A Last Bit of Shopping

I thought that I had finished all my shopping for gifts to take to Ohio.  But after packing my suitcases I still had some room.

Last week the World Trade Center held a coffee and chocolate expo.  My friend Katie is passionate about coffee and chocolate.  (She rarely reads the blog, so I am safe to write this.)  So, on Saturday, the last day of the expo, Alejandro and I planned to check it out, and perhaps buy more gifts for Katie.

Many, if not most, of the expositions at the World Trade have free admission.  This one, however, was charging 270 pesos (more than 14 US dollars) to get in.  We agreed that paying almost 29 dollars for the two of us for the privilege of buying something inside was highway robbery.  We turned around.

Later in the afternoon, we were in the adjacent neighborhood of San Pedro de los Pinos, and went into this little shop that I have mentioned a number of times previously.

The entire building is beautifully painted, and the store carries an interesting variety of artisanal and organic products.  That day they were featuring products made from goat's milk.  They were giving tastes of "cajeta". a kind of Mexican caramel made from goat's milk.  It was very smooth, both in consistency and taste.  Even though it was not made in Celaya, the city that is the most famous producer of "cajeta", this was perhaps the best I have ever tasted.  Katie also is very fond of Nutella, and I figured that if she likes Nutella, she is going to love this.  They also had packages of Mexican table chocolate (what is used for making hot chocolate).  The chocolate beans are toasted and ground by hand by the women of the indigenous Amuzgo tribe in the state of Guerrero.  

So, I bought two jars of "cajeta" and a package of chocolate.  My shopping is now definitively done.

(As a side note, Alejandro told me the origin of the name "cajeta".  It comes from the word "caja", meaning "box".  The goat's milk caramel was originally sold in little wooden boxes... "cajitas"... and so the sweet confection came to be called "cajeta".  

Testing

A little over a week before we were scheduled to leave for Ohio, I got sick.  I don't know what I had, but there was no fever, no sore throat, no runny nose, just a terrible hacking cough and wheezing in my chest.  For one day I felt terrible.  I had an at-home COVID test here at the apartment, and with everything that I have read about cases on the rise, I decided to take it.

Thank goodness, the result was negative.  Somehow I have managed all these years to never catch the coronavirus.

The next day I felt considerably better.  I was still coughing but not nearly as much.  I actually felt able to drag myself to one of nearby pharmacies that have an attached doctor's office.  The doctor asked me questions, took my temperature (still normal) and listened to my lungs.  She gave me some prescriptions to fill.

A couple days later, I went to another pharmacy, and bought some more COVID tests. I took another one, and it was negative too.  Maybe I'm being compulsive, but I'll probably take another test before leaving on the trip.  I hope that I will be completely symptom free by the time I leave for Ohio.

Supposedly, the newest Pfizer booster will be available at some pharmacies down here, but there is no mention of when.  I am hoping that while I am in Ohio, I will be able to easily get a COVID shot as well as my high potency flu shot at a drug store in spite of Mr. Brainworm's campaign against vaccines.

A Good Remake

Usually when they a remake of a movie, the original was better.  Why does Hollywood keep redoing movies that were perfectly good the first time around?  However, the last few times that we went to the movie theater, we saw the trailer for "The Roses", and I thought, "I want to see that one."  It opened at the World Trade Center Cinema, and last weekend we went to see it.

(Image taken from the web)

"The Roses" is a remake of the 1989 dark comedy "The War of the Roses" which starred Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas in the story of a marriage explosively falling apart.   The new version stars British actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman, both of whom are favorites of mine.  I know that I liked the original, but it's been so many years, I really can't judge which one is better.  I think that it is the pairing of Cumberbatch and Coleman that make this retelling worthwhile.  They are tremendous actors, and their very British repartee of sarcastic barbs is amazing.  The thing about this movie, and I can't recall if it was true of the original, is that it is obvious that, in spite of everything, they are very much in love.  You root for them to overcome their obstacles, and you feel a pang when there is a missed opportunity for them to repair their relationship.  I won't give away the ending, but it is different from the original.

I would be amazed if both Coleman and Cumberbatch are not nominated for Oscars.  Their performances are worth the price of admission. 

