Seksi D.F.

On the way to the studio, my hands were sweaty and my heart was thumping just a little too fast with anticipation. I was en route to my very first pole dancing class. Ah! I can’t believe I just posted that on here! LOL.


It’s ok, I can write about it simply because it was absolutely fantastic!

A very good friend of ours, J., opened her own studio in the heart of the Condesa, where men are strictly prohibited and women are encouraged to let loose and let go :) I’m trying to find the right words to even do it justice…

Relaxed breathing like in yoga, combined with the powerful moves you find in pilates, all wrapped together by sensual dance movements. Granted, there were some basic movements that you have to learn as foundations. They are a teeny bit awkward at first, but once you stop worrying that you look like, your body embraces it’s movement and it just comes naturally.

There is such a misconception around this discipline. While most people almost immediately associate pole dancing with late night men’s clubs, dollar bills, and naked women; there is really so much more to it than that. OK, I will of course admit the dance IS sexy. But in a studio surrounded by giggling ladies all looking for a different, fun work-out experience, it loses all vulgarity.

Instead it becomes a powerful method of channeling your all your energy to make you feel confident and in touch with your body and its flow. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it. Check out their website for all the necessary information plus cool info about it all:

Yoni Shakti
www.yonishakti.com


*All images belong to Yoni Shakti*

The Mexican Summer...

It happened last Saturday when, despite the marvelous weather of the city of eternal spring (Cuernavaca) has to offer, we decided to make our way back to Mexico City. So at some point in the early afternoon, with our head still a little blurry from the night before (*blush*), we hopped into the car and took on the highway. Now, summer time in Mexico is almost synonymous with thunderstorms. That I somewhat understand, thinking back to meteorology class in college and something about hot weather and evaporation and finally rain…can’t remember the specifics now ;)

But a HAIL storm in the middle of summer? Someone please explain. Up along the highway in the middle of the mountains, we found ourselves trapped within this dark menacing cloud that decided to open up and pour buckets of ice cubes on all the poor souls (some on motorcycles!) coming from sunny Morelos.

I was so amazed I had to take a video for you to see:





Some cars pulled over on the side of the road, simply because they probably couldn’t see 2 feet in front of them. We kept moving at a snail’s pace, but regardless I couldn’t focus my camera to well. I’ll explain though.

The white stuff on the side: ICE building up on the side of the road.



The out of focus red lights: the dashboard thermometer reading 2.5 degrees Celsius. Keep in mind, it’s SUMMER!!!



LOL. I don’t have much else to say about this natural incident, aside from the fact that Mexican Mother Nature keeps me on my toes.

So we cleared the hail storm and made it back into the city to set out on our original mission: to buy furniture. The absence of Swedish genius, a.k.a. IKEA, in Mexico is made up by the existence of BOSSA, gracias a Dios! And last Saturday they had a super sale! For all those modern, or so we like to think, young couples who cannot necessarily afford to decorate a house with the finest of Italian design, Bossa has some great designs and ideas that come at affordable prices. So we went. We saw. We bought. Now we wait. For delivery. ;)

Back at it!

These disappearing acts should not, and will not! happen too often anymore. Prometida! Even though I've been away, I've been thinking a lot about content, so this will be a long one ;) I hope you have your reading glasses on...

So last week our 25 boxes (remember those?) were shipped, for the last time, to our apartment here in Mexico City. Por fin! Obviously I couldn't wait to unpack, to see if everything made it in one piece from Shanghai. It did, thankfully. And I owe it to this:

YES! What you see above is paper, paper, and more paper! Jeez…I think most of my shipping expense constituted of this bulk…but like I said, nothing was broken, so it served its purpose.

So with all our belongings in place somewhat, we set out to make our first very mature adult purchase – our refrigerator (*blush*) OK, maybe to some people it’s no biggie, but this will be the first relatively large appliance we actually own. Armed with my Sam’s membership card, we went off on our mission. Success. And now I have a brand new ref. Yay. It’s still practically empty, but it looks great in our kitchen!

