morelia: walls, weather, and the numbers that follow me
i landed in morelia with a backpack that smelled like turpentine and a head full of... whatever the last city left me with. the air here is dry, like someone vacuumed the moisture out of the sky. i just checked the weather app and it's stuck at 26.2°C with humidity 29% - feels like 26.2°C too, which is weirdly precise. the barometer says 1008 hPa at sea level, but the ground level pressure is 837 hPa, which might explain why my *spray cans hiss a little differently. anyway.
that's the general area i'm scouting. i'm looking for walls that haven't been claimed by the city's 'beautification' committee (read: billboard mafia). i've got these two numbers stuck in my head: 3982121 and 1484506998. they appeared on a napkin at a café, scribbled by a guy who claimed to be a time-traveling street artist from 2087. i know, right? but he said they're the coordinates of the 'perfect wall' - not GPS, but some vibration frequency. i'm not sure i buy it, but i keep seeing them everywhere: on bus numbers, on receipt totals, on the back of a pigeon. maybe it's a sign, maybe it's just my sleep deprivation. morelia's Centro Historico is all pastelstone and cobblestones, the kind of place where you feel weird about tagging. but the barrio neighborhoods? that's where the real walls scream. i found a spot behind the old cinema on calle madero - the security guard is an old dude who loves energy drinks and will look the other way for a cold can. i heard that from a drunk student at a bar called 'el subway' (not the sandwich place). i also met a local artist named alfonso who does these incredible stencil pieces. he told me that the city's police turn a blind eye as long as you paint before 10am. but i heard that's just a rumor; they might fine you if they catch you. i'd rather not test it. if you run out of walls, patzcuaro's like an hour away by bus, and the lake there is perfect for drowning your regrets. just don't take the bus during rush hour; i learned that the hard way. the bus drivers there drive like they're in a videogame with no brakes. someone told me that the best tacos in town are at a stand called 'tacos el morelia' on calle zapata. they're open till 3am and the guy remembers your order if you're regular. i also heard through the grapevine that the city's art council actually funds some murals, but you have to apply with a portfolio and wait six months. i don't have that kind of patience; i need to paint now. i've been crashing at this hostel that's listed on TripAdvisor - it's cheap and the owner lets us use the rooftop for sketching. if you're hungry, i recommend the tacos at 'tacos el morelia' on calle zapata; check out the Yelp reviews (they're open till 3am). there's also a collective called 'Muros Vivos' that has a Facebook group - they post meetups and wall locations, but it's all in spanish and they're super secretive. for deeper dives, i follow this local blog and Atlas Obscura's piece on the city's hidden tunnels. the low humidity means my paint dries fast, which is great for layers, but the high ground pressure makes the cans sputter if they're old. i've learned to bring my own cans from the states, because the local ones are hit or miss. i also worry about the altitude - morelia is at about 1,920 meters, but the ground level pressure reading of 837 hPa seems low; maybe that's why i feel a little lightheaded sometimes. i just sleep it off on the hostel's rooftop and watch the pigeons fight over crumbs. i've been here three days and i've got two walls half finished. one is on the side of a café that reminded me of my grandmother's kitchen. the owner let me paint as long as i included a cat. so there's a giant cat now. the other is a mural about the numbers 3982121 and 1484506998 - i still don't know what they mean, but they look cool in neon green. a kid pointed and said 'that's my house number!' i don't think it is. i've attached a couple of shots from my phone. the first is the view from the rooftop at sunset, the second is the half-finished mural with the mysterious numbers. hope you like that kind of thing.
oh, and i forgot to mention: the city's water tastes like copper, so bring a filter. also, the sunset* over the hills is insane. if you get a chance, hike up to the mirador. the view will make you forget the numbers for a while. anyway, i'm gonna go find more walls. the pressure's dropping? i think i felt a change. maybe the numbers will make sense soon. or maybe i'll just paint them and forget.
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