México, D.F.

Por fin, regreso a la Red.
Internet access had been limited, as well as mi horario for postings. Often I would attempt to access this web page and my email without success. Otherwise, internet cafés were closed by the time I finished with my daily excursions. That´s a good thing, as GAP Adventure Tours has proven to be an outstanding means of visiting Latin America both affordably and safely. Having explained away such a long absence, let me now tell you a story.

I arrived in the (arguably) largest city in the world, hosting some twenty to twenty-five million inhabitants, and about a hundred museums. Mexico City (D.F.) is inconceivably great in scale, and thick with pollution. The city oozes seemlessly into suburbs to create a megatropolis.
I am in recovery from the two months of extreme travel, the latter end in which I managed pick up a hitchhiker that doesn´t want to leave... a chest cold that has lasted at least a week and seems to be irritated in this high concentration of carcinogenic air.
The nights in Mexico are chilly, and the group was rudely welcomed in Palenque with heavy rains and clammy cold nights. So unlike the weeks of tropical weather our bodies had become accustomed to. This combination made for an easy attack on my immune system. I´ve been pumping echinacea and B vitamins, but the phlegm just keeps flowing. (I know, "TMI" too much information).
This week marks the beginning of my month long tenure in the home of a Mexican family, The Tripp-Moran residence. Señora Martha Tripp and her two sons, Jesús y Ricardo. Jesús and I are acquaintences from my summer trip to Brittany, France through the Experiment in International Living (EIL) program. Jesús, or "Josh", is the local representative for EIL groups traveling to Mexico. We met at Leader Training in Burlington, Vermont. When he learned I would be traveling throughout Latin America, he insisted I come to stay with his family.
They have been most warm in receiving me. Unbeknownst to me, as it turns out the Tripps are a family of means. They have a charming home in the Tlalpan, Colonia (a perhaps more affluent quadrant of the city). We have three little dogs to keep us company, Florinda, Brownie y Cosmo (two rusty Dalmatians and one sandy Chihuahua). The maid, Marta, visits three times per week and also helps to cook meals.
On my first day with the Morán-Tripps, we attended a grand scale art exhibition and food festival at the Colegio Americano, where the younger cousins of Señora Morán-Tripp´s sister attend. Most all of the Morans were present and engaging me idle chit-chat full of enthusiasm and welcoming smiles.
I tried a snack called Eloquite, where the corn has been stripped from the cob and is mixed with mayo, lime juice and chile powder. The ever present licuados (blended fruit and ice drinks) made for a refreshing thirst quench, mine with mango and pineapple.
The extended family is alive and well in Mexico City. Despite the cosmopolitan trends, the tight-knit family nucleas includes frequent contact with the tíos, primos y abuelos. In fact, I met Abuelo Morán on Sunday. He joined us for a meal. Almost apologizing, Señora Tripp felt compelled to explain why her father did not live here, in this home. She said that the family was shocked when he announced that he would like to "try" living in a retirement residence... not wishing to burden any of the three daughters and their families with his needs at this stage in his life. Of course, his decision is more commonplace for folks from the U.S., however a real exception to the rules here in Latin America.
My first night (Saturday) with Tripps? Josh swept me off to a birthday party, that looked straight out of the O.C. television show. A luxurious home neslted in an upscale neighborhood. A garden party, with blaring music, from the ample watts of the hired D.J.´s sound system, and all sorts of concoctions being poured at the open bar, attended by several camareros in bowties and vests. Sister Vanessa had opened her home for her brother´s birthday, with a rented white tarp tent and rented large white foam block furniture for the guests to mill around the spacious candlelit garden. Her two black Great Shnauzers would make their appearnace at the close of the party, dusk.. 5am!! I had stuck to drinking Coca Cola, to keep me alert.
I met longstanding friends, many who had attended the French school here in the city most of their childhood. Others who were connected through college, and yet others from work. Most in attendence were well versed in English, and were shocked with my degree of fluency and could hardly believe me to be American (we are notoriously uni-lingual!).
You could say a good time was had by all -- especially the birthday boy, who attempted to get us to stay on even when everyone else had departed.
I was never so happy to land in bed and wondered what the damage would be when I woke, attempting to recover from this chest cold. I wouldn´t rise until 3pm that afternoon. Embarrassed and creaping down to the kitchen, Señora Tripp wasn´t the least bit surprised. It seems this culture, or at least sub-culture of Mexico´s elite are accustomed to such socialite behavior, reminescent of Auntie Mame (if you haven´t seen this movie starring Roselind Russell, rent it!).
We had laughs about the characters I´d met, and about how such a party would have been shut down immediately for disturbing the peace had this been set in a U.S. city. It was explained that celebrating is a way of life, and so long as you don´t "throw parties all the time" in general the neighbors are quite understanding and apt to do the same... on the occasional special occasion.

Note, I will be back dating postings from where I left off. Postings appear in chronological order, thus watch for postings prior to this date, as I attempt to recall and record GAP Adventures.

By now you will have discovered that I am not a "writer" and do not pretend to have such literary talents. I also do not have a spell checker option with these entries and am often hurried and do not have opportunity to proof my work for errors. For this, you have my apologies and I welcome any corrections to my entries you feel need attention.

I also welcome submissions to be included in these archives. Should you have stories of your own and/or cultural commentary pertinent to Latin America, I encourage you to email me your submissions (in the form of a letter is often the easiest). If you give me permission to post your letters, I know the variety of speakers would elevate the reading enjoyment of such a blog.

Many thanks for your patience, if you were wondering why postings had halted in Antigua, Guatemala. I now have convenient access to the internet, and hope to be more regular with blog postings.

Aside from catching up on emails and blog postings, I am researching Spanish language school options in and near the city. I visited several schools in Antigua, Guatemala that I feel would serve the Falmouth community needs, for those interested in studying abroad for any length of time during any time of the year. To give you an idea, the cost for enrolling in the Antigua schools per week (including a host family and three square meals per day) runs between $155 and $195. This would be for about four hours (a half day) of lessons five days per week.

Please note: I have received requests from FHS students to write their college recommendations. If you are one of my students in need of a college, university, or program recommendation, please feel free to make your requests as though I were at Falmouth. Securing your future studies and successful admission to higher levels of learning remains a priority, and I am at your service.