The last ten days has witnessed, hopefully, a crescendo of craziness with shock waves unsettling least stable region on earth, unions getting busted in the one-time laboratory of democracy and nuclear reactors cracking open in the world’s most orderly country. Amid all this heavy history going down, what was this slacker up to? A typically tranquil ten days in Querétaro – that’s what.
Starting a week ago Friday, I met my sweet novia, Angélica, in the middle of downtown and we ventured over to the Teatro de la Republica to pick up our symphony tickets. It was in this hallowed hall that the Constitution of 1917 was signed, making México a Republic, at times faltering, ever since.
Since I had ordered the cheapest tickets, of course, we took our place near the front of the line forty-five minutes ahead of the show to get good general admission seats. We actually prefer this timing because it gives us time without distraction to talk about our lives. Forty-five minutes is a challenge for me as I can summarize my life in forty-five seconds. Soooo: sit, stay and listen.
The concert itself was lovely. La Filarmónica de Querétaro is very good and the acoustics quite personable. The evening’s menu included some tumultuous Liszt, boring Strauss ending with sublime Brahms. Ironically the Liszt piece was a ‘poema sinfónico’; I can only imagine Franz’s idea of a love ballad…in my darker moments.
Saturday, I spent much of my time working through the eight hundred page accounting manual, finally getting – on the fifth reading – a tentative sense over mastery of the ungainly and recalcitrant beast. Then off to Angélica’s for a DVD, the “Soloist” (2009) starring Robert Downey, Jr and Jamie Foxx.
This film was what “Black Swan” should have been since it opened the story up to consequences of the mad artist on others’ lives. Granted “Black Swan” operated under heavy constraints as the story-line was itself an allegory of the ballet plot-line.
Sunday was another great DVD, “Sleeping Beauty” (1982) by the Kirov Ballet of the erstwhile Leningrad. The sorceress sure was ugly, and her Adam’s apple did little to reclaim her lost femininity! The week at work was interesting and I will write separate letters on life in Querétaro and at CIDESI, a state-sponsored center of scientific research.
Friday rolled in once again and, with it, the Filarmónica at the Teatro. This concert was even better than that of the previous week. The solo by another whiz-kid, Vladimir Curiel – very internationalist Mexican with a Russian first name and French surname – during Lizst’s piano concerto #1 was riveting and contemplative.
Reminded me of the calming influence that piano playing had in my household growing up.
Saturday brought work on my Peace Corps trimester report. The day ended with a light dinner with Angélica. The meal was posole, a type of meaty soup in México filled with tasty ingredients which I would rather leave undiscovered. We then watched the film “Glory” (1990) about the Civil War. Even after six times, I still adore that film. It should take two hours to watch but my poor novia had to sit through three hours as her novio re-played his new “favorite scene” every ten minutes or so.
Sunday featured a free concert in the main city square. Two Mexican guitarists migrated from classical Spanish to flamenco to break-away boogie-woogie to basic blues to blue grass and back to México; Jules Verne, move over: I made it around the world in eighty minutes! Angélica and I closed the week-end with a smoothie and a walk in Querétaro’s prettiest park, Cerro de las Campanas.
So while the world slid toward Hell over the last fortnight, a latter-day Willie Keith (i.e., me) spent two quiet week-ends next to Heaven.
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