So far, so good

Well, my trip got off to a pretty good start. I had a great time in Dallas. I flew through Dallas for the weekend on my way to Mexico because it was only about $30 more expensive than flying roundtrip through Columbus. Paying that extra $30 meant that I could go to my friend Shanda’s wedding and see Steve. I stayed with Steve, who, in case you don’t already know, was my college roommate for three years and has been one of my best friends for ten years now. He and I did a lot of growing together in our three years of living together, during one of which we had to share a bathroom – talk about a toiletry bomb – only strengthened our friendship. We haven’t lived together since he graduated OU and moved to the DFW area in 2002, yet somehow immediately, we fell back into many of our old roommate patterns. I have to say that his spare futon wasn’t as comfortable as the bed that I had in college, though...

Shanda’s wedding was beautiful. It was great to see her so happy and so in love with a guy who seems to be just as in love with her. It was my first time meeting Ryan, but I gave him my wholehearted seal of approval. And her dress was stunning! My girl Shanda and I have been friends for almost as long as Steve and I have. I met her my second year of college, when we were both working at Sears. Since we were both going to OU, both way too smart to be working with the other idiots who worked at Sears (with a few exceptions), and both were fun-loving, pretty girls, we got on like a house on fire from the start. It was also great to see our friend Justin. He, Shanda, and I used to go to OU football games together upon occasion. Despite the fact that he is a Republican, he and I can always talk football.

Other than the wedding, Steve ran my ass ragged. We went out to the clubs and did some dancing on Friday night. After Shanda’s reception, we went out for a repeat performance. We didn’t get home until after 4am. I know that I stayed out until 6am a fair amount in Madrid, but I never did it after going out so late and getting so little sleep the night before. I also only did it once in heels that are fierce as the ones that I wore to Shanda’s wedding. (Note: it is a bad idea to go out dancing in shoes that you have never worn before.) On Sunday, we had to go to an open house for a property that Steve has listed and to an awards reception for the gay chorus that Steve is a member of. Then I had to help Steve with his homework.

On Monday, it was off to Mexico. My flight into Mexico City was delayed by about half an hour and it took about another hour to get through passport control, but other than that no complaints. Then I got to my hostel, where it seems I had made my reservation for August 9- August 17 instead of August 4 – August 9. Fortunately, there was no problem, and they even had single rooms available. (I had initially had to book a bed in a 4 bedroom dorm when my dates were wrong.) So I feel a little bit better about the security of my stuff when I’m out of the room and I’m sure that my quality of sleep will be a little bit higher during the rest of my stay here. Last night it was interrupted by a sort of mini-protest that was taking place outside one of the high-end hotels that’s a couple of blocks down the street. It seems that some people are opposed to other people being rich... I didn’t really have a very good vantage point, but I could hear the people on the bullhorns. Not that I really wanted to. Besides the potential for frequent sleep interruption from ambient noise, the other real disappointment is that there’s no wireless internet available for guests here. That really sucks because I miss Mark, and I really prefer it when I’m at least able to chat and skype with Mark for a little bit most every day. And because I have an addiction to facebook. (I haven’t even had a chance to look at more than a few of Dave’s Bike Rally photos yet!! Ay!!)

Anyway, after I checked in, I went and did a little bit of walking around. I’m pretty close to several of the main tourist attractions of Mexico City, and I’d probably be more excited about that if I hadn’t seen them before and if I weren’t traveling alone. I’ve been here before, and then, and now, I don’t feel very comfortable in my skin in this city. I guess it’s got to do with the fact that like any city of over 20 million people there’s a lot of filth, pollution, and crime. And it’s a crime of a more violent nature than I ever worried about in Madrid and on a scale that I don’t worry about in Columbus. Not to mention that my guidebook is like a croaking Cassandra, warning me not to even travel on the metro by myself as a woman. I think also that I feel so unenthused right now because I was used to traveling alone, but then I got a little bit spoiled by the trips that Mark and I made to Niagara Falls and to NYC. However, I did cowgirl up and went for a walk down past the Palacio de Bellas Artes to the Cathedral, the Aztec Templo Mayor, and the Zocolo the first day that I was here, and I have/get to walk through the Alameda Park to get to the Archivo Histórico del Distrito Federal, where I’m doing my first bit of research. I put in my first few hours of work yesterday.

The most reliable internet that I’ve found is in a Starbucks pretty close to my hostel and in between there and the AHDF. I’m planning on having my morning coffee and breakfast there the next couple of mornings and checking my email and facebook then. Going to the archives without coffee proved brutal yesterday, and I’m not keen to repeat that process.

On Saturday morning I’ll be leaving for two weeks in Puebla, and I am actually very excited about that! I haven’t been before and it’s supposed to just be a stunning city. It’s chock full of churches and has one of the largest cathedrals in Mexico. I’m excited to eat mole poblano in the place where it was created, chiles en nogada (chiles in walnut sauce), and marzipan that has been manipulated into any sort of religious shape. Por favor! Por Dios! I am also definitely doing little side trips out to Cholula and to Tlaxcala. Plus, for research purposes, Puebla supplanted Mexico City in terms of theatrical activities for a few decades during the middle of the seventeenth century.

I’m still debating my trip to Veracruz and one to the silver city of San Miguel de Allende, as well. Each of these would essentially have to be two day, one night trips (unless research is going extremely badly). Thoughts?