Mexico City - Day 05 - Services, Mercados and Park

September 22, 2019

This will probably be a shorter blog as we are actually back at our apartment just before 5 PM.  Nonetheless, it has really been a wonderful day.

I was up fairly early getting showered and getting ready for the day.  I woke up around 2:30 AM and really worried that I would not fall back asleep.  But at some point I did.  I'm still quite tired as I write this however.  As Denise got ready, I spent some time on the computer getting us confirmations for a flight that flies at 10 AM tomorrow.  Getting to the USA is going to be easy...lots of seats open.  We will be going to Houston.  However, seat availability from Houston to SLC is really small from all hubs (SFO, LAX, IAH, DEN and even ORD).  So who knows how it will turn out once we arrive there.  Fingers crossed. I am doing something for the first time and that is scheduling an Uber in advance to pick us up tomorrow and take us to the airport.  It will cost us less than 50 pesos... $2.50 USD.  I hope it works!

Juan, Blanca, Neza, Karlie and the boys arrived around 9 AM.  Karlie wanted to shower her and the boys which she did.  They all got ready and all of us went to church.  The church was a quick ride away.  It started at 10 AM.  I think we were the first ones there.  The missionaries were in the parking lot and we immediately struck up a conversation.  One Elder was from Brigham City, Utah.  The other was from Sao Paulo, Brazil.   And, it turned out that they both spoke in church...very good spanish I might add.  The services were really nice.  I think Juan and Blanca enjoyed.  They were very kind to go with us.  We did not stay for the 2nd hour.  Instead, we went back to the apartment where I quickly changed my clothes.   Once changed, we piled back into the van and took off to see the Mexico City Temple.  The ride was only about 5 minutes to get there.  Really close...which is amazing as I had no idea a church and the temple would be near our apartment.  The temple here is an Aztec Architecture and just beautiful.  It is a very big temple that sits on grounds where there is a large visitor center, patron housing, a Stake Center and so on.  After taking pictures of the temple, we went into the Visitor Center.  There they had a Christus, which kind of amazed Juan and Blanca.  They sat there just looking at it.  A Senior couple from Salem, Utah welcomed us and quickly put an audio on about Christ.  We all listened intently.  After, we took pictures and then toured the rest of the center.  Juan had many questions.  In the end, after trying to explain many things in my horrible spanish, I got him a Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  He was thrilled to have it.  Actually thanked me again later in the day as we said our final good byes.  I think he was touched.  I don't know Blanca's thoughts.  But she was just happy to be there with all of us.

After the temple visit, we took off to a mercado to find some lunch.  We ended up at a place that had cars everywhere.  It was a big market and lots of people were there.  The funny thing was that we drove around a bit looking for parking.  We finally found a place...not too far from the main street through the market...and Juan parked.  But as we walked, maybe 75 to 100 yards, he saw another parking spot.  So off he went to retrieve the car to get it closer.  We just laughed.  I don't know if he is worrying about us walking a lot or the security of the car.  :-)  We walked around to find the right restaurant.  There is tons of street food, but few sit down inside restaurants.  We found one that we liked, sat down and even ordered.  But some of the food items listed, that Neza wanted us to try, were not being served.  They were out of them.  So even though we had partially ordered, we all stood up and left politely.  They were fine with that.   We walked a bit further and found another one.  They really welcomed us in.  And they had the food that Neza and Juan desired (although Juan sprinted to a street stand and bought some special tacos to eat).  Also, Juan disappeared again and when I asked where Juan was, Neza told me he was fetching the car again to get it closer.  And he got a spot right in front!  We all just smiled and laughed when he arrived back.  He has been such a gracious host...both he and Blanca.

