To the End of the Line

I have written a number of times here about Line 2 of the Mexico City Metro and the renovations which occurred in many of the stations prior to the World Cup this summer.  I often take the line to go to the Centro Histórico.  I catch the Metrobus which runs near the apartment, take it north along Insurgentes Avenue, and get off at the Revolución stop.  From there I can transfer to Line 2 of the subway and in just four stops I am at the Zócalo, the city's main plaza.  I recently took it all the way to its southern end of the line at the Tasqueña station in order to go to the Dolores Olmedo Museum.  However, I have never gone in the other direction to its northwestern terminus.  Last week, just for the heck of it, I decided to do so.

As I have done so many times before, after getting off the Metrobus, I walked a short distance to the Revolución subway station.

Once inside the station, instead of taking the train toward the Centro Histórico or beyond, I went west in the direction of Cuatro Caminos (Four Roads) terminus.

I would be going eight stops to reach Cuatro Caminos.

I had only taken the subway once in this direction, and I had never gone to the end of the line.  The train was quite crowded, but I was lucky and got a seat.  Vendors selling candy bars and packages of permanent markers navigated their way through the passengers who were standing.  Everything seemed to cost ten pesos.  As we traveled northwest, the stations were all rather dreary.  Obviously the costly renovations had been done purely to impress the influx of visitors arriving for the World Cup.  There is nothing of tourist interest in this direction, so why bother to spruce up the stations when only the local residents use them.

I arrived at the end of the line, a very large station.

Cuatro Caminos is actually located outside the limits of Mexico City in the State of Mexico.  (The fact that there is the nation of Mexico, the City of Mexico, and also a state named Mexico is confusing to foreign visitors.  The State of Mexico surrounds the capital city on three sides.)  Cuatro Caminos is located in the municipality of Naucalpan, a suburb with a population of over 800,000.

Although Line 2 of the Metro, inaugurated in 1970, is the second oldest in the city, the extension out to Cuatro Caminos was not built until 1984.

Adjacent to the station is a shopping mall.  It is not a particularly upscale shopping center, but it does have a branch of Sears.

Above Sears there is a food court with Subway, McDonald's, KFC and Domino's.

Outside the terminal / shopping mall there is a transport hub where passengers can take buses and vans to various cities in the State of Mexico.

With my curiosity satisfied, I got back on the Metro (since it was the start of the line, I was able to get a seat) and headed back to Revolución from where I was able to take the Metrobus home. 

Something Different for Dinner

A few weeks ago we were eating out at a restaurant, and I ordered something I had never had before.  It was lasagna made with quinoa instead of pasta.  It really didn't taste like lasagna, but it was very tasty.  Since quinoa is supposed to be a "superfood"... high in vegetable protein, fiber, and nutrients... I wanted to buy some for the pantry.  Walmart didn't have any, but when Alejandro and I went to a large Chedraui supermarket, I found a couple of different varieties and bought two bags of red quinoa.

Quinoa is a plant that has been cultivated for thousands of years in the Andean region of South America.  Its seeds are harvested as a cereal.  Although it is now grown in many other parts of the world, the quinoa that I bought was imported from Peru.

Although there are recipes for quinoa on the internet, I decided to simply experiment.  I prepared the quinoa as directed on the package... rinsing it and then boiling it in water until the liquid is absorbed.  Separately I sauteed some onion and garlic and added a can of diced tomatoes.  I mixed in some cooked carrots and zucchini, and then I threw in the quinoa.

It was very good.  I am not a health food fanatic nor a vegan, but during the week when I am cooking for myself at the apartment, I try to eat healthily.  I will definitely add quinoa to my diet. 

Christmas in September

 

If Costco, Sears and other stores here can put out their Christmas decorations for sale in the middle of September, then what is so strange about making out my Christmas cards now?

Actually, for me it was a necessity to finish my Christmas cards so early.  I am taking a short trip to Ohio to cast my ballot when early voting at the Board of Elections begins in October.  I will take my cards with me, go to the post office and spend a small fortune on stamps, and give the cards to a friend to send off after Thanksgiving.

I received my cards from the printer a couple weeks ago, and I immediately started making them out.  One hundred cards was the minimum number that the printer will do, although I don't need that many.  Last weekend I finished, and I have 56 cards to send.  A dozen of them will be headed to cousins in England and Switzerland; the rest are going to friends throughout the United States.  Later in the year, I will make out several more to hand-deliver to people here in Mexico.

I realize that sending Christmas cards is sadly a dying tradition, and with the cost of postage these days it is understandable.  But I am a dinosaur and persist with the tradition.  I receive cards from about half of the people on my list, but I know that even those who do not send out cards enjoy and even expect my card.  They look forward to seeing the new painting that I have done that year.

