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Published: December 2nd 2006
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Mexico City was next; I celebrated my 30th Birthday here too. Its one of the largest cities in the world and we had heard lots of scary stories about it, from people being kidnapped and forced to hand over credit cards, the thieves then taking the maximum amount of money each day, until the money ran out or they were discovered. There were also the usual big city worries of pick pockets, muggers and bag snatchers, so we arrived with apprehension.
The L.P also advised about dodgy taxis who would take you to some seedy area before mugging and dumping you. At the bus station we had to make sure that we got an authorised taxi, usually an easy thing to do, except this time, the traffic was really busy in the centre where our hostel was so no taxis were going there, we were stuck. Our only option was to bite the bullet and get the tube with our big heavy rucksacks and heavy lunchtime traffic to deal with! It started well enough as all journeys on the tube only cost 2 pesos, 10p, what a bargain! Just like getting on a bus as a kid! We had no
problems at all, it was just like London at rush hour, just throw yourself on and hope the door closes before someone throws themselves on you! After that we used the tube every day and had no problems at all.
As usual when you celebrate a birthday you want to do something memorable and different so we decided to go and watch Lucha Libre, Mexican wrestling! It was fantastic, very similar to the American WWF and the film Nacho libre! Lots of play acting and entertainment which made it really funny. One of the main differences was that around 80% of the wrestlers wore brightly coloured spandex masks to add to the mystery and keep their identity secret! There were about 20,000 people in the stadium and they were all going mad. It was just like watching the wrestling as a kid with the likes of big daddy and the haystacks, the difference being that the style was all acrobatic and play acting and glitz. The crowd had their favorites and there were women screaming cos they wanted it, kids because they were their heroes and grown men because their just big kids! Loads of the crowd had masks
on and holding up signs and the chanting was funny. We went with a guide from the hostel and he was telling us what they were saying, loads of different swear words! To see women as old as our Mams shouting this was really funny! The entrance was 50 peso, 2.50 pounds for the cheap seats but the view was good enough and there were a few large screens to catch the replays. The best seats were at the front as there was no barrier from the front row to the ring, so when somebody got thrown out off the ring they landed on the crowd or a row of chairs if the fans were quick enough to get out of the way! 3 wrestlers got took away on stretchers but not sure if that’s all to do with the play acting and stuff!
There were about 8 matches and all of them were tag team 3 on 3. The guide said most of the matches are this way and it’s the best out of 3 that wins, all of them went to 1-1 for the last match to be the decider that’s the bit that I hate as
you know it’s all fixed. The women bringing each of the wrestlers out were well fit and always in some sort of sexy underwear or bikini, busting out all over the place, this was where the screens came in handy as the girls were filthy and the camera man a right perv, splendid! A few bruises from Michelle to say the least!! The best match for me was the first, one of the 3 wrestlers was the size of mini me and seeing him throw these huge wrestlers about was comical and even funnier when he was getting thrown, as you might have guessed he was one of the 3 who ended up on a stretcher! The main wrestler that everybody loves was Mystico. He was like Hulk Hogan always getting battered and then getting strength from no where to win!! Most of the matches the wrestlers always pretended to take the masks of there opponent and in one of them it actually happened and both wrestlers looked shocked, as what have you done and the other like, oh sorry I pulled too hard and my hand must of slipped! Funny as the play just stopped a few seconds as
the guy tried to get it back on!! All entertainment and well worth the money and would definitely go again!
After that we went back to the hostel and got blitzed drinking loads of tequila with the usual travelers, Aussie, Dutch, Canadians and Germans. Once Michelle told them it was my birthday that was it, drinking games and game over for me...I was wasted and can’t remember getting to bed. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and running to the loo and then was praying to the porcelain god for the next few hours. The next day was my birthday and had load of plans but instead lay wasted in my pit and being sick and very hungover for the rest of the day!! Finally recovered a few days later! No more tequila for me and I mean it this time. Michelle said the same as she was wasted too. Then a few days later we went on a trip and stopped at a tequila factory, she had 7 shots and bought a bottle. Alcoholic or what!!
One of the tours we did was to the Mayan ruins at Teotihuacan, these date from 250
- 600 AD, we expected so much as these are the most famous in Mexico. Unfortunately we were a bit disappointed as they weren’t as good as some we have already seen. Maybe if we had started with these it would have been a different story. The pyramids were huge; one of them, the Pyramid of the Sun is the 3rd largest pyramid in the world. You may not know this but the largest pyramid ever built is also in Mexico, at Cholula, it looks like an overgrown hill now but its still the largest, its even bigger than that at Cheops in Egypt, something for you all to remember when you play Trivial Pursuit! In its day Teotihuacán would have been very impressive, it was built on an island surrounded by a huge lake, it’s now surrounded by desert and hills, the Spanish drained the lake to their closer base in Mexico City.
We stayed in Mexico City for 5 nights, as with it being the capital there is so much to see and do. We needed longer than this but prefer countryside and greenery to big cities so decided to move on.
As you can imagine the
political demonstrations were at their peak here, the entire Zocalo, a 400m square area was engulfed by tents. Independence from the Spanish is celebrated on 16th September and it's huge, with everyone celebrating in one way or another. With all the political tension I can see it kicking off big style here, we will have to make sure were somewhere quiet for it, maybe a beach!
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