ac

Not a lot of places I hang out in here have air conditioning, though yeah I am sure there is plenty in the desert and beach resort areas. DF has a really really nice climate, though. Sometimes I think it’s too nice. And at any rate neither air conditioning nor central heating is necessary here. Most houses do not have it.

I didn’t wake up thinking about it because it was hot or anything. I woke up thinking about it because I’m going to Miami in a couple of weeks, and I was realizing there will be air conditioning in every building.

It was funny to me what a strong association air conditioning carries. The contrast with the outdoors, from what I know anyway– thin brittle sterile cool air indoors, moist robust warm air outdoors. How the house feels when you walk in from the heat. They say Atlanta would never have been what it is today without air conditioning.

It’s kinda weird that I haven’t really been in a/c in over a year. I was never really one to use it in Virginia– I didn’t even have a window unit in my apartment, preferring to point a fan at myself to evaporate the sweat– but still you’re always in it up there, at work, the grocery store, wherever.

last weekend

Approximately 24 hours before I fell into the pool and got a concussion. Look at how happy I am!

el borrego viudo

Last night after a party in La Roma at this German chick’s house I was talking incessantly about tacos (como normal), so my friend René brought me to this place near his parents’ house in Tacubaya. It’s an institution in the City. El Borrego Viudo means the Widower Lamb! Though apparently Borrego is also the Señor dueño of the place, who himself is a widower.

That had this really good agua fresca flavored with piloncillo (a sugar-cane, honey, cinnamonish sabor, also used to flavor café de olla).

Here’s some video I found while googling around that was taken at El Borrego Viudo. What follows demonstrates one of the things amazing tacos can do to a person– I’ve probably watched it 20 times:

When we were done I insisted on walking home, from Viaducto and Revolución all the way to practically the Glorieta Insurgentes. According to Google maps, that’s like 3.5 km. Which means René walked 7, because he accompanied me there and back.

sade – paradise & madonna – open your heart

Women in men’s clothing dancing with little kids:

1992

1986

ropa de marca

Took these pictures in Colonia Cuauhtémoc, a pretty well-off area. Ritzy, even. A lot of embassies and Argentinian and Japanese restaurants.

And dry-cleaners getting rid of abandoned clothing, apparently?

This accounts for the Inglish, I guess. Not sure what accounts for the sense of humor.

aldo n me

A couple of weeks ago in Guadalajara. Fixin to drive to La Piedad, Michoacán.

La Piedad, Michoacán:

We went there for a wedding. I didn’t take any more pictures because I was having too much fun. My dress looked great, though (Margarita Calderón made it) (she’s my roommate).

google buzz lawsuit

Google settled with a bunch of people who didn’t like that the company automatically published their frequent gmail contacts in the Google Buzz community.

http://www.buzzclassaction.com/

For the record I think this lawsuit, along with most internet privacy concerns not related to personal finance, is a crock. If people don’t want these companies to have their information they shouldn’t fffing give it to them. Google is providing a free service, which people use voluntarily, and to which they knowingly upload reams and reams and reams of personal information.

There.

mercado sonora

The witchcraft market. Potions and stuff, a lot of San Judas, a lot of Santa Muerte, a lot of things designed to bring love and money to one’s life. Also black baby dolls similar to the one visible in my header image. Not sure what they’re for, but they’re cool. Also there are voodoo dolls and pets and candies and party favors. And during Día de los Muertos season, tons of disfraces.

I don’t really go in for the Chinese imports, but I am interested in a lot of the stuff this place carries. I can blow a nice chunk there, as I did today, on things like bulk sugar carry-all bags and honey and potted plants.

I mostly just went there today, though, to check out the Halloween action. They had a stage set up for a performance scheduled for later today, and even at 9am the place was heaving with gente.

One thing that happens as you (I) wander around there in awe of all the powders and oils and herbs and stuff is that EVERYONE asks, “¿Qué buscabas? ¿Qué buscabas?” What were you looking for?

It gets to a point where I stop answering. Then it gets to a point where I feel like a jerk. Then it gets to a point where I start answering again.

Reaching this point today, I considered my desire for natural cosmetics alongside the place’s bounty of complementary medicines. I’m not a big cosmetics person, but especially here in the non-dirty South my skin gets real dry, and I thought maybe my wish for small-batch moisturizing cream could be served.

So I finally answered, “Pues, hay crema… para las manos?”

The dude was like, “Yeah, at the farmacia.” (No, there isn’t a pharmacy in Mercado Sonora.)

“No… [silly!] como con hierbas!”

Then he (and two other dudes) proceeded to diagnose my cuida-piel needs with concha, combined with limón. They gave me some instructions to find the dude who sells concha– leave the market, bear left, enter another building, and ask for Rodrigo. Hm. They also said if I rascar (scrape) my skin I could achieve a more profound effect, though only one of them actually recommended this. And that after I apply it to my face I should go outside and look at the moon.

I laughed at that, and they were like, “Um, seriously.”

Then they asked me whether my eye-color is real or I wear contacts.

It was pretty sweet talking cosmetics with a bunch of straight dudes.

I never found Rodrigo.

chopo

Still haven’t checked out Chopo yet, but want to. Music tianguis, which developed under the PRI’s 60 years of protectionist policy prohibiting the import of music. Jacked up. So Chopo for years filled that gaping hole in the market by supplying an illegal supply of music.

(Funny, illegal supply of music is actually the reason why I haven’t been to Chopo yet, embarrassingly, in the 15 months that I’ve lived here. I don’t really shop for music anymore. Except vinyl. Except I don’t have a record player. I have bought cd’s on the metro, however.)

There is also a museum there that I didn’t know about– the Museo Universitario del Chopo, which is part of la UNAM. They’ve got an exhibition on right now called “Narco y las ecuaciones económicas perversas” by Eduardo Oblés.

I’ll go check it out. Tuesday is the museum’s free day, though I think Saturday is the big day for Chopo the market.