Festive Weekend Part 2

Today we had another short day to ourselves as we were invited back to the house of Teri and Blanca for their brother’s 30^th birthday party. So, I called forth every ounce of ambition I could muster and went for a run. It was glorious. I ran all the way to the pyramid and over to the track at the soccer fields. I did a couple laps and just slowed to a walk as these two gorgeous guys and their dogs walked by. I did a double take: “Jose Carlos? Do you remember me?” It was the doorman from the bar and his extremely handsome brother. Go figure. So, we exchanged numbers (the brother and I, as Jose Carlos has no phone) and I took another lap feeling pretty good about myself. I stopped by a Yoga center across the street and asked for information, where the nice girl at the desk told me that I could do chores in the center in exchange for classes, and there were a few open classes that were donation-based. Oh, you don’t have an organization to donate to this month? I have a suggestion for you – let me email you about Community Links, and what works I can perform at the yoga center, and who knows, maybe we can be friends! I left the yoga center smiling even more and popped over to watch some of the worst baseball I may have ever seen.  Very large grown men, no batting form and no idea how to field a grounder or a pop fly – I had a special appreciation for this experience, but could only stand to watch half an inning. Plus I had been inspired for a gift idea for Julián, and wanted to pass through a new market in our neighborhood before heading home. With a week’s worth of veggies( for $5 USD) now in the fridge, Cecilia and I made Julián a beautiful card, got ready, bought some cakes and headed to our third fiesta of the weekend.  Unfortunately passing up multiple opportunities to go out with Cecilia’s Cuban, Jose Carlos AND his equally attractive brother, we thoroughly enjoyed our evening at Julian’s birthday.

The meal was quite similar to the previous night, but the company was much more intimate. Julián and his sisters are my first and dearest local friends (actually, the only ones so far but the former adjectives sound nicer, no?). Their family is actually quite unique in this part of town. I get the impression that they are not very well-received socially because of their progressive values. Blanca and Teri work incredibly hard against cultural norms to teach their young daughters that a woman’s place is not just in the home; that you don’t have to ask your husband’s permission to leave the house or go out dancing; that your voice and thoughts are important.  Equally, Julián is a true gentleman and doesn’t seem to have much of the machismo attitude that is so prevalent in most of the men we’ve encountered here. They are very well-educated. Blanca has a background in law and medicine; Julián is a writer, historian and experienced climber; Teri can recall an astonishing amount of history of Cholula and Mexico, and is hilarious aside. They also have a great miniature schnauzer mix with huge bat ears that is a core member of their family, which gives me a strong sense of home.

 The family owns a party salon that people can rent out. When we had the siblings over for dinner one evening, they told us countless stories of wild patrons – mothers who fainted rather than having to pay, drug lords who put on cock fights in the back yard, a beautiful imposter photographer who came in and took pictures and people’s money and then slipped off into the night with thousands of pesos, Italian mafia who were incredibly warm and friendly. They’ve since stopped the salon aspect of their company and just focus on their pizza restaurant.  Julián learned how to make pizza while living in NYC. He returned, told his dad he no longer wanted to work on cars but rather to make pizzas, and the whole family threw themselves into this new endeavor.  He made nearly a thousand pizzas before opening up shop, and now they have a pretty lucrative business. As for the salon, they say it’s too exhausting trying to host hundreds of people all at once, and often times the details and payment and clients themselves are more trouble than its worth. But if for nothing but the stories… but this night we spoke of Mexico as a whole. I don’t understand why older generations want so badly to talk about all of the bad stuff in their country, and then speak so freely of hope. Talking to older family members here is like an emotional roller coaster. But these are the many details of my life I am reveling in. And so we continue, paso a paso…