The film was quite beautiful and surreal, but I didn’t the entire plot because the audio was in Mandarin (heavily accented) and the subtitles in Spanish. I had to see it because I was scared it would be gone from the theaters, and I had already missed it in the States. Afterward I got some boba and then bought shoes for the upcoming wedding.
The following day, I straight did nothing, only emerging to go eat at Lalo! which was nearby and featured breakfast, which was handy as I was back on my regular night schedule and needing some food after a night spent at the computer. Wednesday was basically the same, with boba, a food excursion to Super Mikasa — a Japanese market with supposedly great sushi that I was too early to check out — and a quick haircut.
I do this thing now — money willing — where I double book the crossover day for Airbnbs, so that I don’t have to check out by ten or eleven. So on Thursday I took my time moving stuff over to Condesa, but was mostly over at the tattoo studio, getting my body pummeled again. The pain was less intense this time, but also not exactly comfortable, and I’m pretty sure that should end my large piece tattoo journey. Maybe forever?
I honestly wasn’t expecting that much, but the light room was very impressive. And there was a great fashion exhibit on another floor as well. My new friend and her college friends were industrial designers, architects, historians, and a sound engineer. My kind of people basically. One of them had even been living in New York for the past few years. I also met someone who was working at the Jumex, and she was so cool that we had to become friends immediately.
Afterwards, we all went to eat at a flautas place in Navarte that I swore I went to on the food tour — I was mistaken — and then I ran home to take a nap before I met up with them again at their friend’s house, an old Art Deco building that was basically Blade Runner come to life. We hung out till late, chatting and listening to music. Well, they chatted, mostly in Spanish, and I did my best (aka zero) to follow along.
Buoyed by new friends, I then took myself to Zona Rosa the next day, which was where another friend said she always stayed. Zona Rosa is the gay area of Mexico City, and also the Korean area, so I was on the hunt for Asian food and karaoke. I found both, along with bookstores, many shops, and the central boulevard reminded me of Third Street in Santa Monica. It was definitely lively and I spent the afternoon cruising around and stopping by the casino for a few too. And of course I popped into a private karaoke place to sing for an hour, and the Korean owners — they didn’t speak English — gave me the biggest room, which would have easily held thirty people. So I stood there by myself testing out Gloria Estefan songs and plotting how to return with more people.
Unfortunately, the rooms were booked so we just went next door to a public place, and that ended up being super fun, as the experience was novel and someone even jammed out to a stirring rendition of 4 Non Blondes. At 2AM, we were still itching to sing so we went back to my friend’s apartment and three of us sat around in their music room and sang songs from the iPhone, passing it around in turn. It was a magical night all around and I was delighted to meet friends who loved to dance and sing!
Waking up super late on Sunday, I had lunch with my food tour friend who stayed over, and then after he went home — he lived further away, in Xochimilco — I picked up friend two from around the corner and we went to go watch Book of Mormon.
So one thing: when I asked where people were from, if they lived in the city, they uniformly would just say “Mexico City.” But I, thinking that it could be suburb away from the city center, was having a hard time wrapping my head around that. The whole Detroit but not really Detroit thing, or New York but not Manhattan. Well, with eight million people in the metropolitan area and twenty-one million in the greater Mexico City area, I guess “Mexico City” was the answer. I need to learn more of the neighborhoods and areas before I can drill down more. But anyway, yeah…
Book of Mormon was up close and person, from the front row, and the highlight was the popcorn, which was served with lime and chili sauce. Actually the popcorn was not to my taste but the musical was better than I expected, probably owing to the closeness. Shockingly, I’d yet to taste any popcorn during my movie theater visits!
Oop, I better stop here, as that was a lovely Monday to Sunday recap. So two weeks in, my time was already coming soon to a close. But with a few new friends, I felt settled and ready for more!