Hola Ya'll! Part 3: The Overdue Middle of Mexico

I last left you with the night we wandered into the swank sushi bar after failing to find our protest rock bar...but I left something out about that night! Between the museum and the wanderings, we went to a bar close to our hotel called Excalibar. This is the only bar in Mexico City that carded us, and the security measures didn't stop there... they searched my bag and actually did a full pat down of Dave (and I mean FULL...he was like, "Whoa!"). Once we got in, we were struck speechless by the hilarious interior design. They had one big booth lining all the walls, covered in deep blue carpet with glow-in-the-dark planets, stars and suns all over it that extended from the floor up on the seats and the backs. Then above the booth was a huge panel of mirrors. They also had big posts in the middle of the room that were covered in the same carpet, and the lights were obviously down quite low so the solar system was aglow. Dave asked the bartenders (in Spanish) what types of beer they had, and his response was, "Grande." Meaning they only had one type of beer that came in a HUGE bottle! So we shared one and sat somewhat awkwardly amongst a group of people dancing and singing to the music being played (which was actually really good Mexican rock and ska). Then this gangsta lookin' dude who was actually not a gangsta at all but rather a server at this restaurant downtown started talking to us, and he was really sweet but had sketchy looking friends. So we left good ol' Excalibar, but definitely enjoyed our cerveza grande while we were there (and the carpet, of course).

Now for the the next day, which was full of more museums and crazy new friend. We first went to the Leo Trotsky museum, which is set up in the house Trotsky spent his last years living in. After being exiled from Russia and sent to all these other countries, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera spoke with the Mexican government and set it up for Trotsky and his wife to come live with them in the Blue House (their home) until the Trotskys got their own place, where the museum was located.

So, the museum started with two rooms that were built in front of his house, full of photographs and old documents from his move to Mexico and his time in the City. There were numerous assassination attempts while living in Mexico, including one that he actually didn't survive (a crazy man killed Trotsky with an ice pick in the bedroom). There were pictures of the crime scene and him in the coffin and everything, along with some photos of his kids and his life in other countries. Then you walk into the courtyard of his house, which is kept like how it was during his life. He worked for 10 hours or more every weekday with assistants, trying to write a biography about Stalin and other documents to get the truth out about what was going on (this is one reason why Stalin supporters continually tried to kill him), and then dedicated his off time to caring for animals and the gardens in his courtyard. He had a hen house, loads of rabbits and other animals that he cared for with the same level of attention and dedication he put toward his political work (according to interview's with his wife). Also, he took weekend excursions to the hillsides of Mexico and brought back all these cacti and everything that are still growing...it was breathtaking.

Then you walk through the house for the armed guards, who spent their days in the tall watch towers beside the building that overlooked the neighborhood. In this small house, there were pictures from his time in Russia, helping lead the revolution, and all this info about Stalin and everything that was happening. Truly very interesting. Then, you finally get to walk through his house, completely with boarded up windows, holes in the wall from a previous assassination attempt (made by one of my favorite muralists, Siquieros! I was sad when I learned he was a nutso Stalin-ist), and the tube of toothpaste Trotsky used prior to his murder, still sitting on the bathroom sink. Their dishes were still in the kitchen, their comforter still on their bed. And it turns out that Trotsky also drank Earl Grey tea...his box of Twinnings Earl Grey was still on a kitchen shelf.

We were very moved by the whole experience. I knew so little about this whole chunk of history prior to visiting this museum (and still don't know as much as I probably should). And it also opened my eyes to how lucky I am in some ways to be an American. In a lot of ways, actually. I'm very quick to jump into the camp of, "I hate our president and the United States sucks!" But in reality, I have a lot of freedoms and rights that I take for granted, that I receive simply because I happened to be born here. The place really got me thinking.

Then, we walked down the street to the Blue House, which is now turned into the Frida Kahlo museum. When Trotsky first came to Mex City, he lived with Frida and Diego. But then, Frida and he had an affair and there were a few incidents with protesters, so he moved out with his wife down the street (which works out quite conveniently for museum goers now!). There was a long line to get in and I was quite hungry and Dave quite thirsty, so the plan was for me to run around the corner and get something while he waited. Well, I got pretty distracted by this enormous market that was around the corner, and found this lovely, sweet old woman selling the most delicious corn I've ever had. She scrapes the corn off the cob into a pot with spices and peppers and lime juice and cooks it over a fire (all this at a street stand), then scoops it into a cup, adds mayo, lime juice, salt and spicy pepper, and sells it for not even $1 a cup. And holy shit, it was sooooo good. So I was eating and chatting and then thought, "OOPS! I LEFT DAVE!" So I ran back around the corner, stopping at a convenience store only to realize I didn't have enough pesos for the corn and water, and ran back to Dave, who was waving people past him into the museum because he had hit the front but I was still gone. I saved half the corn for him though, so that quenched his thirst a bit. And he harbored no angry feelings, saying he would have stopped for adorable old ladies with delicious corn as well.

