Continued from Mexico City Day 2 Part 1.

Since the bus dropped me off at Palacio de Bellas Artes, I figured it was as a good time as any to check out the interior.

I think I may like the exterior more.

Couple of the floors contain museums and murals.

Yes, I know the photo isn’t straight, but I am too lazy to rotate and crop.

It was at this point the security guard stopped me from taking photos. Wait, but I see others taking photos. Oh, so I need to purchase a camera ticket. Why didn’t they tell me that when I bought my admissions ticket? I had to go downstairs and get the camera ticket. Lame.

The underside of the really cool copper domes.

Probably the biggest set of bare breasts, painted or real life, that I’ve ever seen in my life.

These might give the other set of breasts some competition for size.

Diego Rivera. Did you know that I dressed up as Diego Rivera for Halloween one year? No one knew who I was, even when I was standing next to my ex, who had on a supurb Frida Kahlo costume.

Look at how big they are! Why do they look like implants? I don’t think they had implants back when this was painted. Why paint them like implants when implants are lame?

Another Diego Rivera. This one was my favorite. There were so many different ideas and concepts going on at once. There’s stars, moons, suns, Lenin, babies, gas masks, pineapples, martini glasses, etc. I mean, just say any word that comes to mind, and it’s probably represented in this mural.

At what point did Diego determine, “Yes, there shall be a turtle in the lower left hand side of this epic mural.

Out of all the ideas represented in this mural, here’s the part that represents my life the most – dancing and drinking.

Well, I finally saw some Diego Rivera murals. I think I probably saw one in some museum at some other time, but now I know for a fact I’ve seen them. They are pretty awesome, just by their sheer size alone.

By this time, I got really tired. I had been up and walking around all day, it’s time to go back to the hotel and do some blogging. I’ve also lined up an activity for myself this evening. This morning, I had the concierge call the swing dance place, and they mentioned that they have classes multiple days a week. Even though they have a private event on Friday, I doubt I could make it with all my other friends in town. I decided that taking a class tonight would probably be the only chance for me to check out the swing dance scene in Mexico City.

The buses have their own lanes, which is really nice, especially during traffic hours when you breeze by everyone else.

Why is Mexico the same as Europe in calling it Coke Light instead of Diet Coke?

I am going to peck you on the head for sitting on me. Don’t stare at my creepy looking hands.

I took a photo of this cool tiled building at night yesterday.

Accordion! You bet I gave her some money. She had her daughter come over to me with a cup so I could put money in it. I realized that this is what the guy from yesterday had his son do. He wasn’t trying to get his son to pickpocket me, but was just trying to get him to come to me so I could put money in a cup. I wonder if this is the same family, because this woman and girl was just a block away from the guy and boy I saw last night, and again today.

Just in case you don’t think seahorses are horses, here they are with a hoof.

As I kept on walking down the street back to my hotel, I smelled something divine. The smell can only be described as the combination of a winning lottery ticket, a harem of anatomically perfect mannequins, and world peace.

I found the source of that lustful smell. Tacos al pastor, I must have you immediately! Give yourself up to my desires!

A light snack, it’s not quite dinner time yet. Plus, I didn’t want to take too big of a chance with my first stab at street food. Well, I am not sure if this can be fully considered street food, but you get the idea. They tasted every bit as good as they smelled. I just deposited $48 million dollars from the Powerball ticket, I just frolicked with a dozen mannequins in various states of undress, and lastly, I just made peace between Israel and Palestine. Well, that last one might be a little far fetched, even for a fantasy world…

Disclaimer: I don’t actually have a mannequin fetish, I just think that it’s funnier to say that than saying a dozen naked women.

Halfway through my most awesome meal, the restaurant supply people dropped by. They took out bags and bags of raw meat from the trunk of a nondescript sedan and went upstairs with it. It was also around this time that my waiter asked me if I wanted to order another taco. It’s like asking me if I would like to fart rainbows, DUH! How could I refuse?

Farting rainbows.

That was such an epic meal. I was hungry and had an empty stomach so my one single Corona gave me a happy light buzz. I was perfectly content. Everything in the world felt just right with me. I can put a price on heaven, it’s 50 pesos.

I finished eating and walked outside to take a photo of this building. Instead I saw these two lovers, and decided to zoom in and take their photo instead. They would embrace, then stand next to each other, but could not stand to not be in an embrace, so they would immediate go back to hugging each other. Do they call each other tacos al pastor?

Big deal for a big Catholic country like Mexico. Why does the Pope look so evil here? Well, I heard the Pope speak for the very first time in my life on TV the other day when news came out that he was resigning. I must say that he sounded actually like a very gentle kind soul.

Side view of the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Ice cream is very popular here. I always see people walking down the street eating ice cream. McDonald’s has a whole counter next to their regular restaurant that serves only ice cream.

Those bell towers are something else.

How long is this setup going to take? They are still setting up after two days.

Look at how clean it is over here!

Truck driving really slow with loud speaker blaring. They were fruit sellers pushing fruits.

