Friday, September 26, 2014

Sherlocking in Mexico City

Work found me in Mexico City recently. I had been there in May and because the site is a military hospital they are strict, they do not allow Internet connectivity, so when the site had a small issue, I had to fly back down there to fix it. The last time I was there, I hired a driver to take me from my hotel to the airport. Jaime Island (A good Mexican Name) gave me one of his business cards and said if I ever returned, contact him. This is exactly what I did. He was waiting for me upon arrival.

On the final day I finished work around one in the afternoon and was back at the hotel by two. The hospital provided transportation to and from the site. I decided to do a little site-seeing and book shopping. I went to the concierge's desk to ask about getting a cab. When I got there, who should I run into but Jaime. I hired him to drive me into town. He explained that most of the used books stores was in Zona Rosa with many on Calle Donceles. We were off in a flash.

Jaime is the perfect driver. He let me ride in the front seat of his big black Ford Explorer, where he explained each area we drove through. He gave the history as a local and lover of the city, not as a text book professor. Soon, we arrived and this small one-way street was lined on both sides with used book stores. It reminded be of Way-On-Wye, Wales. Jaime told me that in Mexico City, there were many areas like this - a particular street selling a particular item. Donceles sold used books. A couple of streets over sold mostly wedding dresses and another just electronic equipment.
Bibliofilia: Libreria Anticuaria


He let me out and I bought five books in the first shop I went into and three more in the second. In every shop, the novels were all very organized in alphabetical order, All I had to do was to locate the 'D' section and look for Doyle. A few of the shops I visited had a subsection for Mystery Books but most were all under 'Novelas'  As I would walk from shop to shop, Jaime would pull a little ways down the street, park and wait for me. This was convenient for me because I could drop off an armload of books from one place and then venture into another shop, repeating the process.

I ended up buying about twenty-five used Spanish editions of the Canon that day. It started pouring rain, so I ended up not going to several other shops. This will give me cause to return the next time I have to go to Mexico City to make repairs.

I have more than four-hundred different Canonical translations in Spanish and in one short hour, I was able to add twenty-five more. This gives a slight idea of just how many translations exists. The oldest book I bought was from the thirties and the newest was from the neties. It just means I will still be finding things as long as I am alive, which I hope is a long time to come.
Part of my haul in Mexico City.

Happy Blogging!in

1 comment:

  1. DH says, "It just means I will still be finding things as long as I am alive, which I hope is a long time to come." ----- We all hope that for you TOO!! Word to the wise though, your chances for a long life will improve greatly if you stay out of Mexico xD!

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