Mexico City

Mexico City, the monster...according to my taxi driver on the day I arrived, Mexico City and its surrounds has a population of 40million people. I was told on a few occasions that it was 20m and the internet hasnt provided any conclusive answers, so whatever the size, its a true monster of a city. Despite this though its a great place with so much history pouring from the old centre and so much to do in the streets that head away from the Zocalo and the biggest flag I have ever seen in my life! I was able to meet up with one time travel buddy Tamara who has been living in the city since we were all in Cusco together murdering tunes on the karaoke. We explored the barrio where she lived, Coyoacan, land of the coyote I think, which is a slightly middle class district of the city containing a host of art museums and perhaps the cleanest mercado Ive set eyes on with great juices. I visited Frida Kahlos house which contains some of her art work and its where she lived in the last days of her life. I then went from there to the house of Trotsky who wound up as a political asylum in Mexico and initial lived in the Blue House of Frida kahlo. The room in which an attempted assisnation took place still contains some of the bullet holes and the room where he was murdered is just through the wall. The day after, a friend whom I had made in Oaxaca and I went on a wander round the centro seeing some incredible buildings...the catedral is stunning and its free to visit the Palacio Gobierno which has some outstanding murals of the history of the country along with some fantastic halls and rooms rivalling the White House in granduer...Im not sure if you can still go inside the White House but I was lucky enough to visit in '97 and the Palacio Gobierno seems to contain a lot of similar rooms, green, purple, blue etc. We had a beer at the top of the Latin America Tower, tallest in the country with some great views of the city. Its 60pesos to go to the viewing platform but its free to go to the bar on the floor below it and you get beer there so its a definite winner. There is a thick smog which hangs over the city, theres probably more cars there than people in all of Scotland and that kind of detracts as I think you would get some superb views into the surrounding mountains. The Palacio Bella Artes is perhaps the most gorgeous theatre in all of Latin America with its whitewashed stonework and orange dome. From the centro we passed the Plaza de Revolucion with its monument complete with servicemen in formal uniform. We visited one of the large parks in the city which contains a zoo and a theme park as well as 19th century castle but we didnt see any of that as a performing clown who we sat to watch decided to add me to his show. I always had bad feelings about watching clowns or street performers as they are bound to pick on the gringo, it makes the whole show funnier. Well this performace included a group of young kids performing tricks and then dancing to a selection of reggaton, salsa or mambo music. It was all very good, he had been cracking jokes which I didnt understand and the audience was loving it. The kids had been great at dancing, particulary to the reggaton, then it was my turn. I got to dance with him, solo and then the grand finale with a girl picked from the crowd. Well I did my best but dancing is not a strong point, I am white afterall. Every Friday and Tuesday in the city they have the Lucho Libres, the Mexican wrestling and so that night along with the hostel I went along to watcht the acrobats, women fighters and midgets get thrown around the ring and into the crowd all the while everybody is cheering, jeering and hurling abuse at the wrestlers. Its so much better than WWF, its a great laugh. That weekend I made my way further west to the city of Guadalajara with the main intention of seeing the local team, Chivas playing in their new stadium. My reasons for this was that Chivas are Banjos Mexican team (and he gives me a hard time for liking more than one team) and he really wanted to get there. Also it was the chance to see one of the biggest clubs in Mexico playing at home in the quarter finals of the cup. Well Guadalajara is a beautiful city, maybe the most beautiful big city in the country but enough of that, the football. The stadium is brand new and is incredible with great views from everywhere. The singing section never shut up as you would expect and there was a good atmoshere in the ground. Chivas were trailing from the 1st leg and unfortunately for the home fans, the game ended in a goaless draw so they were out. There was great saves particularly from the away keeper and how the Chivas captain stayed on the pitch after being booked in the first 10mins I have no clue. There were tears from the fans at the end of the game and an official from the away team got pelted with drinks and food as he walked from the pitch. It was great, a goal would have been nice but cant have everything. I very nearly ended up at an afterparty, yeah even though they lost they were still going to party, way out nowhere near the city. It may have been fun but I was quite happy to get back to the centro. Back to Mexico City for the last few days before my flight and there was still lots to see. I visited the Estadio Azteca which is unbelivable. It may be the coolest stadium in the world after Tynecastle, because of its