Day 2

Today, we woke up at 6:30. We had scrambled eggs with bacon for breakfast, and left the house with Rubén's dad for the Rancheria, where his family's business is. From there, we went to a busy road and got into a van. For 8 pesos, we rode the van all the way into Texcoco, around 30km away. We went there to go to a class at UAEM, Rubén's university, and one of the best public schools in México. We went to take a class in teaching languages, which I got to participate for free in as a guest. I was tired that morning, because I'd only had 7 hours of sleep for the past 2 days, so I drank coffee, because when in Rome, do as the Romans do, of course. So I drank some coffee and managed to stay awake for the rest of the class.

After class, around 1pm, we went to downtown Texcoco and had a look around el mercado (the market)* as well as the square, the plaza de la cultura, and the oldest cathedral in México. I ate snack food and took pictures in the labyrinthine indoor market before we left for home. Back at the house we ate homemade enchiladas and made more plans to go back to Texcoco, to play futbol, and to go into the hills around the city to look down on it from above.


Afterwards, it rained. A little later we went with Axel to buy empanadas and a fruit called tuna. It's a lot like a tiny, green watermelon. The empanadas were delicious, they were from an adjacent state called Hidalgo. On the drive there (around half an hour of driving right through the Valle de México) I saw the pyramids, as well as some amazing colonial architecture. We picked up Axel's family and Rubén's sister from a party and made for home.

The power here has been out all day. Apparently random power & water outages are a fact of life in México City. Everything has continued almost as normal, but without some critical utilities like streetlights or traffic lights, it's a little more dangerous. The whole of this side of the city is without power, but they expect it to return tomorrow or within a few days. Still, no one complains to the authorities that they pay to provide them with consistent power -- there's nothing that can be accomplished that way. They're just going to wait it out. So am I.

*Again, so much like Beijing...