The moment I stepped out of the hotel, a reflex smile transformed my face.
Pure blue sky with a gentle warming winter sun. I started walking towards the historical center without a particular aim. The streets here are clean but sometimes broken or irregular. I found this imperfection somehow pleasant. Two thoughts came to my mind. The first was what Marika once said in the streets of Milan; “when there is less order in the street, I feel comfortable when everything is perfect I feel pressure to be perfect as well”. I also remember the code that I have read in my teenage; “chaos breeds life..order creates habit”.
When you live long enough in countries with impeccable order like Germany and Switzerland, you forget how the situation in the rest of the world is. But this perfection somehow becomes the norm and you only notice what goes wrong. If the world around you is full of broken and irregular, you become more tolerant.
It is a calm Sunday morning, the street are quite but studded with street-food stalls. I didn’t trust my immune system yet. I need a couple of days before I completely dive in.
Many cafes are serving breakfast for tables on the streets. No inside seating due to Corona. Although I have already had breakfast in the hotel, I needed to re-live some sense of normality! I went for a second breakfast with a small came, a cappuccino and some fun rays. At that moment, I needed nothing else!
I spend the day walking around Mexico City. Moving between plazas and different neighborhoods. I enjoyed particularly the architecture in the historical center. The city is also very clean, even in small poor neighborhoods.
My wake was quiet eventful, a group of young girls practicing dancing on the street. Homeless people occupied some main street and filled it with tents, a police raid with motorbikes on street vendors while those just disappeared intwo seconds beforehand..based on an alarming whistle from an informing watchman. This reminded me of Egypt where you are guaranteed to witness some action if you hang out in the street long enough. Chaos breeds life again.
It is Valentine’s day. Here it is not just loves day but also friendship day “dia del amor y la amistad”. The streets were full of lovers holding hands and sometimes matching T-shirts. Families went to the streets with children and everyone is eating tacos! I ate a couple of meals and hoped that pork was not part of my meals. Not sure since my Spanish is barely enough for survival.
The COVID measurs are strict he and people are conformant. Everyone is wearing a mask even in the fresh air in the street. I only saw a couple of people without a mask. When entering restaurant, they put disinfectant gel in your hand. This gel smells disgusting mostly. One restaurants with spraying people even. Like spraying their clothes. One guy even turned around and they sprayed his ass which left me perplexed.
I decided to leave Mexico City for the moment and discover the rest later with Marika. I took the evening bus then to Puebla which seems to be an exciting destination with interesting stories.
