Mexico City: Independence parade. Terrorism.
No, the 5th of May is not Mexico's Independence day. The 5th of May Mexican forces (lead by a Texan, oh the irony) beat the French army in Puebla (I believe it was the only victory, until the French government abandoned the puppet ruler, Maximilian, who was swiftly captured and executed). But I digress ...
I arrived to Mexico City the 15th of September, so I watched "El Grito" (the cry fro independence) on TV. The following day the President's speech was very militant, the reason of which did not dawn on me until many hours later, when I learned about the terrorist bombings in Morelia, perpetrated by drug traffickers....
Had I known about this, I would have not gone to the military parade to celebrate the start of the the Independence War. So I watched the myriads of battalions, marching proudly in Paseo de la Reforma (our Champs Elysees), the most popular the military nurses (fit as a fiddle, all very pretty) and the charros closing the parade (Mexican cowboys), the most intimidating the Military Intelligence (which is sorely lacking in practice, they should concentrate more in working than in looking menacing).
Insecurity in Mexico is reaching really dangerous levels: people is executed in the most cruel fashion (inter gang violence and and open war against the police, the drug traffickers even put banners in pedestrian crossings announcing their grievances between themselves and with the police, very often threatening explicitly some people. People of means are fearful of being kidnapped, which has happened to prominent businessmen and politicians, many of whom are threatened by drug dealers via anonymous calls from pay as you go mobile phones....
Cancun: Xcaret, folk dancing and songs, Yucatecan food.
I have always mixed feelings about the ecological resort of Xcaret: the small zoo has enclosures too small for some animals but there is a program to reintroduce turtles into the wild which is very successful, people can swim with dolphins (whose state of captivity is considered by some people to be cruel) but there is a research program which seems serious enough to me (the installations and care for the animals looked superb to me) Over development? Encouragement to use biodegradable sun blocker. Don't know, I would say in balance the resort is managed competently enough.
The resort offers several bits of entertainment during the day, but the night time show takes the biscuit: enactment of ancient ball games, folk dancing and singing from all the regions of the country. The classy touch was when the dance of the old men, normally performed by masked young dancers, was actually performed by old men masked. At the end they uncovered their faces to discover a group of very jovial over 60s Lotharios. They even managed to show the voladores de Papantla, a performance most tourists have seen, even if that have no idea where Papantla is.
I eat Yucatecan food, which is slightly different from the rest of the country. My hotel happened to have a branch of "Los Almendros", a Yucatecan gastronomic institution.
Mexico City: books, football, classical music and all that jazz.
I bought several books while in Mexico City. I noticed there were far too many books by Carlos Fuentes, the reason of which was his 80th birthday. Several magazines published long articles about him, one of them actually dedicate all the issue to him. His name is mixed liberally with Withman and Borges, Milan Kundera talks enthusiastically about one of his books.
Carlos Fuentes has won every possible accolade except the Nobel Prize of literature, which is frankly long overdue.
Football was other distraction, English football fans will be happy to know that Sven Goran Erikson is now Mexico's national coach. The joy. I watched several of Pumas UNAM games on TV for nostalgia's sake, but could not go to the stadium...
In the classical music department I managed to bag a rare recording of works by Julian Carrillo, who worked with microtonalism long before more famous musicians (Stockhausen and John Cage, to name just two) did so several decades later.
Financial crisis: blame the Dems.
I saw the financial crisis unfold while in Mexico. The naivety of the unsuspecting Mexican politicians and general public regarding the global economic downturn is mind numbing.
I read yesterday, once back in the UK, a damning indictment in The Spectator of the role the US Democratic party played in sowing the seeds of the current economic fiasco.
I read The Spectator (a right wing political magazine) mostly for the laugh value, but I have to say the analysis of the current situation is spot on regarding the blunders of the democrats. I would love n equally objective analysis defending the Democrats on this regard.
OK, time to go to sleep. I am pretty jet lagged and I have a half marathon to run tomorrow! Joy, joy, joy.
