Yesterday was a little bit difficult. I'm really tired- although I'm sleeping like a dead dog every night despite the live music across the road.
Ariel said he would pick me up around ten to take me to the orphange.At around eleven-thirty, he appeared and we set off to the street corner for a lesson in Mexican bus travel...
For 6 pesos (about 30p), you can buy a bus ticket which will take you in a loop around the whole of the city. That is, if you manage to a) flag down a bus and b)survive the journey. Ariel warned me that the drivers get pretty bored of driving in a circle all day every day, and often race each other at twice the speed limit. The buses are also ridiculously designed so that the driver sits so high up over a big fat bonnet, he cannot see any pedestrians within a very close range, and so anyone stupid enough to walk in front of the bus will more than likely find themselves under it without the driver even noticing. They are however, very well equipped for disabled people, with three or four seats marked at the front of the bus in yellow. These seats are reserved stricly for the elderly and disabled and anyone less in need can be fined for using them. This means that, much like in the UK, a bus will often be packed to bursting with people standing and clinging on for dear life, yet those three seats will remain free as a bird. Perhaps the erradic driving is an attempt to create more disabled people to fill the spaces.
Two buses and a military-strict lesson from Ariel on landmarks later, we arrived in a pretty fancy area of the city- complete with Sloppy Joe's and a Starbucks. The orphange building itself was donated by wealthy Catholics, and the place, like many, is run and dependent on volunteers from the church.
Today was my first proper day at the orphange, which was difficult, butnot for the reasons I was expecting... Firstly, the street where I would catch the first bus from was closed off dueto an accident (probably bus related). After wasting a lot of time hunting around for my bus, I hailed a taxi which took me to completely the wrong place. After a good hour wandering around asking several people for directions in shops and on the street, I called Ariel for help. I found it really quite strange that pretty much nobody has heard of the quite famous orphanage.
Another bus ride and finally at my destination, I was handed a baby and sat feeding it pulped fish for over an hour. It was pretty rank. All the children at the home have cerebral palsy, and a lot of them have brain damage or other impairments too. A select few go to school in the morning, but most are very disabled and some cannot move at all. It's desperately sad, but I can't say that I felt particularly upset of sorry for the children, because they are so well looked-after. I was glad to be of help there, but I've never fed or even held a baby before in my life and it didn't come naturally. Without meaning to sound totally heartless, I definitely won't be adopting anyone. But I will write about them.
Ariel has arranged a Spanish tutor for me this week, starting tonight at 8pm... The journey home was a riot. I felt quite relieved to be going home as I sat on the 634, but a few stops later- many before my own, the driver stopped and told us all to get off. I could see los policia in the distance and deduced that either another road was closed, or the driver needed a quick getaway... so I was stranded once again. With nothing in my pockets, I hailed another taxi- this one with a driver who chewed on a stick and didn't seem to respond to my persistant chanting of "Priscilio Sanchez- expetorio?"... A couple of streets down, he stopped to open the glove compartment: "no me gafas!" and it all made sense- he hadn't got his glasses with him.
Suffice to say, I made it home. I told him to wait uno momento while I ran in- thirty minutes late for my lesson- to grab some cash.When I came back out, he was gone... Just another day in Mexico, really!
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