Turns out high altitude=less oxygen

Because Mexico City is over 2000 metres above sea level the air is a lot thinner than we're used to, and apparently this is why the last two days I have been dragging myself around exhausted despite my 9 hour sleeps. Even though I've been tired, we've managed to pack plenty into our days.
Yesterday we went to the Anthropology Museum, which is in Chapultepec Park, one of the biggest urban parks in the world. The walkways are plagued by stalls selling food, clothing, cds, lucha libre masks and, a lot of them, security leashes for children so they don't get lost in the 500 or so acres of park. Like much of Mexico city the footpaths are covered in rubbish, and the attempts by a more eco conscious governer to separate organics and inorganics are totally ignored, both separate bins overflowing with bottles and styrofoam and food scraps.
The park has something like 10 museums within the grounds, and in the time we had we only managed to tackle half of the anthropology museum. The museum was amazing though, there were separate rooms for the different people that have inhabited Mexico through time, the Toltec, the Maya, the Aztec and some of the amazing things that have been found underneath Mexico city. Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec state that Cortes conquered and subsequently built over to create Mexico city, and so an entire ancient civilization exists below modern Mexico city. It kind of blows my mind a little bit.
We saw the Aztec sun stone, that was unearthed the the 60s. Its the giant circular image that people incorrectly call the Mayan calendar that predicts the world will end in 2012, it was awesome.

There were a whole lot of skeletons, and replicas of skeletons, because pre Colombian peoples in Mexico really liked sacrifice, human sacrifice mainly. One of the exhibits had the skulls of children with deformed heads that were bought as slaves especially for their deformities and sacrificed to the gods.
Also creepy was the above baby skeleton stuffed into a jar..
The museum was huge and just generally awesome..

After the museum we went to an amazing restaurant near our hotel, it's been around since the 50s and I had the best Mexican food I'd ever had there. They made me vegan enchiladas with salsa verde and it was burny burny hot but still yummy. After dinner, beset with altitude related tiredness I went to bed early and then lay awake for hours watching the smoke alarm flash.

Today we headed out to a market called La Ciudadela. It's a great big half indoors, half outdoors market full of handicrafts set around a courtyard. We spent hours browsing, my step dad bought my mum expensive jewelery (he's learnt that if he picks the gift without her, chances are 9 times out of 10 she won't like it), and me and Ruben bought some gifts for our family in New Zealand. I bought a set of wildly unnecessary shot glasses and the cutest handmade giraffe for Sebastien. I had disappointing vegan burritos for lunch and like the other night, ended up making beer the main component of my meal.

Later on I went to a fruit stand and watched a guy chop up a whole cup of fresh amazing tropical fruit for NZ$1 and it made up for my disappointing lunch.
After that, we headed up to the top of the Sears tower and waited like 30minutes in line to get a seat in the cafe that overlooks the city and the Alameda Square. The wait was long and the balcony was freezing but the view was worth it.

Gay bars and homeless rejection :(

We went out for a late dinner last night at a restaurant near our hotel, called Restaurante Genova. I ordered a vegetarian sandwich, without the cheese, and unfortunately they put mayonnaise in it. I realised this halfway through which was depressing, and ended up having fries and beer for dinner. I wrapped the other half of the sandwich up and figured I'd give it to a kid on the street, there are loads of them about asking for money. They make me want to cry every time, and I can see myself ending up spending a lot less money on souvenirs and giving it to them. We met one kid on Christmas eve, he was nine years old and all by himself at 11pm, his parents had sent him our begging and told him to be home at midnight. No kidding, actual tears. So of course I carry this sandwich around while we go for a wander and it gradually becomes soggier and soggier and there are no street kids about. Eventually I see a homeless guy going through the bin and ask him if he wants it. No joke he says "Oh no thanks, someone just gave me a hotdog." SURELY, if you're homeless you don't say no to food.
That was my first experience of rejection by a homeless man..and I ended up throwing the sandwich away.
Turns out not only are we in the gay zone, we are a block away from the street with all the gay clubs. I've decided what I'm doing for New Years.
Walking down the gay street Amberes was hilarious with my parents. When I suggested we go and get a drink in one of the quieter ones my mum goes "Oooh I might get hit on by a lady there." and then commented how funny it was that the bar called "Macho" was just full of men...who would have thought? Especially considering this was how the window was decorated..

