So What Am I Really Up To?

I’ve been in Mexico City for 12 days now, and today was my fifth day of Spanish school.  It’s been a big transition from constant movement to being settled in one place; I almost feel like a resident.  On most days my Miata sits unused while I take the Metro and walk (I've been walking a lot; it's felt great).  

So this post is about my daily life and my new routine. 

I‘ve been staying throughout at a hostel in Coyoacán called the Hostal Cuijo, sleeping in a top bunk in a room that fits six (this time my room is shared, with a trio of Mexicans from Oaxaca who also seem to be long-term guests).  It’s a very pleasant hostel, not at all a “party hostel” like the Funky Monkey in Mazatlan, but a clean, mostly quiet place almost like a private home, with a little shady courtyard, a comfortable living room with a big TV and several sofas, and a large kitchen.  It seems to attract mostly Mexican guests; so far I’ve only overlapped with three who speak English.  A good breakfast is included—fruit, yogurt, and either eggs or cheese tortillas, with orange juice and coffee.  Guests are also free to use the kitchen and fridge, so I’ve been saving money by cooking my own dinners.  It’s been nice to eat "my own" food: it’s a funny thing to say, but one gets tired of eating out at restaurants ALL the time.

Of course the big advantage to hostel life is cost; I’m spending only $11.00 a night here.  But the biggest advantage is that they have a two-car garage, and they’ve let me keep my Miata in it, so I don’t have to park on the street (or pay for long-term parking). 

The exterior of Hostel Cuijo

Sure, there are a few disadvantages to shared living.  Above I said that hostel was MOSTLY quiet; the big exception is in the evenings, when the Mexican guests like to plop down in the living room and watch TV at extremely high volume.  Unfortunately the living room is also where the only computer desk is, so for example right now I’m writing with my iPod plugged in and REO Speedwagon competing with the amplified soundtrack of one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.  I’ve been writing most of my blog posts out at coffee houses (where the baristas have come to know me).

I’ve already written about how much I love the Coyoacán neighborhood, with its tree-shaded residential streets and plethora of little restaurants, coffee stands, and pastry shops.  One great aspect of Mexico City is its pastry shops; they’re everywhere, and they’re irresistible.  En route to and from my local Metro stop I pass by one called Esperanza with a block-long window of delights, and almost every day I’m sucked in for my 50-cent pastry.

Some of the pastries at Esperanza

My Spanish class is about 40 minutes away by Metro, which shows how much I like staying in Coyoacán, as I would save a lot of time and commuter-crushing by relocating closer.  The class is in the Roma Sur neighborhood, on the seventh floor of an office building where from 9:00 to 12:00 on weekdays I squeeze into a tiny room with my five fellow students.  The teacher is a petite young Mexican woman named Lydia, and the classes consist of a few exercises from a book and, mostly, open conversation in Spanish, which she guides and corrects as needed.  It’s rather a sink-or-swim approach, and it’s extra challenging for me because even in English I’m not much of a conversationalist.  But three hours a day of even listening to Spanish is helping a lot.  My fellow students are all fellow Americans, of various ages and backgrounds, but so far we haven’t done anything together outside class. 

The class lets out at noon, so I’ve also have time to explore Mexico City.  I’ve been taking advantage of that about every other day.  The rest of the time I find I’m tired from the class and ready just to find a quick taco lunch and head back to the hostel for a rest.  One of the (guilty?) pleasures of being settled is the option of simply doing nothing with a day.  It’s also true that this is the rainy season, and almost every afternoon the weather is either threatening or unleashing thunderstorms, so sometimes I have to hurriedly cancel plans for an exploratory stroll.  But there are still a lot of museums to visit on those days.

With so much exposure to Mexico City—would I want to live here?  I don’t think so.  Coyoacán is lovely, and the city is a mecca for street food and museums, but my larger impression is of a city that’s loud, traffic-choked, smoggy, and...ordinary.  It’s a big city with 21 million people, and neither a slum nor particularly attractive.  Since I started this trip one of my main ambitions has been to see Buenos Aires, and I've felt weird to be devoting this much time to exploring the “wrong city.”  I’ll have to make up for it when I finally get there -- and by then I'll know Spanish better!

But in the meantime I've got another week here, and there’s still a lot to see.  (More, really, than can be done in a week; I've been slacking.)  And I’ve been enjoying the rest as well as the chance to get to know a place better.  When I do hit the road again I'll be that much more eager to travel.