The Month of Patriotism

Although Mexican Independence Day... September 16th... is more than a week away, I have started seeing some decorations on buildings and Mexican flags flying from automobiles.  So, even though I will be in Ohio on Independence Day, I decided to hang the decoration I bought last year on the door of the apartment.

The fake metallic medallion (it's actually plastic) is of the Mexican national emblem, and attached to it is a banner with the green, white and red of the Mexican flag.

The coat of arms has the image of the eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent, a symbol which has its origin in the founding of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, present-day Mexico City.

 

Did you know that the official name of the country is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" (the United Mexican States)?

According to Aztec mythology, the nomadic tribe that we refer to as the Aztecs (they actually called themselves the Mexica) were told by their god Huitzilopochtli to build their city where they saw an eagle perched on a prickly pear devouring a snake.  However, there is debate as to whether the serpent was really a part of the sought after omen.  Not all Aztec carvings include a snake, and some archaeologists say that what the eagle is grasping in its beak is not a serpent but rather an Aztec glyph representing war.  Furthermore, unlike Western culture, where the snake was viewed as a symbol of evil and sin (think of the Garden of Eden), in Mesoamerica the snake was the symbol of wisdom.  So the eagle and serpent might be a misinterpretation of Aztec carvings by Spanish chroniclers who saw it as the struggle between good and evil.  In any event, the eagle and the serpent are what we have as the national emblem today.

Marathon

Last Sunday the 42nd Mexico City Marathon was held.  The first part of the route goes down Insurgentes Avenue just a couple blocks from the apartment.  I did not get out of bed in time to see the "Elite Women's and Elite Men's blocks", the top runners who are recognized by athletic federations.  They left the starting line by the Olympic Stadium at 5:50 and 6:00 AM respectively.  It was well after 7:00 by the time I threw some clothes on and walked over to Insurgentes.  But with around 30,000 participants, there were still plenty of runners heading up Insurgentes Avenue for as far as the eye could see.

 

Once again, runners from Africa dominated the race.  Tadu Abate from Ethiopia won the men's elite division, and Bekalech Gudeta, also from Ethiopia, won the women's division.  Of the top ten, seven of the men were from Ethiopia or Kenya, and six of the women were from those countries.

Before the Marathon

On Sunday, August 31st, the 42nd Mexico City Marathon was held.

On Saturday, the day before the race, Alejandro and I noticed large crowds at the World Trade Center.  Around 30,000 people from around the world were registered to participate in the marathon, and they were signing in.

 This sign shows the route of the marathon. 

The race begins at the Olympic Stadium by the National University of Mexico.  The course continues down Insurgentes Avenue, goes through Chaputepec Park, through the ritzy Polanco neighborhood, up Paseo de la Reforma, and ends at the Zócalo.  It has been called one of the most scenic marathon routes, since it passes so many of the city's landmarks.

There was a large marathon-related expo at the World Trade Center.  Admission was free, so we went in and wandered around for a while.  The exhibitors included vendors of athletic clothing and fitness equipment, health food and supplements.  There were also booths promoting marathons in other cities... in Mexico (for example Mérida and Veracruz), and in other countries (Miami, Toronto and Cali, Colombia).

Each of us bought a couple of t-shirts that caught our eye, even though neither one of us need more clothing.

 

This one was interesting because the designs are based on the art the Tarahuamara, a tribe from the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua who are famous for their skill as long-distance runners.

September's Photo

The picture on my calendar for the month of September is of the archaeological site of Xochicalco in the state of Morelos.

Xochicalco is located about 75 miles to the south of Mexico City.  Its ceremonial center was built on top of an artificially leveled hill.  The city was founded around AD 650 by the Olmeca-Xicalanco, a Mayan group of traders who moved into central Mexico from the Gulf coast.  The location of the town was an excellent position along several trade routes.  After the great city of Teotihuacan, which had dominated central Mexico for centuries, went into decline, Xochicalco was one of several cities which filled the vacuum.  Between AD 700 and 900 it reached its height, and may have had a population of 20,000 people.  The site was destroyed and abandoned around 900 when invading tribes moved into the region.