Wednesday, March 14, 2007

¡Vive el presidente!

President Bush is in Mexico, but he’s hundreds of miles away from the capital, in the very safe, very pretty resort town of Merida. Still, by the show of force here you’d think he was planning to lead a parade down Paseo de la Reforma in the heart of Mexico City.

The U.S. Embassy is ringed by 10-foot high fences and protected by a constant contingent of well-armed police. Today, their numbers multiplied many times over. There were several hundred police in riot gear standing in literal Revolutionary War-style columns on the streets around the embassy, carrying heavy-duty firepower.

I tried not to laugh as I walked by. The greatest threat I could see came yesterday, when people attached anti-Bush posters to the fences. (They were all Iraq-related, and a typical one read, “Bush is the terrorist president of the world.” I would have taken a picture, but there are numerous signs around the embassy saying, in numerous languages, "Photography Prohibited." Much as I love this blog, it wasn`t quite worth a night in a Mexican jail.)

By last night, the posters were wilting and the ink was running from all the rain. For most people, it seemed the soldiers and the posters were a source of amusement. Sure, the war isn’t popular here. But it’s not popular back home either, and no one’s storming the White House.

In between all the rain, I managed to find time for a bike ride on Sunday. After renting a rusty and ridiculously small (for me) bicycle, I pedaled over to the Bosque de Chapultepec, a huge park filled with museums, lakes and gardens. There was also a wonderful exhibit of black-and-white photographs of Mayan temples, palaces and stadiums, shot by Arturo Chapa.

I got lost a few times (I didn’t bring a map because I was trying to pack lightly) and taxi drivers seemed to enjoy brushing up against me, but with Voxtrot and Beulah on the iPod, there was no ruining my blissful state. I managed to return the bike just as the rain began. (It has rained for five straight days. To paraphrase Ryan Adams, it rains here like the way I spend money.)

Later, I found a bookstore with a small table of English-language titles. Most of the books fell into one of two categories: books I had read in high school or college (The Catcher in the Rye, Lolita, Mrs. Dalloway, The Great Gatsby) and more modern fiction I’ve read recently (Disgrace, Saturday, The Virgin Suicides). Eventually, I decided to correct an inexplicable oversight in my reading history. I bought Fahrenheit 451.

As I read it, this passage stood out (along with many others), a quote from Montag to his wife:

“We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”

Anyway, tomorrow I’m off to see the butterflies in Morelia.

1 comment:

Airhen said...

Bikes and iPods don't go together. Be careful!