Turning Up To The Mex

Hola from Mexico all.

I aim to use this as a travelogue for my few weeks travel, rather than bothering people with emails - and bonus is I´ll be able to go back and edit my mistakes. (Or at least I will when I work this thing out, set this up without really looking into how to operate it - so sorry for any gross errors).

Travelling from downunder involved the requisite 6 hour stopover in the 7th hell of LAX. To be fair the first two hours were fine as I lucked into a bar showing the Champs League Man U - Barca. Things did return to the expected horror as I ordered a totally inedible "Japanese" meal, made from a chicken who must´ve been quite poorly when he was killed, and which likely would´ve got someone imprisoned if actually served in Japan.

Due to delays at Mexico City airport, it was 1am when I got there. My first experience was definitely the scariest ever taxi ride. I´ve been on some contenders before, but this was the Sistine Chapel of terrifying trips - racing at up to 130kph through red lights, swerving across mostly deserted lanes, and screeching to a halt at the last minute as another intruding vehicle screamed past. Natch no seatbelts either. Luckily I hit my head on the roof when he got airborne early on, so watched the ride through a sleepy and semi-concussed haze.

(Every experience since has been great, so I haven´t taken this as an ill omen.)

Over the next couple days I hit some of the key sights of the city. Some were quite stunning, but I won´t go into detail if I´ve got nothing more than "wow" to say. I did enjoy Temple Mayo, a central set of ruins (I do love me a good ruin) where you could see succeeding layers of an Aztec temple built over each other.

Another highlight was a series of Diego Rivera murals in the Palacio National, effectively depicting the country´s entire history. The jaw-dropping immense centrepiece featured every significant Mexican ever, sort of like the cover to Sgt Peppers, only with a theme. The mural was completed when Mexico was going communist, so that came through strongly - it seemed they were using the same square-jawed overall-clad honest worker that I saw depicted in Russia, so I think he must have travelled down to pose. Luckily he remembered to bring his sickle.

I´ve also learnt much about Mexican culture. I can report that the Mexican Weakest Link has a carbon copy ruthless bitch from the UK original, and the only cd store I visited proudly displayed "Tiffanys Greatest Hits" under the exclusive import section. I also heard Spanish versions of "Everything I do" and Coldplays "Yellow". Yellow was definitely a Mexican artist, as they didn´t sound half as suicidal as Chris Martin does, but the Bryan Adams song was a scarily close version, right down to droning the entire chorus on the same note. Either a Spanish speaker has managed to emulate perfectly the sound of Canada´s second-worst export, or Bryan has been practising his Español. I guess the latter, as surely the world's too small for two people to make it with that voice.

More to come when I can.