First stop was San Cris (again!) where I spent 2 days couch surfing with the first couch surfer I surfed with upon arriving in Mexico. 2 girls from Casa Argentina times (Guatemala) were also staying there and it became a nice little reunion catch up. Cinthia and I took advantage of the many bars and clubs located in San Cris to also catch up on some nightly shenanigans and lots of dancing that we missed when living in Palenque. We also went to visit the Canyon Sumidero which has cliffs 900 metres above sea level and is quite impressive especially from boat level, cruising on the Grijalva River. The river flows into the hydro-electric dam which generates something like 35% of electricity for all of Mexico. Amaazing!
Next stop… Guadelajara…
Impressions -
A payaso (a clown) is sitting next to me on a bench in a pedestrian street that reminds me very much of Pitt street mall in Sydney. He is most probably in his late 70’s and has a blotched red nose, white cheeks and a
pink face with white lips. He’s smoking a cigarette, his legs are crossed and he is wearing ¾ business pants which have been frayed with scissors. He holds a juice in a plastic bag with a straw sticking out of it and is clutching a bag which has seen better days. He wears a short straw hat that sits on an angle on his head. He looks fragile for a clown, as if his skin might break apart upon touching him. He also doesn’t appear to be too fussed about doing his job, perhaps having forgotten that he is wearing his clown gear. Further down the street sit an old couple on the ground who are selling a collection of bathroom items including a whole lot of dry bristle brushes. The old man is interlacing the raw material together with which to make these brushes. His face has a gentleness to it which invites you to talk to him. The old woman is well marked with coarse lines running all across her face and hands. They look out of place here in this commercial shopping precinct, or is it that everything else looks out of place surrounding them…There are definitely not as many different cultures here in Mexico as there are in Australia. I have now become use to seeing a certain type of cultural look and when I encounter other nationalities, I catch myself starring at them, amazed at their differences. I now understand why I’m singled out although I don’t feel that I look that different to Mexicans, but the remarks say otherwise. I am also known as ‘la Australiana’ and am identified with the stereotypes of kangaroos, the Crocodile Hunter and surfing, all things that very much describe who I am!
Because it’s so expensive to live on your own, the majority of young people live at home until they’re married or they have a decent stable job. From my impressions, this means that parents are much more part of their kids lives than they are in Oz. This is what I experienced when I visited my friends in Guadelajara. All of them live at home, and although they are given the freedom to do what they want, they are still very much part of the family unit and their parents are part of their lives. Family seems to carry a bigger importance here than in many other places. Sunday is a traditional family day. You see many groups of families out and about, doing activities together and spending time together like you don’t really see back home.
There’s a strong skater culture in Guadelajara, or at least I met many skaters when I was there. The influence of this sport is like anywhere in the world; from the clothes that you wear, to the music that you listen to and what you do in your spare time. I guess one of the differences here is that being part of this culture doesn’t prevent you from still being part of and enjoying Mexican culture. Skaters who listen to e.g. industrial rock or metal still appreciate the classics of Mexico, Marimba and a whole variety of different styles and will still enjoy e.g. going out dancing salsa even if they don’t know the steps properly!
Some of the houses in Guadelajara are absolutely stunning. I have never seen such big luxurious houses in my life before. There’s definitely a very large division between the haves and the have nots here. I was told that most of the mansions belong to the narco traffickers. I guess it makes sense. Where else would they get money to build such humungous houses?! But then all of the friends houses I visited in Guadelajara were also quite big and impressive and most have maids - and this is the middle class. The justification for this is that having a maid here costs much less than what it would in Australia, therefore only the well of do so in Australia whereas here more people are able to afford to do so.
DF – next stop Distrito Federal (Mexico City)
I spent a week in DF and was show
n around by a friend of Cinthia’s called Jesus who lives in Colonia del Carmen Coyoacan. He made it his mission to show me DF and spent 3 days being my guide. His parents also joined in and took us out to a Sunday lunch (family time!) to a historical part of DF. We went to Mercado Chopo which is a fusion of many different pop cultures (goths, skaters, punks, hippies) in the one place. It’s an interesting market which has a very slight resemblance to Camden market in London but is definitely not as big. It also has many bloody dolls with skulls sticking out and many more day of the dead type of knickknacks.On the Tuesday of my week in DF I managed to convince a few friends to come to the Luchas Libres with me. Now the concept here is similar to the more well known WWE wrestlers from the states – but much more entertaining in my opinion! The wrestlers in Luchas Libres get dressed up in what looks to me as super hero costumes and wear masks that cover their faces and makes them look mysterious and tough (until they get onto the ring…). Once they start fighting, it looks like they’re all partaking in amateur theatre, throwing pretend punches at each other, and taking it in turns at pretending to be hurt. The crowd yells abuses at the wrestlers to egg them on and at each other depending on who you support out of the wrestlers. Some people take their wrestling very seriously and many wrestlers are very famous and are worshiped. Masks are sold all over Mexico and are seen as collectors items (yes, I have one too…!) I’m told that 70 year old grandmothers sometimes go along and are very passionate about their wrestling, yelling abuses such as “dale carbon!” (translation: give it to him asshole!) to the luchadores. All in all, it’s quality entertainment!
On Friday just before I had a ‘guest’ from Australia come to visit me, I went out to a club with Cinthia and a friend of hers. Now some of the clubs here do things a little differently to us in Australia. First if you’ve driven there’s usually a car part attendant out the front of the club who takes your car from you and goes to park it somewhere around the club for you. Of course tipping is required. Next if you want to be guaranteed to get in then you need to phone up in advance and book a spot for you and your friends. This way, you don’t need to line up and wait outside for hours like all the others who forgot to call. Usually you have to pay a cover charge which is relatively quite expensive for Mexico. Once you’re in you get taken to a table (you have to be at a table if you’ve booked) and if you’re at a table it means that you have to buy a bottle of something (rum, vodka, gin, tequila…) The only problem is that if you’re only a few then maybe a bottle of liquor is a little too much for you to get through in one night (especially if one of you is the designated driver). Doesn’t matter . Throughout the whole night you have a waiter who attends to you and pours you your drinks at your table once you have bought your bottle. I found this to be the most frustrating as he is always around, watching and seeing how much you’re drinking, ready to pour your next drink even when you don’t want one. If you want to get rid of him you have to pay him for his service which is a minimum of 15 % of whatever the bottle cost. All in all, an expensive night out! Obviously not everyone can afford going to these sorts of 'lugares' here in Mexico…
On the night that my ‘guest’ arrived (the 2nd of October) was the anniversary of the 1968 student shootings in Plaza de las Tres Culturas 10 days before the Olympic games took place in Mexico. A large crowd gathered at the famous Zocalo with banners, megaphones, figurines and buses. The protest in 1968 was during a time when there was mass struggle in Mexico after many years of a one party political system. They had taken to the streets once again to pressure the government for basic political reform. The massacre was a planned affair. Snipers were positioned in large buildings surrounding the Plaza and shot into the crowd killing somewhere around 300 people (this number i
s disputed). When the shooting stopped the wounded were dragged by the presidential guards and taken away. The government initially stated that it had been provoked by the protesters but later it became known that this was far from the truth. To this day there are many questions left unanswered – Who ordered the massacre? How many were killed? Who are those whose bodies still haven’t yet been identified? The protesters this year at gathered at Zocalo to remember the protesters who died in this massacre and to call for justice once again, asking for the government to establish the truth of these massacres. Police were out in force that night in the streets surrounding the Zocalo. I have never seen so many cops in one place before even during APEC in Sydney there were fewer cops then there were here. Welcome to Mexico!
