The day here begins at 6.30am when some
kind soul rings the bell of the church (outside my window!) Actually it begins
a bit earlier if you’re on the 7.00am Mass. That’s not so bad unless you’ve had
a meeting that didn’t finish until 11.00pm the night before!
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| Toluca City on a hazy day - the Cathedral in the middle |
Breakfast (desayuno) is at 8.00am. I was rather
surprised to have Kellogg’s Cornflakes put in front of me the first morning. So
breakfast is coffee (drip filter :-( ), bread or
toast and cornflakes. There is great tropical fruit – and apples and stuff like
that. Breakfast with sweet papaya has to be the best way to begin the day!
Most Mexicans
seem to lunch (almuerzo) about
2.30pm, some even later. In the community we have lunch, which is the main meal
of the day, at the disgustingly early hour of 2.00pm (for Mexicans). It does makes
for a long morning… We’ve been going out to local “restaurants” for almuerzo.
These are small family run places, where you can get a “menu” for a fixed sum.
You have the choice of several items in each course: soups or salads, then rice
on its own or with fried plantain or spaghetti. The main course is some sort of
meat with sauce – or tacos filled with meat and veg and drenched in sauce. The
chilli is not put in the sauces (much), but available in various temperatures
in little bowls on the table. And to finish a dessert – pale jelly or bananas
drenched in cream. Mexicans lament that their diet isn’t very healthy – even as
they tuck in!
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| Chiliquiles - the healthy alternative to muesli! |
Dinner (cena) is not before 8.00pm. It is a very
light meal – for us, usually taken on the run. I have a cuppa tea and toast
usually. There is no morning or afternoon tea either. People are highly amused
when I tell them of our eating hours – and the fact that we have little breaks
for tea and scones (well, biscuits these days)!
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| A Pambazo. A bread roll, stuffed with potato, chorizo and cheese, covered in a chilli sauce and then deep fried. This has to be good for you! |
I have to confess
that Montezuma has had his revenge on me (even though I did nothing to him!) I’m
not sure what caused it. It could be a bug, change of climate, altitude or even
just the travel. (Update: it seems to be a parasite – which I may have been
carrying since I left Peru in 2003. Persistent little bugger!)
We’re at 2650
metres above sea-level here – and there’s an extinct volcano that towers over
the city. At least I hope it is extinct – Popocatepetl is not that far away and
it’s busy rumbling and spurting smoke and ash. The altitude, a couple of
hundred metres higher than Taranaki, has an effect. For a couple of weeks, when
I arrived I was a bit breathless if I did something too fast. The locals told
me to drink loads of water – not sure how that was meant to help!
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| Xinantecatl - the extinct volcano above Toluca |
The atmosphere
here is incredibly dry. Everything dries quickly, including lips and skin.
Increasing the water intake helps that. I must be drinking a couple of litres a
day. It also means your washing dries quickly!
The mornings are
cool – cool enough to put a jersey on. By 1.00pm the place is roasting – 27
degrees yesterday. The sun is very bright – less atmosphere above I guess– but
doesn’t seem to burn. It reminds me a bit of how the climate is in the Peruvian
Andes.
We’re entering
the rainy season – summer – here. We have had a couple of good showers – but
the place is dry, bone dry, in an hour or so. Apparently the campesinos plan to
plant their crops around the city on the Feast of the Holy Cross – here
celebrated on May 3rd. The rains were expected to start then – but nothing.
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| Sandy - cooking up the pambazos! |
The days
preceding the first showers were full of static electricity – great shocks when
I shook hands with people. My shoes must be better insulated or something. We
also had towering thunderstorms with lightning, but no rain. We’ve had a few
hailstorms – which no one batted an eyelid at!
And a tremendous thunderstorm with hail and rain has just
begun. I guess that really ends the dry spell!
