Mexico – Page 4 – GringoPotpourri

Barrios Bravos: Tlatelolco

I recently re-read my September post entitled “Barrios Bravos: Iztapalapa,” about the largest delegación (borough) in Mexico City and the dangerous reputations held by its various barrios (neighborhoods). I am especially proud of that entry, as I think it contains some of the best writing I’ve yet done for this blog. More than that, though, it reminded me that I still have more to say about Mexico City and its “tough neighborhoods.”

Tlatelolco (try saying that three times fast) is a hard word to pronounce and a hard barrio in which to live. Roughly speaking, it sits northwest of the Centro Histórico, between Tepito and Buenavista Train Station. During the heyday of the Aztec empire, Tlatelolco was a separate community from nearby Tenochtitlan, and it is said that Tlatelolco’s residents looked down on those from the larger Tenochtitlan. Vendors from Tepito, the market serving Tenochtitlan, were not allowed to trade with those from Tlatelolco. This segregation exists several centuries later, despite the fact that both “barrios bravos” are part of the same administrative district. The main street separating Tlatelolco from Greater Tepito, Paseo de la Reforma, can be like an invisible wall between two countries, although this divide isn’t necessarily visible to casual wanderers. (More on this rivalry later.)

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Thanksgiving Reflections – 2014

It is the day before Thanksgiving as I write this. 2014 has been a tough year. It started out great – bonding with the family dog during an extended winter break, returning last January to my job in Mexico City with eager new students, and enjoying a day trip with a good friend to the former spa town of Tequisquiapan. But I was living in Mexico on borrowed time, and just as I had finally expanded my local friend circle to a satisfying degree, the time came for me to return.

I have spent much of the time since then in a sort of daze. Although I’ve enjoyed scoping out my new surroundings in Eastern Tennessee, I can’t help but feel that I’m not living up to my full potential…whatever that may be. That being said, I know that 2015 will be a better year, and I’m going to do my best to find direction and stability in my life and to take on a more positive general attitude…as of this moment. For starters, I look forward to spending Thanksgiving with my parents for the first time since 1999. I can taste the cranberries already!

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The Concept of “Ahorita”

If you spend any significant amount of time in Mexico City – or even just a single day, for that matter – you’ll almost certainly hear the phrase “ahorita” being uttered. It doesn’t exist in most Spanish-language dictionaries, so what does it mean exactly?

A Brief Spanish Lesson

Roughly translated, ahorita means “in just a moment from now.” The root word, ahora, means “now.” The “-ita” suffix is a diminutive, which “lessens” the meaning. Mexican Spanish is filled with these diminutivo nouns, adverbs, and adjectives. For example, beso is a noun meaning, “the kiss” or “a kiss,” depending on the article preceding it. Besito is a diminutive noun meaning, “the small kiss” or “a small kiss.” Similarly, momento means “moment,” as in Un momento, por favor, which means “One moment, please.” Mexicans prefer to say “Un momentito, por favor,” which means “One small moment, please.”

The augmentative – opposite – of diminutives are also common in Spanish, usually in an “-ote” (masculine) or “-ota” (feminine) form. If beso is “kiss” and besito is “small kiss,” then besote is “big kiss.”

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Barrios Bravos: Iztapalapa

It has been three months since my first post about Mexico City’s “barrios bravos” (“tough” or “brave” neighborhoods). In that entry, I listed the “rules” that one should follow for a safe visit, and then blogged about my experiences in Tepito, the most notorious barrio bravo in the Mexican capital. During my time as an honorary Chilango, I also had the opportunity to explore – and fall in love with – another much-maligned neighborhood, this one a proper delegación (borough): Iztapalapa.

Iztapalapa is more than just a collection of barrios bravos – it is the most-populous borough in Mexico City. It is also the poorest, hence its reputation. My first visit to Iztapalapa occurred when I was assigned English classes in the district. I learned that my students worked for a laboratory in the industrial Canal de San Juan/Periférico Oriente section of Iztapalapa. I was nervous – doubly so, since my arrival would be at the pre-dawn time of 7 a.m. But Google Earth showed me the way, and, after three bus transfers, I arrived without incident. This section of Iztapalapa is on the east side of the city, directly across the road from the Federal Police headquarters. The area is a manufacturing hub for numerous firms, so it’s low on charm but high on security. I felt safe, and by my third week I was walking back from class and stopping off for tacos campechanos at the city’s best street taquería.

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FAQs about My Life in Mexico

As you know, I spent almost two years living in Mexico City. I worked, played, and made a life there before deciding to return to the U.S. – what I affectionately refer to as Gringolandia – two months ago.

To many – most – people, Mexico City might seem like a strange choice for a place to live. While I had spent considerable time in and around Mexico DF before actually moving there (I didn’t enter into my decision to move there lightly), it was nevertheless a life choice rife with surprises and unexpected challenges.