Lunch was tasty.  But, I'm starting to miss other ethnic food...even hamburgers and fries!  Another funny thing there, the whole trip I’ve joked that there are no Churros in Mexico.  And honestly, I had not seen one.  So Juan and Neza told our waiter, cook and bottle washer that we had not seen churros.  Well, he asked for money and then sprinted out of the restaurant and disappeared down the street.  After a few minutes, he returned with a plate of churros!  So yes, I don’t have to go to Costco here in Mexico to get a CHURRO!  We at the restaraunnt probably an hour and then we headed to a park to let the boys run around and play.  We ended up in a park quite close by.  It was a huge park with lots of people there.  It kind of had an amusement park feel in one area.  It had lots of play ground equipment, a lake and other items to use.  But I think it only had one bathroom so the line for the women was quite long.  Blanca, bless her heart, was starting to feel ill.  So after an hour or so, we packed it up and headed back to our apartment.

As we said good bye, we all started to tear up a bit.  It is hard knowing that years will go by before we will see one another again.  And if it is hard for us to think about, think about Neza and Carlos (Neza's brother in the USA).  Blanca has never seen or met Carlos' 3 children.  That makes me really sad.  Those two boys are going to have to figure out how to save money and bring their mother to America for a quick vacation so she can be with them a while.  I hope that day comes soon.

Fun trip...glad to head home to the problems in our basement.  I guess lots of carpeting has been ripped out and who knows what they are doing to our walls.  Oh well...it could be worse.  These trips kind of remind me of that.

Pictures:

Churros!  Finally!

The Christus at the Temple Visitors Center.  Juan, Neza, Karlie, Lorenzo and Blanca...

The line for the 6 peso bathroom.  Like Europe, they charge here too.  But the price here is 5 or 6 pesos versus 30+ (1 euro) in Europe.

Inside the big market.  Some pretty gross meat things in there.  Strange smells and so on.  We did not stay inside much as we found a restaurant that we wanted outside on the street.

The Mexico City Temple....a very beautiful temple on the outside.  Wish we would have time to have done a session on the inside!

The Temple Visitor Center with Blanca about to enter in.....

We entered in, sat down and then left as they did not have the food the advertised and Neza wanted.

Sitting under a tree in a park.  I had just called my Dad and spoke with him for a few minutes.   All well there he said....

Part of the temple grounds...

 
One of the many stands at the Mercado....

At the park, people were renting and riding these all over the place.  We were almost run over many times....

Grandma, Grandpa, Atticus and Lorenzo ... and the Christus of course.

Neza and family at the temple.

Blanca and the boys.  Great picture....

Open air market where everything can be purchased.  Everything!

Holiness to the Lord, The House of the Lord.

The park with lots riding bikes and things around.....

Lorenzo doing some gardening on the temple grounds....

A nut candy bar.  I never saw this.  Not sure where it is or went!

This is what I had for lunch.  I can’t remember its name.  It was pretty good.  It has chicken all over it.

Mexico City - Day 04 - Neza Family Reunion!

September 21, 2019

Today is Saturday.  What a day it has been.  Our morning was lazy.  Denise slept in a bit.  I got up and did my blog and worked a little.  The VPN part of my network for work goes up and down.  So it is hard to do anything consistently with that.   But our tourist aspect of our trip today is a family reunion out at Neza’s parents place.

Juan, Neza, Karlie and the boys came in to get us around noon.  Karlie wanted to try the Torta stand where we got our Hawaiin Tortas the other day.  I needed to also go to the store to get more water.  So after they arrived, we all went walking down to the stands.  I did not want a torta.  So I went over to the taco stand we ate at the night we arrived.  I had two tacos quickly and then went to the store while they ordered and waited for their tortas.  When I came back, geez, you should have seen those sandwiches.  And they were really good!  I was bummed I got tacos.  Anyway, they ate their tortas on the street and then we went down the calle to find a bank.  The bank closest was standing room only (on a Saturday) and there was no machine.  Neza and Karlie needed more pesos.  They have been paying for everything I think.  Anyway, Juan said he knew of a bank in Texcoco, the pueblo where they live.  So we got into the care and off we went to Texcoco and their humble abode.

