Luchadores Pyramides

On Morgues advice I travelled to a night of mexican wrestling, a crazy masked acrobatic spectacle indeed. The local hostel tour was useless (weren´t sure if was on, had to be there hours early) so in the end I just went there myself. It was a chaotic start; ticket office at about knee height, couldnt hear a word, and language difficulties meant my attempt to get the most expensive seat ( still a modest 13$ NZ or so) ended up with me in the cheapies at the top. There still was a great view, and more a part of the local crowd up there.

Its a real parents-and-children event, and the noise throughout was ear-shredding. I may have seen greater passion, but I´ve never seen a crowd show greater enthusiasm for what they were watching, only a step down from Beatlesesque mobbing.

The wrestling was top quality too, they go for the acrobats rather than oversized hulks, and there was some truly dazzling stuff on show. It similar to WWE stuff but crazier (always 6 or 8 people in the ring, midgets, almost all are in masks), and (I´d guess) less steroidal. Even the larger guys threw themselves all over the show with flips, jumping spins where they grab the opponent with their legs around the neck, and leaps from the top rope. I did enjoy it, although I didn´t think new hero "Mistico" stood out from any of the others - like in many things, a good marketing machine will go a long way.

The other main event recently was a visit to Teotihuacan, huge set of ruins (!) crowned by 2 huge pyramids, to the sun and moon. The Temple de Sol is an amazing piece, the base is as big as the Egyptian ones, though it is not as tall. And they did it all without the wheel. Of course as I was clambering up the steps in the pounding heat, I wasn´t singing those ancients' praises. The place does swarm with hawkers, and no matter that I´ve turned down 33 people selling coloured bits of glass, the 34th would still eagerly approach a-waving.

The whole city grew to something like 60-80 000 people betweeen 300-500 AD, quite a size. It then mysteriously imploded and quickly fell into ruin. Surprisingly to me, it was not a Mexica (ie Aztec) or Mayan city, but predated both. Now no-one knows who the inhabitants were, or even its true name -Teotihuacan is the name the Aztecs gave to it.


Well time to leave the many fine enchialladas, tostas, tostados and other uses of the Taco. Also salsa and chillis , which I made an admirable effort at but invariably wasn´t quite up to speed.