Ok, I'll tell y'all a
story about when I went to
Mexico, a few years
back. Okay, first things first, usually when an
American talks about going to
Mexico, it's often something along the
lines of hitting one of the many
border/
party towns, like
Tijuana or some such
place. Well, not the
travel party I was in, we went straight for the
throat! We went to the most-
densely populated city per square
kilometer in the world...That's right, we flew right in to
Mexico City (via
Houston if you must know).
Now, to describe downtown
Mexico City is kinda
interesting. I've heard
Hong Kong is a crazy place because everyone is moving 100 miles an hour. Well, I may not have ever been to
Hong Kong, but having been to
Mexico City, I understand. Now, I don't know how much
you, the
reader, are aware of the geography of
Mexico City, so I'll give an abreviated
rundown.
Mexico City Proper sits in the middle a 500 sq.
kilometer valley, ironically called
Mexico City Valley. In the middle of the valley is, as previously mentioned, the
city-proper. Bright lights and big tall skyscapers and all the
icing. I saw women of such
elegance and
graceful beauty there (only in appearence of course, my knowledge of
Spanish extends to ordering another
beer). I saw a crazy
cab driver doing 80 through the
beltway, weaving from
lane to
lane which such hasty abandon that was only matched by his frequent utterance of various
Spanish vulgarities( I think he was
borracho). To top it all off, he started pissing on the street in front of me when I wouldn't
tip his
crazy loco ass (Hung like a horse, I might add).
But anyways,
I disgress.
So in the center of the valley are all these gnarly
shopping districts and classy
food joints (btw, they have
great jazz music in
Mexico City), I even saw a produce
truckload of
AK-47 armed
Federalis drive down the main drag while I waiting in front of
hotel one day.
The mountains surrounding the
Mexico City Valley are where all the hardcore rich people who aren't
crazy enough to live in the city dwell. It's all nice art-deco stucco houses (the hallmark of
Los Angeles archetecture, right here in
Mexico!), with irragated lawns (It's dry as a
mofo there), and swimming pools. Ever watch
Muyi Pronto? Well, this is where those people live in
Laberint de Pasion.
I mean..it was
chic, man. Well, the most
interesting part is yet to come.
So anyways, one day, I went with my travel group to go on a
tour of some local
ruins (I don't recall whether it was
Mayan,
Incan,
etc etc), and I hop on the tour bus (which I must also note was quite
superb, Mexico has an excellent long-range bus system, it puts
Greyhound to shame), and we leave the
City-core.
Once you get out of the belt, you're surrounded by this
desolate wasteland, with a few minor tweaks.
Mexico's
freeway arterials are quite
nice, I'll give them
that. Well, these roads are
barricaded on either side with four foot
black and
yellow striped
concrete dividers. Ten paces from either
divider is an eight foot
barbwire cyclone fence. Wanna know what was on the other side?
MILES AND MILES AND MILES AND MILES of
tar-paper shacks, with the occasional
TV attenae dotting a roof
here and
there! It really
blew my mind, you
know, the
contrast in
lifestyles. I mean, I've walked across the
street of some
neighborhoods where I live and watched the
property values drop double digits. But this...
this was hardcore.
It was crazy y'know, makes ya really think 'bout how lucky we are (you must be
somewhat lucky to be on a
compooter,
teen angst aside).
So I figure whenever I get all snivelly about my life situation and how I don't have enough toys (
Jah, I could go for another 64
megs of
RAM!), or how life is
fuckin' pit, I can always
gloat over the fact that I don't live in a tar-paper shack outside of
Mexico City. I mean shit, do they even allow these
peasents, these
human beings into the
city?
I never saw
one, straw
poncho and all.
Yes, I know it's
contradictory for me to simultaneously sympathise with their
plight and be grateful I have it better.
sue me.
On a side note, for an interesting read on Mexico City, read Moloch's writeup on that place...