The Big M: Seth Goes to Mexico City
My first trip South of the Border
The Big M: Seth Goes to
Mexico CityWell, I never thought
I would go to Mexico City, one of the largest, if not the largest, cities in the
world. Ever. But, one of my best friends in the world, a Sri Lankan, moved there
last August, I figured it was easier to get to the Mexican capital than to
Columbo. So, I booked my flight on Continental a few months ago for my first
vacation in almost a year.
Mexico is full of Ms. Here is my
tale.Machine
GunsThe Districto Federal suffered a
crimewave after the recession of the early 1990s, and as a result, armed
robberies are up. Way up. In the Polanco district where I stayed with my friend,
I saw high walls, high iron fences, and sometimes razor ribbon on top. When
monies are collected in the subways, armed guards with rifles are there. Banks
have armed guards on duty during business hours, and sometimes even at the
all-night ATMs (cajera
automatica).MachoThe
Lonely Planet guide to Mexico City says that Mexico is the "most heterosexual
country in the world." Well, I didn't go out of my way to find the gay bookstore
or any bars, but just walking around the street, nothin'. No sideways glances.
No outright stares. Nothing was happening. I ought to have brought a map that
featured the closets and speakeasies, I
guess.Mexico City does have a lot of
sports fans, and sports magazines, and sports programming on TV.
Ay!MadonnaThe
only gift I bought for anyone, and the only think that was asked of me, was some
sort of souvenir involving Our Lady of Guadalupe. Apparently, the first
"bonafide" vision in the New World was in the 1530s, when the Virgin Mary
appeared to some campesinos (peasants). So I got Mary Ann, from work, a little
round metal canister with guadalupe on the cover and a rosary inside. Just $3
(30 pesos).
MaidsI fell asleep as soon as I got
to the hotel where I spent my first night in Mexico. The maid slipped in and out
with more towels, and I never noticed.My
pal is quite the bachelor. He has a maid come in weekly to do the washing up,
the laundry, the sweeping, etc. He's the only person I know, actually, who has a
maid.Margaritas at the
MajesticWell,
I don't drink, but my friend does. We took my editor's advice and went to the
rooftop restaurant at the Majestic Hotel, which overlooks el Zocalo, the
historical and political center of the city. The massive, and sinking, Cathedral
Metropolitana, is on the north end of the plaza, built on the site of the Aztec
capital's main sacrificial temple. More than 130,000 skulls of sacrificial
victims were found there when Cortes started building the Cathedral.
Undoubtedly, this was as good a spot as any for persecuting heretics and
lighting up the skies of the New World with auto da fes (burning the
heretics).Indigenous folks don feathers
and do tribal dances. Don't get too absorbed and forget about the omnipresent
pickpockets, though. All this with the Palacio Nacional, where the Presidente
works, overlooking the square.A giant
flag pole with a flag bigger than any you've ever scene presiding over an auto
dealership dominates the scene. I highly recommend a few hours at the Majestic.
The all-you-can-consume buffet is rather good, two. Try the green
rice.MariachiNot
too far from el Zocalo is Garibaldi, a big open area full of mariachi bands. I
am told that when you break up with a woman, you run down here and take up
mariachi. People hire bands to play at their houses. Walking through here you
will be asked to hire a band, or maybe just pay them on the spot for a song.
They wear traditional mariachi outfits: black pants with big silvers buttons
running the length of the leg.Hey, it's
a look that's been working for them for centuries. Who am I in my Eddie Bauer
knits to
judge?Marketing &
MediaThere are tons of ads
everywhere in the D.F. considering the poverty is knee-deep (you practically
soak in it), there are many ads for luxury items and Internet sites. You also
notice that the people in the ads and on TV and on magazine covers look a lot
more European than the average Mexican you see on the streets. My pal says
racism is pretty rampant there. Well, not rampant but
engrained.
