Mexico
City 
We both had a courtship with this city last year. This time, we fell in love. Getting beyond just the city center, we spent a week of total emersion in the bars, parks, neighborhoods, streets, trains, churches and stores. I took Spanish classes, stayed with a wonderful family, and took the best dance classes yet [cumbia, merengue, salsa—even danzon.] Todd drifted between various grades of hotels, and mixed it up with new friends well into the night.
Every minute was precious here, they ran out way to fast. After taking a side trip and coming back, it almost felt like coming home.
Up above the Mexico’s mountains and capital.
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Nuns have to go through customs too; waiting for new arrivals outside the airport gate.
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Scenes outside our first hotel room near downtown.
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In a nearby park, fountains splashed and topiaries grew.
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Walking, holding, laughing in downtown streets.
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Hanging out and shuffling along.
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Neon in the knockoff videos aisle and in the spinning section of a gym.
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The relics of ancient Aztec art, and skulls, in the downtown Templo Mayor.
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Bottled beverages at a taco stand, and a popular youth hostel/bar.
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Catch as catch can in architecture—billboards and balconies;
a once beautiful building; the Beaux Arts-style Belles Artes and some
street venders.
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Fresh corn and mariachis hungry for work.
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A spontaneous dance party in a downtown park.
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My home stay—eating breakfast; Patricia and her boys.
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Scenes from Colonia Roma, my neighborhood: churches, corona, and the view from my window.
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The pigeons and polvo call in the morning.
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Refuse, or accommodations, on a Roma street corner; a squat; taking out the trash.
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Communing
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Mexican ingenuity: a traveling knife sharpener.
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Beautiful Colonia Roma streets.
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Cafes, foliage and fountains abound in Roma.
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Chopping nopal [cactus] at a taqueria.
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Scenes in the gay-friendly, but tacky, neighborhood of Zona Rosa.
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Mexico loves it history, and its statues.
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At up-scale, and down-low, catinas.
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Relaxing at a bull fighter themed café.
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Polanco, a neighborhood where Frida once lived, is charming, green and relaxed.
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The entrance to a large Polanco park, and a talk circle outside of a coffee house.
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Policing the never ending traffic along Insurgentes, the main artery through the city.
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Upscale San Angel, with yuppie restaurants and a staid park.
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Back in working-class Roma, people line up for meat and tortillas.
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Working on shoes in Roma Sur.
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Fresh tortillas and cheese at an indoor market.
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Eye-spy through the windows of hair salons.
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A cheery chef at a popular taqueria.
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