back from mexico city

First - many congratulations and felicitations to Jenny and John! It was great seeing everyone at the wedding - a beautiful wedding amid hanging flowers and a fab reception with tasty food and much crazy dancing. :) Even though my canceled flight made travel a bit of a challenge, I am so glad I got to enjoy the celebration. I have pictures on my flickr site.

Last week Joe and I took off for Mexico City, visiting his brother who teaches music at an American school. It was a super fun time - great highs (utterly pristine beach) and some lows (e. coli invasion, pollution stinging your eyes and throat). We were also in a 6.3 earthquake at midnight - woke up to the entire room shaking like crazy and hearing tiles smash. We felt a couple aftershocks and of course I worrying about tsunamis but it was okay. The epicenter was just 40 miles away from our hotel - no major damage, luckily.

We toured the Xochimilco Gardens on rainbow-painted barges - a Mexican gondola ride where you drink cerveza and hire mariachis on barges to follow you and play. Also food and drink vendors float by and you can grab a meal. We also went to Frida Kahlo's blue house, the Zocalo, and open-air markets where aggressive sellers thrust knives at you with delectable fruit samples on the tip. We also spent an afternoon in Taxco, a 1800s mining village in the hills with tiny winding cobblestone streets, and shopped for silver jewelry.

We went to the beach north of Acapulco - our first hotel had a bed full of bugs, a roof made of palm fronds, a swimming pool of algae, no electricity and no hot water. Then, no water at all. It was not so nice. We switched to a much nicer hotel (same price, 500 pesos or $50) and basically lazed around in hammocks for three days. When necessary, we'd stroll 10 feet across the sand to a table and get shrimp tacos & pina coladas. The hotel was called Nirvana and it was accurate.

It was a great trip and really busted many of my stereotypes of Mexico - yes, Mexico City is trash-ridden and polluted but it also has pretty parks with wide tree-lined boulevards, friendly neighborhoods with sidewalks cafes, romantic restaurants. And how about this benefit - when the stoplight turns red, you don't stop, you just lay on the horn and speed through the intersection!

I'm happy to be back in America, land of the free and e. coli-free water. I am attempting to soothe my troubled GI system with easter candy. Our house is being renovated and there are holes in the roof but it's really nice to be home.