A shot of Novocain

So my 49ers are 3-3 so far this season. They still look better than last year and it looks like Alex Smith is on the cusp of a renaissance.

… The night I got back from Mexico City it rained. Coming from an area where temperatures where in the mid 70s and humid to a cooler rainy night with the windows opened only meant one thing for me, a cold.

Sure enough I got one. Making matter worse was the night I drove home from work the next day in the rain; I got a flat tire and had to change it … on the side of the freeway. Well that was until the CHP came by and told me that it would be better if I drove my car another half mile to an off ramp and complete the tire change.

So, welcome back home. I’m just now getting over being sick; almost two weeks later.

… The dentist is something I’ve been avoiding since I got my crown done in 1997. Well a week before my trip I had a tooth crack. I went three weeks before getting the crown placed. Of course, doing that, they are going to find other things wrong.

In a way, my teeth are better than I thought; I only need three fillings redone. My gums are another problem.

I’m going to need a scaling. For those of you that don’t know what that is, it is where they really clean your gums so good that you need Novocain. So yes, it’s painful. The other thing is that it can only be done in four parts with a different quadrant of your mouth done at a time.

So I got that going for me, which is nice.

… Since getting back I’ve been reading about my sister’s adventures in Mexico with my dad and family. She got there after two days after I left and was there longer than me also traveling from Mexico City to Guadalajara. Looking all the photos and reading the stories she wrote about the trip makes me want to go to the state of Jalisco even more. She got to see the pueblos my parents came from and meet family.

Seeing what she got to see and the people she meet has given me more incentive to tell my dad the next time I talk to him: When are we going back?

So yes, I’m looking forward to my next trip to Mexico with my dad.

Day eight, Mexico City: Home

The day was quiet for the most part, other than me leaving of course. I walked around the neighborhood for a while just to see what was going on. My aunt made me a light breakfast and I sat around talking with family.

I saw my cousin from Jalisco for the first time since he brought my Tia Irene on Saturday. We talked for a little bit before they went to the downtown area and I said goodbye. I also told them when my dad decides to come back to Mexico; I’ll go with him to Jalisco to spend time with family there.

I waited around while my nephew was playing with my PSP until my cousin that showed me around for the better part of the trip to give me a ride to the airport.

On the flight home I thought a lot about the trip and remember things I wanted to write about, but didn’t have the time. Well, now I do.

. . . One morning my uncle asked me if I wanted to see the local newspaper, and of course, I wanted to see how it looked. It was a tabloid newspaper by every definition. The most glaring part – and there were plenty – was the front page photo. It showed a dead man after he was shot in the head with what was inside coming out. I told my uncle that there would be no way this photo would run in the newspaper where I worked.

The newspaper is still an important place for people to get news in Mexico City. Most newsstands I saw had many different newspapers to choose from; unlike in Los Angeles where there are only two newspapers, for the most part.

. . . I was asked several times by my family: “Do you think you could live here?” Well yes and no. I can adjust for the most part but what frightens me the most are the drivers. There are several times I told myself while in the back of a car, “I’d never do that in my car!” Now, I’m not saying I’m a letter perfect driver, but I will say there are certain things I saw that I would never do, like run a red light after stopping at it. The amazing thing is that at some intersections where there are police helping to direct traffic at a light, you could run it and get away with it; pedestrians be damned.

. . . What I will remember the most is I got to experience the day-to-day living of Mexico. When I went to Tokyo last year, I came back to a hotel every night that had a neutral feel where I wasn’t in Japan.

Every day for the past week I woke up, ate and slept like my cousins. It wasn’t that foreign to me at all. I grew up in a migrant farm house, a rustic environment. Much of what I experienced this past week when I was at my Tia Chuy’s house was what I experienced when I grew up in that red farm house on Union Island. The only real difference is was I was in a metropolitan city.

