At Least the Bathroom Was Nice

So, heading back to my hotel from Teotihuacán, I had decided to pick up some food from Domino's pizza, and apparently that was a bad decision. I don't know if I was being punished for choosing such an American, pathetic option amongst all the other food on offer in Mexico City or perhaps an ancient curse had been placed upon me for occupying the throne of the Pyramid of the Sun for too long. Either way, it wasn't good news. My skin felt very, very hot, so I got into bed early that evening and just stayed there for a while, drinking water, watching a bit of tv and hoping that I'd feel better in the morning. Well, I didn't really make it until the morning. Within a few hours, I was rather impolitely coaxed out of bed with a few imminent urges, so I spent much of the night going back and forth between the bed and the bathroom, vomiting along with other less than pleasant activities. The prolonged night seemed to never end, waking up every few hours and trying in vain to fall back asleep. Thoughts of malaria and other tropical diseases ran through my head, but I hoped it was just food poisoning. Since I only really had a donut and those pizzas, I'm pretty sure that the meat on either the Mexican or Hawaiian pizzas was bad, and I paid the price for it. On the bright side, if there was a day in this trip that needed to be spent inside, this was it, as I was still waiting for my iPod to be fixed.

Most of the day was spent in bed, feeling just a bit better, but still not really having any desire to eat anything. I did buy a Gatorade and walked around near my hotel just to get some fresh air, but that was about all that happened that day. It also wasn't the greatest day, with some rain coming in that night that I was sick, so things weren't horrible. I just hoped that I'd be better and ready to go the next day. As it turned out, I wasn't great, but I did feel better the next day, good enough to explore more of the city. I walked around more of the city, getting to know my way pretty well around the center. I found the beautiful Bellas Artes Museum, a European looking building with light stone, maybe marble, along with two huge rotundas covered in a pretty red fading to orange. I also found a great park in the town center with some vendors, and I had some real food. Not just real food...great food. An indigenous woman from Oaxaca, down in South Mexico, was there, cooking up some traditional tlayudas. I didn't know what they were before, but watching her make them had me sold. She took a huge, somewhat hard flour tortilla and added a black bean paste to the bottom before covering it with shredded cheese. She then added slices of steak, a bit of lettuce and a tomato or two and some spicy red salsa, before folding the huge quesadilla looking contraption in half and placing it in a special cooker over the wooden embers. Warming up for a minute or two, the tlayuda was then ready, ready to be devoured. This thing was amazing, and I could see why the constant line existed in front of her humble stand. Happy to be back in the world of eating and, more specifically, Mexican food, I continued on my way, finding more and more likeable neighborhoods in the sprawling capital city.

I also had good news the next day. I called the iPod repair center, and my iPod was ready to go, they told me, though I would be a bit skeptical until I actually had the working iPod in hand. I took the subway and walked for a while before finding the small shop again. Asking about my iPod, they said that it had to be sent away, so I'd be getting a new one. And, just around the back side of the desk, they had the new one, exactly like mine, still brand new in the plastic (though possibly refurbished). I cautiously enquired about the price of the repairs, and since it was covered under warranty, I ended up not having to pay a thing, which was amazing...again, Marcelle saved me a ton of money on that one. As I was ready to go, I asked what the problem had been, but they really had no idea, saying that just knew that they couldn't fix it, so they gave me a new one. The paper I signed also said that this would come with the same one year warranty, a little ambiguous as to whether it means to continue the existing, one month remaining of my other warranty or to provide a new, one year warranty on the new iPod. After checking online, it appears to be the latter, so it looks like I got the best possible situation, essentially extending my warranty for a year and getting a newer iPod (same style). The only downside is that I lost all of the music that I had stored on my old one, so I'd have to load up some of my black market mp3 cds to tide me over during the rest of the trip.

Also, on the way back, I walked in and out of the many side streets, hoping desperately to find a pasta place, as that type of cuisine seems to be severely lacking down here. Eventually, I found an Argentinian restaurant, and my hunch was correct that they'd have a bit of pasta. So, I finally had some spaghetti with bread and salad, and I was happy. The creamy cheese sauce wasn't the greatest, but it would have to do. Another day of wandering the streets, and I was soon on my way out of town, very impressed by Mexico DF. To all those out there who had their doubts, I recommend that you give the city a chance. I did, and I was quite impressed by what I found, partially because I came in with low expectations, but moreso because it really is a city worthy of being the capital of the over 100 million that call Mexico home.

(Some of the larger buildings of the business district, just off of Paseo de la Reforma.)

(Cars and buildings help make up big cities.)

(One of the comical benches along Paseo de la Reforma...well, two of them. Oh, so comical.)

(The Paseo again.)

(Another bench inhabited by two crazy kids.)

(Another mind-blowing bench along the way. A few people sat there for a minute to take a picture but seemed hesitant to linger for more than a few seconds under Upside-Down Man.)

(The middle of the Paseo...nice.)

(Once again, the Museo de Bellas Artes. Being such a pretty building, I probably should have ventured inside. Too late now.)