" Mexico, lovely and beloved...and bullies!"
Sixteen people from our program decided to take a 3 day weekend trip full of shenanigans (thanks Reza!) to Mexico City, which was a 6 hour bus ride from Oaxaca. We went first class, overnight to the second largest city in the world. Growing up, I had seen all the Mexican
novelas (soap operas) that showed Mexico City as this glamorous, exciting place, but everyone I talked to about the trip said "oh, be careful!" or " ooo, its really dangerous" or "don't walk alone!" Nah, its not that bad, it is manageable...unless I am just a really tough chick :)
Friday October 24, 2008 11 from our group stayed at a really great hostel right next to the Zocalo and Cathedral, called Hostel Cathedral. If you go to Mexico City and need a hostel, stay here! We checked in early and hired a taxi service to get us around all day.
Tlatelolco
Tlatelolco is a site of Aztec ruins that is preserved right in the middle of the city. There is a plaza there called Plaza de las Tres Culturas where the infamous 1968 student massacre happened. It's like Mexico's Tiananman Square, but more gruesome. Read more here:
Basilica de Nuestra Senora Guadalupe
Being in the presence of the original image of the Virgen de Guadalupe was one of the most spiritually enriching experiences of my life. As a Catholic woman of Mexican roots, making a pilgrimage to her Basilica was fullfilling and powerful. I have conflicting beliefs with my Church, one of them being the role of the woman. Women who are revered as much as the Virgen de Guadalupe mean so much more to me because of my strong belief of gender equality in our Church.
A quick and dirty story on La Virgen- Juan Diego, an indigenous man, saw aparitons of the Blessed Virgin who looked like an Aztec princess and who spoke Nahuatl, the native language of Juan Diego. She asked him that a church be built on this hill, Tepeyac (where the Basilica currently is) and that he must go talk to the bishop. He went to the bishop, who didnt believe that he saw visions of a virgin and asked that he bring a sign to prove what he saw. The Virgin instructed Juan Diego to collect flowers and placed them in his garment. He went to the bishop to present him with the flowers, and when the flowers fell, the miracle of the icon of the Virgin appeared on his garments. The Basilica has the original garment that Juan Diego wore, and he was cannonized as a saint in 2002, making him the first ingidegenous American to receive this title.
It is experiences like the one that reienforce my belief in God and in the sanctity of Jesus Christ. Some people who are religiously apathetic claim that there is no proof that a God exists, and yes, organized religion has done a lot of wrong in the world, but I love my church and I felt the presence of God and of the Blessed Virgin at the Basilica. It's a feeling of numbness, overwhelmed by something greater than I could possibly begin to understand, a weakness in the knees, a heat that concentrates in your core, I dont know, its exciting, scary, and real. Above all, it was real and thats all the proof I need.
Teotihuacan
This is the site of the largest MesoAmerican pyramid and we got to climb them! I have been to other site before, and while Teotihuacan was not my favorite (top honors still goes to Chichen Itza) it was impressive and exciting. The sheer massiveness is impressive, but the design is cool too. We went to the Pyriamid of the Moon, which is the smaller of the two, and then walked down the Avenida de los Muertos ( Ave. of the dead) to Pyramid of the Sun. This was a challenge- it was a hot and dry day, and climbing that thing without an inhaler was tough on my poor asthmatic lungs. But again, how many times in my life will I have the opportunity to climb the largest Meso American pyramid! At the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, it is believed that if you stand and raised your arms, you will acquire the suns energy.
Juanes at Auditorio NacionalAfter this, we went back to the Centro Historico, which is a beautiful downtown area near our hostel, and had dinner. We cleaned up at the hostel, hopped in our taxi and went to see Juanes at the Auditorio Nacional. JuThis auditorium was huge and is ranked one of the worlds best, and even in the nosebleed section, we enjoyed the concert. Yadira and I were living it up, we know his music by heart, and the other Chicanos must have had a blast too. While only a handful of us knew Juanes' music, we all had a good time because songs like "Camisa Negra" and " La Noche" (otra, otra noche, otra!) are popular in the US and you cant help but dance to his music. Afterwards, we attempted to go clubbin' in the Zona Rosa, but it was midnight and the clubs were not yet hoppin' so we went back to the hostel bar and hung out. By the way...did you know you could drink alcohol inside liquor stores in Mexico? You can't consume alcohol on the streets, but it was cool at the 7-11!
Saturday October 25, 2008The next day, all the boys (minus 2) were too hung over to get up early, so Alice, Jennifer and I went to the Zocalo and got a limpia, or a spiritual cleansing. This is of prehispanic origin, the belief that bad energies need to be removed by a ritual and many Mexicans still practice it.
