Mexico City. Two days in, and I'm just now beginning to exhale, to settle into my own skin again in a way that I only really feel when I'm here. My earlier posts about "have a nervous breakdown" as an item on my to-do list before the trip were telling; thankfully, that's one of many tasks that I didn't manage to accomplish before leaving.
The hotel we're staying in for a few days has spotty Internet access, so my idea of blogging daily (at least) may not be met. Crackberry's functioning just fine, though, so I can at least get email at my gmail address as needed. But two days immersed in Mexico, and I'm already asking myself why I bothered to have any sort of "goal". It's enough to breathe, and the breathing's blessedly good down here.
A couple notes for the casual reader. The Kid is still up in Portland, hanging with his dad, dad's SO, and dog. He'll travel to visit his paternal grandparents in a week, freshly-equipped with his first cellphone and email. Should you be of the sort who might know him and wish to drop him a note or call, let me know & I'll give you the info.
I'm traveling for a few weeks now with one who'll be tagged "the Student" - a close friend working on a PhD in Latin American History. Such a providential arrangement - I don't know that I'd think to travel to some of the places where he needs to go to check out archives; I don't know that he'd necessarily be able to do as much of that travel without the flexibility that having someone around who's not living on a student budget can provide. Works well - I'll be seeing some parts of Mexico that I'd not likely encounter on my own - ever.
But for now - our second day in my favorite city, one I not only would find on my own, but in which I spent eight days in December, solely because Mexicana had a fare sale and the ticket was too cheap to pass up. It's sooooooo good to be back.
Yesterday was surreal, as I kept asking myself and the Student - "Are we really in Mexico?" It was a day with few plans. The Student had a couple things to take care of at the Basilica, so we trekked over there, said hi to Nuestra Madre, and just reveled in the peace of being present there. I had a bit of business to do for someone from the Kid's school - so we did that too. We closed the evening wandering around the Zona Rosa ("Pink Zone"), dinner and being among familia. Not bad at all.
Today the Student is doing studenty things - meeting with a professor here, checking out a library there. I took the Metro with him out to his first appointment, and in the course of trying to find the building where he was to go, we tripped over a few librarios - bookstores. And so I find myself in one of those now. I'm always struck by the depth and breadth of the works that appear not just in Mexican bookstores, but even in the piles of books sold by street vendors. No less notable is the literacy - cultural and otherwise - that's just an assumed trait of the educated classes here. Of course, the class divisions are significant, and I'm acutely aware of the privilege I'm accorded as a gringa running around town. Lots to think about every time I'm here, and now I have time - nothing but time - to think.
Will probably hang out here for another hour or so - get an editing job done that's way overdue, and then venture back to the Metro to pick the next destination for the day.
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