I have always dogged by the thought that I wasn’t Mexican enough. Yes, I don’t speak Spanish as well as I should and I’m not as cultural as some would like. I was brought up by my parents that where born and raised in Mexico for the most part and I believe they raised me and my family in the U.S. as if they would have raised us in Mexico. My parents always accepted me and I know I did not disappoint them.

As my flight approached the gate, the stewardess said if Los Angeles was your destination, “Welcome home.”

For the past week, I was home.

Day seven, Mexico City: It’s a family thing

On my final full day, my father and I along with my Tia Irene and cousin went to Basilica de Guadalupe for mass by taxi. As I said earlier, it is the most visited Catholic Church in the world. So how do you give service to many people with a limited amount of space; you shorten the mass.

We walked in as a mass was about to finish and waited until we could find a seat for all of us, which was not easy. Once we were seated, mass pretty much began and it lasted about 30 minutes, about half the time you would get if you were to walk into a Sunday mass at your local Catholic Church. As soon as that finished, the new one began within minutes.

We took a taxi ride back and my dad and I walked around another flea market that closed down a street. There was nothing much happening there so we walked down and picked up the last item I was looking for, mazapans. It is a candy that is tightly packed peanut butter tasting powder.

For the rest of the day we stayed at my Tia Chuy’s house. More family came when another cousin of mine came by. I think it was good for my father to see plenty of family he doesn’t see on a regular basis around him for the past week. He and my aunts have had a good time catching up and remembering things.

I’ve had a good time talking to my cousins that I’ve never seen before. I also found out my Spanish wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. It’s not great, but it is enough for them. We’ve had a good time talking and they have done their best to understand me. It’s frustrating for me since I can understand them; I just have a hard time expressing myself.

It has been great for the past week; we’ve shared some good laughs and I can see that humor is not just an immediate family thing.

Tomorrow I say goodbye to my cousins, tias and my dad and fly home. One of my sisters will meet my father later this week and take him to Guadalajara to see more family.

Day six, Mexico City: ¡El Tri!

When I woke up in the morning I found that my aunt and cousin from Jalisco had arrived. My father had been talking to them for a while. I didn’t know what time they were coming in and tried to sleep in a bit.

There was plenty to do for everyone. They were going to go to Palacio de Bellas Artes while my dad and I had other plans. So we quickly split up as they went downtown and my dad took me to a nearby flea market. I hadn’t been to a flea market in years and this was unlike the ones I remember. About 10 city blocks were closed as vendors sold where cars usually roam during the week. I found some items for friends and my dad bought produce.

We walked back and my aunt from Mexico City made me lunch. During the meal I had some food caught between my teeth around where I had a temporary crown and it popped out. My dad and I were going to a nearby pharmacy to buy denture adhesive – which I was told to do by my dentist if that happened – when my cousin showed up. Fortunately for me, he had to make a delivery to his restaurant which was by the pharmacy. After we were all settled, we were dropped off at the nearest Metro station.

The Metro in Mexico City is unlike any I have been on because they are on pneumatic tires and not the standard rails. It did make for a smoother ride and only cost two pesos or about 15 cents. The other thing I hardly ever see are people trying to sell stuff on the trains. Anything from music to candy is being sold.

We made several transfers, including a complete change in transit systems to get to Estadio Azteca and the closer we got to the stadium, the fuller the train was.

When we arrived I was amazed by the stadium. I can see why opposing nations have a hard time playing there; the sheer size is intimidating.

We sat in the top deck, on a corner. The stadium was designed in a way that every seat can see the center of the field without any difficulty. The stadium was also designed with concrete seats in the upper deck that were not that bad. I have yet to see an official attendance report, but I’m sure there were more than 100,000, if not capacity crowd of 105,000 as people were standing up around the stadium and sitting in the aisles. My cousin was telling me tickets were selling for about five times its face value.

There were also precautions taken by the police as the fans for El Salvador were all guarded by the police and a no man’s land of empty seats.

