One practical result of this polar disorder is that the interiors of homes are usually a day behind the frequently changing weather - remaining warm when it’s actually near freezing out - and vice-versa.

It’s therefore not surprising occasionally to see people dressed for the North Pole on relatively mild days, or shivering in shirtsleeves on cold days and uttering that most Mexican of Mexicanisms - “pi pi pinche frío.”

The timing of the cold fronts is uncertain, but there’s almost always one in the week of November 20 - which apart from being the anniversary of the start of the 1910-1917 Revolution, is when the tree farms on the hilly fringes of Mexico City usually start selling Christmas trees that you can cut down yourself.

Legislators probably didn’t think about this a few years back when they introduced bank holiday Mondays for the February 5, March 21 and November 20 holidays - shifting the day off to the nearest (or previous) Monday. They certainly didn’t mention it last week when trying to switch the Nov. 16 bank holiday this year to Friday, November 20, and, reminded that people had already made their plans, sought to slip in a double holiday only to be pulled up short by senators exhibiting an almost protestant work ethic [Weber et al].

Evidence that it can get quite cold is to be found in supermarkets, which each year set out an array of portable electric heaters at the front of the store, clearly in view as you step in from the chill.

And early risers know how fridge-like the first Metro trains out of the shed can be on those nippy mornings, so it’s not unusual to see some particularly assertive commuter walking through the carriage slamming the windows shut. This last habit might come to an end with the advent of A/H1N1, as people prize fresh air above warmth in the flu season.

The actual date marks the call to arms by Francisco I. Madero in 1910, as he sought the removal of dictator Porfirio Diaz through elections, with the slogan “effective suffrage, no re-election.” Although Diaz didn’t last much longer in power, and Madero briefly reached the presidency, the next decade was one of great upheaval and confusion. A number of the heroes of the revolution - Madero, Francisco Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, Alvaro Obregon - were at times rivals in the fighting, and all of them ended up being killed by enemies.

To keep it simple, the rogues were Diaz and Victoriano Huerta, the general who overthrew Madero and is widely blamed with having Madero killed. The others were heroes.

For a blow-by-blow account of the shifts in power, the battles and betrayals during this period, there are plenty of history books to be found in both Spanish and English. For a portrayal of what it was like among the ragtag armies of rebels during the turbulent period, the novel Los de Abajo by Mariano Azuela is the book to read.

The book tells the tale of Demetrio Macias, who leads a marauding band of rebel fighters moving across the Mexican countryside. Received at first as heroes, the rebels soon become as resented as the federal army as they go from town to town pillaging “advances” on their non-existent wages.

The short work makes only a passing mention of the renowned revolutionary leaders, focusing more on a handful of fictional characters typical of the time. From the idealistic, and at first naïve, student Luis Cervantes, to the murdering güero Margarito and La Pintada, the author shows the light and the dark sides of the insurgents.

A few military successes are sufficient for Macias to rise through the rebel ranks, but as the sides change (as they often did during the Revolution) it becomes apparent that Macias doesn’t care who he’s fighting against. The book has been translated as “The Underdogs,” which makes a better book title than “those at the bottom,” or “the lower classes,” but doesn”t quite capture the meaning.

Mariana Azuela, a Jalisco native, was a writer and doctor who served in the ranks under Francisco Villa.

The article, reported on by a local newspaper, drew a rush of web postings sympathetic to the findings of the survey, and an inevitable list of readers’ pet peeves.

One similar expression, “¿me explico?” - am I explaining myself?, or am I making myself clear? - is fairly common in Mexico and particularly galling.

Like its counterpart “me entiendes?” “me explico?” comes across as speaking down to the listener, with the added poison of fake humility. Both carry the  implication that any failure to comprehend (and of course agree) is caused by the faulty intellect of the receiver.

This online discussion brought to mind MAD magazine’s series of snappy answers to stupid questions.

These annoying inserts are usually rhetorical and don’t require a response, although using one of the following replies to “me explico?” can throw the speaker off for a second, elicit a puzzled look, cause him (o ella, ¿me entiendes?) to lose the thread of the commentary,  and sooth the injured self-esteem of the listener.

