Weekend Crowds Take Over in the DF

With el Chopo and Insurgentes visited in the morning, in the afternoon I took another Metro train up to the Tepito Market.  This turned out to be a huge affair taking up all the sidewalk as well as two lanes of each side of a six lane boulevard extending for at least six city blocks and spreading out on all side streets for that length.

This market not only had the usual pirated knockoffs, but stall after stall of jeans, shirts, underwear, socks, and almost anything imaginable.  The crowds spilled out into the street where six lanes of a one way boulevard were bottlenecked into two, creating a massive traffic jam for the length of the market.

Fairly typical of the "Third World" market, Tepito was reminiscent of the gigantic Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok or the equally large Marche aux Puces in Paris.

A walk from Tepito southwest took me past the Plaza Santo Domingo--sort of a mini Zocalo--to the Calle Donceles where, as advertised, I found at least a dozen used book shops.

In a country where new English language titles can set you back $40-50 even for paperback, it was refreshing to find prices more in line with the budget traveler:  $2-10 depending on the title and condition.

Not all the shops had English language titles, but I found a huge pile in the back corner of one place, and many of these books were from the 1970s or earlier.

Walking further down Donceles took me to both the national Chamber of Deputies and the Mexican Senate.  And on another pedestrian walkway, the Calle Condesa, I was delighted to find an unofficial used book market on the street, though there weren't any non-Spanish language books in sight.

My walk then took me past the UNAM university bookstore where next door there appeared to be an exhibit dedicated to "Instruments of Torture and Capital Punishment."  This reminded me that the Police Museum, near my hotel, has an exhibit titled "Serial Killers."

This morning I took the Metro way up to the northeast side of the city to check out the Virgin of Guadalupe.  Perhaps most simply described as the most important religious shrine in Mexico, this attraction apparently draws throngs of visitors 24/7.

I will admit that the crowds nearly defeated me today, and it took me nearly a half hour to find a less crowded way into the broad square where thousands of visitors came to pay their repects, some of them actually walking on their knees to do so.

A colonial relic of a cathedral, sinking into Mexico City's soft ground, is flanked by a couple of even larger modern structures where people flow in and out constantly to choral music piped into huge speakers.  A larger than life bronze statue of John Paul II overlooks the entire scene.

Back on the Metro, I faced my first experience with a transport breakdown and wasted an hour trying to get a train back downtown.  Apparently a bicycle race near the Alameda-Zocalo route completely messed up many of the major bus routes, but I have no idea what delayed the metro trains.

All I know is it was a bit scary to see the crowds pouring into the station platform with almost no trains arriving to ease the jam.

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.