Adding
to the widening gap between rich and poor is the merchandising that's
everywhere. (Mexico City is a Pepsi town, for example.) Giant billboards show
Internet services that surely much of the population find bewildering.
Considering the high illiteracy rate (20%), you have to wonder who exactly gets
Internet access. Technically, the Web is something that widens access, but for
whom,
really?Maron!I
only watched television the first day, at the hotel. Boy, there's some crazy
crap on the tube down there. Amazingly bad stuff, including a character running
around in tights and a pair of antennae on his head. Not too far off from the
bumble bee on Channel Ocho on The Simpsons. Lot of odd game shows with
screaming, busty hosts, and really horrible sketch "comedies." One involved a
Japanese costume story and a very annoying
gong.MarwaanMy
good friend, Marwaan, hosted me in his spacious flat. A two-bedroom,
two-bathroom, two-balcony flat. I, meanwhile, live in a (relative) box in NYC.
It seems you can live better any place that is not New York. We are both
nocturnes and often didn't leave the house until after noon. People eat lunch
late in Mexico, like 3 or 4 pm, and dinner is at 10 pm or later. That's my basic
speed. Marwaan and I are good vacation
companions.MassI
only went into two cathedrals. The one at el Zocalo and the other in Coyoacan.
Unlike other cathedrals I have been to in the United States, France, England,
Scotland. and Italy, people were praying like crazy there. Lots of side shrines
and statues of saints lying in state in glass coffins covered with flowers. Many
more people there for prayer than tourism. I felt like I was intruding. I am no
fan of the Catholic Church, but I try to be
respectful.Mass
TransitThe subway is massive,
meaning, incredible. I was lucky to avoid the rush hours, mostly, but some
stations were clearly ready for the masses. The stations have an interesting
mixture of subway systems I have seen elsewhere, but not New York's. The cars
are red-orange, and boxy. Reminiscent of the Parisian subway cars, but much more
quadrangular. Like biscuit tins on rubber wheels (also
Parisian).
The
stations themselves have a marble-looking floortile that evokes a more ancient,
pre-Columbian time. The trackbeds are lower than they are in New York,
reminiscent of Montreal's stations. Unlike London and Paris, the stations do not
have curved ceilings. They have a more open feel, like
Montreal's.Inside the cars, the strip
maps emphasize each station's icon more than the name. More than 20 percent of
the population is illiterate. That is the only part that resembled New York,
where some of the older stations' tilework and mosaics were pictograms for those
who don't know English.And you know,
it's only about 20 cents for a Metro ticket. Just buy plenty in advance at the
taquilla (ticket
window).MeanderingIt
is not easy finding things in Mexico City. Marwaan says that you have to ask
three people for directions in the D.F. Crealo! (Believe it!) I circumnavigated
the entire Museo Nacional de Anthropologia before finding the entrance. It's
only the biggest museum they have. You think there might be a friggin' sign when
you get out of the Metro. No. Same problem trying to find the subway going home.
Luckily, I was in no hurry, and ambled along
amicably.MedianocheBecause
of the predominance of a laid-back culture, finding dinner at midnight is no
problem. We dined at that hour, and there were plenty of other folks
out.Memory
LaneI had not seen Abdul (Marwaan)
for six years, and we have known each other for 17, so we went through a list of
approximately 50 or so people to figure out what became of everyone. Ask me to
tell you the story about my dorm-room carpet
sometime.MenacesIn
all the reading I did, I was half expecting the pollution to bring birds out of
the skies and armed robberies at every corner. My friend Joe told me, "Just be
cautious like you are in New York, but six or seven times more so." It worked.