The ride from where we are staying takes about 40 minutes to get to where Juan and Blanca live.  We went to a nice shopping center to get pesos quickly and then went back a bit to where they live.  The road into where they lived is not paved, very bumpy and dogs own the roads.   Dogs everywhere.  There are some buildings that are ok.  And then there are others that are quite poor.  I think Juan and Blanca’s is in the middle.  No running water.  A roof made of tin and a cardboard type material.  You’ll have to check the pictures out.  They live on a very small income.  They say most people there make 180 pesos a day ($10 USD) and it costs them about 80 pesos to travel in and out of the city.  So they make 100 pesos a day…around $5 USD a day.  Crazy.  Not sure how they do it.  I guess they pick up other jobs selling things on streets and so on.

We arrived at their place a little after 1 PM.   Blanca had fires going outside cooking.  Not sure what she was cooking on those fire pits in their little courtyard.  Around 3 PM, around 40+ friends and family arrived and the food party began.  Holy smokes…the women went to work cooking all kinds of stuff.  We had tamales, gordos (a fried sandwich type thing), and lots of snacks.  Denise and I bought lots of sodas and that ws downed really fast.  Fortunately the tienda was real close….3 minute walk.  We made a couple of trips to get large sodas.  They also had water frescas they had made too.  We ate and ate and ate.  The main course was chicken smothered in a very sweet mole sauce with fried rice.  It was really yummy.  We don’t eat like this when we travel.  So it is kicking our booties.  We want to be polite and eat what is in front of us.  But boy it is much.

We visited with their family as much as we can.  It is draining trying to understand and then come up with the words to speak back.  I know I butcher the Spanish language.  But they are kind in trying to understand me.  Some of the younger ones (and Juan) like to try and speak English.  And I encourage it.  That is fun.  Neza’s family and friends are all so darn kind.  They brought Denise and Karlie some nice linens and things as gifts.  We have nothing.  We feel bad.  But we will leave some money to help them offset some of their costs.  I think Juan and Blanca are struggling to find work now.

Anyway…it was a great day with everyone.  We left around 7:30 and arrived around 8:30.  A little bit longer coming back as he took us on a different route around the airport.  Juan has treated us so nicely and has shared a lot of time with us.

Tomorrow we plan to go to church and visit the temple site.  I think Juan plans to take us somewhere where we can get a good view of the city.  We shall see.  One more day and then the journey home to a mess in our basement.  Apparently our water heater ruptured and water has been going everywhere.  The drain could not keep up with it and so it has spread into the family room downstairs.  Brent caught the problem and called me.  With a bad connection, I coached him through turning the water off to the water heater and how to turn the gas\pilot light off.  I then hung up and called a Disaster Recover service to come out and check it out for us.  I guess they are going to come tomorrow.  We’ll see.  Fun and games.  I knew that heater had a slow leak and I never did anything.  Lesson learned..again…in life.  Oh well…it is only money!

Pictures:

At the torta stand eating very large sandwiches...

The outside dining table at Juan and Blanca’s place....

The torta stand with two cooks making the sandwiches...

Neza and Blanca.....she finally sat down.  She worked so hard all day long!

You can see the entrance to their place in the far back.  You pass a small building and a little garden and into a court yard.  They tied up the material overhead to provide shade while we were there.

This where they collect and store water for bathing, washing clothes, flushing toilet, washing dishes and so on.  When it rains, they funnel the water to buckets to capture the rain water.  But trucks do come around to sale them water if they need it.

Juan, Denise, Karlie, Neza and Atticus eating tortas.  Not sure who the photo bomber is in the back.

The bluish panel is the entrance to Juan and Blanca’s casita.  The home to the right looks like a pretty nice two story place.  But who knows what it is like inside.

Tortas being prepared.....

Part of the gang.  They were amazed to see an Apple Watch control the phone remotely to take a picture.  They thought that was really cool...all the young kids did.

Me helping eat Denise’s torta.  Neza finishing his.

Blanca and Juan have two dogs.  Everyone has dogs!  Their dogs were very quiet and friendly.  You didn’t even know they were there.

More of the gang....40+ came.  Some family of Blanca’s...some close friends.

