times they are a-changing

I repeat myself when I say that I don´t know what it is about Cathedrals but they strike me so deeply with their enormity and overwhelming sense of harmony that I always feel so insignifant and humbled and silenced (which takes a lot.) The cathedral in Morelia had no less an effect upon me. I was there on Monday and the meaning of the cathedrals really grabbed every breathing particle that makes up ´Anetta´ and inspired my very core, even rendering me emotional. It was intense. I was so awe-struck and deeply contemplative when sitting in there that I even got caught up in midday mass without even realising, until the Priest was standing at the front speaking in low biblical Spanish tones and I realised that every Mexican around me had stood in respect. I snuck out swiftly.

But the Cathedral´s impact, to me, is representative of how I wish to try and live my life. Aware of my contextualisation within lifetimes of history, culture, conflict, religion, philosophy and not taking it for granted.

Jacky & Yvonne

Today is my last full day in the Bosque. I will miss it dearly but having lived in this peaceful eco village for a month, I know that it is definitely time for me to move on... I am embarking on the next chapter of my latin american travels. Exceedingly nervous and exceedingly excited! I will begin tomorrow in Morelia, a colonial city about an hour away from Patzcuaro (journey time from the Bosque of course is 4hours!) Here I spent last weekend with the wonderful Brothers Woodward (Steven and Charles) from Denver, Colorado. They finished their 2-week stint in the Bosque and were continuing on with their adventures - cycling through Mexico - so I followed them to enjoy my days off and had a thoroughly entertaining ¨weekend.´´ We walked around the stunning Centro Historico and I introduced the brothers to my meditative habit of contextualising myself within every new experience to ensure I adequately live in each moment and savour every bit of my life. They called me a New Age Hippie which is laughable but I must admit that I am finding myself increasingly spiritual these days. I am just realising more and more how much incredible beauty there is to our very existence and it means a lot to me to attempt to appreciate that as much as possible.

Goodbye Bosque!

Filming in the Bosque has been fun and liberating. I have had deadlines but not the same money/ permissions/ crew restrictions as I do in London so it has never felt tedious or overly limited. Three short films/¨vlogs¨ later and I am very proud to have been able to document my first month in Mexico and have an enduring record of my time spent in the Bosque. I have conducted several interviews with volunteers here and one of my favourite questions is ´´Have you learnt anything from this experience?¨ I enjoy asking this question as answers are always extremely varied as there is just a multitude of personalities that make up the volunteer team. It is such an open question that it is interpreted to mean social, personal, environmental lessons. For me it means all as I feel the experience has enrichened me in all the above ways.

I have become more conscious of my impact on the planet. I have learned to ´listen to the land´ and my newfound mantra ´the forest is my friend.´ I have become more self sufficient and independent. I have learned how good it feels to eat healthily three times a day for a month. I have learned how good it feels to constantly be among the trees and to live in nature. I have learned many things about myself - that I am a bit more of an attention seeker than I would previously admit. That I LOVE getting to really know people and can grow attachments easily and quickly. That I still continue to judge people too fast, despite me thinking that I had grown out of this. That quiet people DOES NOT MEAN boring people! That I like to always be involved but it is probably better for me to not always be! That I enjoy working alone. That I do not enjoy playing alone. That I need my time to sit aside and reflect in my own calm. That I don´t need to party to have fun. That sitting around a fire with a book on Sufism can be just as pleasurable. That I actually love talking to people who are completely different from me and am keenly interested in other ways of living. That I enjoy being me without makeup! I am finally used to my own face :)

I am so excited about the next chapter of my travels... It is going to be very different without my safety blanket of the Bosque to go back to after a weekend´s trip away and the familiar faces all around me and a bedroom. I´ll miss the composting toilets - there´s no feeling like crapping in the great outdoors. I´ll miss the amazing food, hopefully I´ll continue these eating habits and not succumb to the quesadillas and tacos! But most importantly, hopefully I´ll keep up my newfound kinship with nature and continue to appreciate its importance in my life, for my strength of mind and body and for feeding my soul.