1. “No.”
2. “Sí por favor.”
3. “Sí, pero no entiendo.”
4. “No sé, ¿te explicas?”

The problem with this is that it assumes the listener is as sensitive as the speaker is insensitive and feels insulted by what is most likely an inadvertent use of a phrase, in which case it would be better to just get over it - supéralo, o sea.

September, the Mes de la Patria because of the Independence Day, brings chiles en nogada, hot green peppers filled with walnuts and raisins, covered with cream and sprinkled with pomegranate, and pozole, a broth with large grains of corn, red or green chili, chicken or pork, radish, and other trimmings.

Christmas dishes include bacalao, specially prepared codfish, and romeritos, dried shrimp and rosemary sprigs in mole. Tamales are eaten all year round but traditionally at Candlemas, on February 2nd.  October is when bakeries bring out the “Pan de Muerto” bread for the All Souls Day celebrations, although some start selling it in late August to avoid wasting commercial time, and the Rosca de Reyes cake is cut at Epiphany (Three Kings Day) on January 6th.

For newcomers to the country, some local dishes, particularly spicy ones, take a while to get used to, and some people at first turn their noses up at the different tastes and smells. Quite understandably, many Mexicans are astounded someone wouldn’t like pozole, or mole, or some other dish that people here get excited about, and they assume you haven’t tried it. If you say you have, then obviously “no has probado el que hace mi tía” - you haven’t tried the one my aunt makes.

Perhaps one of the most acquired tastes in Mexican food is mole. This sauce is made from dried and ground chile peppers mixed with other spices and ingredients - famously chocolate used in making mole poblano (from Puebla) or black mole of Oaxaca. There are many kinds of mole, which are usually mixed with meat, rice, chicken or vegetables. 

Mole is one of the truly mestizo (mixed indigenous and Spanish) dishes of Mexico. The Aztecs were making sauces from chili peppers to which they attached the suffix mulli or molli. Following the Spanish conquest, other spices were introduced and different kinds developed.

It’s fitting then, that the town in the southeast of Mexico City where the annual national mole festival is held is San Pedro Atocpan, with its Spanish and native name. It’s located in the largely rural Milpa Alta borough, at kilometer 17.5 of the Xochimilco-Oaxtepec highway.  The 33rd Atocpan mole festival runs this year from October 3rd to October 25th, with 39 restaurants and 120 stands participating. Local authorities expect more than half a million people to attend. San Pedro Atocpan itself is known as the original site of mole made with almonds.

Among them is the construction of the Bicentennial Monument which began this week with the ceremonial laying of the first stone, and the introduction of commemorative banknotes.

The design for the new monument, to be built on the capital’s Paseo de la Reforma, isn’t without its detractors. There has been some muttering that the contest was supposed to be for an arch, not a straight design. Others are happy to see something modern.

The new banknotes - 200-peso bills for the 200th anniversary of the Independence and 100-peso bills for the 100th anniversary of the Revolution, are expected to be stashed away by many people as collectors items, although they are also legal tender. They look like this and this. The central bank plans to have 50 million of each printed, not quite enough for everyone to have one.  Already, a number of different 5-peso coins have been introduced bearing  images of historical figures of those two eras.

El veloz - “the speedy” one
La Ventosa - “the windy” place
Los desesperados - “the desperate” ones

Some English adjectives are also applied as nouns, such as in the rich, the poor, the good, etc, but these are usually general, whereas in Spanish almost any adjective can be used, and the application is specific.

This also lends itself to abuse, as sports commentators will tell you. Inevitably a 90-minute football match requires the narrator to refer dozens of times to the ball. There are three words in Spanish for ball: balón, used in football (soccer), basketball, American football; pelota, which is used for tennis or golf balls, and bola, used for billiards or bowling balls.

Some, but not all, are interchangeable, and football commentators can use all three.

Not satisfied with three different words, they also take advantage of the adjective rule, and use “el esférico” (the spherical thing) or “la esférica” - the feminine is allowed because of “pelota.”

The trouble is, after a while it sounds silly even in Spanish. Although no one would question its shape - American football commentators use “el ovoide” - with the number of times “el esférico” is mentioned in a game, it rather defeats the purpose of finding a synonym.

