03.08.12 - Lucha & Lycra

Hannah had to work in the morning so I had a much needed lie in before she came to find me at the apartment. We got the bus into the old part of town, the main area that tourists would go to. There are no bus stops, they just stop at pedestrian crossings. The bus costs 25p per journey, the underground

 15p. There is a definite ethos of making things affordable for everyone; for example most museums are free, the zoo is free and other attractions are cheap to enter. The bus driver was playing Creedence Clearwater Revival. We went down the main road to the centre, Paseo de la Reforma. There is a statue of an angel on a tall column, which looks a little like the Picadilly Circle Eros. Children come here in limos when celebrating their 15th birthdays, which are a huge thing here, to have their photos taken, the girls in huge, princess dresses. The whole road is closed on Sunday mornings to cars.

The architecture here is much more of a mix of old and very new, and therefore much more interesting that the more residential areas. The older buildings are ornate and grubby, looking as though they are in need of a very good clean. There is building work and redevelopment going on everywhere. The good state of the economy means that there is money for road improvements, building works and general job creation. The Mexican economy is benefiting from the relatively recent harnessing of local resources and a healthy detachment from the financial melt down in Europe and America.

We ate lunch at a hotel restaurant looking over the main square. There is a huge flag in the centre and people bustling around below. There are so many people here compared to SF, the difference in noise levels is very noticeable. There were native Mayans below, dressed in traditional outfits and feather headdresses, blessing people and warding off evil spirits with bunches of smoking leaves. Apparently this is not a tourist thing, there is a strong believe in pre-Christian ideas.


We didn’t have much time to wander around as we were booked in for a trip to see the circus at 5pm so we got the underground back to the
apartment. Most tourist books would probably say don’t go on the underground, or be very careful as it’s a prime spot for pilfering, but if you’re aware it’s fine and if there are more than one of you and one of you speaks Spanish then you’re surely fine.




The underground map has pictures for each stop as well names so that people who can’t read can use it. Like the roads there are inventive pedlars here too; one man got on with a huge speaker on his back, holding a video screen, showing music videos and playing loud music, showing his wares.

We walked around the top of the Bosque de Chapultapec park. There are lots of trees for shade so no large grassy areas, and one section has a running track on it that winds between the trees. Hannah has seen people practising their bull fighting in the park. The performance was by a French Canadian troupe called Sept Doigts. It was aimed at kids so there was lots of young audience participation and the circus acts were weaved into a vague story. The actual circus bits were amazing, my favourite was right at the end. Two trampolines were divided by a huge structure with three square holes through it at the top. The performers would jump onto the trampoline and then scoot through one of the holes, or walk up the wall, or land on top, and then do it all in unsion or weaving in and out of each other. I’m sure that Mum and I have seen some of the performers at the circus competition that we went to in Paris.


After performance number one, we got the underground to performance number two, the Lucha Libre, i.e. Mexican wrestling. It had been organised by a Mexican guy who works at the embassy as

 a leaving party for one of Hannah’s English colleagues. There were about 30 of us and we were sat in the second row back. The fighting goes on for about 2 1/2 hours and there are about six fights of increasing quality. All of the wrestlers wear amazing costumes; the most traditional being a set of very tight, lycra leggings suitably decorated in sparkly bits and a mask in a similar style. Then there are a few who don’t wear masks and others who have characters like Batman, a cave man or a gay wrestlers dressed in a pink leotard who tried to kiss Batman, There were even two dwarf wrestlers. There are usually 3-on-3 but there is always a changing repetoirs so sometimes there are women wrestlers or 1-on-1.

The whole thing is ridiculous and obviously very fake but it is so exciting and really easy to get in to, I found myself shouting and booing and gasping as they flung themselves off the ropes. It was

 reminiscent of the air guitar competition; totally ridiculous but so over the top that it’s great fun. Between each match a group of five, scantily clad girls come and parade before the crowd.

As you’re watching people come and sell you drinks and food, we even got a min Dominoes pizza. The pork scratchings that are everywhere have a very powerful, meaty taste that I wasn’t too keen on repeating.

After the final match, which was for the World Championship, we got to meet some of the wrestlers. One called Majestico came out who had been my favourite. He was a lot slighter than some of the bigger wrestlers and he could flip onto the ropes so that he was upside down and then use the bounce to flip himself right again. Then when an opponent was outside of the ring he would jump to the top rope and flip through the air onto the

 man below. It was crazy. He had nearly had his mask ripped off by his opponent. If that happens then it is the most shameful thing that can happen, so I don’t think that they ever et as far as actually ripping it completely off, seeing as it is all made up.

We had a drink after the match and then headed home.