I just came across this great post by Steven Roll about iPhone apps to take with you to Mexico.
I’d love to check out the metro one, especially. I think it would come in handy for me.
The Sit or Squat one looks like it could be useful, too.
Check out his list here.
(image by: William Hook on Flickr)
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)
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.
I saw this at the airport yesterday…it was on the big screen that tells the flight information.
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.
While many Americans were celebrating Cinco de Mayo yesterday, I would bet that if you ask most Mexicans about this week’s holiday, they would tell you it’s Mother’s Day.
Mother’s Day is celebrated May 10th here, regardless of what day it is (as opposed to how in the USA Mother’s Day is always celebrated on a Sunday.) It happens to fall on the same day this year as it does in the United States.
But it’s a much bigger deal here than there. It has something to do with Mexicans’ view of motherhood. I read an article in Vivir Mexico last September (El Culto de La Madre), and I posted some of a translation of that article on my family’s blog (Motherhood in Mexico).
Mothers’ Day is practically a national holiday…
To be a bad mother is the worst possible thing in Mexican society. Bad mothers are the villains of every story…
The child who abandons his mother deserves less than the devil himself, especially if the mother is elderly…
So, forget Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day is the REAL holiday this week in Mexico.
(Image by: Big Grey Mare on flickr)
I am a gringo living in Mexico City, hence the name Chilingo: a mix between what they call citizens of Mexico City (Chilango) and what they call Americans (gringo). Chilango + Gringo = Chilingo.