The museum was just as beautiful and magical as I remembered from my visit there two years ago, full of all her paintings and sketch books and even her full body casts that she painted and drew on. Her clothes were hanging in the closet and photos of her on the walls, and her kitchen and rooms were left just like she designed them. She also grew flowers and trees in a courtyard that are still kept up, so we got to walk all through them, looking at sculptures and statues she placed there long ago. One neat fact about Frida (well, neat to me) is that she really liked cats and kept all these cats in her courtyard. To this day, there are three cats, descendants of hers, that roam around out there. I remembered them as being social and friendly, but this time around they were really good at ignoring me. Then I found this old one with an injured eye and a leg that kinda drug while she hobbled around and I thought for sure she'd want some love, but she marched straight past me into an employee's only area with a locked gate when I tried to approach her. I guess it was too crowded for them that day!

So aside from the once-friendly-but-now-snotty cats (who are probably all inbred, anyway), the museum was wonderful and beautiful and made me fall even more in love with Mrs. Kahlo and her tragic, inspiring story. Then afterwards, I took Dave to the cool market where we bought more corn and gazed at all the crazy and random things for sale.

After all of this walking and looking and standing and thinking, we decided that a cheap Mexican beer with tequila shots were necessary. We went to the place where our protest bar was supposedly located, called El Jardin de Centennario, thinking we would just walk straight to it. Well, the Jardin is very cool but also very huge, and we spent yet another two hours looking for this place. But what a lovely two hours it was! The Jardin is a 2 block by 2 block square walled in by restaurants, bars and clubs, filled in the middle with street vendors and performers and dancers and loads of people, with big Christmas lights and pinatas hanging from poles and draped over the streets. We saw drummers with random passersby stopping to dance, people selling handmade notebooks and instruments, pipes, clothes, food, whatever else. We even passed a bagpiper!

Since we couldn't locate our destination right away, we went into this other bar that was exactly what one would envision when told to picture the perfect Mexican bar. There were paintings of bulls and matadors on the walls, but not in a tacky, touristy way. It felt really chill and cool, and all the people around us were Mexicans drinkin' their tequila and hanging out. After that, we found our bar but there was no music that night, so we decided to get a drink in the yard, which was unfortunately packed. As we were sadly walking back inside, these young Mexicans yelled at us and said we could sit with them. And they were so great! There were three, all from near the border of Texas who went to school in El Paso but were vacationing in the City. They practiced their English with us and we practiced our Spanish with them, so it worked out well all around. They were loads of fun! Very friendly and silly, full of jokes and excited to talk with us about the States and to hear our experiences so far in their country. While we were drinking margaritas and hanging out, one of them interrupted us all and shouted really loudly at this vendor who was walking around with a big box hanging from his neck, and was like, "Come over here guys, this is so fun, a big Mexican tradition!" So we all walked over and it turns out that the box has two baton-like things attached to it with wires. Two people hold the batons and then everyone else holds hands. Then the dude turns electricity on and it zaps electricity into the batons, through the circle of people holding hands! The big thing is that you don't want to be the first one to stop or else the whole thing gets shut off and everyone teases you, so you have to keep holding hands and the dude keeps turning it up. Oh my lord! I was leaping and squealing but absolutely did not want to be the little white girl that let go. Finally someone else let go so I wasn't the loser, and we all burst out laughing. What a crazy thing! Apparently it's quite big in Mexico amongst young people. And it actually felt really cool afterwards! We were so lively and excited, and tingly all throughout. Um, I suppose that is what happens when you get electrocuted...

After that, the five of us went to this other bar in a different part of the City, and ate delicious food. At midnight, one of the girls announced it was her birthday, and was like, this is the best birthday ever! That made us really happy. Then at some point in the night, Dave went to the bathroom and the others were talking quietly in rapid Spanish to the server, so I was totally confused. When Dave came back, the server brought over two crazy masks that are apparently like the mask this famous Mexican wrestler wears! It was red and black and totally goofy, but this wrestler is like, a BIG DEAL in Mex City. So Dave and the other boy put on the masks (Dave looked so funny with his dreads sticking out) and we all went behind the bar, where one of the girls thrusted this enormous bottle of tequila into my arms, and we all posed for a picture that the server took!! It was truly crazy. When we made it back to the hotel, Dave and I just laughed and laughed until we passed out into a very deep sleep.

Yes, this was all one day!! The last two days are exciting but less eventful, and won't take nearly as long. I promise to finish it up soon, and then get onto what it's like to be back in NY. Things have been rather uneventful (I got sick, got mostly better, am back into the groove of working) with the exception of some housing drama. My landlord officially hates me, which is working to my advantage because Dave and I are going to get our own place! Do not fear...whether you want to read about it or not, there will be some posts about house-hunting round 2 in NYC.