Around the Corner with Clara

According to the figures of the government of Mexico City, the capital has more than 185 museums. Today I explored one that I have been to in the past, but it was as a little girl, and of course, compared to then, these days I see things from a much more mature lens. This new perspective was the perfect backdrop to explore a beautiful castle with a handsome princely friend and pretend to be a princess in her own regal palace. A commanding view of Mexico City from the castle With my amigo José Luis. What's not to smile about from way up here? El Castillo de Chapultepec is an actual palace built on a hilltop of what is now a large park, and on a site that was sacred to the Aztecs. Chapultepec is a Nahuatl word that means "hill of the grasshopper." My friend José Luis picked me up at 1:30 with no specific plans other than to go to a museum, and as it was a Tuesday sunny COVID afternoon, we thought it would be the best choice to spend the day.   The castle boasts incredible ...

My mission for today was to get groceries that absolutely had to include bottled water and toilet paper. I was about to take a shower when there was no water at all, so I got dressed and phoned Luis, (my upstairs Airbnb host) and he came down in his PJs with his shirt on inside-out to plug in the electric water pump and turn some valve under the patio stairs to vent the air out of the pipes. I had already gone outside to crank up the gas tank to heat the water and noticed it was a rather chilly day. The water pressure in Mexico is nothing like the luxurious Amazonian flow we experience in the developed world, but if you move around enough you get wet and also pick up a satellite signal if you happen to wear braces! One tip that I will share at the expense of my pride is to buy a portable bidet at a hardware store that basically works like an upside-down water bottle that you are able to squirt against any gravitational pull. I don’t really buy food other than perhaps a banana and yogur...

I think most of you know I have had sleep issues for most of my adult life, attributed to Restless Legs Syndrome or Willis-Ekbom Disease  where just as you are supposed to relax and fall asleep, or enjoy a movie or an orchestra concert at a music hall, or sit still on a plane, your legs feel like they have millions of ants crawling inside, and your leg muscles begin to stiffen and move uncontrollably. It is most unpleasant and sheer torture when you are tired and all you want to do is sleep. Sometimes, to help me fall asleep, I turn on my Rosary App and just meditate in prayer and it distracts me enough to fall asleep. I can't remember the last time I slept through the night and last night I did get some sleep after praying the entire rosary. Then in the morning, I started my grooming routine and I realized that I packed a small bottle of holy water with a design of the patron saint of Mexico on it, the Virgin of Guadalupe. I splashed it on and felt like singing the song from Annie...

When I was in high school, in Victoria, BC I had a close friend named Laureen. She was (and is) super smart and as my mom was a French supply teacher it was only a matter of time before my mom was assigned to teach my grade 12 French class. In keeping with her maternal mission to embarrass me wherever possible, my mom called on me, and addressed me as “la petite,” and revealed to the class that I was her daughter. Then she addressed the French class in Spanish so that my schoolmates could appreciate how multilingual she was. Anyway, as I sank deeper into my seat, Laureen sat up and seemed to grow an extra inch between each vertebra. It was an aha! moment for her as she was inspired to challenge herself to learn Spanish. Laureen was a year younger than everyone else, so she took a gap year. In that year she learned perfect Spanish, aided by the fact that she spent a year abroad, in a town near Mexico City living with a Mexican family. When my family was in Cuernavaca that summer, Laur...

 Today my friend and upstairs landlord, Luis took me to the local cellular phone provider so I could change my chip in the iPhone to one that is provided by a local carrier. But before that he had to play volleyball at the Y (which in Spanish they call La Guay) and so I headed out for a 15-minute walk to the historic square of Coyoacan, as I had my mind set on eating breakfast at Sanborns, a chain of stores with restaurants all over Mexico that is owned by one of the richest men in the world, and Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim. Ever since I was a kid, I have loved Sanborns and would get lost either in the toy section, the candy section, or in later years the music and souvenir section. The food is safe and cheap and very Mexican. When I got to the Sanborns in Coyoacan I was surprised to see patio tables set up, because when I was last there in 2019 they did not exist. So naturally, I sat in the sun, had my cappuccino, my huevos rancheros, and a bottle of water for $12.  ...