Day seven, Mexico City: It’s a family thing

On my final full day, my father and I along with my Tia Irene and cousin went to Basilica de Guadalupe for mass by taxi. As I said earlier, it is the most visited Catholic Church in the world. So how do you give service to many people with a limited amount of space; you shorten the mass.

We walked in as a mass was about to finish and waited until we could find a seat for all of us, which was not easy. Once we were seated, mass pretty much began and it lasted about 30 minutes, about half the time you would get if you were to walk into a Sunday mass at your local Catholic Church. As soon as that finished, the new one began within minutes.

We took a taxi ride back and my dad and I walked around another flea market that closed down a street. There was nothing much happening there so we walked down and picked up the last item I was looking for, mazapans. It is a candy that is tightly packed peanut butter tasting powder.

For the rest of the day we stayed at my Tia Chuy’s house. More family came when another cousin of mine came by. I think it was good for my father to see plenty of family he doesn’t see on a regular basis around him for the past week. He and my aunts have had a good time catching up and remembering things.

I’ve had a good time talking to my cousins that I’ve never seen before. I also found out my Spanish wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. It’s not great, but it is enough for them. We’ve had a good time talking and they have done their best to understand me. It’s frustrating for me since I can understand them; I just have a hard time expressing myself.

It has been great for the past week; we’ve shared some good laughs and I can see that humor is not just an immediate family thing.

Tomorrow I say goodbye to my cousins, tias and my dad and fly home. One of my sisters will meet my father later this week and take him to Guadalajara to see more family.

Day six, Mexico City: ¡El Tri!

When I woke up in the morning I found that my aunt and cousin from Jalisco had arrived. My father had been talking to them for a while. I didn’t know what time they were coming in and tried to sleep in a bit.

There was plenty to do for everyone. They were going to go to Palacio de Bellas Artes while my dad and I had other plans. So we quickly split up as they went downtown and my dad took me to a nearby flea market. I hadn’t been to a flea market in years and this was unlike the ones I remember. About 10 city blocks were closed as vendors sold where cars usually roam during the week. I found some items for friends and my dad bought produce.

We walked back and my aunt from Mexico City made me lunch. During the meal I had some food caught between my teeth around where I had a temporary crown and it popped out. My dad and I were going to a nearby pharmacy to buy denture adhesive – which I was told to do by my dentist if that happened – when my cousin showed up. Fortunately for me, he had to make a delivery to his restaurant which was by the pharmacy. After we were all settled, we were dropped off at the nearest Metro station.

The Metro in Mexico City is unlike any I have been on because they are on pneumatic tires and not the standard rails. It did make for a smoother ride and only cost two pesos or about 15 cents. The other thing I hardly ever see are people trying to sell stuff on the trains. Anything from music to candy is being sold.

We made several transfers, including a complete change in transit systems to get to Estadio Azteca and the closer we got to the stadium, the fuller the train was.

When we arrived I was amazed by the stadium. I can see why opposing nations have a hard time playing there; the sheer size is intimidating.

We sat in the top deck, on a corner. The stadium was designed in a way that every seat can see the center of the field without any difficulty. The stadium was also designed with concrete seats in the upper deck that were not that bad. I have yet to see an official attendance report, but I’m sure there were more than 100,000, if not capacity crowd of 105,000 as people were standing up around the stadium and sitting in the aisles. My cousin was telling me tickets were selling for about five times its face value.

There were also precautions taken by the police as the fans for El Salvador were all guarded by the police and a no man’s land of empty seats.

The crowd was lively before the match as many of the top deck crowd was there 90 minutes before the match. They were fine for the most part, except soccer hooligans are everywhere. There was a beverage battle between the people sitting above us and those sitting below us leaving us in the middle. The second and third goals for Mexico were the worst as they used it as an excuse.

As for the match, it began and after had to be stopped after a minute for nine minutes because bees were flying around the El Salvador goalie. It turned out an entire swarm got loose and unlike getting a bee keeper like the San Diego Padres this year and delaying the game for 45 minutes, they got fire extinguishers.

Mexico was in control throughout the match. They pressured the El Salvador defense often and the only goal of the first half came on an El Salvador own goal. There were four goals in the last 23 minutes as Mexico won 4-1. We joke often in the sport department how that is sort of like a seven touchdown football win. In a way, that’s what it was.

