Visiting Plaza Garibaldi is different when you're with a friend.
As a solo traveler, the musicians gave me barely a second glance, but with a friend in tow they are hoping we are ready to pay cash for some live music.
Sitting at a very reasonably priced restaurant terrace (60 pesos, or $5, for top shelf tequila), we were intermittantly approached by musicians offering a song--for what amounts to a song.
After bargaining a young fellow down to 50 pesos from 70, he said "One moment please" and disappeared to round up his partners--who turned out to be another guitarist and a trumpet-wielding hipster with dark glasses and a smartphone.
It was immediately clear that 50 pesos gets you a trio, at most, which includes a horn player busy texting his buddies between riffs! This was great fun for me to "give back" after many years of playing similar gigs in Thailand and elsewhere. The trumpet player reminded me of several ex-colleagues of mine, lol. . .
Later an older, more decrepit pair of singing guitarists attempted to entice us with the old, worn out cliches "La Cucaracha" and "Besame Mucho".
"No! but no, no Besame Mucho, no. . ." we protested.
But if we wanted something better, it was going to cost us. . .50 pesos! "De accuerdo" we agreed, and the duo gave us fairly decent rendition of we don't what, but it was a beautiful song, and everyone was satisfied with the transaction.
Showing posts with label Plaza Garibaldi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plaza Garibaldi. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Saturday, August 27, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Sensory Overloads the DF
Thanks to Jim Johnston's excellent advice in his "opinionated" city guide about getting a sitio taxi from the airport to the Colonia Central, I had a very smooth transition from flying the unfriendly skies in the morning to getting situated in my pre-booked, conveniently located hotel early in the afternoon.
Although the heart of the capital is only six kilometers from the airport, it took nearly an hour to navigate through the city's notorious traffic congestion. However, I was out and about on foot by around 2.30 for my first walking tour of this massive, colorful metropolis.
The Alameda Central, a green park about five blocks long, is only a couple blocks north of my hotel, so I made a beeline for it. Though the sun was pounding the streets pretty heavily, there were people everywhere I looked, just as it is in Manhattan.
From the Alameda, I walked up a wide boulevard about six blocks north to Plaza Garibaldi which is mariachi central for the entire country. Even though it was too early to catch any music--the place doesn't get hopping until late at night--there were plenty of costumed musicians (including several violinists) beginning to gather in readiness for the coming night's work.
At this point I turned east, intending to locate the Zocalo, the historic center of the city with one of the biggest plazas in the world, surrounded by dazzling colonial architecture of palaces, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and various government buildings.
But after a couple blocks I began to feel the heat of the sun more intensively as I realized that the city's 7000 foot elevation was turning my walking legs into heavy lead. I decided to save the Zocalo for another, cooler time period.
I found a good, albeit slightly pricey four-course lunch in the restaurant of my hotel. This was just as well, for by that time I was running on very little sleep from the night before, and a siesta afterward took me til nearly 9.00 p.m. Nightfall brought temperatures 20 degrees lower than the day's--a pleasant end to an exciting travel day.
Although the heart of the capital is only six kilometers from the airport, it took nearly an hour to navigate through the city's notorious traffic congestion. However, I was out and about on foot by around 2.30 for my first walking tour of this massive, colorful metropolis.
The Alameda Central, a green park about five blocks long, is only a couple blocks north of my hotel, so I made a beeline for it. Though the sun was pounding the streets pretty heavily, there were people everywhere I looked, just as it is in Manhattan.
From the Alameda, I walked up a wide boulevard about six blocks north to Plaza Garibaldi which is mariachi central for the entire country. Even though it was too early to catch any music--the place doesn't get hopping until late at night--there were plenty of costumed musicians (including several violinists) beginning to gather in readiness for the coming night's work.
At this point I turned east, intending to locate the Zocalo, the historic center of the city with one of the biggest plazas in the world, surrounded by dazzling colonial architecture of palaces, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and various government buildings.
But after a couple blocks I began to feel the heat of the sun more intensively as I realized that the city's 7000 foot elevation was turning my walking legs into heavy lead. I decided to save the Zocalo for another, cooler time period.
I found a good, albeit slightly pricey four-course lunch in the restaurant of my hotel. This was just as well, for by that time I was running on very little sleep from the night before, and a siesta afterward took me til nearly 9.00 p.m. Nightfall brought temperatures 20 degrees lower than the day's--a pleasant end to an exciting travel day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)