Mexico Notes, Part 2

1. One of the coolest things in all Mexico must be Lucha Libre, the Mexican professional wrestling. Unlike both of my co-bloggers, I have never been a fan of professional wrestling. But having a chance to see some Lucha in a small arena in a Mexico City suburb was too tempting to pass up. There weren't a whole lot of people there--maybe 100. The arena was a little run down with some graffiti and such. And it was a perfect Mexican experience. About 1/2 the wrestlers had the masks that Lucha is known for. Some were incredibly lame, such as the Robin character which in the US would be read as gay but maybe not there. Others were awesome, such as Yakuza, a wrestler who had a whole samurai thing going, even putting his hair in a topknot. He came up to me at one point and said in English, "We have to get these motherfuckers back." And get them back they did! Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to see the midget wrestling that was happening the following Thursday. Bummer.

2. I really love subways. They are so modern and awesome. I just like spaces that facilitate thousands of people in interacting. I feel the same about airports, though the working-class is less prevalent there. Everyone talks about how dangerous the Mexican subway is. And that may be true. I had no problems, nor have I ever had problems on a subway. This could be luck as much as anything. On the other hand, if you are stupid enough to put your wallet in your back pocket, you might deserve to be robbed. Zipping around from place to place, avoiding hellish traffic--it's just a wonderful thing. The subway stops in Mexico City are cool too. The city has spruced many of them up, giving them themes. One has Mayan stellae in them, which aren't protected and thus are getting ruined but it certainly is interesting in any case. Another has pictures of Mexican animals and a conservationist theme. In another part of that same station, you walk under a darkened area that has a star map on the ceiling. Cool. Others have various displays. By far my favorite was the display discussing artificial insemination of cows. Included were a semen bucket and a long tube called, "vagina artificial." Awesome. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera on me at the time. Bummer.

3. I watched the NCAA national championship game in the garage of former Mexican President Plutarco Elias Calles. Calles, the second of the postrevolutionary presidents, built a large home in the city that today serves as his archives. Researchers can stay there, though at rates I sure as hell wouldn't pay. A friend of mine was staying there while doing a couple of weeks of research. So we hung out in the garage watching the game with the guard. It was kind of surreal. Interestingly, American football is quite popular in Mexico. They televise nearly as many NFL games as they do in the US, and more games, including some college games, are available on cable channels. Let me tell you, if there's one thing greater than watching the Cowboys lose to the Seahawks like they did, it's watching the Cowboys lose to the Seahawks like they did in Spanish.

4. The Zocalo, or plaza, is quite the interesting place. It is the center of Mexico City, built directly on top of the old Aztec capital. When the Spanish defeated the Aztecs, they placed the center of their new city over the Aztec city, which is really the ultimate way to show dominance over a conquered society. The cathedral sits on top of the great pyramid that used to dominate Aztec social life. Some of that pyramid you can now see. The Plaza Mayor, just off the side of the plaza, is pretty cool and has a real interesting history. After the Spanish conquered the Aztec, a leading conquistador built his house there. He was later convicted of plotting against the Spanish crown, along with Cortes' son. Not only was his house destroyed but the ground salted. It was later used as a trash heap and then some other buildings were placed there. When doing some excavations in the 80s, they found a huge stone disc that made the Mexican government decide to excavate the whole thing and open it to the public. It's just a shadow of what it once was, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. Anyway, the zocalo has an interesting history too, reflecting aesthetic trends over the centuries. Big displays and pictures in the Zocalo subway station show this. 100 years ago or so, it was lined with trees and had curved pathways. Not so useful for military processions I guess, but it fit into the way Porfirio Diaz wanted to make Mexico City as much like Paris as possible. At some later point, I don't know when, it was just paved over. And so it exists today, a pretty ugly modern plaza surrounded by a death-defying traffic ring. Modern Mexico in a nutshell right there. But there's always something going on at the zocalo. Big protests, concerts the government puts on, etc. I saw one of the lamest protests ever there. Some taxi drivers were protesting something or another. There are probably a million taxis in Mexico City, perhaps a few hundred thousand more. I would guess that there were about 300 taxis at this protest. Probably not so effective. There was also an interesting communist group protesting the Oaxaca situation. On the other hand, the protests supported the Lopez Obrador candidacy after the PAN "won" the election reached in the hundreds of thousands.

5. It's amazing how beloved Pope John Paul II is in Mexico. The papacy, and the whole Catholic church for that matter, is something I don't pay a whole lot of attention to. In Mexico, it's really hard to avoid though. JP II must be one of the 5 most important popes in history. I know that could be overblown given the 2000 year history of the church and the recent death of John Paul. But no other pope is represented at the big cathedral in Mexico City. JP has a statue on the side of the church. At the Basilica of the Virgin, where she supposedly appeared to an Indian soon after Spanish colonization, there is a statue as well. No other popes are seen. My friend tells me that this relates to two things--first, John Paul II was the first pope to visit Mexico and that was huge. Second, John Paul II finally recognized the Virgin of Guadalupe as legitimate. For hundreds of years, the church distanced itself from this virgin because the Mexicans don't necessarily see her as the mother of Jesus. But JP II both legitimized her and canonized the guy she appeared to. The Virgin, I understand, is as much a part of Mexican national identity as a religious symbol and thus the Pope recognizing her meant he was also affirming Mexican identity. Speaking of the Virgin, the history of her site is interesting. Originally the site was covered with a classic cathedral. But its weight combined with the soft Mexico City soil and the masses of visitors meant that it was sinking. So in the 1960s (I believe) Mexico decided to put up a new church, which is an awful structure. A round modernist building that looks like a giant Baptist church doesn't quite seem right for the virgin's image.

A final post tomorrow.