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Some observations:
Pay phones are still a thing here. Makes sense given that the minimum wage is like US $300/month. One looked like 5 pesos -- roughly a US quarter -- for the first minute, 3 pesos per minute after that. Expensive compared to the old days of a quarter per local call.
Safety advice for tourists that I'd read included "blend in, wear what the locals do", particularly calling out not wearing shorts. It seems to be true. Mexican women can wear short skirts or dresses, or jeans with most of the front material missing, but almost anyone in actual shorts has foreigner-nature: pale skin, tall height, US flag clothing, talking English, not wearing a mask, being in a group with other such...
My oven has a new gas knob, and a long lighter I need to use to ignite the gas. No me gusta.
Yesterday I walked to Bosque Chapultepec, a large park. I don't have too much deep to say. Nice park, some sculptures, lots of food stands but all selling the same array of potato chips, chicharrones preparado, or junk food; I wonder if there's a ban on actual cooking stalls. I did get some chips adobada(?), extremely red, with a redness that stained my fingers and maybe my new jeans, oops.
Bosque photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindstalk/albums/72177720300744572
Today I was back in the area, for the Museo Nacional de Antropologia. Cheap: 85 pesos (so like $4.50). Big; I was there for three hours and didn't see everything. Besides two floors of exhibits, there are also artifacts (or replicas) in gardens outside the building; you can pretend that you're looking at Mayan ruins in actual jungle. Informative: I learned of cultures new to me, like La Quemada, Paquime, and the Tarrascans -- the first two being cities in the north of Mexico. Bilingual: eh, kind of. The big placards tend to be, but not the smaller ones. There were some videos with English subtitles, which I watched way more than I usually watch museum videos. Odd: where US museums tend to try to identify every individual object on display, that wasn't remotely the case here; you would see a case of pottery, and no information about pieces. Annoying: reviews led me to believe I would have to check my bag but could include a water bottle in that; instead they made me throw away my bottle and there was no bag check.
People had masks, but people showing their nose, or even their nose and mouth with a chin diaper? They, too, also tended to have foreigner-nature, though not as lopsidedly as shorts-wearing.
Museum photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindstalk/albums/72177720300744020
Reddit has said the 3M 9205+ Aura respirator has weak straps. Confirmed: mine broke today as I took it off, after not that many wearings.
Got some tacos pasto on the way back. They were actually prepared! Though with only one tortilla each, not 2-5 like some other tacos. 75 pesos for 5. Kind of dry without the hot sauce (in a bag, given "to go").
Pay phones are still a thing here. Makes sense given that the minimum wage is like US $300/month. One looked like 5 pesos -- roughly a US quarter -- for the first minute, 3 pesos per minute after that. Expensive compared to the old days of a quarter per local call.
Safety advice for tourists that I'd read included "blend in, wear what the locals do", particularly calling out not wearing shorts. It seems to be true. Mexican women can wear short skirts or dresses, or jeans with most of the front material missing, but almost anyone in actual shorts has foreigner-nature: pale skin, tall height, US flag clothing, talking English, not wearing a mask, being in a group with other such...
My oven has a new gas knob, and a long lighter I need to use to ignite the gas. No me gusta.
Yesterday I walked to Bosque Chapultepec, a large park. I don't have too much deep to say. Nice park, some sculptures, lots of food stands but all selling the same array of potato chips, chicharrones preparado, or junk food; I wonder if there's a ban on actual cooking stalls. I did get some chips adobada(?), extremely red, with a redness that stained my fingers and maybe my new jeans, oops.
Bosque photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindstalk/albums/72177720300744572
Today I was back in the area, for the Museo Nacional de Antropologia. Cheap: 85 pesos (so like $4.50). Big; I was there for three hours and didn't see everything. Besides two floors of exhibits, there are also artifacts (or replicas) in gardens outside the building; you can pretend that you're looking at Mayan ruins in actual jungle. Informative: I learned of cultures new to me, like La Quemada, Paquime, and the Tarrascans -- the first two being cities in the north of Mexico. Bilingual: eh, kind of. The big placards tend to be, but not the smaller ones. There were some videos with English subtitles, which I watched way more than I usually watch museum videos. Odd: where US museums tend to try to identify every individual object on display, that wasn't remotely the case here; you would see a case of pottery, and no information about pieces. Annoying: reviews led me to believe I would have to check my bag but could include a water bottle in that; instead they made me throw away my bottle and there was no bag check.
People had masks, but people showing their nose, or even their nose and mouth with a chin diaper? They, too, also tended to have foreigner-nature, though not as lopsidedly as shorts-wearing.
Museum photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindstalk/albums/72177720300744020
Reddit has said the 3M 9205+ Aura respirator has weak straps. Confirmed: mine broke today as I took it off, after not that many wearings.
Got some tacos pasto on the way back. They were actually prepared! Though with only one tortilla each, not 2-5 like some other tacos. 75 pesos for 5. Kind of dry without the hot sauce (in a bag, given "to go").