Escapism with Style (Part 5:______): Angry People, a Great Night out, and a Bad Captain!

July 9, 2012

Mexico City, Mexico

And all this time I had been doing so well driving around Mexico (at least after Monterrey and Zacatecas) only to again finally arrive at my destination and get lost for a good hour or so. On top of that I was writing almost everyday and keeping on top of my journal but again Mexico City has proven itself able to upset the balance. But that seems to be what Mexico City does: upset the balance. It challenges all who visits to truly discover what the city is about, and after two incredible days of being here all I have figured out so far is that it's just simply amazing.

When I thought of Mexico City I thought of dangerous movies, about kidnappings with violence, and a lot of unfriendly people like in most big cities that I've been to. That picture could not be any further from the truth. Me and my friends have walked block after block, walked home after a long night at the club by ourselves, and taken the public transportation for an hour south of the city only to see nothing but happy smiling people with their families and significant others. I'm sure that not all areas are safe here, I'm not that naïve, but all I know is that I haven't found any bad areas yet.

My first attempt at a Panoramic Pic

The one time I could have been in danger and ignored my instincts to vacate the area was in the main square of Mexico city during a protest of the election results. Without a doubt the square in Mexico City is one of the biggest in the world with a backdrop of one of the oldest and most magnificent cathedrals in all Latin America, and two days ago it was totally and completely packed with very vocal upset people chanting, waiving signs, banging drums, and marching in protest. I don't really have any idea how many people where there, but the square must be around the size of a large American arena. Then on top of that all the streets leading up to the square were packed as well so I'll guess a conservative figure of around 50,000 angry people. But although they were angry and incredibly vocal much like the night at Lucha Libre there was again no signs violence. While there was street vendors hocking every type of items (as its their normal place of business), you could still freely walk through the crowd allowing everyone to see what everyone else had to say. It was really amazing to be apart of it even if I was an outsider and I eventually got a great view by climbing on top of some important monument. Without a doubt Mexicans are a very pationate people, and just like most other days it showed.

Leaving behind my enlightened attitude from being around so many people with a true passion for their beliefs I did what seemingly everyone else did that Saturday night: PARTY! With a group of new found friends from all over Europe and Argentina we made our way out to a club that had an interesting mix of live music playing anything from Robby Williams to Led Zepplin, and then dance music (but to the dismay of one of our travelers no Salsa). For anyone who doesn't know me well, although I may not be the best on the dance floor its certainly one of my favorite places to be and here in Mexico City the club didn't disappoint. I spent the entire night (and much of the morning) dancing with friends and beautiful women before finally leaving the club with a button up shirt that was totally drenched after realizing to my surprise that I was the only one from my group still there. I finally managed to find my home and eventually got in at around 5:30am.

The next day might not have started out so well but all in all I didn't really mind. One of the things I noticed again became very clear at the club. Everyone knows that Latinos for the most part love music and even more love to dance. But unlike in the states, if a woman is sitting down during a song and is asked to dance I've only seen very limited number of times where she would decline, but it would mostly be because she has a boy friend (or isn't into smelly gringos). That being said the dance normally seems to mean nothing and when the song is done she returns to her table only to be offered again by someone else. To say the least anyone looking to have a good yet platonic time at a club will never be let down here in Mexico and while it might not lead to anything else it certainly was an incredible night out.

So after sleeping for most of the day due to my late/early arrival to my bed, I then set off on another totally mind boggling adventure. To get to my destination I had to take Mexico City's incredibly clean “Metro” all the way to its last stop and then jump on the light rail again going to its final destination. From their after a 15 minute walk through another great neighborhood of the city though more of a suburb, I found myself at the amazing Xochimilco channels.

The story about the canals go that in the beginning of the cities time when it was only the Aztecs the city was a maze of canals. But when the Spanish arrived and almost totally wiped the Aztecs out, liking the layout but not the design they also filled in most of the canals around the city. They did this with the normal stupidty of no-it-all foreigners because what they did not know was that it was located in the massive valley they founded their city on and this would lead to regular devastating floods. Today Xochilmilco is all that is left of the incredible canals featuring waterfront houses, long winding channels, and floating gardens. Its a great destination for families, couples, or groups of tourists to take an hour or two on a gondola, grab some beers, food, and other trinkets from floating salesman. If truly in the partying mood one can even hire one of the floating gondolas of Mariochi bands playing their vibrant music all day long for only 100 pasos for a couple of songs.

Ana & Ben (Slovenia)

I've always heard of numerous Venice like areas in cities but this is the first ever time I got to see one for myself and the experience was incredibly relaxing after a late night out, if not a little uncomfortable at first. Not knowing any better I rented one of the gondolas for myself only to quickly realize that they were more for families and celebrations, or even couples looking for a little romance. The stares, giggling, funny smiles, and whispers that I later received from other boaters when they noticed I was by myself was a little difficult, but as my friend Anna later told me I should have just pretended that I was like a king renting an entire boat for myself (easier said then done though). Thankfully when pulling back into one of the many start points totally packed with other gondolas, my group of friends from the night before where at the same time just starting. Wanting the experience again without the uncomfortable side effects of being alone I ran down the docks, climbed out as far as I could and got another ride. This time is was much better and our guide even let us each try and drive. While I was great at getting the boat to move in a circle I quickly realized that it wasn't nearly as effortless as the guide made it seem.

Unfortunately for the first time after the gondola trip(s) their was no partying or beers to be had. I had a ticket to one of the biggest Archeological sites in all of Mexico and it left at 9:00am. While I'm supposed to be only staying two more nights, we'll just have to wait and see if I feel like leaving or not. I feel like I've seen a good deal of Mexico City, but the truth is in a place that holds around 22 million people I know I've seen very little.