Kevin suggested we get a drink at the Lipstick Lounge, which looked a bit more low key. As we got closer, turned out it was a strip club and I decided I wasn't yet mature enough to do that with my parents. I don't think I ever will be.
Off to the Anthropology Museum today. I'll admit it doesn't sound thrilling but it's supposed to be great.

Aztec Cleansing Rituals and Churches

After a broken sleep last night we had breakfast in the hotel and then headed out for our unconventional Christmas day. Luckily the metro was still running and we headed to the Zocalo, the main square of the city where the Catedral Metropolitano and the Palacio Nacional are. The streets as we left out hotel were really quiet, as they were last night, which was bizarre. Of all the things I exepected from Mexico city, quiet was not one of them. Christmas eve and Christmas day are family times here though, so we had real difficulty finding a restaurant to eat in last night. I also got the impression that being vegan for the next wee while might be rather difficult, and my mum has been trying to convince me to just go back to vegetarian. The metro is quick and easy, and costs about 35 New Zealand cents a ride. In the station we transfered in, when they were building the metro in the 60s they uncovered the remains of an Aztec temple or shrine and so the metro station is built around the remains.

Once we got to the Zocalo it wasn't as quiet, there is a market, and Aztec dancers. This was where I had my Aztec cleansing ritual done. A man of Aztec decent dressed in a combination of what looked like a fox draped over his shoulder and a hat made out of alligator claws, blew incense on us, hit us with herbs, made us stomp on them and then hit my chest with a wee stone whistle while asking the gods to bring us peace and love and happiness and prosperity, and not to forget the rivers of blood that have been spilled, in reference to the rather brutal suppression of the indigenous people of Mexico by colonisers.

We went inside the Catedral Metropolitano, which is lopsided and sinking into the ground because Mexico city is built on a drained lake.

After walking through the Zocalo we wandered up a pedestrianised mall where most things were closed for Christmas day, but we found a restaurant to have lunch in, and luckily they made me yummy vegan enchiladas once I explained/lied that I was allergic to dairy.

Kevin had got us some spending money for Christmas which he gave us at lunch, me and Ruben had already given our presents to each other and our parents at breakfast.
After lunch we walked further up the mall towards another square called La Alameda, where there was a huge Christmas market and carnival. The noise was overwhelming, the food smells sometimes amazing and sometimes vomit enducing. The candy floss machines sent fluffy pieces of sugar flying all over the fairground, and you had to watch it didn't get caught in your hair. Kids as young as six shouted over the noise trying to sell gum, lollies, cigarettes, and, frequently, pipes. I don't know if people actually smoke tobacco out of pipes here or whether they are designed for more illicit activities..I'm inclined to think they're not for tobacco.

We walked the length of the enormous market, carefully clutching our bags so they didn't become a target for pickpockets. We saw the Monumento a la Revolucion before getting back on the metro to come back.
We're staying in what is called the Zona Rosa, the Pink Zone. It's the touristy area, with lots of hotels and streets named after European cities, but is also the gay zone. This means that you see lots of same sex couples holding hands and kissing in public which is, in my experience, UNHEARD of in Catholic, Latin American countries. Makes me happy.

Off to find some dinner now, hopefully more places will be open tonight than last night and we won't have to walk around the same five blocks for 45 minutes again.

Mexico City

We left SB at about 6pm yesterday, planning to make a stop at a mall on our way to Los Angeles to get a few things we needed before we left. Slipped our minds that it would be mad panic insane people last minute Christmas shopping, I kinda feel like Christmas in the usual sense isn't happening this year just because we have different plans. Self absorbed I know. I found a Phoenix tshirt in Hot Topic which made me indescribably happy (fyi: listen to Phoenix) and we got back on the highway to LA to catch our flight. We got there fairly quickly, avoiding traffic, which gave my parents time to have a lengthy argument with the hire car people when we returned the car about the casual extra $1000 they added to the price. I used-or tried to use- the bathroom and was greeted with an interesting situation..Maybe I've watched too many cop shows but that looks like blood splatter to me. Suddenly, didn't need to pee.