This picture shows the little courtyard.   You can see the smoke from the open fires they were using to cook the food.  The women to the rear were preparing Gordon’s and tortillas I think.  All so tasty and good.  Just a different way to cook it all.  All the women jumped in and cooked...even Denise and Karlie!

Neza with his Aunts, a few cousins and his mother.

This guy was working in a very hot shop making tortillas that he sold by the kilogram.  At first he did not want his picture taken.  I talked him into it.  See his smile!!!

His amazingly nice Aunt and her daughter.  They are Adventists and had just come from their Saturday church services.

The torta stand....again!

This is the small road that is in front of Juan and Blanca’s home.  A man with a bike that had a small freezer on it came down the street with music playing.  When everyone heard it...off they went running.  He had many flavors of ice cream to sale for 5 pesos per scoop (20 cents USD).

Me eating with my crew...all the teenagers there.  We had a great time talking mostly Spanish with a little bit of English.  I teased them about having Novios and Novias  (boyfriends and girlfriends).  They were so nice to us.

The many ice cream flavors in this man’s cooler on his small bike.....

The taco stand in their neighborhood.  I guess Juan and Neza at tacos there last night and swear they are the best in Mexico! 

This is the bedroom where Karlie, Neza and the boys sleep.  It is actually Juan and Blanca’s bedroom.   I guess they are sleeping on a small air mattress in their small living room.

The ice cream dude.... with everyone enjoying some.

I think these are called ‘Gordos’ or something like that.  They were amazingly good!

Neza strung a string across the courtyard and EVERYONE rotated in to play a game of volleyball.  Karlie and I dominated of course!  :-)

Denise in the kitchen making Gordos.....

Neza and a friend of the family (Marcos I believe).....

Karlie enjoying her extended family.  She loves them and they love her.  Different cultures can blend if you have love for all involved!  Proud of you Karlie and Neza!  Thank you for a great day!

Mexico City - Day 03 - Castillo (Castle), Roberto & Subways

September 20, 2019

Today was Friday here in Mexico City.  We woke up to a cool morning, clear skies.  Really refreshing.  Because the crew was not coming to get us until later, we had a lazy morning.  I did some work things and Denise relaxed.  Blanca had brought us some food that she had made for Karlie and Neza.  It was tortillas, rice and a soup that had vegetables and delicious meat.  They told us to eat it for breakfast.  We did.  It was a different breakfast nonetheless.  And since it was different, we also had some pastries that we had bought. :-)

Karlie, Neza, two boys, Blanca and Juan arrived around 11 AM.  Since bathing at Banca and Juan's includes warming up water over a gas stove, standing in a barrel like thing and then mixing hot and cold water in a small bucket to then pour over you as you soap and wash while standing in this barrel thing.  Well, Karlie thought it would be easier to just shower her and the boys at our place.  So that is what they did.  But I told Karlie, next time she has to do it her in-laws way!   She said she was kind of excited to give it a try.

With the traffic being so bad and because it takes so long to drive into the city, Neza convinced Juan that it would be ok to take the Subway into the city.  Juan is so caring.  He was truly concerned about our safety on the metro.  Nonetheless, he dropped us off at the central bus station (which does not seem to be so 'central').  There Neza purchased round trip tickets that I thought cost him 100 pesos per person...50 pesos per trip.  It turns out to ride the metro, it only costs 5 pesos per entrance.  That is around 25 cents USD.  Really cheap.  And no wonder 20 million people use it every day.  I've never seen anything like it.  Mid-day, when we headed into the city it was crowded enough that we had to stand most of the way.  We eventually found seats.  And the ride was about 20 minutes I'm guessing.  It would have been over an hour in a car.