The crowd was lively before the match as many of the top deck crowd was there 90 minutes before the match. They were fine for the most part, except soccer hooligans are everywhere. There was a beverage battle between the people sitting above us and those sitting below us leaving us in the middle. The second and third goals for Mexico were the worst as they used it as an excuse.

As for the match, it began and after had to be stopped after a minute for nine minutes because bees were flying around the El Salvador goalie. It turned out an entire swarm got loose and unlike getting a bee keeper like the San Diego Padres this year and delaying the game for 45 minutes, they got fire extinguishers.

Mexico was in control throughout the match. They pressured the El Salvador defense often and the only goal of the first half came on an El Salvador own goal. There were four goals in the last 23 minutes as Mexico won 4-1. We joke often in the sport department how that is sort of like a seven touchdown football win. In a way, that’s what it was.

As crowded as it was getting to the stadium, it didn’t compare to leaving. It was the most jam packed I’d ever been just to get to the train station. Getting in the train car was no easy feat either as they were full until we got to the metro station.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Mexico City and I want to stay around for the most part. There is another flea market which I’ll go to. I want to by this candy that I could find in the U.S. but it would be so much cheaper to get here. After that, I really don’t know, but I look forward to it.

Day five, Mexico City: Is it safe to drink the rain water?

It was a quiet day for the most part. There more to see, but my dad and I just needed a break. I think we’ve seen more than our fair share.

So with nothing to do for the most part, we just stayed around the house and walked around the neighborhood through the beginning of the day. Our cousin was delayed in picking us up to take us to a huge produce market call “El Merced” where there are just seemingly endless rows for produce.

My cousin is very familiar to those that work at the market. He just has to honk once he gets close and someone opens a spot for him. He walks in and goes to his known vendors and reels off what he needs from them. As soon as he orders he usually walks away to pick up other items and parks them at a location at a vendor while he gets more stuff. Towards the end, he runs into some runners that know his vendors. He gives them his car keys and they pick up his items and drop them off in the trunk of his car. He tips the guy that helped him with the spot too.

We made it back home but I still needed to buy certain items for friends back home. Another cousin gave us a ride back to Centro Historica. It was an interesting walk. I did learn that a Big Mac meal costs about half what it does in the U.S.

We came home and had a late lunch/early dinner with my aunt making me plenty of food. After a while we walked back to my cousin’s restaurant. We didn’t eat, but we talked for more than an hour.

While we were there, it began to rain heavily with flashes of lightning. It came and went in a matter of 20 minutes or so. I came home not tired for a change, which was a nice feeling.

Today, family from the state of Jalisco is coming in to see me and my dad and should arrive in the morning. Then, me and my dad with my cousin and his two sons will head to Estadio Azteca for the World Cup Qualifying match as Mexico will take on El Salvador. And, the winner will not be considered the greatest country on Earth, no matter what the Simpsons say. It should still be fun and if Mexico wins, they qualify for the 2010 World Cup with a match in hand.

Day Four, Mexico City: More Aztecs

I spent the first two nights without knowing there was a fan in the room. I turned it on and it made the night more comfortable.

The original plan was to go to the marketplace and spend some time at Centro Historica. However, due to time constraints, we could only go to Centro Historica and could not go everywhere there. We made a stop at Palacio de Bellas Artes first. They had an exhibition dedicated to the art of El Greco who’s art was years ahead of his time when he painted them in the middle ages and most of his art on display centered on religion. One of the pieces standing out was “The Disrobing of Christ,” a painstakingly piece of art that is magnificent. There was also a wing showing separate portraits of the twelve apostles and Jesus in center.

On the second floor there were murals drawn by various artist, including Diego Rivera. One was a remake of a mural he was drawing at Rockefeller Center in New York named “Man, Controller of the Universe.” It shows a man at the controls of the entire universe that surrounds him. The original mural in New York was never finished since it contained an image of Lenin and was destroyed since he refused to take it out.

The building itself is a three story complex with art deco design and marble everywhere.

