Another year on Earth

For my birthday the last weekend of August I gathered some friends here in my apartment for snacks and drinks, which came equipped with a cake made by my friend Maggie. A really good cake too! The rest of the weekend I was mellow at home and the actual day I spent lunching at a friend's house. A really fun gift was that the following week my parents came to visit! I had a great time taking them around my neighborhood (Coyoacan) and to the nicest parts of the Beast of Mexico City, including San Angel (where Diego Rivera's studio is), Condesa (hip neighborhood like Soho), downtown (government buildings, beautiful old buildings, Aztec pyramids, museums) and Polanco (upper east side of NYC, very posh). They were impressed at the beautiful buildings and parks eveyrwhere, which is normally shocking when you get to Mexico City. I had the expectation of seeing a dry dusty dirty hellhole. It's much nicer than that, especially if you move in the nice parts. I wanted to take them on a subway ride but I sensed some nervousness at the prospect. The biggest adventure was getting to the airport after heavy rains that caused flooding on the way- traffic was stopped so we got out and walked along the highway, which was totally flooded, even to pedestrians. Government trucks hauled us across in the back, which was the first time my parents rode in the back of a truck! I announced to all in the truckbed that my parents were visiting, and they felt bad for the terrible circumstance. But my mom and dad laughed the whole way! They got to the gate with 20 minutes to spare and my mom's pants all muddy from the river crossing. A good time. Anyone else want to visit? You never know what can happen here!

Pictures show me blowing out candles and serving cake, and also my parents in front of the Coyoacan coyote statue in the main plaza, and the three of us in the Popular Art Museum downtown (a really beautiful museum of modern craft and popular art).