We’ve entered our last month in Mexico
There are big plans for these last few weeks. A trip to Oaxaca! Beloved friends visiting! Trying not to have explosive diarrhea! (Oh, we wish we were joking.)
Our friend Raphae came to visit us from Providence and we filled the week with long walks, tacos, art markets, and the best seafood we’ve ever had. Here’s what we got up to…
Architecture
Architecture and design enthusiasts might know the famous Mexican architect, Luis Barragán.
We visited his hot pink house, Casa Gilardi, nestled into a tree-filled neighborhood and were struck by the bright colors, the play of light and dark, and the swimming pool in the dining room (!!!).
¿Murales?
Later in the week, we stared starry-eyed at the Diego Rivera murals at the Secretary of Education building.
All the workers, seeing confused gringos, were friendly and asked “¿Murales?” before pointing the right direction.
Fooooood
Lunch at Contramar, a famous seafood restaurant, was a veritable success.
We moaned over tuna tostadas and a beautiful fish topped with two delicious sauces: half green (parsley), half red (chile de árbol).
If you’re ever in Mexico City, do yourself a favor and make a reservation. You won’t regret it. In the meantime, Netflix’s 30 min show, A Tale of Two Kitchens, is a wonderful watch.
The Headaches of Travel
It’s easy for travel to look like it’s all fun and tacos.
To dispel that myth, we thought we’d ground this newsletter in some of the less than lovely things we experience in the day-to-day, for a bit of perspective.
+ Digestion. Oy! The food here is delicious, the produce so fresh, but the bacteria hasn’t been kind to us. On and off, we go through bouts of feeling unwell and drinking lots of Electrolit (Mexican Pedialyte). We like the guava flavor.
+ Don’t trust the water. You can’t drink the water that comes out of the tap. At least, not without boiling. Instead, we lug a 20L (45 pound) plastic jug of water up the stairs every few days for drinking water. We pay 25 pesos for the pleasure.
+ Exact change. Lots of places don’t take card. They also don’t have change. So, you gotta be lucky enough to be carrying exact change or find a place to break some bills. We’re constantly trying to break bills into smaller denominations.
+ Water pressure. Our hot water comes from a gas-powered wall unit in the kitchen. That means showers in the morning are closer to a trickle than a stream.
+ Cleaning produce. Related to our digestion and the drinking water, you can’t just eat fresh produce you buy at the market. Who knows what’s living on it. You’ve gotta wash everything. For a while we thought we had an iodine solution that we could use for soaking, but it turns out the drops are just colloidal silver. As far as we can tell, there’s no scientific evidence that silver kills bacteria on produce. Moreover, this distrust of fresh produce means we don’t eat salads or fresh fruit when we’re out at a restaurant.
+ Toilet paper. You don’t flush toilet paper in Mexico. Instead, you try to fold it up and then you throw it away next to the toilet. At the apartment, this means taking out a trash bag of used toilet paper every few days.
+ Applying to jobs. Since our time here will be up before we know it, our job searches have begun. It’s just stressful!
All the drawbacks aside, a trip to Mexico is worth it! Don’t let these points scare you!
We just wanted to share a little “newsletter vs reality” content with you.
Abrazos (hugs),
Anna + Bennett
Sending lots of love to you and your gut microbiomes!!!