Peace out,
Anetta x

ps - I ain´t a hippie

The first day of the rest of my life

Mexico in Y tu Mama Tambien

¡Hola Mexico City! Wow. Ok so this is still very surreal for me. I can´t quite believe that after NINE YEARS of dreaming about it, i am actually here in Mexico city… I feel so proud, a bit smug, lost, confused, welcome and overwhelmingly intensely happy. The smile that ate my face ever since I landed here has yet to subside. I still remember when I was a naive (ish) and impressionable (very) fourteen year old and I watched the Cuaron brothers´ Y Tu Mama Tambien… I think it was the combination of the dangerous adventures in the context of the hot climes that I found outrageously sexy. The youthful abandon of Diego and Gael Garcia, the rather trite symbolism of the road trip signifying freedom and of course the hot, sweaty boys sold Mexico to me and I vowed to one day venture there alone. 

Nine years later and I can afford it (just about) and now with Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica added to my itinerary, accrued over the last few years as other latin american countries I MUST VISIT. Alone is a very important aspect to my journey. I have spent my life thus far dedicated to finding myself. I hate that expression because it is ridiculous, but what I mean is I have been seeking the abolutely individualistic way in which I wish to live my life, free from as many influences as possible so as to obtain a complete sense of self. I have been on several trips with and without friends, slowly piecing my soul together. However I have found that the most introspective and the trips when I have learnt the most is when I have travelled alone. Couchsurfing solo in Granada and attending the film festival tour across the south of Italy alone were two of the scariest and yet most incredible memories of my life. They taught me that to me the most important facets of life are independence, freedom and individual experience. I wish to enrichen my life in all ways possible and I know that the next six months are going to be an invaluable experience for me. Especially somewhere as sexy and tempting as latin america. I am so excited for each day and every experience and every person I will encounter!

So today has been my first day in Mexico City. Here I am staying with two sweet, wonderful and pretty local sisters, Mariana and Luisa Benitez. This morning Mariana took me to a local market… In my opinion, markets the world over all look the same, the only difference is the few bits of unique local produce that they offer. Here, all the Mexican vendors insisted on force-feeding us various types of local cheeses (not that i took much convincing!) and I discovered a new favourite cheese, which has the weirdest texture but delicious flavour, Queso Oaxaca! I can´t wait until I visit the state of Oaxaca now as I have this idealistic impression in my head that this MUST be all they eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner... I also tried he strangest fruits which I have neither seen nor tasted anywhere else in the world! And I discovered a hidden passion for a flower named the Jamaica flower, which produces a sweet juice, bright pink and tasting like bittersweet plums. Mmmm....

Local fruit in the market

We then hit Downtown Mexico City, also known as Centro Historico where all the museums, palaces and various monuments are. In all honesty, I had been nervous that as this is a typically tourist spot, it would be jampacked with fugly Western tourists snapping photos in my face (abroad, I have a bizarre aversion to all things British), but in fact the tourists were locals! Mexicans still discovering their own Mexico. We began with Avenida Madero, a long cobbled street breathing the influence of the Spanish conquest. It was clear to see that this is where the Spaniards mowed down the Aztec city and built their own over from the architecture lined with typically hispanic ornately detailed balconies. Here is situated the impressive Casa de Azulejos, translated as the House of Mosaic. Stunning teeny blue tiles decorate the outside of the building where apparently an ex-president of Mexico (I wish I could remember who!?) was assassinated.

Mexican charity for Haiti

Then we strolled in to the pride of Mexico city, the Zocalo. This claims to be the largest city square in World. Here I found the Catedral Metropolitana. I always find Cathedrals to be one of my favourite erections in a city and this one is no exception. It is large and stunning from the outside and even more humbling on the inside. There was a mass going on as we entered and I became acquainted with the various saints that Mexicans are loyal to. In particular is the Virgin Guadelupe, an icon in Mexican culture and religion. Not my favourite though. If you´re asking, that would be Saint Antonio, whom if you pray to will bring you a boyfriend! Luisa tells me that it is very common to see girls in their late twenties (who are clearly getting past it) on their knees praying to Antonio to send them their ónes´. The Cathedral also has the largest Organ in the world apparently too. I´d love to tell more about this but as I do not have an acute appreciation of organs, I can simply confirm that it really is very big. 


Outside the Cathedral was perhaps more fascinating to me though for two reasons. First is that it is sinking! When the Spaniards invaded the city, they drained all the surrounding lakes and built their city on the weak, soft earth. As the Cathedral is so heavy, over the centuries it has been slowly sinking in to the ground. Also outside was an aid drive for the suffering people of Haiti. There was just thousands of bottles of water and other food and clothing supplies that had been dropped off by the compassionate people of Mexico city. Apparently the Embassies, Red Cross and other charities have had to publically announce to the people of Mexico city to stop donating as it is too much for them to physically fly over to Haiti. Astounded by the level of goodwill, the girls explained that Mexico City had witnessed its own devastating earthquake in 1985 which destroyed much of the city and killed 10,000 of its inhabitants. This is still very much alive in Mexican memory so they are empathising very strongly with Haiti.

