Weekend Getaway

Having visitors lately has given us the great excuse of doing some sightseeing in and out of Mexico City. We took Dada and Dadi to Xochimilco to ride the garish gondolas (and buy plants for the apartment) and to the the Zocalo (which at night is all lit up in the national colors, as this is independence month). But best of all was our long weekend to Acapulco.

Since Mommy and Daddy are not huge fans of the Jersey shore, this was my first ever excursion to the beach, and I have to say that I just loved it. We stayed in a lovely hotel on the Puerto Marques Bay, in the more serene area of Acapulco. The ocean was warm as bath water and the waves were very gentle, so after my initial caution at trying something new, it was nearly impossible to get me off the beach.

The hotel also had three swimming pools to choose from (while Mommy preferred the infinity pool for her swimming, I stuck to the main pool which had an adjoining kiddie section). I spent an awful lot of time in there, and even made a friend, Lucca. It turns out that he and his parents live not too far from us in Mexico City, so hopefully we’ll be having some play dates in our future.

We also managed to venture out of the hotel to go see a dolphin show at the acquatic park, and then on to the famous cliff divers at La Quebrada (the divers jump into that narrow strait between the cliffs that you can see in the picture below). After such a fun beach vacation, I’m counting down to our trip to Cabo in December!

Abuelos! Abuelos!

Despite having moved 3000 miles away from home, I sure do see my grandparents a lot – not that I am complaining, mind you.

Last weekend Dada returned, and for the first time brought Dadi with him. We have been having tons of fun together – we went to the park where we rented a remote controlled boat, then boarded the Lincoln Park Express (that’s what I like to call the tractor powered train that runs around the park). I also tried my “feet” at a trampoline – I don’t know if you can tell from the video below, but while I loved the idea of being able to jump on something that I wouldn't get yelled at, I had a hard time actually doing it. In the end I just ended up bouncing all over the place by virtue of the older kids around me jumping.

Mommy and Daddy are enjoying having Dada and Dadi around almost as much as I am – Dadi has been cooking for us a bit, and she and Dada come to pick me up from school with Arturo so that gives Mommy a lot of free time to read, study Spanish, and finally get her hair cut. Plus Daddy has taken a few days off from work, so the house is so lively and full of people.

Viva Mexico!

This past weekend was the celebration of Mexican independence, and since Mexicans love to party, even their independence celebration lasts two days. It begins on the evening of September 15 when the Mexican president stands atop the National Palace overlooking the Zocalo and addresses the crowds that have congregated below. The celebration reaches a climax when, in a commemoration of Father Hidalgo’s call for independence and liberty back in 1810, the president closes his remarks by ringing the same bell originally rung by Father Hidalgo, and shouting, “VIVA MEXICO!”

And thus begins the independence holiday, which lasts into September 16, the actual day of independence.

Anticipation of El Grito de Indpendencia (The Shout of Independence), however, starts weeks before when streets, houses and buildings are decorated throughout the city in the national colors of green, white and red. Buildings are swathed in the biggest Mexican flags you have ever seen, and vendors set up shop on every street corner selling flags, balloons, sombreros and other memorabilia.

While we thought it would be a fantastic experience to stand amongst the crowds at the Zocalo and experience Mexican nationalism in its highest form, we ended up celebrating the holiday from our apartment, listening to the fireworks in the distance and the blaring car horns below. I was a bit disappointed as I was told that the atmosphere at the Zolaco is like Times Square on New Year’s Eve, only warmer and a bit more dangerous. However, too many people cautioned us against going. After all, the party-going people that they are, the Zolaco was sure to be filled by way too many Mexicans, many having consumed way too many shots of tequila . . . .

An Eclectic Group

One of things I had envisioned about life as an expat (aside from sipping cappuccinos at sidewalk cafes in different cities each weekend) was meeting people of different nationalities and backgrounds. I imagined going to dinner parties and making friends with Europeans, South Americans, Asians who spoke various languages, had lived all over the world and could share their different perspectives on life overseas.

Well, the other night I was invited to a ladies night at a friend’s house where, in addition to fantastic food, I met a number of really interesting and nice women from all over the world. One thing that amazed me about them was that every single one of them was fluent in at least one language aside from her native tongue. In fact one woman, a Brazilian national, was fluent in four languages: English (after having met her French husband in London), French, and Spanish aside from her native Portuguese. Another thing that was incredible was that most of the women were raising trilingual children – with success – which gave me hope for Asha.

After a few bottles of wine, we moved on to the boisterous portion of the evening with a bilingual game of Pictionary. Imagine eighteen less-than-sober women yelling out guesses to bad drawings in broken Spanish and English . . . .

Get a Room

I have never really considered myself a prude or anything, but the amount of PDA I see here in Mexico City takes some getting used to (perhaps there is a conservative Indian side of me after all). Everywhere I go – from parks to the movies to fast food restaurants to street corners – I see couples engaging in amorous behavior. I am not just talking about hand holding or the occasional kiss. It is more along the lines of sitting on each other’s laps while embracing and whispering into each other’s ears, long periods of kissing and even the occasional sprawl on the grass with one person laying on top of the other doing God-knows-what. No wonder this is the one of the most populous cities in the world. . . .

(Photo courtesy of http://www.bygonebyways.com)