Life in a year full of Saturdays

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Mexico City (Mexico) - Hardwired to self-destruct

MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)

05 March - 07 March 2017

Planning our trip to Central America happened at around the same time that Christmas was starting to stick its head over the garden fence, meaning that it was close enough for us to feel its presence. Somehow in those weeks of planning and contemplation when I was trying to conjure up a present for Inga, I came across the understanding that Metallica were travelling around the same parts of the world that we were going to be in as they took to their Hardwired to Self-Destruct World Tour. And hey, didn’t I just have the greatest piece of luck, Metallica were going to be performing at Foro Sol, Mexico City on 05 March! All it took for me to lock in these tickets as a Christmas present was a small tweaking of our entry and exit into Havana, and there it was, Metallica in Mexico.

Metallica - World Wired Tour - Foro Sol - Mexico City - Mexico

Years earlier Inga & I had written out a bucket list of bands that we wanted to see together. Looking back now, we’ve seen nearly all of them since the writing of our list but back then, Metallica was an early tick on the ‘completed list’.

Getting into Mexico City worked perfectly, a flight out of Havana to Cancun and then the connecting flight to Mexico City. This was the key element to getting to the concert on time, and with budget flights you can just never be so sure, delays & cancellations are just part of the game when you’re flying on the cheap. So I breathed a *sigh* of relief when our flight from Cancun took off on ti,e.

Metallica - World Wired Tour - Foro Sol - Mexico City - Mexico

In Mexico City we stayed at the Hotel Sport Aristos CDMX, which I have to say was just a stroke of genius. It literally is the closest accommodation that you can get to Foro Sol stadium and it came as a God send both for getting back home after the show but also prior to the event. What I didn’t know when I was picking up tickets before the concert was their requirement to see my passport as it was the ‘only form of viable ID’ that a foreigner could offer as acceptable identification. So, had we not been located within striking distance of the stadium then the hassles of having to get back into the city and then out the stadium once again would have been completely horrendous.

Mexico City does it right

Concerts in Mexico City. Wow. CDMX, you guys know how to do it right!

Admittedly, the crowd at Foro Sol was not as raucous as an Argentinian crowd but the passion and emotion was still there. But even before the main event, the merchandising available was just on another level. Now both of us have been to many concerts, in many parts of the world, but here at Foro Sol the choice was remarkable. I’m not sure of all of it was entirely legitimate but considering we were actually in the grounds of the stadium then there had to be some associated with legitimacy, right?

Another thing they got right. Queues, or rather, the lack there of. Now there was 65,000 people on the night we were there but we could walk straight up to a bar and order drinks, we could walk straight into a bathroom without having to wait in ridiculous lines. How is it that a venue like this can manage so much better than any Australian event we’d been too…here’s a hint….more staff, more facilities. You can cater for the masses if you have all these elements in place.

Metallica - World Wired Tour - Foro Sol - Mexico City - Mexico

The parade of Molten Black trying to make their way home

How were Metallica?

They certainly beat all my expectations by an extremely large margin. Personally I was never a major fan of this band in my earlier years, there were occasional songs that I’d come across that I'd enjoy but the ‘black army’ never aligned to my sense of self and neither did their music….but, as the day to their concert approached I gradually got into them more and more so by concert time I was more excited about Inga’s present than she was Of course being such a major global band theirs a universal appeal that exists for a reason. There's a connection they've formed through their music that obviously speaks to a couple of generations of teenagers and angry 20 somethings. From their music, to the show, the spectacle and the crowd, this was one fantastic night and I’m certainly glad that we had the opportunity to see them perform here, the atmosphere, to throw in a line of absolute cliché, was electric.

Ciudad de Mexico - Mexico

Plaza de la Constitucion - Zocolo - Ciudad de Mexico - Mexico

Ciudad de Mexico - Mexico

Plaza de la Constitucion - Zocolo - Ciudad de Mexico - Mexico

CPlaza de la Constitucion - Zocolo - Ciudad de Mexico - Mexico

Teotihuacan

The day after the epic show at Foro Sol, I suggested that we head out to Teotihuacan, an ancient Mesoamerican city located very close to Mexico City itself, about 40kms north-east of the city, known as an architectural site of significance because of its fantastic pyramids and one time populous.

An extremely impressive location, I would say easily that this site is far more impactful visually than the more famed Chichen Itza in the Yucatan.

Teotihuacan - Mexico

A fairly vast complex, it's estimated that at its zenith, approximately 1500 CE (Before Common Era), it was the 6^th largest city on the planet with a population of 125,000+. From my own perspective its the scale of the complex and the nature of the structures that made this a true highlight, especially when comparing it to equivalent locations that we went to, only surpassed, I believe, by Tikal whose location in the jungles of Guatemala made it feel more mysterious and exotic to me.

Indeed the history of Teotihuacan far more mysterious than that of Tikal, as is the reason for its existence. The origins if its founders are uncertain and it existed as the largest centre of Mesoamerica almost 1000 years prior to the Aztec epoch. All these elements should make this location more popular than it seems to be. Certainly it is known well enough but it has none of the ‘parade’ and circus associated with Chichen Itza.

