Hola Ya'll! Part 4: The Rings and Official Engagement, Disparity and Granny

After our crazy night getting electrocuted and posing behind bars in wrestling masks, Dave and I woke up early to catch a bus to Taxco, a town about 3 hours south of Mexico City built in the side of a mountain full of silver mines. The town itself is actually pretty poor because I think most of the silver gets shipped out and then sold for loads of money that doesn't make it back to the original miners. We decided a silver market in Taxco would be the best place to buy our engagement rings, and that seeing a more mountainous, rural area would be a nice break from the Mexico City vibe.

We finally made it around 1 or 2 pm, and wandered all around. This town is literally built in the side of a mountain, meaning walking along the town streets is like hardcore hiking. And the streets have no sidewalks and are barely wide enough for a car, so when two cars try to go opposite directions and you're trying to walk, it gets interesting. We stopped for tequila shots and Coronas at this lovely bar with a balcony overlooking beautiful Taxco, and hailed a salesman to come up and sell Dave a Mexican hat (which looks great on him with the dreads!). Then we walked and walked, just looking around in awe. We went to a market and bought gifts for our friends (and ourselves!) and just couldn't believe how many stands and knick knacks and jewelry there were. Then we made our way to the silver market, which was set up inside a garage surrounded by parked cars. There were at least 50 stands, loaded with rings, necklaces, earrings, everything. We spent an hour excitedly running from stand to stand, picking out rings and trying them on and showing each other and bargaining. Then we found the perfect ones and left, giddy and smiling and excited about life.

We walked in the opposite direction from before, down the mountainside, and ended up in a much poorer area where it smelled like pee and was covered in trash that the stray dogs picked at while they roamed. We asked a group of teenagers where to get a drink, and they pointed us in the direction of a small store front, so we walked in to the "bar" that was actually someone's kitchen. There were three women sitting around a table, smoking and playing cards, who sold us an enormous bottle of Corona from their refrigerator. I asked where the banos were and was directed up the stairs, which led me to an open, outdoor balcony with nothing on it resembling a bathroom or even a drain. But I had to pee soo badly that I decided to just squat behind the dumpster. As I was finishing up, one of the old ladies came up the stairs, pulled her skirt up and squatted beside me! She smiled at my look of utter surprise, shrugged her shoulders and said, "El bano!" Good grief. So I ran downstairs and made Dave go check out the "bathroom." On his way down, he heard sex noises and was like, "Where the hell are we?" Then, he sees a woman poke her head around from underneath the staircase, smile at him, and go back under! Apparently this couple was having sex under the stairs and when they finished and walked to the table with the others, the owner went over there and mopped the floor where they had just balled. Dave and I chugged our beer and ran out of there, and when we emerged, those teenaged boys pointed and laughed at us. Little jerks!!!

After this adventure we were wary to go inside any other establishments, so we walked a little further and ended up finding the real market. Apparently what we saw earlier in awe was actually just the first few streets! And it was this biggest market I've ever seen, ever. It extended for miles, up stairs, into buildings, back outside, around houses and up the mountain... we got totally lost inside the market, which sold everything you'd ever want, from clothes to DVDs to drills and tools to baby diapers to medicine to pinatas to live chickens to vegetables... We were wandering through it at dusk as it was being broken down, and were just amazed at how rapidly it went from this enormous carnival-like market to dirty, empty streets. Truly incredible.

Before we got on our bus home, we stopped at an outdoor restaurant where Dave had the hottest hot sauce of his life and actually turned red and sweaty and cried. I laughed at him while I ate small amounts of the lesser hot sauce. Know your limits!

The next day, we wanted to go on a hike and read about this park in Mexico City with a big mountain and pond and then a picnic/family area at the bottom of the mountain. The city has boroughs like NYC (except there are 13, not five), the biggest one being Districto Federal, or DF, where all the attractions are located. This park was in a different borough called Contreras, so we figured we'd just go to the bus station and take a bus to this borough, as suggested on the park website, and then ask around until we found the park. Well, we made it to the bus stop in a very poor part of southern DF called Tasqueno, and asked someone where the bus to Contreras was. He told us it was on "el otro lado," which means the other side. So we walk all the way to the other side of this huge bus station/parking yard, and ask someone over there once we have looked around a bit on our own. This person says, "Oh, si, el autobus es en el otro lado!" We explain that the guy on the other side said the exact same thing, but this driver very confidently said that the bus was indeed on the other side, but it was really far, at the complete end of the other side. So we walk all the way to the other side again, but can't find it anywhere. Then we think that maybe the end of the other side is around the bus station on the street, so we walk around the station to the street, only to have a driver over there say, "Oh, Contreras? Es en el otro lado!"

