Time for a blog about cultural norms. People love making out in public here. Not a sweet, prolonged kiss. I’m talking hardcore, hands-barely-over-the-clothes making out. My lovely friend Nicole gave us a heads up that we’d see a lot of this through our Latin American travels, since she did as well. And since she is Bolivian, I take her explanation seriously: everybody lives with their...
Today is Holly’s quinceañera! We love this girl so much that we only subjected her to this purple rhinestone bow. Plus she prefers understated and classy. And we made up for the embarrassment with a present. Depending on what you formula you subscribe to, Holly is anywhere from 75 to 105 in human years. Wow! And she’s still lively as ever: ...
These chiles have lots of Christmas spirit. It’s very quiet in the city right now, except if you stray too close to Sears or Woolworth. Kind of like when you’re in San Francisco over Christmas. The supermarket nearby cleared all the shelves in their bakery to sell packs of baguettes — three to a bag. There are three more walls of these! ...
This photo isn’t exactly tasteful, but it’s the only one I took today. And why wouldn’t I snap this photo? What dog chooses the most confined space possible to pee? Holly, the girl just three days away from her quinceañera. What a crazy old dog. We love her. This is also the only photo we took because we’re suffering from a little bit of travel...
This tree is a metaphor for my current state of health: somewhat gnarly. My cold won’t go away and now I’ve got some stomach problems. Neither are bad enough to put me totally out of commission — just to take away any holiday cheer. Yesterday, we did take two of visiting Coyoacán after our first try was nice but unsuccessful. We visited the Frida...
Today was an activity-free day, with a couple nice walks and lots of reading. With that, here are some recommended reads: Why We Need Grandpas and Grandmas, Part 1 (NPR’s Krulwich Wonders) Finding Grandpa On My Dinner Plate, Part 2 (NPR’s Krulwich Wonders) Test Your Budget-Travel Instincts (The New York Times) Who Serves the Most Authentic Poutine in SF? (The Bold Italic) New Mexico...
According to this air-quality monitoring website, the air quality in Mexico City today is “good” to “moderate.” After snapping this photo today, I’m skeptical. Both Chris and I have had very dry, scratchy throats, lots of sniffling and sneezing, and are generally feeling breathless. We don’t think it’s the altitude, since we’ve been here for more than two weeks. I’m convinced it’s the pollution,...
Teotihuacan has lots of sun and fresh air — a nice refuge from Mexico City smog. See the smog in the distance? There’s another mountain at roughly 11 o’clock, but you can’t see it. Teotihuacan is an ancient, pre-Hispanic city that is home to the world’s third-largest pyramid — the Pyramid of the Sun. Fortunately, they installed some simple handrails for safety....
One might ask, how do you afford a leap year? We talk about this broadly in our FAQ, but I thought I’d dig a little deeper. While cost of living has been less expensive on the whole, things can get wildly expensive if we’re not careful. Cocktails are still ~$8-10 USD a pop and a pound of chicken at the grocery store is ~$5-7...
Today was what some might call a “tourism fail.” First, we set out to UNAM — Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. It’s one of the oldest and largest Latin American universities, with more than 300,000 students. It’s also known for beautiful murals and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We thought we could just walk off the metro onto the campus and revel in...