Teotihuacan - Mexico

We spent a fantastic few hours walking around, climbing up the Pyramid of the Sun, which is the largest structure of its site in the Western Hemisphere, (standing at 66mtrs). It dominates the central –eastern space at Teotihuacan residing on the Avenue of the Dead and being the main draw card of the site. Certainly climbing to the top of the structure is as challenging as the awe it inspires, standing at 2300mtrs above sea level each step you take feel like three on a stepper in the gym.

A truly great experience and one that I’d be happy to do again when my son gets old enough to understand what he’s looking at.

Ciudad de Mexico - Mexico

Mexico City

We didn’t allow ourselves a lot of time in Mexico City, so leaving any great observations to the last time I was here and the entry associated with it, what I did find on this occasion was an abundance of culinary options. It’s Mexico of course and the food they’ve given to the world is magnificent, but, perhaps it was the lack of my own observations on my last visit here in 2011 but it seemed that food offerings were everywhere. Cheap, delicious and in plentiful, this has to be a culinary hot spot that is cruising under the radar at the moment!

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Havana (Cuba) - The old man and his sea

HAVANA (CUBA)
28 February - 05 March 2017

This time in Havana it felt like we were visiting an old friend. Someone we had a lot of fondness for and one that we knew would welcome us back with warmth, hospitality and late night conversations of the good times we'd previously experienced together. A few drinks, some music, dim lights and the familiarity that comes from being in the company of someone that you enjoy being with. To me that's the way Havana feels now.

Habana Vieja - Cuba

The Malecon - Habana Vieja - Cuba

Habana - Cuba

For this entry I don't feel the need to discuss the contradictions, the one that exist in constant write-ups about the hotchpotch of buildings, the taxi drivers wearing American baseball caps as they touts rides in their Chevrolets or Buicks, the Revolutionary propaganda that is more parody now than anything else, the Neoclassical shopfronts, the Soviet style buildings - all those influences, all that has brought Havana to the place that it sits right now, in this moment, has already been well documented and philosophised about. Havana for the both of us at this moment in time is just exactly what we get to experience, and without losing that connection to the past, I don't think that there's an overwhelming need now to justify how we act as tourists in a city that sits on the precipice of its own ocean of change.

Habana Vieja - Cuba

El Floridita - Habana - Cuba

I don't believe therefore that there's a need to justify our want to stay in a Hospedaria on the Malecon and occupy a room rented out by a lovely family whose home and offering of accommodation in any other corner of the globe, with their sort of location, would go for hundreds of dollars of night. We simply wanted to have the pleasure of being able to look out from the balcony, dangle our feet over the edge and watch the sun drop over the Bahia de la Habana. Can there be a more tranquil and warming experience than watching the slow transitions of the handful of old 50s' & 60's vehicles making their way up the Malecon as the Habaneros make their way out in a slow, deliberate and slightly melancholic way to occupy their section of the retaining wall, open up some rum, chat, canoodle, play music and just be. Walking to the regular beat of the drum of their city, there's something warm and satisfying about letting the scene wash over you.

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Sunset on the Malecon - Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Siete Anos

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

In the same, is there an issue with us heading to the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, sitting out on the back patio, having a few cocktails and enjoying a few Montecristos on a balmy evening. Understanding that a few streets away there is economic hardship, but then also understanding that in every country there exists that same hardship, and yet, when we're at home we don’t feel as compelled to delve deeply into our own domestic guilt. For some reason touristic guilt and being required to act ethically appears to be the yardstick by which tourists/travellers are held to account. Being conscientious, having authentic experiences under the auspices of somehow being culturally aware is demanded more often, is this our ongoing requirement to all that travel? Is this an objective we need to meet only outside of our country? Or is it only whilst in third world countries? What’s the rule?

Montecristos at Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

The Malecon - Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

Havana is infectious in its vitality, it offers itself to you at every turn, on every block, with every person that you come across. Our purpose can be, and should be, to enjoy what it has to offer in the present. The kids playing on the streets, the ramschakled, dilapidated buildings that give way to intriguing snippets of life through open windows and doors. As you peer inside catch glimpses of old men sleeping on rocking chairs, old transistor radios acting as their eternal lullaby, women hanging out their washing as they hold conversations from windows across the street. I bare witness to daily life as I make my own path through this wonderful city, but, who should I apologise to? Is there a need for me to set the record straight for just wanting to experience a little bit of all that Havana has to offer?

Pulling up seats in the back corner of El Floridita, ordering a few of the classic daquiri’s and disappearing into a cloud of our own cigar smoke, I thought back to the type we were last here. Same room, same style of music, same style of crowd but now, different circumstances. Just like Havana, changing quickly but slowly before your eyes, its an interesting feeling being aware of a future with new possibilities but not knowing exactly what they are. Around Havana you can see a new economic tempo, a quickening of investment, restaurants and cafes starting to make their way into previously uncharted territory, and then, there’s places like El Floridita that just follow their well established beat, on the path they’ve always followed.

Habana Vieja - Habana - Cuba

La Bodeguita del Medio - Habana - Cuba

The beauty of this city is in its rhythm, in its contradictions, in both its wants and failings. It’s in its secret desires and what you see on its very surface. Enjoying it for what it’s worth, to me, is positioning yourself in a place that allows the town to wash over you in just how it pleases. To me that’s how we’ve been able to feel Havana in our own way and in the way that it let us, un-apologetically and without casting aspersions, because hey, we have no right to do that, much in the same manner I won’t allow that to happen to us just for wanting to see a place.