Latest Adventures

So I am currently working on 2 blog posts that I hope will be enjoyable reads. The first is about what can only be described as an Indigenous celebration of transexuals and the second is a SHOCKING exposé on the travesties witnessed on a daily basis on the Mexico City MetroBus. It's a human interest piece really.

In the meantime I wanted to document some of the things I got to do around here the weekend of November 11-13.

On Friday, November 11, only 3 important things really happened:

     1. At 11:11 (remember that it was 11/11/11), all the ladies at the office went out into the courtyard and we took part in some yoga and meditation ritual to increase our positive energy. From what I gathered, it was supposed to make us one with the Sun and make us look at the good in life, but I just felt like an uncoordinated dork. Overall though, I enjoyed it.

  

  2. The Secretary of the Interior died in a helicopter crash. He's the equivalent of the Vice President in the U.S. He's ALSO the 2nd  Secretary of Interior to die in a helicopter crash in 3 years, and the 6th one of this Mexican administration. Needless to say after we got all our good vibes flowing, theories of this being a murder carried out by narcos were all anyone could talk about...SCARY.

  3. My phone got jacked

And as a result of event #3, I spent Saturday, November 12, sulking around and doing housekeeping things.  I went to Chili's and ordered a Fajita Quesadilla which I realized was stupid seeing as I live in Mexico and could have gotten something way better on the streets for a dollar. Things started looking up after that though. I went to a house party where a famous Mexican celebrity happened to be. His name is Kalimba but I'd never heard of him so his presence was not impressive except for that he was surrounded by beautiful women dressed in what seemed to be a uniform of little black dresses paired with black boots. This Kalimba was apparently the voice of Arnold and Simba in the Spanish versions of Hey Arnold! and The Lion King.

Highlights of the night include watching the Pacquiao Marquez fight, seeing the semi-enraged (would've been enraged if sober) Mexicans when Pacquiao won, then dancing to the following songs at our local bar:

1. Party Up-DMX

2. You Can Do It-Ice Cube

3. Lo que Paso Paso-Daddy Yankee

Sunday, November 13 was an amazing day. It was just one of those days that you wake up and wonder what you've done to deserve the opportunities you have.

Had breakfast with Scott and Joe on the rooftop then headed to Plaza de Tecnologia to break a myriad of American laws to get my iPhone activated here. Plaza de Tecnologia is basically a street, rather than an actual plaza, filled with people selling what are no doubt stolen phones, pirated and illegal software, tech repair services and accessories. Turns out that when AT&T tells you your phone is locked..they're lying. A guy standing on the street took off his gold hoop earring, pulled out the SIM card and somehow figured that out as I gawked at his ability to use jewelry to solve my phone issue. I paid about $40 total to get a new case, screen cover and to have a man there download all the software necessary to get it working. So many broken laws though...oh so many.

One of my favorite things about Mexicans is that since they can't wait on the government to help them, when there are no jobs, they create their own. This plaza and the surrounding streets are packed with thieves but mostly with industrious people who have taken charge of their lives and essentially started their own businesses.

Then there happened to be a free Chromeo concert a couple of blocks from our apartment in Parque Mexico. I'd never heard of Chromeo before but they were really a fun band and the amount of hipsters that had managed to flock there after the post on Twitter about the concert was really great to see..

Here is a much better video of the madness  made by the sponsors, Absolut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF7irTehnpE

And of course that's not enough excitement to fit into a day so after the concert we headed over to the Televisa Studios for a tour and to watch the taping of their weekend sports show, Televisa Deportes. Their commentary on NFL games was by far the best part...Los Vaqueros de Dallas y Los Acereros de Pittsburgh..jejejeje

The Televisa version of Sports Center

And then real life started again on Monday and to get my phone registered, I had to leave work an hour early, run to a Customer Service Center (open conveniently from 10 am-7pm in a country where office hours are about from 9-6:30), just to barge through the doors at 6:56, deal with some sass from the receptionist, then wait till #330 was called so I could register my phone with my passport. That's right, you buy the phone, then have to travel elsewhere in this behemoth of a city to register the phone so that you can actually use it..#inefficiency

Only one side of the TelCel Service Center