Update on Ritualistic Animal Slaughter

The mystery of the beheaded animal continues.

Lucy and Filiberto saw the dead animal from the window of their taxi--they had gone to school with their oldest daughter to watch her present at a school assembly, and she fainted at the end of the program, so they rushed home in a taxi to take her to the doctor (she's fine, and the doctor said it was just hormonal fluctations normal in adolescents). The taxi stopped right in front of the body and the driver announced that the cuts were perfect so there must be a shaman in the neighborhood. Filiberto thinks it could have been a cat, but Lucy and I are sure that its body was too big and its coat was too thick to be a cat.

Today Filiberto told Antonio that he thinks maybe the spirit escaped from the beheaded lamb/cat and entered his daughter, causing her to faint. Antonio disagrees. I think maybe this is connected to the mystery of why we cannot keep a plant alive in this apartment.

Ritualistic Animal Slaughter?

This morning coming home from the gym, turning onto my little street across from the Frida Kahlo park I saw what appeared to be a stuffed animal lying in the street. I slowed down to get a better look and realized it looked like a stuffed lamb--its body was much rounder than a dog, and it had this strange woolly coat. I thought that lamb roadkill was a strange thing to find here in the middle of Mexico City. Later Lucy told me that she had walked by it this morning, and the animal looked like a lamb except that it had a long tail. Apparently its head and feet had been cut off and then the animal had been dumped in the street. Very creepy. As Lucy said, "Nothing like this has ever happened around here before."

Another landmark moment in Mexico City

Today I had three Mexico City experiences all at once: making an illegal U-turn (so common you stop noticing); getting stopped by the police for the illegal turn (uncommon); and being asked for a bribe (apparently fairly common).

I was driving Antonio from the dentist to ITAM as part of our plan for me to adapt to driving myself around Mexico City. He told me to do a U-turn on Division del Norte, a major artery of the city, to which I replied, "But it says no left turn." Antonio assured me that a left turn was prohibited, but just doing a U-turn would be just fine. I said, "Well remember that this is illegal in the United States." Apparently it is in Mexico as well, because we were instantly flagged down by the police. I explained that I was American and just learning how to drive in Mexico, and I thought it was illegal but my husband told me it would be fine. Antonio said it was all his fault and explained what happened. The officer took my license and looked at it and gave it back, and then took Antonio's driver's license and registration and asked him to get out of the car "y luego le explico." The explanation was yes, it was illegal, but he was tired of writing tickets so instead Antonio could just give him whatever money he thought was appropriate and they could solve the whole problem now. Antonio told him that he had never given a bribe in his life and was not going to start now, so just to write up the ticket. Then the officer said that he could not write me a ticket because I had a California license, so he would have to confiscate my license (which apparently is not true) unless Antonio gave him money. Antonio then suggested that the officer just write Antonio the ticket, since it was his fault, to which the officer replied in shock, "but you were not driving, so you are asking me to do something corrupt?" Antonio said this country is never going to change if it works like this, and the officer replied we can't change this country. They continued arguing for about ten minutes, and then the officer announced that they were never going to come to an agreement and we should just go.

The moral of the story is:
1. Honesty is the best policy.
2. Trust your instincts when your husband encourages you to break the law.

End of May

It's almost summer!

Mexico

At the top of Tepozteco.


We actually didn't stay here-- this hotel was next door to our posada.

Halfway to the top of the templo del sol.

Llama

First post

Here is my first post.