Mexico Part 1

Alright, here we go.... it's going to be broken up into a few parts because it's taken me three days to do just this first part... I don't want to do a gigantic post and I know you don't want to spend three hours looking at my blog. That would be the modern equivalent of having you over to my house to see slides of my vacation.

So we left on Saturday morning, early, and spent an hour in the check-in line. It was totally rockin'.

Once aboard the plane, I tried to control my anxiety and fear of flying while Dustin hopped into the empty row behind us to take a 4-hour nap.



Despite fear, I always must admit that being above it all is beautiful.



Dustin woke up and did his impression of Jesus.



We landed and were grateful to be picked up by Dustin's dad, the wonderful Louis Stephens. He took us home and we had a much-needed lunch. I swear, it was the best salami sandwhich I've ever had.



Then Mr. Louis (as I've come to call him) took us up to his studio to see his oeuvre of art.


These were my two favorites, of many.



While Louis rooted around looking for paintings to show us, Dustin and I goofed off, as we do.




I love the texture of paint; sometimes I feel that palettes themselves are artistic in their own right, the colors blending and forming sculptural mounds.



I found myself wishing that I had an entire room in which just to paint. Mr. Stephens had this place filled with books and decades of collection for found-object art and painting inspiration.


We returned to the main house to find this adorable literary pair, Dustin's stepmom Karen and brother Tommy. The family that reads together stays together, no?


Later that night, we got a li'l hungry and walked down their beautiful Mexican street...


... To a little place called Taco Inn. It was DELICIOUS.

Dustin's family has... much character.



(that's his sister Caitlin, by the way). The next day, Dustin and I took a trip to the local archaelogical museum. We hopped in the car and I saw something I'd never before seen: Dustin driving.


The first song we heard on the radio was, ironically enough, "New York, New York" as we cruised the freeway. Don't worry, Mom, I didn't drive at all the whole trip.


What you've heard about corrupt police over the border is, unfortunately, true. We got pulled over and hosed by a cop that made Dustin pay him 700 pesos (that's $70 to you, Gringo) to avoid the bunk ticket he threatened to give us. I wanted so badly to take a picture of the cop talking to Dustin, but didn't want to make things worse if he caught me, so I didn't.


They wrote this thing on his hand so that, if he got pulled over later that day, they would know he's already paid off at least one cop that day.


We got to the museum safely though, and it was a lovely building.


With a rad fountain.

And cool ceilings.

They had a hologram showing us that regardless of race, we all have skulls.


There was this artist's rendition of early peoples doing caveman activities. This one of childbirth really caught my attention.


We saw all kinds of cool art and artifacts from civilizations before us, including the Teotihuacanos and Tenochticlan (I hope I'm spelling it right).


This was a calendar... so they think.


After awhile, we just had to start impersonating the artifacts.





Emerging from the museum, we saw that a crowd had gathered in the park area. There were vendors of all sorts.



The aforementioned crowd:


They were watching the Los Voladores De Papampla, which is a group of men in ceremonial dress and song....


... who climb up this huge pole, unharnessed...


... and twist on this thing until it's taut....



..... and then swing, dangling, all the way down.




Pretty interesting. Then we went home and had dinner with the fam.


And, it being Father's Day, gave Mr. Louis some giftos.



The next day was a chill-out day. The main reason for our visit was because the Stephenses are renting out the house and moving to NYC, so the kids had to come home to go through all of their childhood stuff and decide what to keep and what to bestow upon the needy and the eBayers. So that was just what we did on chill-out day.


Dustin got to take a trip down memory lane with some old yearbooks.


Awww! (I don't even recognize him without the facial hair.)



Here he is, showing off his sensitive inner child with an old Cabbage Patch Doll.


Look at all this stuff that the orphans and the eBayers will inherit!


That afternoon Louis was invited to see this up-and-coming artist's studio and works-in-progress. He invited Dustin and me to tag along, and we were pretty sure we were gonna get lost when we saw him peering at the map so intently.


While he figured it out, Dustin and young Thomas played a quick game of Ping Pong.



Tommy won, much to Dustin's chagrin. This was just an inkling of the Stephens' siblings competetive nature (more on that later).

So off we went.


We absorbed the culture all around on the way. This was shortly before the presidential elections, so the city was teeming with propaganda in every direction.


This little flower stand was pretty.


I noticed that almost all of the cabs in Mexico City were little green VW Bugs. It amused me, but I guess it's only as weird as having thousands of yellow taxis in a city.


We even saw Jesus on the way.


I couldn't stop taking pictures of everything!



We arrived at Claudia's place and she showed us her studio area. It was airy and lovely, like pretty much everything else in Mexico City.


She showed us her art.


It was very interesting. She frequently used the theme of... well, let's say rapture. More specifically, the facial expressions resulting from rapture. She researches certain situations and then makes a series of paintings meditating on the situation. There was one of fans at a soccer game, one of a church mass led by a lucho libre wrestler/priest, and this one of a faith healer.



... and some other ones that aren't postable on a family site, but well-executed nevertheless.

And they're so small!

.... but she was working on some big ones too.


It was pretty cool to have it all broken down for us by the artist herself. She was sweet and very welcoming to us.


And her apartment was beautiful. Just look at this ceiling!


More paint textures...
She had, like, 20 cats and kittens though, and I, and my sinuses, were none too pleased.

(Even though they were pretty darn adorable.)


After Claudia's, we came home and Dustin whipped up some snacks.


I had jicama in the Mexican style for the first time... sliced up and covered in lime juice and chili powder.


It's like, whoa. A flavor explosion. Doesn't it look delectable?


I couldn't resist the juice.

Whilst eating the jicama, we played a little game called Dictionary. You may also know it as Balderdash. It was fun for us nerds. You get a, you guessed it, dictionary, and pick out a word that of which none of the players know the definition. Each person writes down a fake definition, except the reader, who writes down the real definition. Each definition is read out loud and you vote for whichever you think is the real one. If you guess correctly or if someone guesses your definition, you get a point.

It's fun.

Each of the Stephens children is not only smart, but creative as well. So it was a fun challenge.


Dustin won that night, but only by a half point, which I lost by not being able to control my giggles, which gave away one of Tommy's fake definitions.

That's all for this post. Coming up: Pyramids, outdoor bazaars, and swimming competitions, oh my!

Sugar says goodnight.