A Story From Toad

This is a story that begins with a story that I forgot to include in my list of things to blog about (see immediately previous post): "First Forum Outing". We have visited the World Forum Festival here in Monterrey several times. There are photos and descriptions of it in the last "kodakgallery.com" album that I sent out and Marc has discussed it in this blog. But our first real experience took place on October 5th.

It was the 2nd week of the 80-day festival and I really wanted to take advantage of the offerings. I really wanted Enid to, too. The thing is, the paper Programs, printed weekly and widely available in public locations, were not user friendly nor was the website. There was lots of information but no clear and easy way to get specific and non-equivocal dates, places and times for various performances. I literally spent hours online at the website trying to piece it all together and then another hour trying to use the very aggravating "superboletos" (supertickets) website to actually purchase my tickets. Superboletos gives you a time limit for getting your business done, but if you are a 1st time user they also require all kinds of 'registration' information. This takes way longer to complete than the time they give you. I chipped away at it getting a little closer each time before getting booted. Eventually I got my tickets. I picked two shows: one for Friday after school - El Mundo Al Reves (The World, Backward) and one for the weekend that all three of us could go to - a play at the Teatro de Los Ninos called "Ombligo de la Luna" (Bellybutton of the Moon).

But the tickets had to be picked up at a local outlet. So I had to figure out where these outlets were. And fast because it was the Thursday before the show. I went Friday morning to Saharis, a vendor of CDs, DVDs, and show tickets. I waited. I waited some more. There was only one man in front of me but the guy who distributes the tickets wasn't there. I give up and decide I'll go back in a couple of hours, maybe he'll decide to come to work by then. I return. They guy is there. I wait. I wait some more. There is only one pair of women in front of me. I am now late to pick up Enid from school and the play starts in 2 hours. I get pushy and say in my poor Spanish, I just need to pick up some tickets and I am late to get my daughter from school. They say in their good Spanish - the computer is down and we can't issue tickets until it is working. I try to confirm in my poor Spanish that I can pick up the tickets from the taquilla (ticket box) on site at the Forum. "Yes", they say, “but the line will be long and I should just go to the Saharis at the mall down the road.” Sounds like a benign suggestion but I have never driven to this mall and there is no place here that can be accessed the way that it looks like it can be accessed on the map. (Incidentally since this story took place I have gotten accustomed to the way streets work and have much less difficulty getting to where I have to go. However, I still follow my basic protocol for going anywhere new: first, two drive-bys for reconnaissance, then an initial attempt just to get a feel for it, dress rehearsal if you will, and then a final attempt to actually arrive.)

So I race to pick up Enid from school. I make my 3 attempts to get to the mall. We arrive on the 4th try. Then I run across the mall with Enid to pick up our tickets. Enid is superbly cooperative and amused by our state of haste. (A proud parenting moment when your attempts to make chaos into something fun, works!) It becomes a true adventure and now I am enjoying the challenge of whether or not I can pull this off. The thing is, I still have to drive us home and get us across town. By Bus. Without knowledge of which bus we need because there is no such thing as a bus schedule. The show starts in 1 hour.

I get us home, make and pack lunch because there’s no time to eat, get Enid to use the toilet, discuss the possibility of taking a cab instead of the bus and am convinced by Enid that we should give the bus a chance (she loves the bus). I run with Enid in the stroller 4 blocks to the bus stop. We take whichever comes first, the bus or the taxi. Bus 214 comes. I know it will get us to the MacroPlaza. I ask if he goes all the way to Parque Fundidora (location of the Forum). “No.” I ask where we can transfer to catch a bus that goes there. He tells me. I fumble for change. While we wait for our stop I try to memorize the numbers of the buses that we can take to our destination. We get off. We wait and wait. Lots of buses, all with the wrong numbers. The show starts in 10 minutes. I see a taxi. I run across the street with Enid and ask how much to Parque Fundidora (like it matters!). We get in. I convince (maybe?) Enid that it is OK in this instance to ride in a car without a car seat. Again the crazy streets foil me and I fail to notice the entrance closest to our destination because it is in the middle of the freeway off ramp. So I tell our taxi driver to let us off at the next entrance. It is the main entrance and about half a mile from where we need to be. Off and running again! We arrive and thankfully we are not late, there is still a line of people waiting outside. Sweet Success!!

As we wait in line I piece together that the way this show works is that 12 people go into the theater at a time. It takes place in the dark at El Teatro de los Sentidos (the Theatre of the Senses). It is participatory and a real “experience”. This is why I wanted to go and to take Enid. I am excited that it will be an “intimate” thing because I was wondering how it would work with a room full of people. We inch closer. I start hearing about young kids not being allowed. We get to the front. The woman tells us Enid is too small. I tell her Enid is not afraid of the dark at all (very true). The woman hesitates. She says children under 8 are not allowed. I say Enid is a good kid and repeat that she is not afraid of the dark. I also point out that the program says nothing about age limits only that it is for adults and kids. She goes to talk to someone. “No.” I totally understand why they won’t do it but I am pissed about how super un-user friendly this whole experience has been and I tell her so - in ridiculously bad Spanish. She says they can reimburse the cost of the tickets. All I have to do is walk a mile across the park to the office with my uber-cooperative but disappointed and crying 3 year old!

I opt instead for the free Marionettas Aquaticas show, which was starting across the way in about 15 minutes. And this weekend, on December 1st, I finally made it to the office and got reimbursed! They were actually very efficient and friendly about it and we used the money to buy tickets to the circus that is there this week. It was a great circus and we all three had a really nice afternoon and evening.

The End.