We walked towards Catedral Metropolitana. It is another huge Catholic church that is also sinking and tilting in the soft soil of Mexico City. Inside, there is a pendulum showing the angle of the tilt, and how bad it used to be. The cathedral contains much religious art work and shrines. One that stopped me was the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It was hard not to think of my mom yesterday and today walking in these churches. Seeing the shrine stopped me. I asked my cousin if they sold candles here and he said they did. So I bought a candle for her and my cousin lit it front of the shrine where I placed it.

Being pressed for time, my cousin said: What would you rather see more; Palacio National and Templor Mayor? I chose the ruins of the Aztec temple. The temple was built less just over 100 yards away from the cathedral with artifacts found as much as three blocks away. The temple is actually seven layers; each emperor ordered another layer placed on top of the previous one. Archeologists uncovered the layers, artifacts rooms and alters found in between.

The museum at the end of the walk through the ruins held many of the artifacts uncovered during the digs that began just over 30 years ago. There was a giant stone named Monolith of Coyolxauhqui, the goddess of the moon. On one level you can get right next to it. On the level above it you can see it better and illumined with color. The museum also showed many artifacts that included masks, gods and pottery among all the other items one can find during a dig.

My dad and I returned home early. We had lunch and dinner with the family. My dad and I needed a break.

Tomorrow, we don’t have much planned actually. Maybe we’ll get that shopping done.

Day three, Mexico City: Into the past

Our cousin took us to nearby juice stand that also makes light milkshakes called licuados. It is an interesting store as it is run by a family and the two brothers making the jugos and liquados are blind. My cousin met the family years ago and said they used to do that on the street before the stand. They asked him for help on getting a store and he did.

Organization is the key for them. They know where everything is in their stand. They even take phone orders and are ready for deliveries made by the staff. If you didn’t know they were blind, you would have never thought about it. There drinks were really good too.

My cousin took us to make a run for his restaurant. He went to buy meat at a meat market area. If you like seeing a lot of dead meat, you would have been living a dream.

After he dropped the meat off at work, he picked up his wife and made a stop to the Basilica de Guadalupe. It is two churches in one location. The first church was built centuries ago and is slowly sinking in the soft soil of Mexico City so a new one was built and completed in 1976. The first church was closed when the new one opened but has since been reopened as they have been able to stop the sinking, although it is tilted. The church is also the most visited in the world; well, at least that is what the tour book said.

The next and final stop was a trip to Bosque de Chapultepec, a park in Mexico City host to the anthropological museum and the Castlio (castle) de Chapultepec.

When we arrived at the park we were in for a treat as natives were performing high atop a poll playing music. My dad told me to watch them. As I was setting up to record them, and right before I hit the record button they jumped off. They were tethered to the poll and hung upside down playing music as they slowly descended for about four minutes. It was an amazing site.

If you ever enter a museum or park like we had done yesterday at Teotihuacan you have to pay 35 pesos if you want to film. It is an interesting fee and something that might be hard to enforce since my camera doubles as a video camera.

There was so much to see about the history of Mexico before the Spain arrived. We walked around to learn more about Teotihuacan and they had some replica architecture there along with models of how the city looked.

The further you walk in the museum down each hall, the closer to our time it gets. At the midway point was the Aztec hall which was the biggest since they had the most artifacts. One of the biggest actual artifacts was this giant human sacrifice stone with a channel for the blood to flow out so it wouldn’t splatter all over the place. After several hundred sacrifices, you learn to do it efficiently. The hall also contained an actual Aztec calendar carved out of its location.

We then walked down to the Mayan hall where they had examples of their architecture. I was told it was accurate by my cousin and I believed him when I hit my head on the doorway.

On the way to the castle on top of a steep hill, we stopped off at a monument called the Monumento a Los Niños Heroes that honored six students – all teenagers – of the school that died defending the castle when it was a military school. The last survivor took the Mexican flag off pole and jumped off the cliff because he didn’t want it to fall in the U.S. hands.