Just before reaching the hotel, I spotted this cute little girl with an awesome hair style.

I reached the hotel, and spent a few hours blogging. The internet at the hotel is kind of slow, so it’s definitely taking a little longer than what I would like. I am also really tired from being out and about all day long. I wanted to take a nap, but I know how that goes. If I take a nap, I’ll be behind on blogging, then I’ll always be playing catch up, which sucks.

I didn’t want to go somewhere far and take a long time to eat, so the restaurant right next to the hotel will do. I had the hotel call a taxi for me to take me to the swing dance place. There are taxis all over the road here, but it’s not recommended for a tourists to flag one down because there has been cases where they kidnap you on the spot and take you to an ATM. Always have your hotel call you a taxi.

Coffee, I love you! I’ll need this if I am going to be able to go dancing later tonight.

I am eating this purely for caloric reasons. It’s a little unfair because of those tacos that I had earlier.

Peach cheesecake. I think cheesecakes might be growing on me.

I finished eating, went back to my room to blog. The front desk will call me when the taxi comes. I wait, and wait and wait. 8:15 goes by(when the taxi was supposed to arrive), nothing. I come down at 8:25 and one of the porter is looking for me. They had forgotten to call me…

I went outside, and the porter said that the taxi was just here, but now it isn’t. Maybe it went around the block to circle back because it had parked here for a while. Well, that wasn’t the case. The taxi never came back, so I got stood up. The hotel had to call for another taxi.

My backup date arrives to pick me up 10 minutes later.

The place I’m headed to is a little bit away from my hotel. 30 minutes or so according to the driver.

This part of town is almost like America.

After about 30 minutes or so, we pulled into a really small one way side street. This is the place…supposedly. I asked the driver to wait for a bit, just in case this isn’t it. I ring the bell once, nothing. I ring it again, and then I hear someone coming to the door. It was P, who I spoke to on the phone earlier today. Awesome, I am in the right spot!

I entered the house, yes, I said a house. The dance studio is a house, as in a residence. I entered and then this is what I saw in the backyard.

Yup, they covered the entire backyard with wood floor so now there’s an outdoor dance floor. Fucking amazing! Just blew my mind. This place is magical!

One of the routines for one of their workshops.

Did I mention that this big tree shades the entire dance floor like a gentle canopy?

Looking back into the house.

The canopy.

My awesome hostess offers me a beer.

Holy Shit! It’s a backyard that’s a dance floor!

Mustaches drawn on the mirror.

Class starts, with social dancing after class. It was a pretty small group. They only started offering classes since November. The swing dance scene in Mexico City is pretty small right now, and they are trying to grow it. If I had shown up in Mexico City 3 months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to find people to swing dance with.

The class was taught by P and T. T is originally from Seattle and has been dancing for a very long time. He’s actually been to Austin for a Lindy Exchange before. For the class today, we focused on the theories of organic leading and following. It was a very difficult class for me. Even though I understand the concept of leading and following, it’s very rare for me to actually practice on nothing but learning to lead. Definitely exposed my weaknesses in dancing during this class.

Did I mention that in this house with a dance floor for a backyard lives a group of circus performers?!!! Yup.

The dog joins in.

I think this photo sums up the night. I had a blast in the most unexpected ways!

This dog was so cute and sweet. I think his name was Skittles.

I left P my email so she could contact me if dancers from Mexico City visit Austin. I can hook them up with the Austin dance scene. She took down my info on this cool looking typewriter. Even though it looks like an antique, it had an @ key.

It was getting late, I asked P to call a taxi for me to whisk me back to my hotel. The taxi arrives shortly, I say goodbye to everyone, and take off into the night. Everyone was super nice. What an incredible time.

The drive back. About a minute into the drive, I realized that my driver did not turn on the meter. I asked him to turn it on, he said that it was a flat rate of 200 pesos. I told him that I only paid 130 on the way here. He said that his English is not very good. I know he’s fucking with me and is trying to rip me off. So, I can either tell him to go fuck himself and drop me off on the side of a dark road with me having no way to call another taxi, or I can tell him that we’ll discuss this with my hotel staff translating when we get back. I went with the latter option as being dropped off around midnight in a random street in Mexico City seemed like a terrible idea.

The light was red, we pulled up to the line, looked around, and crossed the intersection. Reminds me of the drivers in Mumbai at night.

We’ve arrived at my hotel. Everything is closed. The taxi driver came into the lobby with me to talk to the first desk. I knew he was full of shit. The front desk was full of shit. He knew he was full of shit. I told him that I’ll give him 150 and just call it a day. He backed down from 200 to 180. I said fuck it, and said fine.

Getting cheated out of 50 pesos put a slight damper in my night. But, it was only a slight damper for the 2 minutes that I was mad and arguing with the driver on principles. Today was so spectacular that getting cheated on principle and out of 50 pesos couldn’t possibly make the day any less epic.

To be continued at Mexico City Day 3 Part 1.