Mexico #4

You might be thinking that it's time for me to get more creative with my titles here. Well, it's not happening. Maybe later. Not.

So the biggest thing to happen to me in the last few days has been: I got a cold. You might expect that being here in the "Third World" (not really), I would get some exotic disease. But no. A sore throat, runny nose, fever, hacking cough. Boo. You may be pleased to know, Dad, that I got myself some chicken noodle soup at the VIPs. It's a funny chain. Don't be fooled by the fact that it's called VIPs. It was pretty exciting to get to watch the first (or maybe second?) Harry Potter movie while we ate, though. I also learned, thanks to the lovely placemat, that VIPs is owned by Wal-Mart de Mexico, which has earned a good business award for the 7th consecutive year here. Based on their ethical standards, close ties to communities, good treatment of employees, and care for the environment. According to the placemat. ??

I stayed in bed all day on Thursday. I kept asking Patrick to get a thermometer--I had the fevered idea that if he could see how hot I was, he would have to get a doctor. We didn't have a thermometer, but he did go get me some medicine at the farmacia. Apparently, he also asked me several times if I wanted to see a doctor, and I told him no every time. By the way, I just heard on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! that a new study has shown that the couples with the happiest marriages are those in which the woman gets her way most often. Did you catch that one, honey?

Anyway, I'm totally done with the fever. I even spent all of Saturday out! We got together with three other people from the University of Chicago (I didn't realize it, but the department is very strong in Mexican history, so many of the students are either finishing their year abroad here or are visiting for summer research, as Patrick is). One of them is Mexican, and his mom lives in Mexico City, so he drove us all to Tlalpan. It seemed like another city, but it's actually just another neighborhood. Sadly, he made an illegal U-turn and got a ticket! Well actually, no one gets tickets here. You get pulled over (for legitimate reasons), the cop tells you the fine and says your car will have to be impounded for 24 hours. You say, "Oh, man, is there anything else I can do?" and then they give you the option of giving them some amount of cash less than the fine. Plus you avoid the impounding. So we paid about the equivalent of $45 to avoid all the trouble. Apparently it's a very uniform system; last time this happened to Carlos, he said the cop said almost exactly the same lines, word for word. At the end of the day, they go back to the station and their superiors require a certain fee from them, depending on how busy the intersection where they were stationed generally is. What a system.

So this is why we went to Tlalpan in the first place. It's a convent, designed by Luis Barragan. He's the most important Mexican architect in the Modernist style--sort of a Frank Lloyd Wright of Mexico, in terms of fame and influence. His buildings are minimalist, and it was interesting to see how this would work in a convent. I thought it was very effective, actually. His use of color (walls painted pink, orange, etc.) and light created some very soft spaces, while the spareness and lack of ornament in a relatively large space achieved basically the same effect as a Gothic cathedral; it makes the visitor feel quite small. Carlos observed that the architecture felt very controlling, very dominating to him. No room for your personal touches; everything exactly as the architect designed, right down to the kind of candle you burn. I don't know for a fact that Barragan was a controlling person, but it's not uncommon for famous architects to view their work as their art, not your living space. Anyway, we got a tour of the place from one of the nuns, but she kind of mumbled so I can't tell you too much about it. I didn't even take this picture (we weren't allowed to photograph the inside). I'm not sure who did, I just got it off the web. But the cross is painted the same color as the wall behind it. You only see it because of light and shadow. Isn't that neat?

Patrick has some more pictures of the convent, and more to say about Tlalpan, on his blog. His pictures are hot lately. Did you see the butterfly one? It's amazing!

Not much else to report. Went to the archives with Patrick, helped him take pictures of old newspaper articles, etc. Tried not to drip snot on them. Succeeded. Yes! Went to an outdoor market, bought mangoes, chiles, an onion. Cooked up some bean stew.

Now it is time to go to the bookstore. If I don't leave now, Patrick will go without me! And he was already so nice to come home with me this afternoon, when I was too tired to walk around the zocalo anymore. I'll have to post some pictures from the enormous cathedral there. Later.