Chilingo

After a long dry season, the weather service has officially mentioned that rainy season has started.

It had gotten so hot last week that we went to try to buy an air conditioner. The only thing we could afford was a glorified fan from Home Depot (yes we have Home Depot here). It didn’t work very well, and at least now we don’t need it!

Contrary to what happens in Florida (where the rain brings humidity and heat), when it rains here in Mexico City, it gets colder.

Now, all I have to do is take back that faulty air conditioner.



(image by rawheadrex on flickr)

Here’s a video of Mexico City I took last year.

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Yesterday we decided that we would get out of the house and drive up to the state of Queretaro. We needed a few more big chest-like baskets to hide the toys that litter our living room.

I had gone to a market up there one time on the way to Pena de Bernal. I thought, “I’ve been there once, I can find it again.” Well, I was wrong.

We drove the hour and a half to the exit for “San Juan del Rio,” but that’s when we started to get lost. We missed a turn but realized soon that none of what we were seeing looked familiar (to me…I was the only one who had been before).

So we turned around and followed a route that felt a little more recognizable. We drove and drove, but we didn’t find the place. By now, we were really hungry, so we turned around to go to a restaurant for lunch. Little did we know how close we really were.

After lunch, I asked the waitress where there was a market to buy local “artesania.” Her response was, “You are probably looking for Tequis. That’s where there is lots of arts. I’m not sure how far it is in Kilometers, but it’s about 7 minutes down this same street”

So we got into the car and went the same way we had just returned from. After about 15 minutes, we arrived at the market I had been to before. We found it! It was exciting.

We bought what we were looking for after driving through three states of Mexico and paying 240 pesos in tolls. It’s a good thing the chests we bought cost us a lot less than what they would have cost here in our part of Mexico City.

I got playing around with tiltshiftmaker.com and some of my photos of Mexico City.

“Tilt-shift miniature style photos are pictures of real-life scenes that are manipulated to look like model photographs.”

Here’s what I came up with. It makes Mexico City look like a model city. I need to tinker a little more with them, but here are my first attempts.

You can see the whole set here.

Here in Mexico City, there is a delivery service for almost everything. Everyday I see motorcycles delivering mail, pizza, groceries, and even sushi. But I never knew that they would deliver beer.

I was listening to the radio on Wednesday while driving to the airport, and I heard a commercial for “grupo modelo”, the company that makes Corona beer that was talking about a hotline that they have in Mexico City. You just call it, and they will deliver your beer right to your house.

Apparently, you can call anytime from 7 am to 5 pm from Monday through Friday or from 7 am to 3 pm on Saturday, and they will show up at your door with your Corona.

You know, for those days when it’s an emergency and you can’t get out of the house (like when you’re waiting for swine flu to pass).

(Link)

I saw this at the airport yesterday…it was on the big screen that tells the flight information.

If you don’t speak Spanish, or can’t read the words on the screen, it basically is teaching you how to wash your hands in 6 steps. I thought it was funny.

Yesterday, my wife and I had this conversation:

ME: I have to go to the south of the city tomorrow. I don’t know if I want to go on the metro or drive.

HER: Well, are you more afraid of getting sick or getting lost?

ME: Getting lost is more likely.

HER: So go in the metro and take your hand sanitizer.

The swine flu pandemic in Mexico has calmed down quite a bit. But, during the last few days, all I’ve had to do at the house is hang out on the internet and read the news coming out of Mexico.

It was really cool to see what other people who live in Mexico were saying about the “pandemic” in their area. I had the chance to virtually meet a lot of new people, especially through twitter.

Here’s a list of some of my new friends on twitter who live in and blog about Mexico. If you’re interested in news from Mexico or traveling to Mexico, be sure to check them out.

• Inside Mexico – website; twitter
• Deborah Bonello – website; twitter
• Gary Denness – website; twitter
• Cancun Canuck – website; twitter
• RiverGirlCancun – website; twitter
• Margarita – website; twitter
• Yessica – website; twitter
• Steven Roll – website; twitter
• Kate Joynes-Burgess – website; twitter