The trip up the castle is a long walk uphill or a 13 peso ride up; we opted for the ride. The castle not only served as a military school but also a presidential palace. The castle is now a museum and it picks up right where the anthropological museum stopped; the history of Mexico with European influence. The building is preserved well and all the paintings and murals were beautiful, not to mention the view of the city.

I was pretty tired when I got home, mostly because I’ve been up since 8 a.m. local time, 6 a.m. PDT where I live. Tomorrow, we are going to do some shopping then go to the historical center of Mexico City where the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Palacio National and Templor Mayor are.

Day two, Mexico City: Amazing architecture, steep steps

I woke up after an hour of sleep with a huge headache. It felt as though someone was hammering a spike from the top of my head to my eye. I remember reading somewhere that a common aliment for someone that travels to a higher altitude is headaches. After almost an hour, the pain went away and I went back to sleep.

We went to the Pyramids of Teotihuacan at about midday and they are an amazing site. Walking up to the Pyramid of the Sun, the biggest of the pyramids, is intimating. My father and cousin stayed behind while his wife and two children came up with me.

The first main assault, or stairway, takes you half way up the pyramid. Now, the ancient Mesoamericans could not have been taller than five and a half feet tall, yet they made the steps so steep. I brought a set of walkie-talkies for the hike up so I could communicate with me dad because he told me he was going to stay behind. When we reached the half way point he asked me how I was doing. I told him I was winded.

The second assault wasn’t as bad since it wasn’t as long but the third one began with the steepest stairs I’d ever seen; almost latter like. Once past that, the stairs went back to “normal” and you’re on top. The view is amazing. You get to see the entire city of Teotihuacan with views of the other pyramids. I took a video and several photos and we began walking down as carefully as we could.

We then walked down to the Pyramid of the Moon. On the way we saw an ancient mural and ruins of the former city. My cousin’s son and I walked up the second pyramid. You can’t get to the top of that pyramid because it is closed off. You still get a nice view of the other pyramids and down the Avenue of the Dead.

We walked outside of the park and went to a nearby restaurant. As soon as we walked out of the gate we were met by met by at least eight food vendor vultures (for the lack of a better word) trying to get us to go to their restaurant. They just swarmed us and wouldn’t stop until we went to a restaurant. While there, I ordered enchiladas rojas and they looked like enchiladas café. The molé looked like chocolate, but they were very good.

We spent the rest of the day with family around the house. My father caught up with his sister. It was also my sister’s birthday. She visited here in months ago and they remember her so I turned the yahoo messenger on and had her have a webcam video conversation with the family here. They especially loved seeing her son talk on screen.

As for tomorrow, we plan to go to the marketplace to purchase meat for my cousin’s restaurant. After that we go to the Bosque de Chapultepec, a park that is home to museums – such as the Meuseo Nacional de Antropologia – and other monuments.

Day One, Mexico City: My height gave me away

I met my father at Los Angeles International Airport; he was wearing a black Stetson hat one of my sisters bought for him before my trip.

We checked in and without even leaving the country I had already failed my first Spanish quiz. I let my dad go in front of me and heard everything he asked and how my dad responded so it should have been a slam dunk. Wrong!

When it was my turn, the attendant assumed I spoke Spanish and got away with it for about 10 seconds. The second thing he asked my dad was: How many bags are you checking in? I knew that question and yet for some reason I didn’t get it. Within seconds my dad ripped me. So we already had a good time without even leaving.

My dad and I arrived in Mexico City at approximately 3:40 local time. We had our customs paperwork filled out before we landed but there was one more to fill out, a H1N1 flu questionnaire. It asked about how you felt two days before your trip and needed to be done before entering the country. If you answered yes to any question (Have you had a fever? Have you had sore muscles and so on) there was a doctor there to check you out.