It seems to take about a month for mail from the U.S. and other countries to arrive here.  The Christmas season in Mexico lasts until January 6th, so I tell people whose cards don't arrive until early January that they were not really late.  And even if they arrive later in January, their holiday greetings are still very much appreciated.  On the other hand, mail from Mexico to the U.S. takes up to three months.  That is why, since moving down here, I give my cards to a friend when I make a return visit to Ohio.

In 2027, however, I don't have any plans to travel to Ohio, and I will have to send my cards from here.  That means next year the cards will be sent out at the end of summer!       

  

The Earthquake Drill

Last Saturday, September 19th, was the national earthquake drill.  It is held on the anniversary of the two most serious earthquakes to have struck Mexico City... the catastrophic quake of 1985 in which 30,000 people may have died, and then another quake on the same date in 2017 that killed 220 people in Mexico City.

I had forgotten about the upcoming drill until I saw a large poster on the wall of the World Trade Center the week before.

Although not all of Mexico is in seismically active zones, in recent years the drill has been a nationwide event.

Since the drill fell on a Saturday this year, the emphasis was more on households making emergency plans than on office workers evacuating their buildings.

Alejandro and I left our apartment a few minutes before the drill began at noon.  We walked down the street to the nearby shopping center.  People were gathered outside on the sidewalk.

However, I could see through the windows of "El Cardenal" Restaurant that people were still sitting at their tables eating in the midst of the drill.

We continued walking over to the front of the World Trade Center.  With offices closed there were far fewer people out on the sidewalks, just customers and employees from the stores and restaurants in the building.

I often wonder if there really were an earthquake, how could workers on the upper floors of the World Trade Center (it's 50 stories high) leave the building without using elevators in the few minutes of warning that the sirens would give them.  Their best bet would surely be to select a spot away from windows and falling objects.  Even in my 3rd floor apartment (4th floor by U.S. count), I would not try to head down to the street.  We have selected what Alejandro deems to be the safest spot.  Fortunately the neighborhood, including the World Trade Center and our apartment building, weathered the 2017 earthquake with minimal damage. 

Pigs

I love Mexico City.  It is one of the great cities of the world.  However, no place is perfect, and there are a number of things that really annoy me.  First of all, there is the horrendous traffic.  Second, there is the graffiti which seems to be getting worse.  Third is the fact that there are far too many people who have no qualms about being litterbugs.

Here's a case in point...

Next to the World Trade Center is the Poliforum Siqueiros, an event venue which features murals by the painter David Alfaro Siqueiros.  Along the sidewalk by the Poliforum there are concrete planters (which are untended and grown up in weeds... something else which irks the former gardener in me.)  In the middle of the untended planter is a sign which was posted by the Poliforum.

The sign says, "Do not throw trash nor the feces of your pet.  Avoid a fine or up to 24 hours in jail."  It goes on to cite the city ordinance, and even says that the area is under video surveillance.

Does that deter the litterbugs?  Heck, no!  This rubbish is right next to the sign as if to mock the idea that one should not throw trash wherever one wishes.

As Alejandro would say, "¡Cochinos!"  "Pigs!"

With Dr. Simi

My regular readers are by now very familiar with Dr. Simi, the loveable mascot of the pharmacy chain, Farmacias Similares.

It's a frequent occurrence to see Dr. Simi dancing outside one of the pharmacies and greeting passersby.

Last week we were walking down Insurgentes Avenue after breakfast, and we ran into the good doctor.  He kindly posed for a photo with me.

 

Another Book Finished

 I just finished another book.  This one was "Rules of Civility" by Amor Towles.

Some years ago I read two of Towles' novels... "The Lincoln Highway" and "A Gentleman in Moscow".  Both of them were excellent books that I thoroughly enjoyed.

"The Rules of Civility" was Towles' first novel, and, to his surprise, was a best seller. The story begins in a Greenwich Village jazz club on New Year's Eve of 1937.  The protagonist, Katie Kontent (yes, that's her name) is out celebrating with her roommate when they meet a handsome, cultured and apparently affluent fellow named Tinker Grant.  The three of them hit it off immediately.  Through Tinker, Katie gains entry to Manhattan's high society.  Although she is the working class daughter of a Brooklyn immigrant family, she is an avid reader (devouring everything from Dickens to Agatha Christie) and has the wit and self-confidence to waltz effortlessly in through the city's upper crust.

Although I sort enjoyed the book, I did not think that it was nearly as good as the other two novels by Towles that I read.  I had a hard time keeping track of all those wealthy New Yorkers who appear and then reappear during the course of the story.  I also found it hard to believe that Katie, no matter how bright and witty, was never met with snobbery by any of those rich folks.  "The Lincoln  Highway" and "A Gentleman in Moscow" both had surprising and very satisfying endings.  This book simply ended, and left me thinking, "That's it?"

"Rules of Civility" has been compared to "The Great Gatsby".  Well, I read "The Great Gatsby" ages ago, and it really didn't impress me either.