Brian here-
Yesterday morning a patron of the opera threw a brunch party in honor of Nancy Herrera, my colleague in the cast. She is a mezzo-soprano from the Canary Islands, and has a devoted following among the opera goers here. It took place in a phenomenal mansion not too far from where we are living. It had an open courtyard where lavish tables were set for the festivities. The food was delicious- an amazing selection of fresh tropical fruits, orange duck, carpaccio of sea scallops, delicious foie gras (we felt a little edgy with the foie gras since it is now illegal in Chicago). But the best part was the amazing mariachis who came in about an hour into the meal. We had already been enjoying some great music from a marimba band in the mezzanine. These mariachis were good. They played really well, and several of them had excellent voices. It was really great to see the locals- many of whom were mouthing the words to the songs with the singers. You could see that these songs were in their blood.

A beautifully set table. Ann and I opted for water and fresh juice, rather than wine and champagne.

The front entrance of the mansion.

Colin loved the mariachis. He spent the earlier part of the meal running the nanny who was there ragged and trying to take over the fruit display. He made lots of friends though. People seem to want to touch his hair like it's a good luck charm.

Just before leaving. Colin was over ripe for a nap. You can see more pictures of the festivities below in the first ever Stuckihouse slide show! Thanks to Julie for introducing us to blogspot slide shows.

This morning we made an aborted attempt to go to the awesome children's museum in Chapultepec (Colin had an interesting night with the babysitter). So instead, we decided to take a family nap (my favorite thing ever) and then take the metro to San Angel. San Angel is a 16th-17th century village that has now become surrounded by the city. But once you reach the cobbled streets, DF feels like its miles away. It's very quiet and serene- a nice change of pace.

This is the Iglesia del Carmen. I think maybe somebody saw the Virgin Mary here. The interior was really cool, but there was a service beginning when we arrived, so we thought we should try to be respectful and not take photos.

Fun details

San Angel is full of great color.

A beautiful passage to what is undoubtedly a very posh colonial home.

We decided to have dinner in a lovely traditional Mexican restaurant. This was the little bottle of water we bought for Colin to drink, but which then became table entertainment. It allowed Ann to eat her Chicken with green Mole and me to eat my Carne Asada. I think Colin is going to be a celebrity chef. He layered his beverage with crushed tortilla chips, followed by bread, followed by cucumber chunks, citrus and rind pieces. At one point he actually tasted it and decided it needed a hint of refried beans. Buen provecho!

Brian had his second performance Thursday night and I was finally able to go. (Although there were many annoying details that seemed to be conspiring to not let me make it. The most annoying detail was the security guard who, since he did not have my name on his official list, thought I would be a danger to let into the theatre. Brian was there in full costume asking to let me in and the higher-ups in the opera told me to come to that door, but the very important security guard did not want to let me in the theatre. VERY annoying. This was after I got stuck in traffic, had to get out of the taxi a few blocks from the theatre and run between the stopped cars in my *cute new green, non-running friendly shoes. (The shoes are not really so walking-friendly as it turns out, but they are cute.)
But I finally got into the theatre right after the overture and the show was so great! It makes me really sad our friends and family cannot see it. Brian was wonderful and his voice carried very well in the beautiful theatre. He dramatically has to do some very different things in this opera, since he starts out as a Buddy Holly character (which I would have been able to get photos of if the security guard had not seen me as a threat) and then becomes a drunk soldier and a disco-hippie. He was really fun to watch in all his different characters and the audience loved it.

This is George Petean, aka Figaro. (photo borrowed from the newspaper) He is originally from Romania and we have had a lovely time getting to know him and his wife. He was a great Figaro.

Brian at intermission in the disco/hippie clothes for "pace, gioia" as he comes in as Don Alonso. The stage is taken over with hippies, and Brian was most hilarious.

Self-timer from Brian's dressing room after the show. They had a very fancy gala diner last night that we stayed for. When the beautiful dessert came out, Brian commented that it would probably look a little sophomoric to take a photo for the blog. That would have been a bit embarrassing.

Today saw us at the zoo once again. This time we decided to go to one of the paying exhibits. A whopping $5 got us all into the Butterfly and Insect exhibit, which of course Colin loved. One of the few bits of sign language we've taught him is 'more'. He uses it liberally. All over the Butterfly exhibit he was signing and saying 'more, more?'

The big blue ones were our favorite, but they would close up their wings as soon as they would land. They were hard to photgraph mid-flight, but we got some nice shots.

Here's what the outside of the blue one's wings look like. These two seem to be enjoying themselves.

La cucaracha, la cucaracha. . . I think these were from Madagascar. We have been lucky enough to see zero bugs in our apartment so far (but Colin may have seen something because he likes to go to the little crack by the stove and go "bug, bug".) In Israel, we had a couple of huge cockroaches that were very traumatic for me. I screamed a lot.

Brian's note: She screamed like a little girl. I've never heard Ann make that sound before. And she jumped up on a chair. Smashing a bug like that is like killing a small animal.

More cute baby monkeys.

For this to make any sense, it is best to look at the blog entry from May 21 of this year. Skipper is making his presence known around Mexico City.

Brian thought I was not going to photograph his head. He does not love this photo, but I am amused by it. Check out the huge flag on the Zocalo. We were not kidding about the huge flag.

Our nomadic life doesn't include a lot of space for Colin's toys, so he is good at playing with a wide variety of household objects. One of his favorite pastimes is trying to put the keys in to the many locks that keep our apartment secure. He pushes a little table over to stand on and keeps himself busy for a quarter hour or so. Here he is after his morning bathtime. He needs another haircut.
In other news, the production opened on Sunday, and was really well received. The audience loved it and it seems to be getting good press.
-Brian

There actually aren't that many pink buildings in the Zona Rosa (where our apartment is located), but we thought this pepto bismol pink building would make a good introduction to the Zona Rosa entry. Plus, Brian went through a whole bottle of Pepto Bismol last week.

We looked around in the Insurgentes Market, which specializes in higher-end souvenirs.

Brian has become quite the photographer these days. I loved looking at all the silver jewelry.

Some very eager merchants got us to spend a lot of time at their booth by giving Colin some rattles to play with, and by letting us take this photo. The rattles were lovely but the price seemed to go up the more Colin enjoyed them. In a few minutes, he happily said bye bye to the rattles and we were able to walk away purchase-free.