Then Alice and I took the Metro to purchase Avenue Q tickets for a performance later that evening. The Metro in Mexico City is huge! Its also one of the worlds largest systems, and it was only 2 pesos for a one way trip! We went to Centro Cultural Telmex and had Chinese food from a restaurant with Chinese people who spoke perfect Spanish. It was weird. We met up with the babies, I mean, boys, at midday and walked around the shops in the Centro Historico.
Palacio Nacional
The former site of Mexico's goverment ongoings. It is beautiful, there are Diego Rivera murals all along the top story, and it told the story of Mexico, from prehispanic people to the conquest.
Avenida Q
Alice and I left the group and took off to see Avenida Q, the Spanish version of the popular Broadway show. Mom had always told me Broadway was popular in Mexico City, and so it was a priority of mine to see a production, especially one I had not yet seen in the US. They skipped a few songs and some of the jokes werent as funny out of the American context, but it was really funny, it is a paradoy of Sesame Street and based on "real life." Go see it!
Cafe de Tacuba
Then Alice and I went to a super cute restaurant called Cafe de Tacuba, and it is built in an old monastary, so all the servers were dressed as nurses and nuns. There was a mariachi playing, and the
vilhuela player kept eyeing me all night, then he came up to me and told me he thought I was beautiful. So I took a picture of him.
Then more shenangians at the hostel bar...
Sunday October 26, 2008
Chapultepec
I have never been to New York, let alone Central Park, but I imagine it is very similar to Bosque de Chapultepec. Its a huge park, right in the middle of Mexico City. We walked around, it was Sunday and so all the Mexican families take their kids to the zoo and lake. We were all ready to go to our soccer game that evening, so we were sporting our team jerseys! We went to the Mueseo de Anthropologia, but we didnt have enough time to walk around. So we ate at a really good food court area in the park.
Chivas vs America- El Clasico
We decided to experience Mexico City the way locals do, and we got more than we could handle. We took the metro to the game, and they were PACKED. It was insane how many people crammed into the trains! You literally have to push and run into the train when the doors open because other people will push past you. You have to be an aggressive commuter! We got to Estadio Azteca and it was plain madness. SO MANY PEOPLE, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE! The stadium held 140,000 people! We all had to hold hands so as to not lose our group; a valuable lesson learned in kindergarten! Nick, Jennifer and I waited for Yadira and her boyfriend to bring the tickets, but they got stuck in traffic and we didnt get into see the game until halftime. The riot police made a barrier that kept pushing people out of the stadium, and we almost bought scalped tickets. Finally, Yadira and Cipi get there, but it was packed to capacity, we couldnt get to our seats, so we wound up in the nosebleed section. It was still fun, but honestly, I was in a bad mood the whole time. Corona for 30 pesos helped with that, and by the time the game ended, it was good to be back with the group.
Chivas side left, America side right. Freakin' Chivas fans snuck in fireworks and flares, and were throwing them a tier below where all the America fans were. It was kinda scary, you could see flames where they landed.
America is the home team and Chivas is from Guadalajara, and they are long time rivals. Chivas won the game, 2-1, and America fans were not happy. We had two guys ( a blond and a redhead, to boot) in our group wearing Chivas jerseys and while we felt safe enough at the stadium, the metro station was a whole different story. We arrived at the transfer point, where we heard a roar coming from the bottom story. A drunk, angry America mob had just passed through and were baning on their drums, chanting and screaming while waiting for the train. The police had our two boys isolated behind a police barrier until the mob passed. Well, the mob did pass and the cops left, and the Chivas fans were bunched up in the corner when ANOTHER drunk, angry mob of America fans come in. Well, here are the Chivas kids all alone, hudled together, and the America mob comes swarming in, surrounding the Chivas fans like lions who are going to feast on a gazelle. One guy come skipping along, chanting, and without warning, walks by Nick and punches him straight in the nose, and then walks into the metro station. Nick was bleeding a lot, and so security evacuated the Chivas fans and our group out of the metro station. This was when we all freaked out a little. We were alone, fully responsible for each other, and we didnt know what we would do if Nick didnt stop bleeding soon. For our safety, I convinced him to put on my America jersey, which he did reluctantly, but we were off and finally got back to the Zocalo, where he shortly thereafter stopped bleeding. We sat down to eat a meal of McDonalds and their McNificos hamburgers, a little shaken but a little wiser. We got the midnight bus, feeling a grand relief come upon us as we dismounted the bus and walked into the calm, quiet streets of Oaxaca.
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