Avoiding hailing cabs on the street is a good idea, as some people wind up
"kidnapped" for a few hours as your driving escorts you from one ATM to
another.The more reputable cabbies are
the ones you hire from taxi stands. There is a little more accountability. The
green-and-white VM Beetles are the more dangerous variety. At the airport, take
the yellow-and-white cabs into town for about $10 (109
pesos).MercadoRight
of el Zocalo is a big market on the weekends. Avoid it. It's crowded and
dangerous and the hands you feel in your pocket are not your
own.MestizosWhen
the Conquistadores came to Mexico in the 15th Century, they wiped out only the
culture, not all the people. Intermarriage, or at least intermingling, led to
mestizos--people who are part European and part indigenous Indians. One thing
that is instantly noticeable when you go to Mexico City is the great multitude
of faces. So many different kinds of
people.From tall and slender to shorter
and stouter, the city is quite naturally diverse. It's not like New York, where
you see a lot of black faces, Southeast Asians, Chinese, etc., but it's still
very noticeable. Unfortunately, you do not see that diversity on Mexican
television or advertising, which tends to continue to hold up the Eurobeauty
ideal.MeteorologyI
visited Mexico City in June, but it was quite chilly--about 70 degrees
Fahrenheit daily. Mexico City is 7400 feet above sea level, so of course it's
colder than the usual city in summertime. Every night at 8 pm there seemed to be
cloudbursts, just like clockwork. The rains helped the air quality. The first
day I was there, I could see and tasted the pollution, and the smog and
elevation knocked me out for the first day I was
there.Mineral
WaterThis is a necessity, and
luckily, you can find it everywhere. Pen––afiel seems to be a
favorite brand.Mini
TransitLittle buses feed the Metro,
and they are also quite cheap, about 15 cents. None of the microbuses have been
cleaned, ever, it
seems.MoneyFor
all the history and bad blood the Mexicans have for America, it's confusing to
see the dollar sign being used to indicate prices in pesos. Things are insanely
cheap in Mexico City. A generous dinner for two only cost US$24. I only took
US$200 in pesos with me, and still had some left at the end. I did use my Visa
card, but not all that much or for too much.
MonumentsThe
Aztecs and Moctezuma are long gone, but the city has some phenomenal, heavy
structures, and seems full of monuments. The Auditorio Nacional resembles a
giant boulder. When you go to the Museo Nacional de Anthropologia, twin
brick-brown condos hover over the trees in the distance. The Paseo de la
Reforma, the grandest of roads in the city, features monuments along the way
(like the Angel), and the road itself feels like a monument. The fantastic
architecture abets the notion that some parts of the city are museums in their
own right.A trip on the last full day of
my vacation, to Teotichuan, showed this history. The ruins of a grand boulevard,
with the Piramides in the distance, show this history of big heavy structures.
Marwaan and I climbed to the top of the Piramide del Sol. In the distance we
could see a sheet of rain pouring from a cloud and heading our way. The base of
this pyramid is as big as the ones in Egypt, but I don't think it was a tall as
the ones in Egypt.Climbing a pyramid
from the year 100 also showed me how out of shape I
am!MountainsMexico
City is in a valley, and ringed by mountains. Before 1940 one could actually see
them, but the thermal inversion and pollution have blocked the vistas. I only
saw them from the roof of the Majestic on a clearer
day.MoviesMarwaan
and I went to two movies. First, the horrible I Dreamed of Africa, and then The
Whole Nine Yards. It's difficult listening to a movie in English and reading
Spanish subtitles. I found myself comparing the real dialogue to the
translation. Since I took seven years of Spanish, it was interesting to see the
idioms and the cultural biases. The theatre we went to in Polanco was big and
new and part of a mall. It seemed fairly state of the art, comparable to a mall
movie theatre in an American
suburb.Moving
VehiclesThere are plenty of cars and
cabs in the Big M, as Marwaan calls it. The small green-and-white cabs, many of
which are VM bugs with the front passenger seat removed, are everywhere. Don't
take them unless you get them from a taxi stand. There's a certain element of
accountability that way.People are manic
drivers and I was nearly killed twice. First on my last night there. Marwaan and
I were in a cab that hit a truck, and almost got squashed between two trucks,
one of them a petrol tanker. My cab driver to the aeropuerto nearly got us
