I can hardly believe that the thought of starting this blog started a year ago… just got my renewal notice from WordPress.  At the end of August last year, when Aaron started “commuting” to Mexico City to be a part of building his team to start the project, I decided to begin blogging as a record of the adventures I imagined were in store for us.  Little did I know… Although the date of my first post does not coincide with now, the site and blog was created long before inspiration arrived and I finally sat down with my computer amongst boxes and moving chaos to compose that first post.  Our family photo taken last fall that leads the “About Us” page is also the screen saver on my computer.  One Friday night, we were setting up for a movie,  connecting the computer to the TV and suddenly there we were, 50 inches large on the TV screen.  We sat there looking at that photo in silence for a few moments and then I asked the kids if they feel like the same person they see up there in the photo.  Mansell said he felt like a completely different, “more mature” person – and I would agree – he experienced a very large transformation in those first 6 months of being here.  The little ones claimed not to feel any different than they did but reminisced about standing in the freezing, about-to-snow Ontario autumn, hoping the picture would be snapped soon so they could bundle back into sweaters and coats.  Their developing self-awareness aside, I’m absolutely certain that we have all changed in some ways and continue to learn a lot about who we are, as individuals and as a family.

Quite by accident, we packed a lot into this month.  We arrived back from our busy summer and continued to ride that wave of activity into the “new year”.  I’ve always thought of September as an exciting new start and have always looked forward to the fall for the start of school,  and love to anticipate all the lovely aspects of autumn still to come.  I’m definitely missing those familiar seasonal cues and activities.  Trying to have an open mind about how the holiday shifts work here as any seasonal shifts are far more subtle.  Walmart and Costco already stock Christmas supplies…

I was presented with the opportunity to go the market instead when we first arrived back, and always curious about how they work but not comfortable going alone, I jumped at the chance to go with a “local”.  The tianguis (tee-an-gaes), traditional outdoor Mexican markets, are held on specific days in various locations throughout the city and the vendors set up and take down on the same day.   You start to get to know where and when they come to certain communities.

The one near us is a good size and is set up in a large dirt field every Tuesday and Thursday. Some tianguis are smaller and are set up along the side of the road; it’s always easy to spot the bright coloured red, orange, pink or purple canvas canopies that cover the vendor and their wares.  School was still a few days away from starting and the kids were curious to see what the tianguis are like, so they came with me.   I grabbed for my phone to snap some pics of the stalls and the vendors and their wares (I chuckled as the red canopies set up at well above typical Mexican height brushed the top of my head the entire time I was shopping!!)  Mansell became suddenly self-conscious and hissed that I needed to put my phone away so that I didn’t draw attention to us as “foreigners” and risk making us look like “tourists” – “You’re always telling us to keep a low profile and to ‘blend'”… LOL!! Like we can ever possibly ‘blend’ here.  So on that day I put my camera away, but I’ve since visited a number of tianguis (without accompanying teen angst) and caught some of the sights on camera!

Chicharon (above) is deep fried pig skin and is very popular here (we did give it a try and we agreed that it might be an acquired, would-have-to-grow-up-knowing-it taste…)

The prices are so low – for example, you can buy 2 kilos of tomatoes for 15 pesos – that’s about $1.50!  A kilo of Poblano peppers at the market is between 15-18 pesos… at the commercial grocery store, 26-43 pesos!  That was around Mexican Independence Day when everyone was buying Poblano peppers to make Chiles en Nogado.  Funny too, how much the prices seem to arbitrarily fluctuate, even tianguis to tianguis.   You can get a decent pair of socks for 10 pesos – no kidding!  You really can get anything there – shoes, underwear, clothes, electronics (not always sure of the origin of this stuff…), bikes (yup! I’ve been keeping an eye out for our bikes when I go…), plants, meat, fish, chicken, cheeses, spices, dried beans, fresh and dried chiles, fruits, vegetables, kitchen utensils and supplies, paper products, tacos and other Mexican dishes prepared fresh and filling the air with many new and interesting aromas, tortillas, movies, CD’s, children’s toys, baby supplies…  Truly, if you can sell it, you can find it at the tianguis.

So the kids are back at school and I have a bit of time on my hands, but never for long as Ora typically has an idea or two up her sleeve and is always generous to include me… She volunteered to make 500 Tortas (basically a sandwich made on a traditional Mexican bun) for the nuns of the order of Mother Teresa.  She was canonized as a Saint early in September in Rome.  The Guadalupe Basilica here in Mexico City hosted a Mass in her honour shortly after that and hundreds of nuns from all over Mexico were bused in to participate.  The sandwiches, along with 1000 Tamales were to be served at the luncheon scheduled for after the Mass.  I participated as best I could – I missed the night before prep as Hudson was getting his hand put in a cast at the hospital…(we were killing ourselves laughing that this kid had his Mexico shirt on in this pic – “Look what happens to you when you’re in Mexico!”)

