Fellow blogger Evelyn came to Mexico City to celebrate Thanksgiving at Maggie and Antonio's. I don't have any pictures of the great meal we ate on Saturday evening, but I assure you, it was yummy. Its also been nice to see Evelyn. We talked a lot about the transition from living in Boulder for over 7 years to moving to a large city, Mexico City in my case and New York City in Evelyn's case.
Sunday, November 30
Fellow Blogger Evelyn
Fellow blogger Evelyn came to Mexico City to celebrate Thanksgiving at Maggie and Antonio's. I don't have any pictures of the great meal we ate on Saturday evening, but I assure you, it was yummy. Its also been nice to see Evelyn. We talked a lot about the transition from living in Boulder for over 7 years to moving to a large city, Mexico City in my case and New York City in Evelyn's case.
Tuesday, November 25
Teotihuacan
This past weekend, la banda (i.e. Daniel, Daniela, Hector, Tania, Roberto, Barby, and I) went to recharge ourselves by climbing the Pyramid of the Sun (the pyramid in the background) at Teotihuacan.
Teotihuacan is a pretty amazing place and only an hour from my house. Here is a view of the Pyramid of the Sun from the Pyramid of the Moon.
After eating a very yuumy meal at Mi Ranchito (see new my new profile picture), we went to Daniel's uncle's house in San Martín de las Pirámides. Last weekend was the town's fair and they act out the Moors and Christians fighting, amongst other activities of course.
Monday, November 17
More Day of the Dead and Maia
Before I headed to Arizona for the conference, I went to see all of the Day of the Dead exhibits at UNAM.
This was by far the best exhibit. The students took advantage a the "mirror of water" to build this tribute to Octavio Paz, the honorary dead guy for this years Day of the Dead at UNAM.
I don't typically spend much time on the UNAM campus at night but the library sure is beautiful at night time.
Last night I had the great opportunity to babysit Maia, my riding partner Lenny's daughter. I was her first babysitter and we got a long really well. I think I will be invited over again soon.
This was by far the best exhibit. The students took advantage a the "mirror of water" to build this tribute to Octavio Paz, the honorary dead guy for this years Day of the Dead at UNAM.
I don't typically spend much time on the UNAM campus at night but the library sure is beautiful at night time.
Last night I had the great opportunity to babysit Maia, my riding partner Lenny's daughter. I was her first babysitter and we got a long really well. I think I will be invited over again soon.
Wednesday, November 12
DISCCRS IV
Last week I attended an interdisciplinary symposium on climate change in Mesa, Arizona at the Saguero Lake Ranch. It was nice to get out of the city for a bit and run through the desert. The symposium was very motivating and it was fun to be surrounded by 33 other young motivated individuals.
Here is the group pic.
Here is the group pic.
Friday, October 31
Day of the Dead
Last night Ivan, Carolina, Wolfgang and I went to see the Day of the Dead exhibit en the Zocalo. It was super cool and below are many photos.
Clausurado Por Violar La Ley
If a business here violates the law and is shut down either for a short period of time or permanently, the government makes sure everyone knows by plastering signs all over the building. I think it is pretty funny.
Monday, October 20
Parres to Tepoztlan
This past Sunday Lenny and I decided that having a lot of friends that mtn bike is never a bad thing. So, we headed out for our first group ride. It is a point to point ride starting in Parres, a small mountain time just on the outskirts of Mexico City, to Tepoztlan, a lush beautiful town in a valley south of Mexico City. Miguel, the head of the Mexico City mountain bike league, invited Lenny and I. His email said that we would meet at 8:30am and he would not wait for more than 30 minutes before leaving. Being the on time gringos we are, Lenny and I arrived just before 8:30 at Parres, changed into our biking gear, and headed to the meeting point . . . but no one from our group was there. And they weren't there at 9am either. Finally, at 9:30am they show up. We should have know this would happen because in Mexico being on time means being an hour late. Once all 20 of us got organized and I could no longer feel my feet nor fingers and was shivering like crazy from waiting for over an hour in 40 degree fog, we started riding. 
The first part of the ride was through an ecological reserve. We couldn't exactly see where we were going because of the fog, but it was still beautiful. We rode through some serious black mud.
Lenny.
Me.
The second part of the ride was through some beautiful fields and
forests.
The last part was a 20 km descent on an EXTREMELY rocky road. My forearms are hurting from breaking. I don't have any pictures of the end of the ride unfortunately. The Tepoztlan valley is just beautiful. The total distance of the ride was 47 km but it took us probably 5 hours to ride it. Just think of doing a large group ride in the US and then adding in the Mexican cultural factor.
During the ride Lenny and I learned that there was no way to get back to Parres using public transportation. We had already been gone for over 8 hours and poor Endo was home alone, stuck in my apartment. We hired a taxi and paid him 400 pesos (about $32) to drive us an hour back to Parres (I guess we paid him way too much money, but I thought it was well worth it). We grabbed a quick sandwich to hold us over and headed home. Things we learned: never believe that people will actually show up on time, group rides take a lot of time, there is some great mtn biking that we have yet to explore, I need to visit Tepoztlan not in my chamois, and Endo doesn't like it when he is left home alone for 10 hours. Overall, a fun adventure and it was so nice to spend a day not in the city.
The first part of the ride was through an ecological reserve. We couldn't exactly see where we were going because of the fog, but it was still beautiful. We rode through some serious black mud.
Lenny.
Me.
The second part of the ride was through some beautiful fields and
forests.The last part was a 20 km descent on an EXTREMELY rocky road. My forearms are hurting from breaking. I don't have any pictures of the end of the ride unfortunately. The Tepoztlan valley is just beautiful. The total distance of the ride was 47 km but it took us probably 5 hours to ride it. Just think of doing a large group ride in the US and then adding in the Mexican cultural factor.
During the ride Lenny and I learned that there was no way to get back to Parres using public transportation. We had already been gone for over 8 hours and poor Endo was home alone, stuck in my apartment. We hired a taxi and paid him 400 pesos (about $32) to drive us an hour back to Parres (I guess we paid him way too much money, but I thought it was well worth it). We grabbed a quick sandwich to hold us over and headed home. Things we learned: never believe that people will actually show up on time, group rides take a lot of time, there is some great mtn biking that we have yet to explore, I need to visit Tepoztlan not in my chamois, and Endo doesn't like it when he is left home alone for 10 hours. Overall, a fun adventure and it was so nice to spend a day not in the city.
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