killed "playing checkers" on the highways, cutting off cars like it was going
out of style. Then he "had no change" and I wound up spending twice as much on
my final cab
ride.Munificence, or
the Lack ThereofOn an very extended
bus ride from Coayocan to a the Universidad metro station, we saw of poverty. A
lot of stray dogs and dirt roads. Mexico City has plenty of beggars. You see
people begging in every metro station, with their filth-covered children
sleeping on the marblesque floors. Marwaan says that Mexico does not have a
tradition of charity organizations as we do in
America.Perhaps because the Catholic
Church used to provide a lot of charitable work, but there's so much misery no
one group could do it all. Widespead corruption and the country being dominated,
until recently, by one political party since 1917, certainly could not have
helped. The recession of the 1990s widened the gap, which is why there are
machine guns all over the better
neighborhoods.MuralsWhat
Mexico lacks in spirituality when it comes to taking care of its own is somewhat
made up for in the omnipresent art and color. Even in the poorest neighborhoods,
there are houses in bright, light colors, and a lot of murals too. Muralla is
the Spanish word for mural. The mural as artform is wonderfully shown in the
Palacio de Bellas Artes, an ornate affair with an art deco interior. The
four-storey entry area, before the theatre, features many murals, and rooms for
other exhibits of photography and sculpture by Mexican
artists.Of all the works there, however,
the most impressive is Diego Rivera's *Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope
and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future*. This is the mural
that Nelson Rockefeller, who commissioned Rivera to paint it for his Rockefeller
Center lobby in 1934, had destroyed. It was recommissioned for consumption in
Mexico, and was completed in 1938. It shows Marx, forces against fascism, and
syphyllis germs hovering over rich flappers sipping champagne. It's really a
masterpiece, both up close and even across the atrium, or even across the atrium
and from a higher floor. But you don't have to go to Bellas Artes to see art.
Wherever there's a wall in Mexico, there seems to be art. Every Metro station
has something unique going on to lift up commuters'
spirits.
Museos
While there are many museums in Mexico City, I only went to three. First, the
Museo Nacional de Anthropologia. This massive rectangular structure seems
typical of the ultramodern clean designs of 1964, when it was built. A giant
tree-like structure graces the interior court, and it was hard not to marvel at
it. The museum traces the lost pre-Columbian cultures of Mexico. The Ohmecs, the
Maya, the Toltecs, the Aztecs. Everything from pottery to big ugly heads
weighing several tons are catalogued here. Some things are in English and some
are not, so be warned.
On Saturday, Marwaan and I went to Coyoacan and visited two museums. First, the
home of Frida Kahlo, which is surrounded by a big blue wall that encloses the
home and the garden. This is where she lived with Diego Rivera. Their names
grace the wildly decorated kitchen walls. It's an old home, without the modern
conveniences, except perhaps electricity and a radio. The stove is a long
surface along one wall, with great ceramic pots on top of holes where fires lit
them from underneath. No gas or electric stoves
here.This was similar to the home of
Leon Trotsky, which is not too far from Kahlo's house. The former leading figure
of the Soviet Union spend his exile here, until his death by ice-pick. His home
is a collection of buildings and a large garden, where he is buried under a
granite block that sports a large hammer-and-sickle under a palm plant. Also
surviving is Trotsky's chicken coops and rabbit hutch. You would never know this
green pastel-walled complex was home to a real
revolutionary.Music
A big cultural difference between America Latina and el Norte is music, and the
relationship people have to music. There seems to be music playing somewhere,
everywhere, when you're down there. On my first night in Mexico City, Marwaan
took me to a restaurant that featured live music, and tapes when the performers
were on breaks. The two young couples at the table nearby broke out into
spontaneous singing several times. I thought it rather charming and I thought it
was a sign of happiness. I don't think a sad, depressed people burst out in to
song in public. Do you?
Posted: Sat
- April 15, 2000 at 01:02 AM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:04 PM
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