Well, this went on for about 2 hours. People tried to help, but really no one knew because everyone responded with, "El otro lado!" And walking around this station was really a disturbing experience. The smell of pee was so overwhelming that we had to breath through our mouths and hold our noses in some parts. Homeless women with their dirty, bored children sat all over the station asking for money. There were enormous piles of trash everywhere and men sleeping beside the piles. There were a few people who were missing their legs, sitting by staircases with their hands out. It was really intense and I felt terrible for just wanting to find this damn bus and get away. I wanted to hand money to everyone and cuddle the kids and give them all food, but I couldn't breathe from the stench and barely had enough money to get us through the trip and the sun was soooo hot. And I was absolutely sick of hearing the phrase, "El otro lado!"

So, we were about to give up because a bus driver shrugged his shoulders and gave us a look like Contreras was in a different world, when someone selling stuff from a nearby stand overheard us and said that he knew exactly where the bus was and gave us directions in English. We followed the directions perfectly, made it to the bus, only for its driver to tell us no no, we actually needed the bus right there! So we walk to that bus and you know what? The driver says, "Oh, es en el otro lado!" We wanted to scream and laugh at the same time. We tried for another 15 minutes or so, and finally plopped down on a curb to consider our options.

After much discussion and some Mexican Coke for sustenance (made with real sugar, no high-fructose corn syrup shit!), we decided to suck it up and pay for an official cab, which was $13 (we were quite low on money at this point in the trip). We get in the cab and the driver has never heard of this park, which was described on the website as very popular and enormous and so progressive that all the boroughs were modeling new parks after it. We ask him if he can just take us to Contreras and drop us off and he says, "Uh, Contreras es muy grande, muy grande." We, clad in our t-shirts, exercise shorts and hiking shoes, give up and tell him to take us to a part of DF called Polonco, which someone at the hotel said was a cool section of town.

It turns out what this woman meant by cool was really expensive, full of American chain stores, and not Mexican at all. It was kind of like Mexico City's version of the Upper East Side, with really expensive boutiques and fancy restaurants. The only dark-skinned Mexicans there were either begging or selling stuff, and the only Mexicans who actually lived there were very fair-skinned wearing suits and high-heels. And the rest of its residents were American or European. The houses were FANCY, the sidewalks and streets completely clean. It was all set up like Paris, with outdoor bistros and sidewalk cafes, complete with the French or Italian food. Now this set up would be okay in Paris or Rome, but in Mexico City? We couldn't find a Mexican restaurant in the entire area, and every place was like, $10 or more a meal. We shared a risotto and Dave got a beer, and it totaled $18. We also met a woman who happened to be from Brooklyn and had a daughter living in Williamsburg, who raved to us all about how cheap the "servants" are in Mexico and how she loves living in Polonco so much because it's clean and all the "riff-raff" stays away and she doesn't have to do anything because all her "servants" will do it for her. We were absolutely shocked. To come here straight from the bus station in Tasquena! We were so overwhelmed by the disparity and the unfairness and by everything we had just seen that we went home and napped. This was not at all how we had planned our day, but in the end we were very thankful for this experience. Though I would never choose to visit those two places again!

When we awoke, we started New Year's Eve with some traditional tequila shots. Then in the middle of it, Dave gets down on one knee and says, "I don't know what the right time is or where the right place is, all I know is that I want to marry you. Will you marry me?" I melted into him and we hugged and hugged, then put on our new rings and became officially engaged.

We were mostly lost in our own little world as we walked through Zona Rosa that night, but highlights from the Eve include:
* the Mexican boy band performing in the square that had attracted a HUGE crowd
* more delicious corn
* the three old men who bought us shots and ranted about their Buddhist philosophies along with their crack addictions (eep!)
* the enormous leaf I found on the sidewalk that was bigger than my face

We caught our flight at 6 in the morning and landed safely in Kentucky at about 2 pm. We shared our news with Mom and Dad, who were overjoyed, then with Granny who said, "Well, I thought you two might go off to Mexico and get married!" I love her.

Later that night, Dave and I had a wonderful dinner with the Grans, and the three of us just hung out, talking, eating and laughing. Dave loved her right away, and she loved him. That woman is one of the most special people in the world. She's so sweet and loving, and so happy to spend time with the two of us. My favorite quote from the night came when she and Dave were talking about religion and how some Christians think the Jewish people aren't following God's orders because they don't believe in Christ. Dave said that the Nazi's weren't following God's orders either, and Granny responded with, "Well, hardly nobody ever follows God's orders!" and then started laughing with the most adorable grin on her face.

Then, after weather-related delays, we made it back to the Big Apple. Our trip had ended and I got an email saying that I had to work from 9 am to 7 pm the next day. Oh, reality...