El Distrito Federal, aka where I was peed on by a stranger.

This is what I had to say about Mexico City before the flood took precedent:

True to my nature, I have procrastinated writing about my week in the DF, despite the luxuriously long four day weekend I've had since returning. I guess in part it's because I'm still trying to process everything. It was an intense week, full of lots of learning, thinking, exploring, and more learning and thinking. I guess it'll be easiest to start at the beginning:

Friday morning after finishing up the last session of intensivo (YES!) the group went straight from the ICO to a six and a half hour bus ride to Mexico City. The ride was not that bad, actually - plenty of talking time, and it was neat to see so much of the landscape outside of Oaxaca. Southern Mexico is one of the most beautiful places I've been; everything is super green, and there are plenty of mountains to keep me from missing Utah too much. Anyways, once in DF, we headed to the Quaker-run hostel we were to call home for the next several days, Casa de los Amigos. The Casa is a great place. The people there were super friendly, the beds were super soft, and the food was delicious. I have to say, la comida norte americana that they offered was a nice change of pace from the steady supply of tortillas I've had for the past month. I was excited to find that there was a library across the hall from my room, and was elated to learn that it actually used to be the studio of the Mexican painter José Clemente Orozco. Sadly, there wasn't much left in the house indicating his presence, but it was cool knowing that I was living in his workspace for a few days. Bri and I also discovered a semi-secret staircase leading to the roof, which came in handy when we were awoken later that night by the loudest display of fireworks I have ever experienced, accompanied by some unnaturally loud opera music coming from the building behind us. I still don't understand what was going on, but the roof served as perfect front-row seating to the show!

The next day brought the beginning of our studies with Witness for Peace. The group is a non-political, non-profit organization committed to bringing peace and justice to the Americas, in large part through spreading knowledge of how past and present policies have affected human rights. They scheduled several charlas for us throughout the week, covering an array of topics from the effects of globalization and neo-liberalism on the Mexican economy, to sustainable agricultural practices, to human rights conditions here. It was a lot of information to take in, so thankfully we also had a number of processing sessions during which we synthesized, clarified, and reflected on what we learned. I am very grateful for our opportunities to learn so much here. Like I said earlier, I think it is important to understand the past and current social context of a place you are visiting in order to better comprehend your experiences, and our work with Witness for Peace helped me do just that. While there is still a lot that I'm sorting through and trying to understand (and even more about which I haven't even begun to learn!), I'm starting to feel like I have a more solid grasp of what's going on in the country. Every night I watch the news here, and while before I knew what was happening here, now I am beginning to understand why some things are the way they are. I'm also starting to figure out how I feel about being a US visitor in Mexico, and what my role can be in relating to the country both here and when I return home. But more on that later.

Palacio de Bellas Artes

WFP scheduled our trip pretty exhaustively, so unfortunately we were not left with a lot of free time to explore the city. I was most excited to check out the art scene, since Mexico City is a huge center for the arts, and home to a lot of big names like Kahlo, Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros, to name a few. Unfortunately, our sparse free time didn't leave much opportunity to see everything I wanted to, and there were several additional road blocks impeding my quest. Art failure #1: Our first afternoon, the group was supposed to check out the Palacio Nacional in the city's center, which houses some awesome murals by Rivera, but the building was closed due to preparations for the Bicentenario celebrations. Art failure #2: Later that evening, we were left with a few hours to explore the downtown area, so Bri and I decided to head to the Palacio de Bellas Artes. It is a stunning neoclassical/art nouveau building that houses works of all the aforementioned artists, but we were only able to admire the exterior as it closed ten minutes before we found it. Art failure #3: We had the next morning free as well, and I REALLY wanted to go visit Frida Kahlo's house, just two short subway rides away. Unfortunately, I was outnumbered 10:1 as the rest of the group wanted to go to the National Anthropology Museum. So I went with them, and it ended up being a pretty cool place, but I was still a little disappointed. Art failure #4: On our last afternoon in the city, in which we had two free hours between lectures, I went with Jennifer to check out the murals in the Public Education building. Guess what? It was also closed for the Bicentenario. Grrrreat. Not willing to give up, we made one last-ditch effort and sprinted several blocks to an indoor market, whose building housed some lesser-known murals that Jen had written a paper about (yes, we are art history nerds). Finally: ART SUCCESS (sadly, the one and only). We had twenty minutes to admire murals by the US sisters Marion and Grace Greenwood, and another wall sculpted and painted by Isamu Noguchi. A few of us are planning on heading back to the DF in October on our own time, so hopefully I'll be able to report a few more art successes after that trip.

Mural by the Greenwood sisters

One cool thing we did get to do in the DF was check out the Zócalo, the city center, and experience all the preparations for the Bicentenario. All the buildings were decked out with lights and giant streamers, it was like Christmas on crack. Even though we left before the actual Bicentenario, there were SO MANY PEOPLE there every night! I have never in my life experienced such a crowd. Not only were there tons of people, but they were also packed in tightly. At one point, Bri and I couldn't even control the direction of our bodies, we were literally shoved by the current of people. Hands from all directions were all over our bodies, feet were tripping us right and left, but it didn't even matter because there was a sea of people to break our fall! And here, we reach the highlight of my trip. As Bri and I were walking around the Zóc our first night there, admiring the lights and standing in awe of the crowd, it began to rain. I was wearing my trusty chacos, so my feet were pretty cold and wet. All of a sudden, I felt something very warm. I looked around, confused, trying to figure out if I was standing on an air vent or something. No. To my horror, I saw that the man next to me was peeing. On me. HE WAS PEEING ON MY FEET. I grabbed Bri and pushed my way out of the crowd and dumped my water bottle on my feet, but the damage was done. I don't think I'll be able to get the memory of that sensation out of my mind any time soon. Writhing in my skin, I decided to call it a night and head home.

Bicentenario decorations in the Zócalo

And that, my friends, pretty much sums up my experience in el DF. I learned a lot, saw some cool places, missed out on others, and worked on getting over personal space issues. Next up: The two days we spent in Puebla for the Bicentenario! But I'll spare you that story for now, since I've pretty much already written the next Great American Novel.