A Winter in Mexico

I lovelovelove Mexico City. My current pipe dream is to have a little flat in Coyoacan (which has the best market and cutest little painted houses) or Condesa (where all the hip bars and restaurants and clubs are). I'd take Spanish lessons, write all day, dance all night, sleep all day, write all night... you get the drift.

The weather here is like a warmer San Francisco, temperate year round, and DRY (heaven). June 2008 marked my first visit to Mexico City. I came with fellow gypsy partier, Kem, and we hit all the sightseeing and nightlife spots we could. We left the capital for Baja just before the rainy season (hello catastrophic mudslides), so most of the time, our time in D.F. was partly cloudy with some blindingly bright hot days in between.

This January, I came with an entirely different purpose - to write. D.F. in winter is cool in the mornings and evenings, roasty-toasty in the afternoon sun. Unfortunately, Mexico City housing has that same issue many San Francisco houses have - no heating, and so sometimes it ends up being colder inside than out. No fun to sit indoors at a desk all day writing in 50 degree weather (that's 10 celcius for you non-Americans). Every so often, I'd get so cold, I'd go sit in the balcony in the sun like a lizard.

A week in, I bought a pair of fingerless gloves from an Indian woman selling them on the street corner. I've always thought fingerless gloves were about the most useless invention in the world, but now I know why they exist: for writers (and other computer-chained geeks) whose hands start getting numb with cold, but who still need undiminished fingertip dexterity. Plus my gloves are hip and multi-coloured. Like our new prez-o-dent (yay!).

Speaking of writing, I'm almost done with rewriting "Olive Witch" for the third time. Since I have no friends in Mexico City and have limited(ish) access to the internet, I get tonnes done. I eat my mamey breakfast each morning, sit down in front of my computer (with my gloves on), write 2-4 hours, do yoga in the afternoon or go run in Viveros Park, eat tlocoyos or tostados for lunch, shower, cut up a guava or avocado, write another 2-4 hours, eat beans and tortillas for dinner, read, sleep. Perfect schedule, IMHO.

Some days, I've even been able to get out and tour D.F. a bit. I've toured the new controversial contemporary art museum (surprisingly interesting cool art), listened to a classical music concert (clinched my dislike for Strauss), prayed in the Catedral in Zocalo, and climbed the art sculptures dotted all over UNAM. But most of my time has been spent writing writing writing.

As per the suggestions of my beautifully brutal critics (danke: Sheba, Jan, Alan, Zafar), I've tried to run a narrative through "Olive Witch" from beginning to end, play out different themes, streamline the characters, even out the writing style, include more setting and backstory, be more reflective, and show how the Nigerian girl becomes the American girl becomes the Bangladeshi girl all while staying the same. We'll see what my next batch of critics say (get ready: Sara, Zafar, Nadiya, Ram, Adrienne).

In between all that, Simi (who is also here to work) and I have been having a blast together. Stone cold sober and sillier than ever, my sister is about to start teaching her first semester as UMass Amherst (as a tenure track professor in architecture, engineering, and environmental science), while applying for funding for her nonprofit organisation that deals with planning and architecture in flood prone areas.

I don't get much extended time with my baby sis and so this is gold for me, plus we get to do it in Mexico, far far away from that terrible East Coast weather some of you are suffering through now. We get to sit on my bed (where the internet and sunlight is) all day and talk. In the afternoon, we go to the market and get just enough veggie goodies to cook dinner. Then we watch movies in her room til we fall asleep.

Tomorrow, we're going to visit Tepotzlan, a lovely mountainous area an hour outside of D.F. On Sunday, our working vacation is over, and we'll part ways at the airport carrying tamarind lollies and dusty backpacks. But it's Friday night now. Time to make fresh guacamole, eat plantain chips, and watch some bad TV. What are you doing?