It was your birthday. I saw a picture of you with her celebrating with your family. I suspect she lives with you. I wonder if you’ve painted over the green rainbow/headboard I painted in our bedroom. I wonder if you moved to the middle room. We never lived there. I try not to call it my house. I texted you happy birthday. I don’t know why. Maybe cause I hope it hurt you the way it hurt me when you texted happy birthday to me. You texted back. I doubt it hurt you. Futility sucks.
THE RAINS HAVE STOPPED AND DAY OF THE DEAD IS STARTING!
Ok, the rainy season, which was supposed to end on Sept 15th and most definitely did not, appears to have come to a close. Which is fucking delightful.
This week I ate my first and my second pan de muerto. And I started off at the top with a pan from Panaderia Rosetta. This is a delightful and fluffy sweet enriched bread that is only available this time of year. It’s shaped like a bun to represent the eternal cycle between life and death and topped with crossbones to represent the departed. There are many variations on this, but clasically it’s topped with a bit of granular sugar and will practically melt in a cup of coffee. Various renditions include matcha, orange glaze, powdered sugar, chocolate, sesame seeds, you name it. If you’re in Portland, think the gibrassier from Pearl Bakery, although the fennel seed is not common here. But the lightness of this bread would warrant it.
Legend has it that the bread dates back to the human sacrifice of pre Hispanic times in which a maiden was offered to the gods and her still beating heart was put in a pot with amaranth and the powers that be had to bite into the heart to perform the ritual. The Spanish, disgusted with the practice, made them use bread.
I’d heard that one of the hard things about living here is that everyone you meet is constantly leaving. And for my first, my friend & hiking buddy Michelle is moving and I am sad. She is planning on coming back for a few weeks in January to hike Iztaccihuatl and wants me to go with, so there’s that to look forward to and also be slightly terrified of.
I am in settle in mode. More things on walls, I have bought a fridge, not a full size, but definitely not a mini, I bought a bicycle. I found a place to sharpen my knives, but I need to find a cheaper one, cause this was more than US prices by a lot.
Leo has a cold which is seriously unfortunate and pathetic. Spiritwise he seems really good, but he can’t really bark and he’s just coughing a lot. We only had one bad night, so I should be grateful for that.
Saturday Fran and I attempted to go to the Mexico City #NoKings rally. We had breakfast with our friend Sherry, we made signs, we made sure we had our raincoats. And then we headed out to the US Embassy. The embassy sits just a few blocks up from the Angel of Independence on Avendia Reforma. This also happens to be the route the Alebrijes Parade takes, which we knew, and I was super stoked about because I love love love the alebrijes.
However this did have some consequences. First and foremost traffic and parking were a bitch and it took us a very long time to get over there. Left to my own devices, I would’ve walked, but Fran had enlisted her partner to drive us. As we walked from our parking spot we heard some very loud speakers blasting Selena which was odd and a bunch of people passed us with PAN signs and shirts. PAN or Partido Acción Nacional, is a conservative political party in Mexico who had apparently taken advantage of the parade to stage a BIG rally at the Angel, complete with a stage. We pushed past the PAN crowd to the embassy and found no one. We tried walking round the side of the embassy, which presented no small challenge as the season’s festivities are fully upon us and large tents made to look like the trajineras of Xochimilco housed vendors on both sides of the avenida’s broad sidewalks. There was also no one there. But then the alebrijes parade started and we paused to watch.
Alebrijes are mythical creatures or spirit animals brightly decorated. Not initially connected to Día de Muertos (Día de los Muertos in the US) whatsoever, they’re actually a pretty recent art form, developed in the 1930s by Mexico City artist Pedro Linares. In Oaxaca, they are made of wood, here in the city they are commonly the most elaborate form of papier mache I’ve ever seen. You can buy them all over the place in various styles, degrees of detail, quality, size, material, and, correspondingly, price. But the ones in the parade are a whole other beast. These alebrijes are instead of having floats. They’re big and set upon trailers to roll down Avenida Reforma. The parade is hosted by the Museo de Arte Popular and combines the talents of master cartoneros (papier mache artists, yes it’s a whole job here!) with emerging artists from across Mexico to create elaborate and fantastical alebrijes. Like most parades, there are also marching bands, usually from high school, and the regional dancers often accompany an alebrije made in the tradition of the represented region.
After the parade, over 200 participating alebrijes are on display for about 3 weeks on either side of Avenida Reforma which is actually a much better opportunity to see them.
Definitely double click to make those bigger. The intricacy is amazing.
After the parade we wandered off the avenida in search of tacos. On the way we came across a group of Americans eating pizza who asked us if we were here for the NoKings rally (yes, we are still carrying around signs…) and it turned out they were the organizers. They hadn’t been aware of the PAN rally and it had just completely drowned them out. There’s a reasonable chance I’m going to be involved with this group.
After some very tasty tacos and a scrumptious Michelada at Tacos Los Alexis, we headed back. A quick note on Micheladas. In Mexico City, a Michelada is most commonly lime juice with a salt rim, beer on the side. If you want the tomatoeness- you must ask for a Clamato which is a mix of Clamato & tomato broth, often with additional seasoning. But the plain Michelada is my jam. It is worth noting that in other areas of the country, Michelada is the tomato friend by default and if you just want lime & salt, you ask for a chelada.
Sunday was hiking day! And Michelle’s last hike.
We went to Parque Ejidal San Nicolás Totolapan which sits to the southwest of the city around 25 kilometers from my neighborhood (also known as an hour drive). Like Dinamos and Dos Aguas, this parque has amenities with restaurants and shops bordering the parking lot. And activities! Mountain biking, horseback riding, trout fishing and more! This was a relatively short hike of about 13 km with a really great payout in terms of views. The park is forested with lots of pine trees. Our route to us up to the Virgen & Ahuejito, past camping grounds with campfire smell drifting out and a labyrinth made of very sad arborvitae (could be something else).
It was a lovely group of 6 women. Michelle, Sam, Isabelle, Azu, myself & Liz, plus Trufa the pup. On our way up we ran into a massive group of dogs and their respective people all of whom turned out to be Azu & Trufa’s friends. Then we kept going up, gently, the extremely wide trail/road alternating between packed earth and cobblestone (strong personal preference for packed earth). Notably, I continued to have reception for a quite ways which bodes well for any potential solo outings with Leo.
The elevation isn’t so high, only reaching maybe 11,000 ft, so the forest stayed with us the whole way through. We came upon the opening that houses the Virgen carved into a huge rock. There’s also a small tienda, a lookout tower that was unfortunately closed and some very pretty viewpoints of the city.
But this was not the end. After having been falsely assured by Liz that the rest was easier, we continued going up. Michelle and I agreed it was even perhaps at a steeper gradient. We then turned off to Ahuejito, which led us to a narrow and padded in pine needles trail that felt more hikinglike. A small clearing gave us an incredible view of the city, Iztaccihuatl & Popocatepetl.
We went further up to a big grassy clearing known as Valle de Marlboro, had a snack, watched some horses meander through and headed on back.
Tacos of the Week: The Cart on Mérida
I’ve eyeballing this cart for a bit now cause it’s part of a near daily walk and is generally pretty crowded and it smells good! I was hoping for a campechano, but they were out and the gentleman recommended suadero, which this was either one of the best suadero’s I’ve had OR he actually said cerdo and I misunderstood. That said, a taco de cerdo is just super vague and I’ve never seen that anywhere and I’m actually mildly worried about what the hell I ate in that case, cause random pig is not usually a top of the line cut.
This was really yummy. Topped with cilantro and onion and green salsa. Will go back.
Year One Project 
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