Another word that doesn’t really have many synonyms is “agua” - water - and with this year’s drought (which probably ended with the recent late downpours), the alternative “vital líquido” is in vogue, “H2O” (AH-chay-dos-OH) being a bit pompous even for modern-day scribes.

The closure - initially at weekends, and soon to be complete - fits rather nicely into the present habit of relating all things political to next year’s 200th anniversary of Mexico’s Independence and 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution -Francisco I. Madero having been a leading figure in the 1910-1917 Revolution.

It’s now possible to walk the length of the street without hopping on and off the curb to allow others to get past. Av. Madero passes a number of landmarks of the Centro Histórico. Starting out  from the Torre Latinamericana and the Sanborns de los Azulejos (patronized a century ago by the dictator Porfirio Díaz, and where the revolutionary troops of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata are said to have had coffee), it emerges six blocks later on to the main square opposite the National Palace. The walk takes you past the Palacio de Iturbide, Iglesia de San Francisco and other churches, as well as countless stores and restaurants.

Spanish prepositions are generally less troublesome (no phrasal verbs), although there are some exceptions.

One example is the multi-purpose “a“, which means to, at, and can even mean from or for.

When you buy something from someone, in Spanish you use “a” and not “de.”

Le compré el coche a mi vecino (with the shortened “se lo compré“) can mean I bought the car from my neighbor, or I bought the car for my neighbor.

Likewise, le compré flores a mi esposa, can mean I bought flowers for my wife, or I bought flowers from my wife.

The context is usually sufficient for an understanding, unless you’re dealing with someone with extraordinary habits in durable goods purchases, or who is married to a florist.

In the event of possible confusion, “para” can be used to stress “for,” es para ti - it’s for you - but it would be wrong to use “de” to stress “from.”

See Also: Learn Spanish

The buses go from La Villa in the far north of the capital to Santa Fe in the west. To mention some attractions, they pass by the Angel of the Independence, the Chapultepec Castle, the zoo, the Anthropology Museum, the National Auditorium, many of the city’s plushest hotels, and the Torre Mayor (the country’s tallest building). There are also a few buses that go to the Zocalo via Juarez Avenue, passing the Fine Arts Palace, the nearby National Museum and other downtown sites.

The “Plus” buses cost 4.50 pesos to ride and the “Executive” buses, of which there are fewer and which make fewer stops along the way, cost 5 pesos.

It might take a while for users to get to know one from the other, and whether the more expensive buses actually stop where they plan to get off.  And for those who think they might miss the drivers of the old micros constantly asking travelers to move toward the back of bus, or playing their own choice of radio station, there is nothing to worry about. This occurs even on the executive version during rush hour. The same people who ran the old bus system have been commissioned to run the new one.  

At quieter times of the day, when buses run half full or less, the full advantages of the new vehicles can be appreciated: ergonomic seats, large windows (no more stooping to see when your stop’s coming up), good quality lighting, and a clearly visible electronic sign on the front stating the final destination. Other advantages, according to city officials, include a 90% reduction in carbon emissions.

Mexico was clearly not the favorite going into Sunday’s final. It had been 10 years since Mexico had beaten its archrival on U.S. soil, and the U.S. team had recently beaten Spain 2-0 and taken 2nd place in the Confederations Cup, losing to Brazil in the final.

The win also made a happy comeback for coach Javier Aguirre, who returned to the bench from a three-game ban. Aguirre’s last game during his previous stint as the Mexico coach was Mexico’s 2-0 loss to the U.S. in the 2002 World Cup, and his chance for revenge was to have been next month’s showdown in the Aztec Stadium in the qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

The dearth of good results against the U.S. wasn’t the only curse that Mexico was able to throw off in this year’s Gold Cup tournament. In the semi-final, by beating Costa Rica on penalties, El Tri also found that it’s not necessarily destined to lose every time a game goes to the ultimate tie-breaker. It wasn’t just that Mexico won the penalty shootout 5-4, but for the first time (probably), the team scored five out of five from the spot.

As could be expected, Mexican fans wasted no time gathering to celebrate at the Angel of the Independence monument.