Once we got to LAX we went into the Red Carpet lounge (oh the beauties of having a mother who is Koru Gold). The lounge was actually really lame..they had run out of food and put all the good liquor away which was wildly disappointing.
I was expecting to have a naked photo taken of me at security due to new heightened security measures that require you go in the naked body scanner or be subjected to an intense pat down (basically a groping), and however disturbed I was by this I still felt a little cheated when they just sent me through the metal detector and on my way. Maybe I'll get my chance on the way back.
Once we got to the gate we separated, Kevin had got his flight with airpoints and paid to upgrade to business class (ie. 5 inches more leg room) and we hadn't. When we went to get on the plane however, mum's boarding pass was scanned and a flashing red light and an unpleasant noise went off. I assumed that something ridiculous had gone wrong and we were going to be bumped from the flight or told our booking was wrong. My heart quite literally sunk.
Turned out to be quite the opposite, they had upgraded us to first class (also the result of having a mother who travels a lot) which was magnificent. I have never in living memory travelled in first class (I did once as a toddler apparently) and it was beautiful. Despite not having paid for first class I immediately found myself rising above the common folk in the back of the cabin, complaining about my light going off, and how the warm towels they brought about were just too wet, not at all up to first class standards.
Kevin's face as he walked past us and realised we had been upgraded without him was at the same time hilarious and heartbreaking.
First class was everything I hoped it would be..big seats, free drinks in actual glasses, a meal made to order from a menu (Vegan option please and thank you) along with proper cutlery, a cloth napkin, and even a frickin tablecloth on the silly little tray table. They even gave you a freshly baked cookie after your meal.
It was beautiful.

After we had finished enjoy the comforts of first class which are most likely never to be repeated, we touched down in Mexico City. The view as we landed was breathtaking, quite literally, I was awestruck and have no words to describe it. Millions and millions of little lights further than I could see, as well as huge shining monuments and giant mountains raised out of the neon sea. That was when I got quite excited.
Turns out, Mexico is in the tropics but gets absolutely butt clenchingly cold at night time and at this point it was just after 5am. I shivered my way through customs and security and we got into a taxi to our hotel. Being in a delightfully misogynistic country all questions are addressed to Kevin, who is the only one of us who doesn't speak Spanish to save himself, and has adopted a permanently confused expression unless it comes to food or drink, at which he is incredibly proficient.
The hotel staff told us we would be able to get into our room early at 9am which left us with 2 hours to kill. We had some breakfast at the hotel and went for a wander to a nearby monument to check out where we are.

Ruben, perpetually too kind, was convinced by a street merchant to buy a marionette and was surprised by the amount of porn magazines on show. In fact one of our locals shops is a Sex Store with mannequins in the window dressed up in all number of Strap-On-Gag-Leather-Whip-Bondage combinations.
By this point it is 9am and we haven't slept at all. We drag ourselves back to the hotel to get into our rooms, only to be told that the guy who promised us an early check in was wrong and has finished his shift.
So for the last two hours I have been floating about in the lobby trying to avoid napping on a couch. Luckily I discovered the wifi, it has been my saving grace.
Time to check into our rooms finally and take a well deserved nap, thank god.
Merry Christmas!