We got off the subway at a certain stop for 2 reasons.  First, Neza's father (Roberto) was going to meet us there.  And 2nd, it was by the only 'castle' in all of Mexico....probably in all of Latin America.  Roberto, who leaves a bit away from Mexico City, caught a bus at midnight to get to Mexico City.  He then spent the afternoon with us as we toured places.  He's an interesting guy.  Really nice.  He brought two big bricks of Aztec cheese, a big glass of fig stuff, some big things that normally hold wine for him and Carlos.  They are going to have lots of stuff to take home.  Or maybe it is going to be Denise and I will have lots of stuff to take home as I think we will be checking a bag for them when we fly.  The castle visit was really, really nice.  It is up high on a hill that we had to leisurely walk to.  But if you stayed out of the sun, the air was cool and refreshing.  It was a nice walk.  It was like most castles with rooms partitioned off in such a way that you could only peer into them.  I don't know the history much and most of the signs were in Spanish.  I know it goes back into the mid 1800's and Presidents have actually lived there in the early 1900's.  We spent an hour or so there.  One highlight was the fact that an orchestra was presenting a concert there in one of the open air areas.  They were fanstastic.  Fun to listen to and watch.

After leaving the castle and walking down the hill, we went back to the subway and caught a couple of trains to the older 'central' part of the city.  Upon coming out of the subway, we came to a plaza FULL of people where a HUGE cathedral was.  But what was interesting was that there were many people there in full Aztec dress dancing, spreading burning incense of some kind around people and such.  It was interesting to watch.  Also there was one of the old Aztec ruins that we could have toured.  But with two tired and a bit cranky boys who had not been fed, it did not make sense.  From this site, we needed to go find food.  So off we went down a number of narrow streets asking people if there were any restaurants nearby.  These streets were FULL of street vendors with their wares laid out all along the street.  And some of the streets had been dug up due to construction and seemed quite dirty (and muddy after the daily down pour of rain that came each afternoon).  Anyway, we eventually found a restaurant which looked like a street stand.  But if you go back in there was a very small, very tight spiral staircase up to the 2nd floor of the building where indeed there was a restaurant.  We did not think we could go up there as Lorenzo was asleep in the stroller.  He was so tired and had just fallen asleep.  But the restaurant workers wanted our business so they said they would somehow carry the stroller up for us, with Lorenzo in it, to the 2nd floor.  It was amazing to watch.  They did it and Lorenzo survived and stayed asleep.  The food was from Southern Mexico and was a bit different.  They had tamales selling on the street downstairs so I asked if I could order one of them.  I did.  It was really, really small.  But it was very good.  The food all had Mole with it or in it.  My tamale had black Mole in it.  But everyone's dish did, even Denise's Torta that she ordered had Mole.  I guess the best Mole is found in Southern Mexico.

As we prepared to leave, once again the heavens opened and began to cry...really hard.  It is like clock work here this time of year...afternoon rains every day.  And the rain drops are huge!  Lots of water down really quick and it can last for some time.  Anyway, this shower lasted about 15 minutes and once it turned to a drizzle, we took off heading back to the subway.  At one point, Roberto stopped us and told us it would be better if he departed and went a different direction so that he could catch his bus home.  So on the street we all gave him hugs and thanked him for coming and spending the day with us.  It was good to see him again.  We had met him years ago in SLC after Neza and Karlie were married.  He had not met his grand children either.  After he departed, we walked quickly back towards the metro.  Lorenzo woke up along the way and needed to go #1.  So like Mexican fashion, Neza grabbed him, took him to a car and he peed in the gutter next to it.  So funny.  Brings back memories of Colombia where grown men were seen just peeing alongside the road all the time.

