapultepec Park. Chapultepec (meaning Grasshopper Hill in the indigenous language of Nahuatl) Park is the oldest and largest urban Park in Latin America and one of the oldest urban parks in the world. It contains 9 museums, a variety of green recreational spaces, and a multitude of vendors selling snacks and souvenirs which give it a bit of a festival atmosphere – all year round. We checked out the vendors that were on the way to the Castle at the top of the hill.

One thing about Mexico City I have noticed is the sheer volume of snacks available. The vendors in this park were bringing their A-game when it came to snacks.

Another interesting phenomenon of this park is the Changuitos – monkey dolls complete with water squinting capacity that we saw many people wearing on their heads. They have monkeys wearing hats, wearing tiaras, wearing the Mexican wrestling masks, even monkeys wearing hats who are wearing tiny monkey dolls on top of their hats!

We looked up the symbolism of this tradition of wearing colourful monkeys on your heads, and found that there really isn’t any profound reason, it is just to have fun! While in the park- it adds to the festive vibe…

In spite of trying multiple times, we were not able to buy tickets to the ballet through ticketmaster, so we headed to the Castle to try and secure some tickets from the box office. Michelle had been to the castle recently, so Leslie-Anne and I went to try and get an hour-long tour of the castle. When we arrived , we found out there was a policy to let anyone in who wanted to see the castle for the last 45 minutes for free – the tours were finished for the day. In line we met a lovely family from Brazil, but we went our separate ways once we climbed the hill to maximize our time. We exchanged information as they are thinking of planning a trip to Canada.

The Castle was originally built in 1785 by Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez of the Spain as a summer residence but he died just a year after construction started. This building has a long history, being used for many purposes over the years not limited to, but including a military training academy, another royal residence, the president’s residence, and now is the National Museum of History.

Leslie-Anne and I had to speed through the museum, but it was still worth going. I would love to go another time when I can really take it in. One hilarious fact is that the changuitos were not permitted to be worn in the Castle, but there was however a place to check them in while you were in the castle and pick them up as you were leaving. This just made me laugh so much…

Here are some highlights:

After our whirlwind tour, we met back up with Michelle, and found a spot in the park to have a low key picnic of a whole grain baguette, peanut butter, a red pepper and apples. When we were finished eating we headed back up the hill for the Folkloric Ballet of Mexico production on the Castle Grounds which was so SPECTACULAR, it merits its very own post. I am also exhausted so I will compose that post in the morning 🙂 I apologize for any run-on sentences or typos as I do not have the energy for proper proofreading tonight. Buenos Noches!

I am off on another adventure – this time to study Spanish in Mexico City.

I met two dear friends Michelle and Leslie-Anne here after they spent a week in Cuernavaca studying there. I met them in Playa Del Carmen last year around this time (along with much of Michelle and Howard’s family). Howard and I were in class together and Michelle and Leslie-Anne were in a more advanced class.

This year we are trying a new format: mornings we study in a cafe, and afternoons are spent in a park. I was placed in the A2+ class and Michelle and Leslie-Anne are in the B2+ class.

After a pretty rough start with everything that could go wrong going wrong, I managed to get to the airplane, and arrive safely. I dropped my bag off at the Airbnb and then wandered around the Roma neighbourhood. It was a lot of fun, but I did feel a bit like a zombie having gotten up at 4:15am, dealing with all the bumps along the way and managed to get in well over 10,000 steps.

I had a lot of fun just getting lost and wandering around at my own place, meandering through streets with surprise galleries and artisan markets. Here are a few photos from my afternoon:

Taco place

I took a siesta in the afternoon and then welcomed Michelle and Leslie-Anne. We went out for tacos – there were some great veggie options with portobello mushrooms, nopales (cactus pads) and something called irreals ( soy something that tasted so much like the real thing).

We then went to the grocery store to pick up a few supplies and are heading to bed relatively early. Michelle has a full itinerary planned for us for tomorrow- I am looking forward to it 🙂 Thanks for reading!