Thursday, November 10 – Sunday, November 13, 2005
Thursday after school I ventured to Polanco to the Auditorio Nacional to buy tickets for a couple of shows, thus avoiding TicketMaster charges. First I’ll be wowed by David Copperfield’s magic when my friend Sward is in town in December and then, my last week in Mexico, I’ll be going to Luis Miguel’s concert. Luis Miguel, born in Puerto Rico, to his Italian mother and Spanish father, then grew up in Mexico and has sold more than 45 million records during his career.
After buying the tickets, I sat on the steps in front of the auditorium and called Andi to report on the purchases. I looked up and saw the Marriott and I longed for its comfort and luxury. So, I decided I could have lunch there, their chicken Caesar salad is fantastic and iced tea is the perfect accompanianment. While waiting for the meal to arrive, I started to not feel so well, and felt quite weak, but I chalked it up to being my hunger.
Later, I set out in search of a café with wireless Internet that I had read about, Segafredo Zanetti. I enjoyed being able to sit inside, covered by a roof, but with the wall to the outside open. It was a great “people watching” location, many clients had laptops and all were good looking.
With time though I began to feel weaker and coming home in the metro, all I did was concentrate on not passing out or vomiting. When I woke up Friday morning, my head hurt a lot and I didn’t have any strength – but I really didn’t want to miss any more school. I was thinking I could take a taxi to the metro, rather than trying to walk the 10 minutes, but all of a sudden I realized that being at school, let alone getting there, wasn’t going to happen. At 9:00 AM I called school to let them know that I wouldn’t make it in, and the next thing I knew, I woke up at 9:00 PM.
I missed out on the day trip with Andi, her boss and boss’ sister to Taxco, a city a couple of hours from D.F. and known for its silver. Rather than shopping for silver til I dropped, I ventured out only to shop for more supplies. I stumbled to a taxi and eked out that I wanted to go to the WalMart near the Nativitas metro stop. I hastily chose three DVDs at Blockbuster. Checkout took a while, as I hadn’t rented from that store before and they had to call over to the other Blockbuster to verify – actually I don’t know what they had to verify. I leaned on the counter, hoping I wouldn’t pass out or leave something behind before I could make it to the bathroom. I moped up the ramp to WalMart and dragged myself through the store, leaning on the cart and stuffing it with
7-Up, saltines, bread, lemonade, rice and chicken soup. Before 5:00 PM I began a regimen of Cipro – the drug that so many sought when the Anthrax scare was going on. Now I understand the scramble for that miracle drug – 12 hours after taking it, I felt so much better. By Sunday afternoon I felt alive again and enjoyed the beautiful weather in Coyoacán’s center.