The goal was to be on the metro before 5 PM to beat the rush hour.  Well, it was 5:30 PM.  But I think all hours were rush hours.  We got into the subway and the first train was an easy one...not too many people getting on.  We only had to go one stop backwards to catch the line to where we thought we needed to go...the stop by our apartment.  But getting on Line 1 to go about 6 stops was going to be a push your way on type thing.  Neza was really concerned about safety and where and when to get on.  We waited a couple of trains and low and behold, one showed up with hardly anyone on it.  We were thrilled.  We arrived at our stop, got off and it was pouring rain.  And it turned out that Neza had selected the wrong line and stop.  This stop was over a mile from our place.  So, working with Neza while it rained, we figured out that we had to go back one stop and catch Line B and then only go for one stop more.  So we bought tickets again (only $1.25 USD for all of us) and went back into the metro.  Catching Line 1 back towards the city was easy...not many people going into the city.  However, catching Line B to our stop...only one stop from where we were getting on at...was almost impossible...or so it looked.  Massive amounts of people literally PUSHING their way on to over croweded cars.  The trains are long, they are packed with  people and they come every two minutes.  Well, we all decided it was every man for themself.  Just get on and go one stop and we would reunite there.  2 or 3 trains passed before we got to the head of the 'pushing' line.  And when the train came that we were going to make our push, there was not a single person on it.  Apparently, once in a while they put on a new train at this location to clear out this station.  And we got it!  So easy.  We arrived easily and then we walked the 8 minutes or so to our apartment.  And just as we arrived, so did Juan with the car.   He did not tour with us.  He dropped us off and then back home.  He then came and got Blanca, Neza, Karlie and the boys to take them back.  I think it was about 7 PM when we arrived back.  It would have been much faster had we found and taken line B from downtown.  But it was a great adventure we all will remember as we watched humans become sardines in the metro system in Mexico City.

To end our night, Denise and I watched a movie on my laptop, then turned the lights out and adios...we were tired!

Tomorrow, it is family reunion time I guess.  We are heading out to Blanca and Juan's place where much of Neza's family is coming to party all day with them.  Not speaking spanish well, either of us, it is going to be interesting.  Ohh...which makes me think about Roberto and Denise talking constantly.  Roberto does not understand English and Denise little spanish.  Yet they carried conversations all day as though they understood each other.  Karlie and I just died laughing all day on that.  So funny!!!

Pictures:

Cathedral picture.   Very lovely inside!

Roberto and Atticus....

Blanca, Karlie, Neza, Roberto and the boys....

Helado (Ice Cream) at a small stand....

They have these on every street where people place religious items.  I guess there is a day each year for each street when they have a celebration to whatever saint they are making their offerings to.

Neza’s family at the castle...

Atticus with Blanca and Lorenzo in the background playing in a fountain at the Castle.

The outside walls of the old Cathedral in downtown Mexico City.....

Two grown men wrestling one small boy and losing!!!!

This was taken the day before on our tour bus ride.  I mentioned the crazy wires.  This is one example of many at an intersection.  You can reach up and touch them from the top of the bus where we were sitting.

Huddling under canopy’s as the rain came a tumbling down.....

One of the odd structures in the city.  Not sure what this was.  But you can see the air quality.  Mexico City has some of the worst air quality due to so many people here an the mountains surrounding.

Horchata.....Sourthern Mexican style.  I tasted it.  It was ok.  It had all kinds of stuff in it, including nuts.

A castle garden up on the roof....

The tourists enjoying their time in Mexico.....

Mom, Neza, Dad....Roberto and Blanca divorced many years ago.  I think Blanca was 14 when she had Neza...something like that.  I don’t recall how long they were married.  I don’t know when they last saw each other.

Una Torta....pretty tasty.

Eating my tamale.....

One hall way in the castle was lined with beautiful stained glass.  This was one window.

All of us in front of monument concerning the Mexican\American war....

There were many stands selling masks like this one.  They all had a mask for Donald Trump.

The Prieto Family at the Castle.....

Mucha gente aqui en la ciudad de Mexico.....people selling stuff in the rain.

One of the many calles we walked.....

Getting our order taken at the restaurant.....

The hall with the beautiful stained glass windows....

Our dessert...chocolate ice cream on top of cinnamon topped bread that was warmed.  Really, really good!

An Aztec Warrior......

Sitting on the subway.....

One of he ponds on the way up to the castle.....

Lorenzo relieving himself in the middle of a busy street.....

The Aztec pyramid ruin.....

Part of the castle.....

Military guarding the subway entrance at the main plaza in Mexico City.....

A cute boy playing video games with his ears.....

Feeding the squirrels....

The orchestra that was playing at the castle.  Really good.  Really fun to listen to.