history, size and even the acoustics are great. Its the only stadium until now to have hosted two World Cup finals, it will forever be the only stadium to have witnessed the two greatest winners of the World Cup lift the trophy, it has seen the greatest two goals in a World Cup, el mano del dios and then Maradonnas other goal in that game. Theres more, Platini, Cruyff, Zidane, Ronaldo (both), Ronaldinho, most of Brasils 82 squad, all played in this stadium, all walked down the same tunnel, sat in the same dressing rooms and touched the same turf and now Neil Dewar has done so too...no other stadium can claim host to so many great names. The official capicity is 105,000 which has been reduced from 120,000 for the installation of more boxes. It hosted the Pope John Paul and 135,000 people attended. It can claim to have held the biggest seated event when a boxing title fight brought in over 130,000 people, all with bums on seats, the facts about the stadium go on and on and it must be amazing when Mexico play there and over 100,000 people are all cheering the same way...Mexico have been beat once in the ground, from Costa Rica!!! Tamara and I visited the Basillica of the Virgin of Guadalupe which is a nice building sadly with a modern version built next to it in the mould of something from Cumbernaulds town centre. Inside the new builiding is a poncho worn by a man from the 16th century. On it is an image of the Virgin, not painted, not stitched and nobody can give a true answer to how its on the rag...also contained in the virgins eyes are images of the man who wore the poncho, one of him kneeling down and the other of him standing arm outstretched. If you squint you can make out the images, I dont have an answer for you. We also revisited the scene of my humiliation, the large park in the city, however this time we went to the Zoo followed by the Museum of Anthropology. The Zoo is excellent and its free! We saw all kinds of animals from Gorillas and inquisitive orangutans to black panthers, ocelots and countless other mammals of all shapes and sizes. The main attraction at the zoo though is the not one but two Giant Pandas that they have. i couldnt belive that they were there, I mean they cost a lot of money...Edinburgh is meant to be getting one on loan too which will be awesome. The Zoo was really good, one of the biggest I have been to with a great collection of animals. The museum is regarded as one of the finest in Latin America and rightly so. As the name implies it looks at life on planet earth since early man. It is huge though, we were in there for 3 hours and we only saw half of the rooms, there is just so much info to take in. The exhibit on the Mexica people of Mexico which are who we all know as Aztecs is fascinating and there is lots of artefacts recovered from the area around Mexico City which was once a large lake in which the Mexica built their two main cities. Its a must see if your in the city but dedicate a whole day to visit, its just not possible to see it all in an afternoon. On my last day in Mexico, I visited the ancient site of Teotihuacan with Tamara and her man and another friend of theirs. It is staggering, the facts alone are incredible...the city occupied 20kmsq and at its height had 175,000 inhabitants...thats astounding considering the city dates back to well before the Mexicas to the time of the Teotihuancan people who lived before Christ. Its thought the city was started around 100BC. It also contains, until now, the 3rd largest known pyramid in the world, the Temple of the Sun. Seeing the city is incredible. The size of everything is astounding, the size of the city and the temples that tower above you, the Temple of the Sun is enormous, I counted 244 steps to the top, though I may be out by 10 or so. The decoration on the Temple that was built to honour the God Quetzlcoatl, the bringer of the 5th sun, is amazing. Large jaguar and serpent heads that would have been coloured red and black. Its not like Mayan temples, or any of the temples in South America, the decoration is so much larger and as ellaborate as anywhere else. The Avenue of the Dead which runs right down the middle of the city is huge, the size of a 4 lane motorway and at its head the Plaza de la lunar is perfectly symmetrical with the Temple of the moon at its head, another imposing pyramid. Its certainly one of the greatest sites I have visited and I have seen a lot. It may have been the most populated in pre-hispanic America and at its height one of the biggest in the entire world and it is truly mindblowing. Its such an immense place that even after the Teotihuacan people had long left and Mexico had been popluated with other civilisations, the city was still used as a place of pilgirmage for these new civilisations and the Mexica believed that Teotihuacan was where the gods Nanahuatl and Tecuciztecatl lept into a large fire thus creating the sun and the moon. Like Machu Picchu its a magical place, just 100 times bigger!! It was a great way to end my time in Latin America. I will definitely have to come back to explore this large, diverse and historically magnificent country, where food, drink and the people are all excellent. What an adeventure its been and I guess I am one very lucky person to have had the chance to see all the places througout the world I have visited and to have been there with some excellent people.