Go south, turn left...

You got INTO Mexico City.

Finally, you are in Zócalo. The largest main square in Latin America. Large enough to accommodate hundreds of protesters. Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC). Light and Force of the Center. Once a big state-owned company supplying electricity to 25 million Mexicans. On 11 October 2009, the police seized the offices, dissolving it, laying off the workers, and putting its operations under the control of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). The war against public inefficient monopolies started with President Calderon in the front. According to the officials, LyFC had been subsidized to the tune of $3 billion a year. New numbers appeared after 11 October: 40 000 laid off, 17 months of protest against this action, 17 months so far.

Protest of Luz y Fuerza del Centro's former workers

Protest of Luz y Fuerza del Centro's former workers

People are gathering here due to the neighbourhood of Palacio Nacional which serves as the seat of  the government. The same square is also used for rallies, sit-ins, festive events… Nearby you see small shops, eateries, cantinas, street stalls. The last ones dominate. Shoes, clothes, jewellery, handicrafts, newspapers. Crowd. Heat. Heavy air. Smell of food. Street food. Shoeshiners. In the background religious melodies. I know this tune… This is Pope John Paul II's favorite song. Played by an automatic, shoddy instrument. Catedral Metropolitana behind you. The largest and one of the oldest one in Latin America. Baroque. Magnificent. Dedicated to the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City.

Catedral Metropolitana

 

 

On the diagonal – Templo Mayor. Discovered by a telephone repairman. It occurred that Zócalo occupies the site of the ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan, the capital of Aztec empire. This was their main temple. Magnificent. Dedicated to the Aztec cult of death.

Templo Mayor

 

 

Palacio Nacional. The magnificent national palace initiated by Cortés on the site of Moctezuma’s home in the early 16th century. From 1929, day and night, Diego Rivera with his assistants were mounting scaffolds there. Renaissance Italian fresco painting techniques. “Epic of the Mexican People in Their Struggle for Freedom and Independence”. 1,200 square feet. Two millennia of Mexican history. Twenty years of Diego’s life.

Diego Rivera's murals at Palacio Nacional

 
Murals depict scenes of Aztec customs, images of the conquest, Christian priests, Inquisition, independence movement, bloody revolution, class struggle, bourgeois decadence… Faces of Marx, Lenin, Trosky…

Vivid colors. Colors. Red.

Diego Rivera's murals at Palacio Nacional

Why is the man revered by Indians white? Why is the indigenous girl holding a cut arm? Who was Lazaro Cardenas?

Louis, help, please.

Louis is a Mexican. At least he lives here currently. By choice. He was born in the U.S. where he had also spent few years of his life. His parents are Mexican.

“Oh, this is the Battle of Puebla. Cinco de Mayo! Some think that Mexicans celebrate their Independence Day on the 5th, but they commemorate the battle won unexpectedly with French forces”.

Diego Rivera's murals at Palacio Nacional

Louis was my first Mexican host. He picked me and my companion up from the airport (about one hour later than expected;)). He gave us practical advice on changing money, cell phone… He made our start in Mexico much easier. From the practical part. From the human one – he welcomed us very friendly. A well-educated hot head. He doesn’t want to live in the U.S., even though he has an American citizenship. Too “squared”. And "not for an idealists" like him. "Supporting an imperial government by paying taxes? No way!"

But who does he support by paying taxes here?

“Calderon is less illiterate - he smiles bitterly - than the past president, Vicente Fox. I don´t trust any president, they would always lie to the people cause their interests inside their elite are more important. No matter if it’s a ¨left¨ wing or  a right-lining government, they have all robbed the people, the current president is no less corrupt that the past ones”.

So by the end of the day politics doesn’t really matters when it comes to Louis' decision about living in Mexico. Country famous for Frida Kahlo, tacos, tequila... corruption and narcotraffic.

 

  

 

“I do not believe things will be better. The strategy of militarization of the country is not working and it has brought even more violence. The narcotraffic cartels are well armed and they will do anything to maintain the control of ¨their¨ territory. I think that now there is more people involved in this. And one of the problems is that a lot of government officials are involved in the drug business too, a very lucrative business. The situation has become like the one in Colombia, this country has to look into that mirror to understand...”

It was me who started the conversation, only to pick up some basic information on the Mexican politics. There is a range of other interesting issues on which Louis can talk, additionally with emotional involvement, showing a warm side of his personality. Starting from family relations, food, comparisons with Berlin where he is planning to live for a while... He also told us about his current job in Pemex, the Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Quite interesting job regarding his anarchy-close views. 

 

 

Our companion also took us to the place supporting Zapatistas. Everything they earn there by selling food and drinks is supposed to go to their communities. In the back they have also a store with handicrafts. After drinking some good, fresh brewed coffee, we got some rest watching a film show about the military coup in Chile.

Passing colorful buildings… Trees. Flowers. Blossoms.

Food. Again. Diffrent salsas. Different dough - blue, creamy. Different beans - red, brown, black, green. Cactus. Also green. Very healthy.

People gathering around the table of a street cook. Putting different fillings on their tortillas, quesadillas, tacos.

Mangos, bananas, melons, coconut for a dessert.

Slow. No rush, no rush. Sun.

 
The matter is where you feel better. Louis feels good in Mexico. In Mexico City exactly. He spent a while in Guadalajara, the other big city. It was too conservative for him, though. "People were even pointing my earrings".

By the end of the day we went to other square, Plaza Garibaldi. Mariachi wearing different suits – depicting regions they come from. Street vendors. Sweets? Tequilla? Plus ordered Mariachi song. Whatever you wish! Just sit on the bench, have some beer, there is no need to move. They will come to you themselves. Unless your attention is drawn. Some sellers are wearing very distinctive clothes, some additionally are holding metal sticks and hitting them so as to make noise, some are juggling with glowing plastic balls, like in a Turkish market. Your eyes are following the little vendors only because… they are so so little. Small indigenous children with huge bags on their shoulders. Did they get you? One pecan bar 15 pessos. Maybe 13. OK, 10. 8 – the final deal. One Mariachi song from 200 to 80 pessos. Bargain, bargain, bargain... No fixed prices.

 

  

 

 

There are also beggars approaching you.

Maybe it is the poverty which mainly draws your attention.

This is the lively part of Mexico City. Not as magnificent... No baroque grandiosity, no mysterious greatness, no smooth beauty. Are protesters still in Zocalo? Yeah. Some. They have tents set up there. They still struggle. Night and day. 17 months so far.