Around the Corner with Clara

The last time I was in Cuernavaca was in March 2020, just as the pandemic started. My son Andrew and I had planned to spend March break in Mexico to visit my mom and attend a party she had planned to mark her 80th birthday. When we booked the flight, there was no pandemic looming that we thought would ever shut down the city, the airport, and eventually the North American borders. But as our departure date neared, we debated cancelling outright, as many people in Canada were abandoning their plans to vacation at a beach resort. While our trip was a vacation, it wasn't at a beach or a resort, and we thought the worst that could happen is we would be comfortably contained in a familiar home with my mom.  Mexico had not fully accepted the reality of the pandemic. In fact, when we got to the Mexico City airport on March 16, 2020, I asked the immigration officer how widespread the virus was here, and she replied that it was all fake news, and claimed there was no virus here at all. Sinc...

Today was the hottest day so far in Cuernavaca, and I had pre-booked a tennis lesson at the height of the sun's rising. The hour and a half private lesson was $28 and my coaches were very experienced and helpful. I say coaches because one had to start and hand me over to the second as the first coach was double-booked, and when the lesson was scheduled, the coordinator who scheduled it wasn't totally in the loop. In any case, it gave me a chance to sample each coach and decide with whom I want to continue. Amauri Flores will be my coach from now on, and so Thursday I will go back hopefully a bit more improved.  After the lesson, I was grateful for my mom who picked me up. Even though the tennis club is within walking distance, I was spent, and walking uphill on a busy road with dust and smog sticking to me just didn't appeal to me. I was also ever so grateful for my mom's sparkling swimming pool smiling at me with its shiny bright blue teeth. My mom joined in and swam h...

Even though my Mexico City Airbnb host, Luis, and I met online, looking to find someone to date, we cultivated a friendship with no romantic inklings. As a Jungian psychologist, he is one person I find worthwhile listening to. We get along great, and the respect is mutual. Sometimes we share personal experiences from our respective online dating capers and at the end of the day, we both laugh with and at each other. At the moment Luis is on a hiatus from online dating, claiming it is a waste of time and he said to me he is going to just focus on the things he loves, like reading, volleyball, salsa dancing, his cat, and his large plant collection. He is sure the day will come when all the good vibes he is generating from enjoying his favourite things will attract the right match who will resonate with his personal frequency. I think that is an ideal attitude, so I am just taking things as they are in terms of online dating and everything I have enjoyed here so far has put a much bigger ...

My mom and I had a chill day today or as one would otherwise say here, we enjoyed life Cuernavaca style. She woke up eager to show me one of her new favourite spots for breakfast. It is like most restaurants here which means that all the beauty and splendour is behind an unassuming wall. In Spanish, the locals refer to Cuernavaca as having surprises behind the wall, and usually, the surprise is a pleasant one. In the case of this morning's breakfast venue, we went to a restaurant called El Secreto , or The Secret. When we pulled up to the valet parking it seemed the secret was out, as there were no parking spots left on-site, but the valets were there to shuttle your car to a nearby lot.  My mom's secret did not disappoint. The lovely sunken garden welcomed us with the warm glow of the sun, and seating was spread out to keep guests socially distanced. Of course, I had to take pictures and capture the moment in perpetuity. We were given the choice to sit on a covered balcony ove...

I made it to Cuernavaca and am with my mom! Usually, there are many means of public transportation that people rely on to shuttle between Mexico City and Cuernavaca. Ever since the city experienced a harrowing earthquake in 1985 a lot of people have moved from Mexico City to Cuernavaca and commute. I remember that day because the year before we had lived in Mexico City for my grade 9 year because my dad was on sabbatical. The quake killed more than 10 000 people and collapsed more than 400 buildings.  The scenic road to Cuernavaca is essentially over the volcanic valley in which Mexico City sits, and as you climb the mountain range you can see why the conditions are ideal for thermal inversion resulting in so much pollution (smog) in the city. I had 2 huge suitcases plus 2 carry-on bags, my laptop, a shopping bag, and a newly acquired 2-foot arugula plant which I picked up at the nursery just before I left, so I hired a private driver to take me door-to-door. Thankfully I had Art...

Today will be my last full day in Mexico City before I head 72 kilometers west toward Cuernavaca to visit my mom. I have been here a week and other than walking, I have not been exercising at the level I am accustomed to in Ottawa, which included daily spinning, weight lifting, and playing tennis 3-4 times a week. I have also not conformed to the same level of calories I normally consume, as you have been witnessing by my food porn posts. I crave my daily arugula, so today I was overjoyed to strap on my sneakers and visor and head to the tree park across the street for a run/walk. The altitude here is very high, and it takes a few days to get used to it, so now I am able to get my heart pumping faster by other means than walking up a flight of stairs.  Yay, Arugula! After my jog, I went to the plant nursery right next to the tree park. The nursery, or Viveros de Coyoacán , started in the early 20th century as a way to provide seedlings for the reforestation of  Mexico's badly ...