Diego Rivera murals at Palacio Nacional

We then walked on to the MASSIVE Palacio Nacional, where the offices of the President together with the Federal Treasury are located. Even more impressive are the murals of Diego Rivera which adorn many of the inside walls. These murals are epically colourful and detailed, again humbling as they paint the entire history of Mexico´s story and thereby contextualised ME. I felt very small and unimportant! It apparently took Rivera six years to paint, from 1929. And I couldn´t help but think of how much he would have been paid for such a great commissioning! Call me a mercenary phillistine, but literally SHITLOADS of money. Also, the romantic deep down inside me was tingling with glee when I saw that he had sneakily painted his tempestuous lover Frida Kahlo in to the main mural. She was his history of Mexico.

Outside the National Palace is the Templo Mayor. In demolishing the city, the Spanish graciously left behind ruins of an Aztec pyramid. As impressive as this was to witness ancient history, I couldn´t help but feel the experience was somewhat tarnished with modern day scaffolding lining the ruins. What made this better was seeing the Mexican cactus, the Nopal growing amongst the ruins! Cactus is like, so MEXICAN! (or is it Tex-Mex?!)

My favourite - Palacio de Bellas Artes

We walked on to Plaza Tolsa where there was a bronze statue of Carlos IV. Also here is the Museo Nacional de Arte, which the girls told me is the second home of their grandmother who used to volunteer here as a guide as she loves the serenity of the building so much. This museum displays every school of Mexican art until the 20th century. Unfortunately I know little about art history but what I was able to pick up easily is that every school of Mexican art until the 20th Century was unable to escape religion from their paintings. It is known that Catholicism plays a dominant part in Mexican life and nowhere is that more clear than in their history of art.

Grand interior of Palacio Postale

We then walked on to another art museum, the Palacio de Bellas Artes which, I can confidently assert was the most magnificent building I saw all day! If I was being unpretentious I´d describe it as looking big, white and smooth. As that is not my concern, I will uninhibitedly describe it as overpoweringly beautiful in its Italian neoclassical design, with people gathered outside to marvel at its pearly splendour. It stands as the most dignified erection of the city, despite having fierce competition with whom it has a comparatively recent birth (1905). This and the Palacio Postal were probably my favourites of the day. And yes, the latter is simply Mexico´s central post office. But oh, the bronze staircases, intricately engraved and intertwined throughout the entire building! I couldn´t help stroke the railings and it reminded me of a fantasy staircase only witnessed in the world of a disney film!

Famous Mexican Mole

After our exhausting fix of history and culture, we went to feed ourselves with a different type of Mexican nourishment and went to eat in the upmarket neighbourhood of Polanco – lined with plush restaurants and luxury hotels. Here we went to a restaurant called El Bajio, which serves the best in Mexican cuisine. Here I ate Quesadillas con queso y hongas, (Quesadillas with cheese and mushrooms), Enchiladas con pollo y mole (Enchiladas with chicken and covered in the mole sauce, bittersweet and made from cocoa!), and finally, my new favourite dish in the world, Nopal! This is the same cactus that I saw growing on the Templo Mayor ruins! It is soooo tasty! Texture of mushrooms, taste a bit like green olives and best of all is the delicious novelty of eating cactus!!! Also, apparently it is absurdly good for you! Packed with vitamins and antioxidants, treating diabetes and even burning calories! Amazing.

I could write more about my gazillion other observations I have made about Mexico city, mainly the people, their ´conservatism´, their beautiful national pride, their ´mestizo´ faces, the nuances of their language etc but I have a feeling that as exhausted as I am is as exhausted as I am making one feel in reading this! Massive props if you have made it this far. All in all, my first impressions are that this is a really captivating city and it feels so surprisingly safe! I have even delayed the eco village so I can stay in Mexico city a bit longer and discover more of what it has to offer. As you can tell from the cheesiness permeating my every line, I am very excited to be here. I look forward to tomorrow and the next six months already. I know this has been the best decisión of my life.

Loads of love and buenas noches,

ANETTA xxxx