Day 1

Mexico City
Weather: Sunny and dry
Temperature: A pleasant 76F
Official Air Quality: 144, No Satisfactoria

My first day living in Mexico City and I'm already obsessed with the daily air quality rating. Famous for its "pack a day" pollution, the city has developed a scale of measuring levels of contaminants in the air. I have yet to figure out exactly what it is that is being measured, but the system, known as IMECA for its Spanish acronym, is simple enough:

0 - 100 - Normal, no health effects
101 - 200 - Condicion no satisfactoria, sensitive people may experience irritation in eyes, nose, and throat
201 - 300 - Condición mala, avoid outdoor activities, possible respiratory problems
301 - 500 - Condición muy mala, just don't even breathe

Measurements are taken hourly in different zones of the city and updated on the website of the city's Secretary of the Environment, http://www.sma.df.gob.mx/sma/index.php. Different zones do experience significantly different levels of contamination, and the Southwest, where we're staying with Alberto's parents, seems to be the worst today. El Centro(where we'll be moving in a couple weeks) was around 102 while the Southwest was pushing 144 at 5:00pm today. When the ratings climb over 200 schools close. I can just picture children all over Mexico hoping for a "dia de contaminacion" so they can stay home from school like we use to plea for a few unexpected snow days in Ohio.

Whatever the future impact of a few years in condiciones no satisfactorias may bring, today's rating did nothing to dampen the pleasure I felt basking in the beautiful Mexican sunshine. A first day in a new country couldn't be better. Alberto was off work for the national holiday honoring the signing of the Mexican Constitution (Feb. 5, 1917), so we slept a solid 10 hours, grabbed the dog, went for a run and a little bouldering on the sprawling campus of UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, student body 250,000 - about the same size as my hometown, Dayton, OH -, returned in time for the afternoon comida with Alberto's parents (mmm, pork and chayote squash in salsa with frijoles y tortillas), and settled in for a traditional Mexican siesta. Hmm, I could get use to this.

Question ofthe day: How is it that in Washington we had not an inch to spare with our luggage and three people in a four door Toyota Camry (we really couldn't see anything but Alberto's head sticking up from a mass of luggage in the backseat), but in Mexico we were able to fit the same number of people and all the same luggage into a two-door Golf in half the time? Could it be the laws of physics really are different in Mexico?...Or does ignoring the laws actually create new possibilities?