Back in Mexico DF

I'm back in the big city and spent this morning "following the young people", first to the famous El Chopo Saturday market which is where the kids go to get their favorite music and clothing. 

Every possible genre and subgenre of popular music from the last 45 years is represented:  rock'n'roll, reggae, ska, heavy metal, punk, and more.  Some stalls sell only classic LPs (remember those, kids?). 

El Chopo is also the place to get 10 peso piercings, tongue studs, leather pants, dog collars and leather bits and pieces, chains, tattoos,corn rows, and more.

Despite all the variety, Chopo Market--which has a history running back to the 1970s--turns out to be much smaller than I had pictured it.

Next I hopped a bus to the Glorieta Insurgentes, a large roundabout surrounded by dodgy looking medium size skyscrapers--one of them looks like a squat, so covered with graffiti it is--and this is where Mexico City's "emo" kids hang out.

Mexico City and Queretaro both were wracked by anti-emo riots a couple years ago.  Emos are said to be a youth subculture which draws style elements fom other subcultures but doesn't seem to have any further meaning beyond a vague striving for "heightened emotions."  Other youth groups reportedly were enraged by the emos' supposed superficiality and for "stealing" others' hairstyles and fashions.

Today I don't see many kids here, but there are a handful of police equipped with riot gear.

The Glorieta Insurgentes also has a number of very large, modern internet shops, some with as many as 50 cubicles.  I am writing this dispatch from one of them right now.

Again, this traffic circle is large but not as massive as I had pictured it in my head--certainly not as big as Arc du Triomphe in Paris or Bangkok's Victory Monument circle.

There is a metro stop, bus stops,  and a couple important throughfares, but this area is much quieter than, say, Alameda Park.

Next on my to do list:  there's a street I want to find that has a large number of used bookshops.

Then I might check out the barrio Tepito which supposedly has the largest "pirate" market in Mexico.  This is the place to get your DVDs, CDS, and other fake knockoffs.

Another visit to Plaza Garibaldi--mariachi central--will be in order before the weekend's finish.

And finally, tomorrow I'll try to run up to the Virgen of Guadalupe which has been highly recommended.