I had an easier time with my luggage than my dad. By the time we got there my bag was there, my father wasn’t as lucky as he had to wait another 10 minutes. Once we got our bag we had to go through one more security check point and have our bags scanned again. Then there was a random check and you had to push a button and it either gave you a green light or a red light. I got the green. My dad got the red so he needed his bag check one more time.

Once we got out my cousin, who I have never met, stopped me and said, “Andres?” I said yes. He soon saw my father and embraced him. Every time I go with my dad to meet family, my father is always treated with the utmost respect. He introduced me to his wife and son and we got into his van to go to my Aunt’s place. Getting there was quite the adventure.

Now, I’ve just started playing the video game Grand Theft Auto for the past month and the one thing I can take from that game is that there are no traffic laws in that game. Run over pedestrians, rear end a cop, it’s usually all good. My cousin was a former taxi cab driver and drives like that video game. My sister had posted a video of his driving and it was pretty amazing. Experiencing it first hand was unbelievable. It was just like GTA, mainly because drivers are doing what they want. There were times that I had no idea who had the right of way. And just like the video game, he would pass the police with little hassle. I just sat there in awe.

Also, this was the first time in 20 years I didn’t wear a seatbelt. I realized I was the only one buckled up when we were almost at our destination. Apparently it is not a law.

We arrived at my aunt’s and meet more family. It was a Spanish style house with a center court. It’s a pretty inviting style and comfortable too because it was cooler outside than it was inside. More family came by to see my dad and later on my cousin took me and my dad to a nearby restaurant that he runs where I meet more family.

The typical response after meeting me was, “You’re so tall.” At just under six feet, I don’t consider myself tall although on average I am. The average height for an adult male in Mexico is about 5-5. For a Mexican-American it is 5-7. So, I have been getting some looks and I’m sure that is going to happen to me for the rest of the week.

The only real downside about today is that I’ve been real tired. I went to bed last night at 2 a.m and got up at 6 for the flight. Beyond that, I’m having a great time.

Tomorrow we go to the pyramids at Teotihuacan. I plan to walk to the top of one and hopefully, I won’t be suffering from any altitude sickness since I moved up from about 50 feet above sea level to more than 7,400 in the span of a day. The smog won’t help either.

Almost in Mexico

I’m a few hours away from flying to Mexico City, my second international trip.

This time instead of going with a friend I am going with my father. I’ve been told by some of my sisters that he is looking forward to me going with him and I can say the feeling is mutual. After taking my father to Las Vegas I know we are going to have fun.

I was told by my dad that he would be staying with my aunt and that I would stay with my cousin, which is fine. I just wonder how I’m going to tour the city and if I am going with my dad or I’ll be going at it alone. I’m sure everything will be worked out.

I look forward to whatever happens, even if that means me going out on my own. That does present me with a kind of a problem I’m ashamed to admit: my Spanish isn’t as it should be. The last time I went out of the country it wasn’t a problem since I was in Tokyo and people helped you as best they could. Now, I’m not saying the people of Mexico City won’t help me, but they will just look at me and assume I can speak the language. I can speak, but it is so remedial. I just feel it is going to be embarrassing for me because I should know more and don’t.

I know my family will help me as much as they can, maybe a little protective. I’m going to be grateful for that since this will be the first time that I meet some of them. I have a feeling I’ll know just enough to get by.

I plan to go to as many museums, parks and monuments I can and hopefully my dad will be with me. I know we are going to Teotihuacan and look at the pyramids there. But the big highlight, well at least for me outside of spending time with family, is going to the World Cup qualifying match at Estadio Azteca. I’m going to be among the up to 105,000 spectators cheering for their nation as they take on El Salvador. A win clinches a berth in the 2010 World Cup with a match to play.

As a journalist, especially one that works in sports, it can’t get any better. I’ve been in stadiums where there are professionals playing for a club. This, however, is for national pride and I can only imagine that I’ll feel the entire nation in there with me.

For now, I’ve taken every precaution in regards staying well and have taken a lot of advice from how to deal with the thin air, pollution and personal safety. Soon enough it will be time to put that in action.