As crowded as it was getting to the stadium, it didn’t compare to leaving. It was the most jam packed I’d ever been just to get to the train station. Getting in the train car was no easy feat either as they were full until we got to the metro station.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Mexico City and I want to stay around for the most part. There is another flea market which I’ll go to. I want to by this candy that I could find in the U.S. but it would be so much cheaper to get here. After that, I really don’t know, but I look forward to it.

Day five, Mexico City: Is it safe to drink the rain water?

It was a quiet day for the most part. There more to see, but my dad and I just needed a break. I think we’ve seen more than our fair share.

So with nothing to do for the most part, we just stayed around the house and walked around the neighborhood through the beginning of the day. Our cousin was delayed in picking us up to take us to a huge produce market call “El Merced” where there are just seemingly endless rows for produce.

My cousin is very familiar to those that work at the market. He just has to honk once he gets close and someone opens a spot for him. He walks in and goes to his known vendors and reels off what he needs from them. As soon as he orders he usually walks away to pick up other items and parks them at a location at a vendor while he gets more stuff. Towards the end, he runs into some runners that know his vendors. He gives them his car keys and they pick up his items and drop them off in the trunk of his car. He tips the guy that helped him with the spot too.

We made it back home but I still needed to buy certain items for friends back home. Another cousin gave us a ride back to Centro Historica. It was an interesting walk. I did learn that a Big Mac meal costs about half what it does in the U.S.

We came home and had a late lunch/early dinner with my aunt making me plenty of food. After a while we walked back to my cousin’s restaurant. We didn’t eat, but we talked for more than an hour.

While we were there, it began to rain heavily with flashes of lightning. It came and went in a matter of 20 minutes or so. I came home not tired for a change, which was a nice feeling.

Today, family from the state of Jalisco is coming in to see me and my dad and should arrive in the morning. Then, me and my dad with my cousin and his two sons will head to Estadio Azteca for the World Cup Qualifying match as Mexico will take on El Salvador. And, the winner will not be considered the greatest country on Earth, no matter what the Simpsons say. It should still be fun and if Mexico wins, they qualify for the 2010 World Cup with a match in hand.

Day Four, Mexico City: More Aztecs

I spent the first two nights without knowing there was a fan in the room. I turned it on and it made the night more comfortable.

The original plan was to go to the marketplace and spend some time at Centro Historica. However, due to time constraints, we could only go to Centro Historica and could not go everywhere there. We made a stop at Palacio de Bellas Artes first. They had an exhibition dedicated to the art of El Greco who’s art was years ahead of his time when he painted them in the middle ages and most of his art on display centered on religion. One of the pieces standing out was “The Disrobing of Christ,” a painstakingly piece of art that is magnificent. There was also a wing showing separate portraits of the twelve apostles and Jesus in center.

On the second floor there were murals drawn by various artist, including Diego Rivera. One was a remake of a mural he was drawing at Rockefeller Center in New York named “Man, Controller of the Universe.” It shows a man at the controls of the entire universe that surrounds him. The original mural in New York was never finished since it contained an image of Lenin and was destroyed since he refused to take it out.

The building itself is a three story complex with art deco design and marble everywhere.

We walked towards Catedral Metropolitana. It is another huge Catholic church that is also sinking and tilting in the soft soil of Mexico City. Inside, there is a pendulum showing the angle of the tilt, and how bad it used to be. The cathedral contains much religious art work and shrines. One that stopped me was the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It was hard not to think of my mom yesterday and today walking in these churches. Seeing the shrine stopped me. I asked my cousin if they sold candles here and he said they did. So I bought a candle for her and my cousin lit it front of the shrine where I placed it.

Being pressed for time, my cousin said: What would you rather see more; Palacio National and Templor Mayor? I chose the ruins of the Aztec temple. The temple was built less just over 100 yards away from the cathedral with artifacts found as much as three blocks away. The temple is actually seven layers; each emperor ordered another layer placed on top of the previous one. Archeologists uncovered the layers, artifacts rooms and alters found in between.

The museum at the end of the walk through the ruins held many of the artifacts uncovered during the digs that began just over 30 years ago. There was a giant stone named Monolith of Coyolxauhqui, the goddess of the moon. On one level you can get right next to it. On the level above it you can see it better and illumined with color. The museum also showed many artifacts that included masks, gods and pottery among all the other items one can find during a dig.

My dad and I returned home early. We had lunch and dinner with the family. My dad and I needed a break.

Tomorrow, we don’t have much planned actually. Maybe we’ll get that shopping done.