Living in Mexico - Archives: November 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
On Friday night I went to the concert of the “other No 1 DJ in the world” (ranking also claimed by DJ Tiesto), Paul Van Dyk at the Roots Magic Club.
I can’t imagine a more “Mexican” night than that one! The guy who was supposed to buy the tickets turned up late and came up with a lame excuse and our money back, but no tickets of course. So we had to queue to buy some last minute tickets, in a joyful mess that thankfully did not take too long.
The Roots used to be called La Boom in a past era, and I was one of the many regular visitors of that “antro”, committing there various youthful sins that are locked up in the same dusty cupboards as my personal collection of skeletons. It is quite obvious that the new owners have invested vast sums of money in an extensive refurbishment of the building, which looks quite awesome today, a jewel nestled in an eye-sore area of Mexico City.
In the late 90’s, La Boom possessed one of the best sound systems of any disco in the capital, and the Roots has remained true to this tradition, testimony the fact that 36 hours after the concert I’m still half-deaf. The light effects, laser included, were also stunning, on a par with the better discos in Europe. Cold ice showers were a welcome respite to the heat – it seems that Roots is a “Green Disco” bent on energy saving schemes, in particular with respect to air conditioning.
Somehow the organizers of the concert managed to pack 3000 to 4000 people in the building and by 11PM it was impossible to find a place where you wouldn’t enjoy the exotic bodily smells of your neighbors. Going to the toilets became an adventure equal to the best Indiana Jones movies (“take that tunnel, jump over the ledge, shove a few stragglers away and finally relieve yourself”).
Our esteemed Paul Van Dyk himself wasn’t immune to the grid-locked traffic of a Friday night in Mexico City – due to appear on stage at 11PM, he finally showed up at 2AM when I had already totally exhausted my jumping energy! Nevertheless, he threw in a few masterful adrenalin pumping tunes that had the crowd roaring with pleasure and the floor nearly collapsing under so much non-earthquake induced stress.
Techno is amazingly popular in Mexico based on what I saw on Friday night. Many famous DJs will organize concerts in the capital in the next few weeks, including Armin Van Buuren and DJ Tiesto. Having been contaminated by techno during many years in the UK, I can only applaud that ascendance of Mexico City as a magnet for great electronic music events. Well done!
Posted by Serge @ 08:46 AM MEX [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
This week I managed to escape from “El Defectuoso” courtesy of a customer who sent me on an impossible mission in Queretaro. It was my first time in the fabled city of the Spanish colonial aqueduct.
Queretaro is located a mere 2 hours 40 minutes by bus North of Mexico City. The journey is rather dull with no dramatic scenery worth reporting (unless you consider the ugly northern suburbs and industries of Mexico D.F. “dramatic”). However, the city of Queretaro in itself is impressively clean, especially when you are used to perennial dirt of the capital.
I have heard persistent rumors that middle-upper-class inhabitants of Mexico City, fed up with the increasing pollution and crime rates, are migrating to Queretaro. Indeed, life there is undoubtedly more peaceful while offering most of the facilities available in a large city (e.g. shopping, gym, etc.).
My only disappointment was with the otherwise reliable Tripadvisor Web site which recommended the Hotel Quinta Santiago. I can understand that American tourists with an overdose of standardized, bland, luxury found in Sheraton and Hilton hotels would be attracted by the rustic basic furniture of that noisy, window-less hotel but personally I do fancy a decent bed and some silence coming back from a day of on-site work.
Despite a totally last minute booking at the Fiesta Inn Queretaro I got a nice, clean and very quiet room at a tariff of under Pesos $1000 per night. The old town is only 20 minutes away, a taxi ride that costs Pesos $30. Dinner at the terrace of restaurant 1810 on Plaza de Armas was enjoyable, though by no means was it an example of “haute cuisine”. Strolling through the colonial streets of Queretaro at night was definitely a highlight of my stay.
Overall, Queretaro is a good weekend break destination away from bustling Mexico City. There are several interesting tours available in that historic city, which unfortunately I had to miss because of an endemically packed work agenda.
Posted by Serge @ 07:40 AM MEX [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Thursday, November 2, 2006
Reading the excellent Rise and Fall of the British Empire (part of my allowed quota of 2.9 books per year as a resident in Mexico), I learned about an intriguing scheme from colonial Britain to conquer the Spanish Americas via a pincer attack on Mexico and Chile.
This audacious late 18th century plan was a reflection of the British Empire's disarray after losing its North American colonies during the War of Independence. With Spain a declining colonial power, Britain sensed that an opportunity existed to bring under the enlightened and paternalistic protection of Britannia the under-developed yet rich Spanish colonies of the Americas.
The expedition was to set sails from India and land British/Indian troops on Mexico’s Pacific Coast . The expeditionary force was committed to another theatre of operations and the attack on Mexico never took place.
For fans of alternate history novels this episode of British imperial expansion holds many savory questions! Britain was a far different colonial power from Spain, with different moral values, commercial objectives (as opposed to outright plundering), development plans (exemplified by the laying of railway tracks throughout the Empire), religious dogma, etc.
What would have happened to Mexico if it had become a British Dominion by 1795 for example? Would social and economic development have taken a different path? Would tobacco and cotton fields have flourished on Mexican soil and steel tracks crisscrossed the country? Would the catholic religion have been uprooted? Would the relationship with USA been substantially altered? Would Mexicans have embraced the British as liberators or rejected them as invaders?
I simply cannot devote time to explore all the ramifications of this alternate history, although my gut feeling is that Mexico would have been better off under the British yoke than the Spanish crucifix. Too late, we’ll never get to taste a delicious Indian curry served in Mexico City by a Punjabi grand-grand-children of the valiant expeditionary force that would have conquered Mexico on the behalf of the Crown. Rule Britannia!
Posted by Serge @ 07:58 AM MEX [Link] [Karma: -4 (+/-)] [14 comments]