No, the 5th of May is not Mexico's Independence day. The 5th of May Mexican forces (lead by a Texan, oh the irony) beat the French army in Puebla (I believe it was the only victory, until the French government abandoned the puppet ruler, Maximilian, who was swiftly captured and executed). But I digress ...
I arrived to Mexico City the 15th of September, so I watched "El Grito" (the cry fro independence) on TV. The following day the President's speech was very militant, the reason of which did not dawn on me until many hours later, when I learned about the terrorist bombings in Morelia, perpetrated by drug traffickers....
Had I known about this, I would have not gone to the military parade to celebrate the start of the the Independence War. So I watched the myriads of battalions, marching proudly in Paseo de la Reforma (our Champs Elysees), the most popular the military nurses (fit as a fiddle, all very pretty) and the charros closing the parade (Mexican cowboys), the most intimidating the Military Intelligence (which is sorely lacking in practice, they should concentrate more in working than in looking menacing).
Insecurity in Mexico is reaching really dangerous levels: people is executed in the most cruel fashion (inter gang violence and and open war against the police, the drug traffickers even put banners in pedestrian crossings announcing their grievances between themselves and with the police, very often threatening explicitly some people. People of means are fearful of being kidnapped, which has happened to prominent businessmen and politicians, many of whom are threatened by drug dealers via anonymous calls from pay as you go mobile phones....
Cancun: Xcaret, folk dancing and songs, Yucatecan food.
I have always mixed feelings about the ecological resort of Xcaret: the small zoo has enclosures too small for some animals but there is a program to reintroduce turtles into the wild which is very successful, people can swim with dolphins (whose state of captivity is considered by some people to be cruel) but there is a research program which seems serious enough to me (the installations and care for the animals looked superb to me) Over development? Encouragement to use biodegradable sun blocker. Don't know, I would say in balance the resort is managed competently enough.
The resort offers several bits of entertainment during the day, but the night time show takes the biscuit: enactment of ancient ball games, folk dancing and singing from all the regions of the country. The classy touch was when the dance of the old men, normally performed by masked young dancers, was actually performed by old men masked. At the end they uncovered their faces to discover a group of very jovial over 60s Lotharios. They even managed to show the voladores de Papantla, a performance most tourists have seen, even if that have no idea where Papantla is.
I eat Yucatecan food, which is slightly different from the rest of the country. My hotel happened to have a branch of "Los Almendros", a Yucatecan gastronomic institution.
Mexico City: books, football, classical music and all that jazz.
I bought several books while in Mexico City. I noticed there were far too many books by Carlos Fuentes, the reason of which was his 80th birthday. Several magazines published long articles about him, one of them actually dedicate all the issue to him. His name is mixed liberally with Withman and Borges, Milan Kundera talks enthusiastically about one of his books.
Carlos Fuentes has won every possible accolade except the Nobel Prize of literature, which is frankly long overdue.
Football was other distraction, English football fans will be happy to know that Sven Goran Erikson is now Mexico's national coach. The joy. I watched several of Pumas UNAM games on TV for nostalgia's sake, but could not go to the stadium...
In the classical music department I managed to bag a rare recording of works by Julian Carrillo, who worked with microtonalism long before more famous musicians (Stockhausen and John Cage, to name just two) did so several decades later.
Financial crisis: blame the Dems.
I saw the financial crisis unfold while in Mexico. The naivety of the unsuspecting Mexican politicians and general public regarding the global economic downturn is mind numbing.
I read yesterday, once back in the UK, a damning indictment in The Spectator of the role the US Democratic party played in sowing the seeds of the current economic fiasco.
I read The Spectator (a right wing political magazine) mostly for the laugh value, but I have to say the analysis of the current situation is spot on regarding the blunders of the democrats. I would love n equally objective analysis defending the Democrats on this regard.
OK, time to go to sleep. I am pretty jet lagged and I have a half marathon to run tomorrow! Joy, joy, joy.
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