The comedy routine of Heber, Isidro, and I, waking up in our room at Hotel Virreyes, every morning, sorting ourselves out, and heading down to the mid-century modern lobby to see who from Chicago was already tapping away on their laptops.
My daily fresh-squeezed orange juice... sometimes an orange and carrot blend... and often at Cafe El Popular, Isidro's favorite breakfast hangout... where he had his ritual cafe con leche. if there, always with an excellent cafe espresso, or two. My favorite would probably be El Morro, for the freshest churros on earth, served with tasty hot chocolate... like a DF equivalent to Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans.
Never being more than five feet away from a delicious taco.
Packs of wild dogs roaming the streets.
Insane taxi drivers, running red lights, driving down streets in reverse gear, swerving through traffic, etc.
Riding the Metro (no need for Berlin references, please) and hearing all sorts of music blaring from CD vendors' backpack boomboxes.
The sea of street vendors with counterfeit and bootleg everything... very different than Canal Street in NYC, and seemingly everywhere and endless...
The constant stream of rickety old collectivos cruising down every major street.
Someone always handing us an Indio or a "Vicky" (Victoria) at a bar or a club or gallery or a party...
The mix of the modern, the colonial, and the crumbling... The nearly incomprehensible sprawl of the city... best observed from the top of the observation deck of the Torre Latinoamericana.
The blend of salsa verde and (creamy) guacamole that I have never seen in Chicago and that I fell in love with, found at so many taquerias. And hey, while we are at it, eating lots of great guacamole, nearly every day.
All of the fantastic people that we met and hung out with while we were there. It was so fun to be a part of this week-long party - um, I mean multi-media arts festival - that moved around different sections of the city --- and spending time with such cool, creative people, day after day.
More soon...
Mark
