I went on a weeklong trip to Mexico City, where a week felt like an entire month. Every shorthand way of describing it feels so superlative that you would find it obnoxious to read. I will try to stick to the details.
Mexico City was built right on top of Tenochtitlan. The Mexica-founded altepetl dominated many other āltepēmeh from the Gulf to the Pacific until the Spanish had arrived. When I walked into the Zócalo, three things caught my eye: the massive flag of Mexico, the baroque Metropolitan Cathedral, and the far-stretching facade of the National Palace. As we walked by the cathedral, we passed stands selling food, drinks, and trinkets. We also passed indigenous performers wearing traditional dress: feathered headdresses called penachos and bands of shells on their ankles. It was only until I got close to the front of the church that I saw what I had come for, the ruins of the Templo Mayor.
This site had been buried for 450 years after the Spanish razed the incredible structure in 1521. Full excavation did not start until 1978. From its remains, I saw the layers of additions, annexes, and embellishments that the tlahtohqueh had erected over hundreds of years. Walking on the platforms, I heard drumming from the performers coming from the Zócalo. Looking up, I could still see those three large symbols of the Mexican state. All I could think was, “this is a place on Earth. This place exists.”
god i wish i could leave the country being confident the hitlers in charge wouldn’t seize my passport for ““gender fraud””. CDMX is definitely on my list of amazing places to visit
i was flipping through this cookbook last night and thought about your recent vacation. maybe you and toomanycookbooks can recreate a lil bit of CDMX in your kitchen. ihope you update this thread with pics and stories!
Cookbooks and I had just sat down in the tour van after spending over an hour in Anahuacalli. We signed up for the Spanish language tour because there were no spots left in the English tours and this was our ticket into Museo Frida Kahlo. When we originally stepped on, our guide asked told the whole van that we were in the Spanish tour. She asked if we all spoke Spanish. I nodded, in Spanish. In truth, I did understand quite a bit what she was saying as she walked us through Diego Rivera’s collection of Pre-hispanic art and Frida Kahlo’s blue house. But I missed a lot, too. The finer points of Aztec mythology are still a mystery to me.
This trip was my second time traveling to a Spanish speaking country. The first time was Costa Rica, and back then I had felt like everyone I encountered spoke English better than I could speak Spanish so I hardly switched. This time, I was determined to use what I had been practicing.
I fidgeted in my seat as the plane got close to landing down in CDMX. “Quisiera jugo de tomate.” I repeated this in my head several times. The stewardess replied in English. I must not have sounded natural enough. I didn’t give up though. On the taxi ride to our hotel, I took advantage of my captive audience. I always practice my second languages on cab drivers. I chatted with him about the city and where he liked to travel. He suggested we go to Xochimilco for the boats and axolotls. He also told us to go to the beach even though he preferred the mountains and the cold. I saw a small mouse on the sidewalk and said “aw, muy chiquito.” That’s when Cookbooks said that maybe, I should stop talking.
Overall, I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish without English. A comics shop owner congratulated me on purchasing Mort Cinder. She called it “muy clasico.” Another taxi driver, who was unusually bubbly, covered his mouth and said “wow, your accent is so good.” I spoke to him in Spanish and he spoke back in English. Funny how that happens in these situations. By the end of the trip, I started to feel burned out by constantly analyzing what I was hearing and struggling to compose sentences. Still, I was able to confidently ask a liquor store if they could give us a tasting and I was able to describe how Cookbooks would prefer something “único y ahumado.”
There’s so much more I want to talk about. I’m still ruminating on many things.
