Mexico City: the good, the bad and the ugly

Good: On Friday 2 September, I returned to Mexico City for a second round of orientation.  In some ways, it felt like coming home.  I could get myself to and from a select number of locations within the city including the office where I was staying, the homes of the two MCC families in the city, the local lavandería (laundry service), a tianguis (mobile market), the nearest fruit and veggie store and the city´s plant nursery which had lots of beautiful walking trails.  I had learned when it was safe to go out by myself and how to unlock the door to Marion and Ricardo´s apartment (only after locking them inside and subsequently fetching the locksmith who luckily worked right down the street).

This sense of competence, the chance to reconnect with MCCers and the fact that returning to D.F. brought me one step closer to my final destination all made me quite excited to enter this megalopolis once again.  I was in Mexico City until Thursday 8 September and filled my time with more sight-seeing, a highlight of which was viewing the massive and impressive Diego Rivera murals in the Palacio Nacional and visiting Frida Kahlo´s home and studio in Coyoacán.  Additionally, I learned how to fill out my monthly expense report (sounds tedious, but I actually enjoy the technicality of working with spreadsheets and money) and spent time playing with Marion and Ricardo´s daughters.  I spy, tag and hide and go seek were favorites. 

Bad: However, by my second trip to Mexico City, I became increasingly disillusioned with life in a city this huge.  Though public transportation is quite good here, the average chilango (Mexico City resident) commutes more than 4 hours every day.  For this reason, very few cook their own meals.  The city is also incredibly polluted; so much so that there are restrictions on which days of the week a vehicle can operate. 

Ugly: Perhaps the biggest shadow over my time in the city was a severe (though fairly short-lived) bout of something.  Whether I picked up a virus on the metro or was just suffering Montezuma’s revenge, I may never know.  I became quite ill in the wee hours of Wednesday morning and spent all day sprawled on the office´s couch drinking Gatorade, eating Saltines and listening to James Taylor on my Ipod.  Luckily, I recovered in time to fly to Chiapas on Thursday morning and am now happily residing in my home for the next ten months. 

Though I´m already over a month into my SALT term, in some ways, I feel like the real adventure is just beginning. But more on that later...