Last days in SB

We head to Mexico city tomorrow, well technically the day after because we are catching the redeye and flying at midnight which, in terms of enjoyment and funtimes, ought to equate to a basket of kittens and baby unicorns.
Yesterday was spent in frantic search of togs that will A) enable me to go swimming in our hotel's rooftop pool B) Cover the requisite body parts without exposing and/or enlarging any of them and C) Be so cool that I am willing to overlook the fact that wearing them is essentially walking about in my underwear in front of strangers.
So even though Southern California is warm year round it's apparently not swimsuit warm at the moment and so nowhere sold them. Probably didn't help that every time we went into a store, Ruben would ask the sales assistant if they had togs and the young tanned Americans would look at us quizzically and say "Uggs..Logs..Hogs?" before we clarified that the gawky emo New Zealander that is my brother meant swimwear.
I eventually found a pair in American Apparel that looked fine. They were on for about 0.25 of a second before the florescent lighting and gaping curtains in the fitting room made me rip them off and hastily put my layers of clothes back on.
Getting Ruben into revealing clothing was even more of a struggle. He hasn't worn shorts since 2007 and you could see him squirming and trying to hide his legs when we forced our way into the fitting room. He is practically translucent the poor thing.
Once we had conquered the swimsuit situation we had some dinner while it continued to pour down with rain for like the 6th day straight. Once we had eaten and failed to finish our appetizer sized meals (portion sizes are enormous here, you basically have to share your meal with someone or leave it half eaten) came home where I proceeded to have a number of unexplainable, bizarre panic attacks that leave me stiff and freaking out as I try to fall asleep. So that was fun.
Today I had the minor realisation that Christmas is in like 3 days and I hadn't yet bought my brother a gift. Christmas will be so unconventional this year I'd almost forgotten it was still happening. Because we are both determined to spend as much of our money on ourselves as possible we set a $US15 limit and so I spent 2 hours and 3 blisters trudging up and down State Street trying to find something to get him and ended up with the most unsatisfying and mediocre gift, hopefully Mexico will overshadow crappy gifts.
There were a lot of homeless people on State Street which meant that I swiftly ran out of dollar bills and didn't have lunch. I realise complaining about this is ridiculous of me, considering I will probably never be as hungry as the people who have had the misfortune to end up homeless. It's really sad to see, especially somewhere like Santa Barbara where there is so so much wealth, people driving expensive cars and then swanning around town spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars and walking right past people who have nothing. Tugs at my heart strings big time and I know it's going to be a million times worse in Mexico, homeless children just make me want to cry.
After my barely successful shopping trip I bused home and walked the 20minutes from the bus stop down our street just as the sun was setting. It was rather picturesque.
Next time I write I will either be in Mexico or will have just returned, Happy Holidays!

Los Angeles

I had a pedicure the other day. I'd never had one before and sitting on a massage chair while small elderly Vietnamese women do your toenails is at the same time relaxing, embarrassing, awkward and ticklish. Apparently it was a "Christmas Pedicure" so my toenails are painted sparkly gold...It was a different experience.
Day before yesterday it was pouring with rain and had been for the last couple of days. It is the middle of winter here so I wasn't very surprised but all the locals were complaining about it, turns out it doesn't rain a lot in Southern California normally. But we bought umbrellas and went out to get train tickets to Los Angeles anyway.
We went to Wholefoods first, which is rapidly becoming my favourite store here. The selection of amazing food is..well amazing, and all with a vague semblance of health to it so it's (basically) guilt free. I bought vegan doughnut holes, which admittedly I had never heard of before but are in principal the bit of the donut from the middle where the hole is..sugary balls of dough basically. They have a salad bar the size of a small house, and so many vegan things I almost wet myself. Entire tofurkeys made me wish we were here for Thanksgiving.
We went to a gorgeous book shop called Chaucers where apparently the celebrities hang out. The books were beautiful, the kids section magical and the gift wrapping women so cheerful that I wanted to take them with me.
I fell in love with everything and bought nothing, I will be back though, I have my eye on a Klimt diary for next year and several of the childrens books for Sebastien. They have a selection of what are possibly the most beautiful notebooks I have ever seen. I love a good notebook.
I stocked up on budget reading material at the Borders that is closing down on State Street and went to American Apparel where I may have purchased hers'n'hers tshirts..
We got our train tickets from the cute old timey train station but not after taking a circuitous highway bridge route that involved walking through a strong haze of pot smoke coming from no discernible location, quite possibly the bushes. Mum got worried she was going to get a contact high..
After we got our tickets we went to a Mexican place called La Super Rica Taqueria which translates to Super Delicious Taco House. It was a way out of downtown and was a little shack of a kitchen with an attached dining room with plastic walls and roof. Apparently it's the best food in Santa Barbara, and Julia Childs (a fancy French chef that that movie Julie and Julia was about) said it was her favourite restaurant in the world. I got a look in the kitchen and saw the grill they were cooking on and suddenly had no desire to eat. We went to another place for dessert and I wolfed down the free basket of tortilla chips and then felt ill.