We’ve been really lucky because the Administrador of our building, Edgar, has been super helpful. Not to mention our polis (guards) Domingo and Jovito ;) We had to wait a few days while they hooked up the gas, but otherwise, we haven’t had to deal with all the different utility companies, Edgar has handled most of it. And I’m hoping that with the 3 in 1 deal of CableVision, internet, cable, and phone won’t be a hassle either.

Ok, so enough about me. For now at least ;) My gordo whisked me away over the weekend to Valle del Bravo, Estado de Mexico. OK, he had to go for work, but hey, let me be romantic, no? :P

About 2.5 hours west from Mexico City, Valle is this quaint mountain town where all the gente nice (or so I’m told…) from the city escape to over the weekends. With its cool weather, the lake, and numerous outdoorsy activities to choose from, you really do feel that you are in another world compared to D.F.

Something that continues to amaze me about Mexico is the diversity in landscapes. Having lived most of my life in the Philippines, I sort of got used to always seeing palm trees – which is not bad of course; but you can go from the north to the south of the country, and the flora doesn’t change that much. There is some variation if you make it up to Baguio (the Switzerland of the Philippines, or so they like to say…), but the coldest it gets is about 10˚C, so you can imagine just how much like the Swiss Alps it is :P Anyway, with the weather being so tropical, it doesn’t matter which part of the country you are in, it’s all quite similar…

But Mexico – its great how we can be in Cuernavaca with palm trees, and three hours later, we are in Valle del Bravo with pine trees. A completely different feeling, and fabulous because now I always have an excuse to have a wardrobe suited for 4 seasons ;) minus the snow.

On the drive up I did get nostalgic for the summer days spent in Finland, smelling the mountain air and enjoying all the green.

We did the touristy thing and had lunch by the lake:

Walked around the zocalo:

Wandered through the Sunday market with all its temptations:

En fin, great couple of days and hopefully we will make it back sometime in the winter. I’m craving a night by the fireplace and hot chocolate. Or a glass of red wine. Maybe two ;)

So back to me again :) My future suegra told me that we should always announce to the world (i.e. random people on the street), when it’s your birthday; simply because it makes you feel good to hear many felicidades. So I figure, why not? This is not the street, but it will do ;) It was my birthday a couple of days ago: Tuesday, the 21^st of July. To mark the day and the fact we moved into our new place, instead of dinner out, we decided to stay in and cook.

So we went to City Market, a great new supermarket/deli. This is the finer (ahem, more expensive) version of Comercial Mexicana, also known as MEGA or la COMER. The wholesale part of la COMER is CostCo. This is just like how Wal-Mart also has its finer version: Superama; with Sam's Club on the other end of the spectrum. That is just how it works here.

Anyway, there are only 2 City Markets in all of D.F. and we are lucky to have one of them 6 blocks from our house.

So my gordo completely spoiled me with my favorite wine and favorite cheese (at some point, I think I will dedicate a whole blog to tête de moine). Then followed by a delicious pasta and salad. Aaaahhh. The simplicity of good things in life. And a perfect end to the day.

*Make sure to click on the photos if you want to see them larger*

Finally!!!

Yes! What you see above are the keys to our new apartment! We signed the lease a mere two hours ago, and so this week, as you can imagine, will be all about moving.


The disappearing act since my last post was due to my escape to the beautiful blue skies (and one rain cloud) of Cuernavaca, la ciudad de la eterna primavera. (Incidentally enough, my brother was just visiting Medellin, Colombia at the same time, which happens to also be la ciudad de la eterna primavera...bueno. I guess there can be two in this world).



Anyway...I was feeling a little overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle of the big city, hubby busy at work all day, and just my general overall lost-ness, if you will. But now that we have our place, PROJECT!!! Me and my one track mind. I can't think of anything else except refrigerators, washing machines, sofas, curtains, etc. I am hoping that once I feel settled, I will venture out and find inspiration along the way.