5 minutes of fame
Folks, if there were ever a poster for “Things happen for a reason”, I’ve gotta say that my face/life would be on that poster. I mean, 12 months ago, I was working at a major consulting firm and now my videos are on CNN and CNN en Espanol and every time I google’d my name, I find another country that quoted me! Seriously this is still surreal. I have received countless emails from family/friends/contacts saying, “So I was reading an article and saw your name! or I was watching TV and I saw you!”. While I know this is just my 5 minutes of fame, I am thoroughly enjoying it and this experience has served as a testament to the way I believe one should live their life “Just go with the flow, good/bad”. Some might not know this but my original travel ticket was to Honduras, but a last minute plea from my aunt made it change to Mexico City.
CNN Interview:http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/ireports/2009/04/28/dcl.irpt.mexico.city.flu.cnn
CNN TV segment: http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/ireports/2009/05/04/irpt.for.cnn.may2.pt.1.cnn
CNN Quote#1: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/05/07/danger.travel/index.html
CNN Quote #2: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/30/swine.flu/
CNN Quote #3: http://cnn.mlogic.mobi/cnn/archive/archive/detail/294174/2;jsessionid=AE780CDE854DF08C94DF20E9B63F9351.live23ib
New York Cares writes about me: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/30/swine.flu/
Quoted in Spain: http://www.elcorreogallego.es/gente-y-comunicacion/ecg/primer-contagiado-fuera-espanol/idEdicion-2009-04-30/idNoticia-421875/
I have no clue what language this is: http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/1962361,441,item.html
Living Situation
I am currently renting out a room (w/ private bathroom) in an amazing part of México City, next to police station so I totally feel safe. Supermarket, 7-eleven (huge here), laundry, restaurants, museums are all within 1-2 blocks from my place. The metro is a 10 minute walk. I can walk to downtown and Zona Rosa (Mexico City gay district and tourist too). The room includes utilities, cleaning and a great environment! Total cost approx $180 A MONTH!!!
Great Quote
The lady that owns the apt is 71 years old and always gives me advice about life and the city. Her latest saying is one that made me laugh and is so true, “You want to make God laugh, tell him what you are planning on doing today”.
Nightlife and Dating Life
Even though México City’s nightlife recently opened, I have seen enough to say ME LIKEY LONG TIME. It’s your typical city of 22million and you’re going to run into a bar/club where the snob factor is absurd. But when I go to a bar/club, my #1 priority is music and they have great music! Ironically, much better than Rio de Janeiro. I went out this past Friday and Saturday night and I have to admit, the crowd was extremely diverse. I was expecting most to look Indian but it just wasn’t the case. I was left in total aw.
As for my dating life, it never ceases to amaze me that no matter where I am in the world. I always meet someone that is unavailable (I’ll just leave it at that). But my dating life has never been busy, again unlike when I was living in Brazil. In Brazil, I had trouble dating because I looked like a native and other native were in search for exotic (aka Caucasian). In Mexico, I signed up for a gay dating site (one that I was a member of back in 2000 but quit when I moved to NYC-just don’t need it in NYC). So as soon as I signed up, I have had nonstop inquiries.
I just went on a date last night and unfortunately he just got out of a 2yr LTR and is only looking for “friends”. Truth be told, if I find Mr. Right I have no problem with moving my life to Mexico City. I am at the point of my life where being with the man I love is my number one priority, everything else can be “allocated”. So whether he’s in Mexico City, Miami, NYC… I am ready to settle.
Volunteering
So what I am doing in Mexico, besides living life and dating. Well, I came here to work on the National Campaign against Homophobia. This campaign is important to me because I plan to use what I learn and get involved with other countries’ campaign, specifically CUBA! Yes, for those followers my love for Cuba will never end and even if I don’t end up with a Cuban man, I still have love for that country.
I am currently volunteering for the HQ of this campaign and how did I get this contact, NETWORKING NETWORKING NETWORKING!! I have stressed this on previous blogs but this will serve as another testament on how important it is to effective network. Because of my volunteering in Brazil, I got an in on this NGO in Mexico. I will describe what occurred so you can see why I feel blessed (and why I decided to not leave Mexico during the H1N1 epidemic”.
As soon as I got back from Brazil, I emailed one of the executive directors of the NGO (aka nonprofit) in Brazil. I asked him that I overheard Mexico’s campaign were looking volunteers and if he could direct me to the right person. He provided it within minutes and I sent a “cold call” email to the executive director. He wanted to know what specifically I was requesting from the NGO. I told him very simply, not looking for $ just a learning experience. He said, come on over. I booked my flight and he said someone will be at the airport to pick me up. I was certainly not expecting that but was grateful. The office assistant came with another coworker and they took me to the hostel I was staying at (while I secured permanent housing). They later took me out to dinner and walked me back to my hostel, I was like – this is so nice of both of you. I totally got the red carpet from perfect strangers (sorta).
On the first day of work, it was slow because everyone was dealing with the swine-flu “crisis” but I got to speak with the executive director candidly. I told him I come from a corporate consulting job and I came here to learn. No task was too big or small. Then he basically opened his rolodex and said, what state do you want to visit? I was like :-O He basically said that wherever I want to go he has contacts and I can volunteer there and visit at the same time. I just met this guy but because of who I knew, he rolled out the “red carpet”.
This was one of the biggest reasons why I decided to stay and not leave when the hundreds/thousands of tourists were flocking out of Mexico during H1N1 epidemic.
First homophobic experience in Mexico
Once again, I just don’t know how I get myself into these situations. So I checked into a hostel for my first 5 days in Mexico City and on the second day I decided to take a day trip with other hostels patrons. I met 2 Mexicans that were staying in the same hotel, one from US and other from nearby state. They were apparently online friends for the past year and finally got to meet each other. Both male and straight. Of course when they asked me what I was doing here, I mentioned the anti-homophobic campaign and I “automatically” came “out” but they were cool with it. After 2 days of hanging out with both of them, I had my suspicions but didn’t feel like I needed to voice them out because they both knew I was gay. And on the third day, I caught them making out. They didn’t know I saw them and they never “came out” to me. It was actually the last day I was at the hostel and we had lunch before I moved to my new apt. Instead of inviting them to hang afterwards, I said you two need alone time to “catch up” and of course they never got it. I totally understand where one of them is coming from because he’s from a smaller state and homosexuality is just not tolerated. I’m sure he’s starting or just experimenting with it and doesn’t know how to express himself to me. But the other dude from EEUU is one that I had issues with because he’s from a big city and knows better. That’s what I thought at least. Goes to show you that no matter where you are, homophobia exists and I am proud/honored to be a part of an international movement. May 17th, 2009 is International Day against Homophobia.
Next..
What’s next, well events in the capital city was pushed back a week to 5/20-5/22 so I’m headed to Oaxaca, Mexico (Mexico’s second poorest state) for their campaign against homophobia. Not sure what to expect but one this if for sure, I’ll be covering it LIVE! LOL, stay tuned…
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