Today we went to Los Angeles on the train. Got up early to make the most of the day because the train takes 3 hours each way. It was still pouring down with rain so that was miserable and really cleared out the streets. We got a long lecture on the train about how we were in downtown Los Angeles and we had to be careful because it was dangerous and it wasn't like Christchurch (in case we hadn't gathered that) and once mum was sure we were certain of that she calmed down. We got a cab from Union Station to Japantown, or Little Tokyo, which was the main object of our trip. Ruben is currently obsessed with anime and J-Rock and so the stores full of anime dvds, manga, cds, posters and clothes were mecca for him. It wasn't really my kind of shopping but to be fair over the years he has traipsed around thousands of clothing stores with me and mum so it only seemed like payback.

We had amazing, beautifully presented sushi for lunch in the Little Tokyo Plaza, the best I've ever had.
My veggie roll had beetroot in it which was..bizarre but manageable. All the waitresses were old Japanese women who moved slowly and were quick to top up your water every time you took a sip to the point where it was a little overbearing. But the food was amazing, the plates steal-worthy, and most importantly it was dry and warm.




After lunch we perused the many many Japanese stores full of mostly the same things, ceremonial swords, novelty cartoon stationary and backpacks, a million different types of chopsticks and a billion different little ceramic animals to rest your chopsticks on between bites. I think Ruben managed to do all of his gift shopping. I got a rice ball maker which I am very excited about and left behind a bento lunch box as part of my vain attempts to save the little money I have for New York.


Attempting to be frugal I didn't buy a waving hand cat either and now wish I had, there was a lot of choice..

Also in abundance were Buddhas, I rubbed enough pot bellies to have luck saved up for a year.


We went into a clothing store in search of J-rock t-shirts and while Ruben was looking I went to look at the sale stuff upstairs.
Most of the sale stuff was normal things like racks of clothes and boxes of belts...

 But then the other side of the floor was...not clothing..

Yeah. Sex dolls, one of which had Super Mario in a compromising position. Not something you see everyday. One of the other sex dolls, which I didn't get a chance to photograph because other curious shoppers came up and I didn't want to seem like a creep, also had a female body but killer chest hair, it was amazing. Also a highlight were the "Japanese people give beer to children" t-shirt.


After we had exhausted Japantown's shopping possibilities we headed to the nearby neighbourhood of La Olvera. LA is divided a lot by ethnic neighbourhoods and La Olvera is the Latin American quarter. It was decorated for Christmas with pretty lights and a full nativity scene on the band rotunda. There was an amazing wee market full of Mexican, Latin American and Native American things, going strong despite the downpour. It was lined with historic buildings, the oldest house in Los Angeles, the first brick house in Los Angeles and as we were walking back from dinner to the station the verandah of the oldest house had a full on Mariachi band complete with ponchos and mustacheod men. It was a beautiful sight.

 

Once we had seen the whole market and bought some Emiliano Zapata posters we went into one of the alcove'y, underground-y Mexican restaurants for dinner. We unsurprisingly chose the one that had a "Soy Menu" advertised.

I had an amazing Soy Tostada with -what I can only assume was- frighteningly realistic "beef".
If anybody has read the childrens book "It Zwibble the Star Touched Dinosaur" (if not, read it) then the inside of the restaurant looks like what I imagined the mole's underground house looked like when he realised the walls were made out of colourful dinosaur eggs. It was one of the coolest places I have ever been and these photos do not do justice to the colour, contours of the ceiling and general amazing atmosphere.

After dinner we walked back to Union Station to catch our train home. Apparently it's one of the last Grand Old Stations, whatever that means, but it's pretty beautiful. 