…but I drove over first thing the next day to help transport all the bread and filling and drinks that needed to go – some Tortas were ready, but the plan was to fill the brunt of them once we got there.  There was a team of 5 of us, in two vans.  It’s funny, but when I asked Ora where the event was she said “St Teresa’s in La Villa”… it never occurred to me that we would end up downtown at the Guadalupe Basilica, which incidentally is in the area of the city that surrounds the church called “La Villa” – she meant it was for St Teresa, not at St. Teresa’s church… these “lost in translation” moments happen a lot… and I usually don’t realize my misinterpretation until I’m on my way!  It takes us more than an hour to get there and it is crazy as we are in morning rush hour traffic.  As we get further from home, I am more and more turned around and really have no idea where I am – I am simply following the van in front…We arrive at the site but have some difficulty finding where to set up the food.  More “lost in translation” exchanges with various people Ora stops on the street to ask…we wonder if there is a contact she can call to confirm the location for the luncheon, but she shakes her head and we keep winding further down tiny back road streets asking random people we see… yikes!  Eventually we are directed to an area where the many buses that brought the nuns are parked and we are escorted through to an area packed with police and picnic tables… it’s a little unsettling, and I actually never took any pics once inside those gates, because of all the police and we were working so hard to churn out all of those sandwiches!!  We did take a picture in front of the buses…

Ora really wanted to see the Mass,  so we packed up the vans with the food and walked over to the Basilica – we discovered that we were much further from it than we thought – we cut through a very large fixed market that eventually flowed out onto the grounds of the church.  The Mass had started, so we slipped in at the back.  This Basilica holds 5000 people… and it was full.  Two of us in the group are not Catholic, so we stood at the back and respectfully observed; the others took a spot and participated in the Mass.

The scarves were worn by pilgrims who walked together to the Basilica for the Mass.

These women wore their lovely embroidered and cut work traditional Oaxaca dresses.

The music was absolutely beautiful, because it just was, but also because of the incredible acoustics in that building.  It was fascinating to me to watch how important Mother Teresa was to so many.  People of all walks of life were there to honour her.  We waited while Ora had Juan get her charcoal sketch of Mother Teresa that she brought from home blessed by the priest.

Walking back to where the vans were was not an option for Ora, so we hail a taxi and pile in – all five of us plus driver in a tiny City of Mexico taxi – they are easily identifiable because they are painted white and Pepto Bismal pink, the pink the City uses for it’s logo.  Four of us are crammed into the back and every time we go over a speed bump,  we scrrraaaaaape over it – we can actually feel it passing under our feet… (there are a lot of speed bumps on the way back…)  We stop across the street because the taxi driver cannot go into the restricted area we are in, so we walk across 8 lanes of traffic – kind of one of those close-your-eyes-and-GO moments…  With the Mass over, we expect to start seeing people to feed… but as each minute passes with no one we start to wonder if maybe we are not in the right place.  I suggest that we ask the bus drivers where their passengers might be for lunch – they have no idea – they were simply hired to drive the buses… I am starting to worry because I need to leave by 1:00 pm at the latest to get the kids from school and I realize that I’m not going to be able to help to serve at the luncheon… I get ready to go and Ora is more determined than ever to find the people to feed, so she and the others pile into her van and go.  While they do eventually find the people and pass out every single one of the sandwiches, I am getting hopelessly lost in downtown Mexico City… that was very scary… even the Waze Lady was getting it wrong, continually instructing me to turn left or right onto one-way roads flowing in the opposite direction… and sometimes her instruction was correct, it just came way too late for me to respond with the thick traffic I was stuck in… I continued to get funneled further and further downtown… and then I had a chance to make a break on an autopista (highway) and ended up heading to Puebla… pretty much the exact opposite direction of home… so now I’m in total panic, but breathing because I cannot fall apart out here in this jungle… I can’t even stop and ask for help… I have no idea if I’m in a “safe” area or not… I recognize nothing… the kids are waiting for me to pick them up after school … that’s just not going to happen so I’m desperately trying to get a hold of Aaron to leave work in enough time to get them… he’s super worried which makes me feel even more worried…he’s usually pretty cool but MX City can rattle even Aaron… because he has no idea how to help me and realizes the real concern of being foreign and lost here as this has happened to him too… I have to get myself out of this…

I left the church at 12:50 pm and pulled into my driveway at 3:57pm… again, quite by accident, I got to go on a (really stressful) scenic tour of Mexico City.

We went on a picnic in the mountains to La Marquesa – like a national park.  Was a wonderful afternoon out in the great outdoors.  The air was fresh and easy to breathe.  The kids ran and flew kites – a great break from the chaos of the big city – will definitely visit again.