Oaxaca

I arrived to Oaxaca yesterday and got food poisoning or some such thing right away, so I spent my first night in the bathroom. It is a very nice bathroom with ornate tiling an all, but I would rather have spent the night in bed.

The firm outing to the pyramids was a great way to get to know some "real" Mexicans. Jorge's colleagues (mostly women) were so nice to me and they all explained how great a boss my cousin is. I met his 27-year-old wife (they are technically not married, but in Mexico if you live with someone for over a year then you are automatically considered as married), and his adorable one-year-old baby daughter. The wife, a pretty, light-skinned Mexican girl with braces was a little standoffish; she just may not be as chatty as some of the other women. The guide to the pyramids was very informative and we had a really nice lunch at a fancy-ish Club Med hotel nearby. Jorge and his family left early, but I stayed on with the colleagues and one of the women's 24-year-old daughter, Carla, offered to take me out on the town.

Saturday night in Mexico City is pretty lively. Carla, who looks like a very cute little hamster, came to get me by car accompanied by her tiny, geeky-looking boyfriend and the boyfriend's somewhat taller and cooler 18-year-old brother. The whole latin friendliness thing is true; they were so sweet, welcoming and interested - I am always surprised that people are so nice to me. We went to a sort of upper-class bar in an upper-class neighborhood, where they played everything from techno to Luis Miguel (the South-American Robbie Williams, according to Carla, but I would describe him more as a cross between Julio Iglesias and Ricky Martin) and, of course, the obligatory "I will survive." The little boys were corteous and gallant and pretty good dancers too. We stayed out until 4 in the morning and by the end of the night they were convinced that I must have a lot of "admiradores" because of the 10 guys who were above 5'9 three or four attempted to, let's say, court me.

I spent the whole day on the bus yesterday and when I got here I went out to the very lively and intimate main square, where I refused a couple of septuagenerians' offer to have coffee with them and accepted a couple of young Midwesterners' offer to have Margaritas with them. Now I have to go and find them, because we agreed to meet up this morning, but I just could not stand up, on account of my stomach problems. Hoping to get better today though.