Fucking woman with the ugly handbag walked into my photo.

We had a while to wait until our train home left and as we were wandering around we stumbled upon a film set. We hung around watching them film and stuff, I think it was a cellphone advert but the Goldilocks and Three Bears were hanging around so I might watch out for that on TV.

I was happily taking photos of the big Goldilocks doll...

When it fucking MOVED. Scared the shit out of me.













Mummy Bear was a bit weird, and they were blowing some hairdryer looking contraption into Daddy Bear's mouth and it was all a bit creepy..











My usually incredibly sensible mother got ridiculous on the train home, so much so that I was crying and snotting with laughter. Once she had decided she didn't like her bizarre, chewy, Japanese sweet she decided to put it on her face. All over her face. This is the same woman who an hour ago had told my brother not to play with his food at dinner.

I laughed myself into a stupor, fell asleep and drooled all over the curtains to end my time in LA.
Was a good day.

Wild Times

The last few days have been anything but wild times, I got really sick, went to the doctor, took lots of drugs and stayed in bed for a while. Also, went shopping :D
That made me feel better, got myself a whole lot of thermals for New York, as well as a scarf and miscellaneous other items required to survive the average temperatures of -2 degrees, including a new winter coat, which just might be the most beautiful piece of clothing I have ever bought.
We went to a mall in Ventura, about an hour from where we're staying, because it is the closest place that has a Hot Topic. Hot Topic sells band clothing and merchandise, and along with Ihop (the International House of Pancakes) is one of two places my brother is interested in going to in the whole of the United States. I found a Tegan and Sara top which made me all kinds of happy. FYI if you haven't heard of Tegan and Sara, listen to Tegan and Sara, if you have heard of Tegan and Sara, listen to more Tegan and Sara.
I also bought various other clothing related things in a well meaning attempt to bankrupt my mother and encourage her to never take me shopping again.
We also went bowling..with some academics that my mum is working with over here, I was abysmal, so was mum, except the difference was she took it to heart and we had to spend the whole time trying to lose and encouraging her so she didn't have some kind of bowling induced breakdown. I kid. Mostly.
On a more exciting and food related note: vegan cheese.

And on that note, that is all.

Passion Pit

Passion Pit played in Santa Barbara last night and I went with my brother as we're both big fans. It was on at the Granada Theatre, a beautiful theatre downtown that reminded me of the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch but wasn't as big. It was seated, of course, which was a little disappointing because we got our tickets last minute so were in row T. Turns out it was a pretty small place and we were pretty close to the stage anyway.
There were three opening acts before PP came on, and one of them had Michael Cera as the bassist. I had no idea he was in a band, called Mister Heavenly, but they actually turned out to be quite good. He was predictably awkward, dressed in brown courduroys and a too tight white polo. At the start of the set he said Santa Monica instead of Santa Barbara and possibly out of embarrasment spent the rest of the set facing the back of the stage. His band was a pretty generic four piece skinny white boy indie rock kind of deal apart from the keyboardist who was about 35, podgy with a shaggy 70s do and handlebar moustache who interupted the lead singer every now and then with deep throaty yells and random lyrics.
The other opening acts were good too, local bands with a sound quite similar to Passion Pit's. I hadn't had much sleep the last couple of nights cos I've been sick and by this point my eyelids were getting droopy and I was doing all I could to stay awake for PP.
As soon as they hit the stage I had no problem staying awake. I'd seen PP before, about 11months ago at the Big Day Out. They were good but the outdoor stage and fairly shitty quality of sound of the BDO didn't do them any favours. Seeing them in a proper theatre with their lights show and everything was outstanding.
PP is one of those rare bands that sounds exactly the same live as recorded, and they were amazing. It could have something to do with the fact that a lot of their songs have digital components that are easy to replicate live but lead singer Michael Angelakos' voice is so incredibly unique and very real.
They played for just over an hour and then came back on for a three song encore, and playing Sleepyhead to finish.
There was no flash photography allowed so my photos are..average but I will post some anyway, even though they don't capture quite how amazing it was.