Can I just tell you...

...how much I like Ugly Betty? I know it's just a silly TV show, but it is really clever and funny. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Since moving to Mexico, it's really the only show that I watch with any regularity (I download it on itunes, along with Desperate Housewives, natch).

But back to Betty. I also watched the original series in Spanish, and I like the English one much better. Maybe I get the jokes better, maybe the jokes are just better. [Oh, I'd be exclaiming this useless information to a real person, except I'm embarrassed to call anyone at this late hour just to say that I like Ugly Betty.]

And that's all I want to say about that.

Afternoon of the Dead

In case you didn't know, this past week Mexico celebrated Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos). At my school, they built this altar (to the right). It's supposed to commemorate people who have died, and they decorate it with skeletons and papel picado, flowers (I think they are marigolds), and of course photos of the departed. Then they put the dead person's favorite things, like food and drink or cigarrettes, and light candles all around.

This altar is nice, but my friends Amy and Michael were visiting for the weekend, and we went downtown to the Zocalo to see all the really big altars.

They had some really huge papier mache skeletons making some sort of social commentary or other. The big one has a hammer and sickle badge, and bears a passing resemblance to a certain North Korean leader, don't you think? You can't see in the photo, but he had a lucha libre wrestler in his right hand. The woman skeleton, I don't know. That's why I say it was some social commentary or other. I'm just not sure.

They also had a huge wrestling ring, with skeleton lucha libre wrestlers. They were really funny, caught in wrestling poses.





















Just walking down the street, we saw some construction equipment disguised as a giraffe. If it was a Halloween costume, or something for the Day of the Dead, I can't say.

Tepotzlan, via the Segundo Piso

So this Saturday, I went with some friends/coworkers to a little town called Tepotzlan (more about that in a minute). To get out of Mexico City, which took 2 hours by the way, we got to drive on the "Segundo Piso" of the Periferico. What happened was that there was so much traffic, they built a 'second floor' to the highway. It was fun! You can see some great views. This picture is near the end, and that flag is Huge. Anyway, the Segundo Piso was a huge project, and they even made a movie about it. En el Hoyo / In the Pit mainly told the stories of the workers in one small section, but it also gives an idea of how huge an undertaking it was. The very end of the movie is a long single shot of the whole Segundo Piso, ending at the huge flag.

So after leaving the city, Mike 'Costanza' in the lead car (the little red one on the left), was making great time. But we made it anyway. What can I say about Tepotzlan? It is a cute town with a huge craggy mountain/hill at its edge. At the top of the hill is a pyramid offering great views of the surrounding valley. It is supposedly a center of positive energy, maybe because the plumed serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, was 'born' nearby. Lots of people come to get their aura cleansed, or whatever it is they do, and there are lots of newageish spiritual events, shops, visitors, and other such skulduggery.

I looked at the Frommer's guide and it said this: "Most Tepoztlán residents, whether foreigners or Mexicans, tend to be mystically or artistically oriented -- although some also appear to be just plain disoriented." I agree. And may I add that many of the foreigners need long baths with very hot water and well-paid professional scrubby-maids. With shears.

But the town itself was really neat. Neat-o, even. It was raining, so we didn't get to spend two hours climbing to the top. Drat! I was aching to do that, for sure. But we did get to shop around at the artists market, and see the sights. This picture on the left is a mural at the entrance gate to some convent or other, but the point is that it is made entirely of beans. Well, beans and seeds. And some legumes, I guess. But things you can eat! Pretty fancy, huh?

This picture, I love. Love! It's a Pulqueria, where they sell pulque, the drink the Aztecs made, sort of a forerunner to tequila. (defined as: a thick, milky-white, mildly alcoholic beverage fermented from the juice of various species of agave.) But the men hanging out playing guitar, the dog on the roof, even the plastic chairs says nothing but "Mexico" to me.

The best part is the sign on the white poster paper just above the men. Roughly translated it says: Pulque: Healthy, Nutritional, and Medicinal. The champagne of the Mexica." (also known as Aztecs)

Notice, the taste isn't mentioned.


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