If you’ve followed this blog for some time, you may have heard some of this before. Last week, however, I stumbled upon a similarly-themed blog post from The Paper Planes Blog about expat living in Thailand. Her FAQ-themed entry – and her entire blog, in fact – is insightful and fun, and it inspired me to write something similar – if inferior in quality.

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Mexico City Parks: Chapultepec and Bosque de Aragón

Mexico City is filled with a variety of lovely green spaces. Internationally, they are not as renowned as, say, New York City’s Central Park, Munich’s English Gardens, or Beijing’s Summer Palace Grounds. But they are glorious places in and of themselves – green lungs for a city that needs as many as it can get.

Nearly every neighborhood has a park of some kind. Usually the park has a fountain or two, a statue to some local or national hero, park benches, jacaranda or pine trees, and a playground. Some, like Parque Hundido along Avenida Insurgentes, feature tourist trains on a fixed circuit. Others, like Parque de los Venados in Colonia Del Valle, feature small ferias (amusement parks). The best of the best of Mexico City’s public parks – Chapultepec and Bosque de Aragón – feature trains, ferias, and much, much more.

Chapultepec

The grand daddy of Mexico City parks is Chapultepec Park. “Chapultepec” means “hill of the grasshoppers” in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. This park, located due west of the Centro Histórico, is divided into three sections across 686 hectares (1,695 acres). The first two sections are especially lovely, and Sección 1a is a veritable treasure trove.

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The (Long Awaited) Mexican Food Blog – Part Two

Although I have returned to the U.S., I am still committed to writing insightful content about my experience living in Mexico. A few months ago I blogged about Mexican food – breaking down that country’s diverse culinary options in several categories – tacos, tamales, etc. You can read about it here. Part Two – today’s entry – picks up where the first one left off.

Menu del Día

Fine dining takes many forms in Mexico. Muy comun in Mexico City – and particularly for lunch – are fondas – restaurants with “Menu of the Day” offerings at affordable fixed prices. The quality varies but the order is almost always the same: your choice of soup or consommé, then your choice of rice or pasta, then a main dish (typically three to choose from, accompanied by frijoles and a small salad), then a postre (dessert), often Jell-O. Bread or tortillas are usually served, and the beverage is “flavored water” such as flor de Jamaica (hibiscus flower). If you are willing to pay extra you can get soda or beer, but the agua de fruta is delicious and the whole meal will seldom set you back more than 70 pesos (about $5 USD). Usually the price is closer to 50 pesos ($3.50 USD).

Interestingly enough, the main dish is usually the least appetizing of the entire meal’s offerings.

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A Sunday in Tepotzotlán

As a teacher I was always discouraged from forming friendships with my students, and for all the right reasons. I see no reason, however, why I cannot pursue friendships, Facebook connections, and the like once I am no longer a teacher – and certainly once I no longer work for the language school that provides lessons to said student(s). So when Yolanda, a former student of mine, suggested that she would like for me to spend one weekend day to meet her family and spend some time speaking English with her children, I felt obliged to say “yes.”

We choose last Sunday as the date and Tepotzotlán as the place. Tepotzotlán is just north of Mexico City – a proper small town and another “Pueblo Mágico” in Mexico’s tourism crown. The “magical town” of roughly 39,000 people is famous for two things: barbacoa (barbecued lamb) and el Museo Nacional del Virreinato (the National Vice-Regal Museum).

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Barrios Bravos: Greater Tepito

It has been just over one week since my last blog post. That one, about my decision to leave Mexico City, was my most-read post since I’ve been doing this blog. Judging by the number of views, likes, and comments, it caught many of you by surprise. To borrow an old expression, I’ve been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest this past month, and these final days will offer no respite.

That said, I plan to continue this blog, more or less in its current form. I still have a thousand other stories to tell. With the “end” in sight, memories of my time here have come flooding into my mind, most of them good, not bad.

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Mexico City has its share of bad neighborhoods. It seems that every delegación (borough) has at least one. Cinder block houses, corrugated sheet metal roofs, stray dogs, reggaetón music blasting at all hours of the day or night….Often, these “barrios bravos” (“tough” or “brave” neighborhoods) are located along Periférico, the ring road that circles the city and is a proper high-speed highway for much of its length. Other times, they descend steeply down into canyons. Green city buses that ply the adjacent streets are subject to frequent robberies. Sometimes, police are afraid to enter. Many times, all that separates one of these barrios bravos from an upscale, gated community is a busy street.

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Green Go Home! Or, Why I’m Leaving Mexico City

Yesterday marked my last day of classes as an English teacher in Mexico City. I have just two weeks remaining as an honorary Chilango before it’s time to return to the U.S., where I face an uncertain future.

Deciding to leave here was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. But I can’t stay, even if I wanted to.

Background: Lost Love

I have called Mexico City home for not quite two years. I first discovered el Distrito Federal in 2002, during a whirlwind Thanksgiving weekend trip, and have been enamored of the place ever since. I met a local girl while traveling in another Mexican city – Guadalajara – in 2011, and decided to move here – for her and for myself both – not quite one year later.

That turned out to be a mistake.

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