Mys-ti-co, Mys-ti-co, Mys-ti-co…

Luche Libre is the best 30 bucks you can spend on entertainment!  Absolutely hilarious – highlight for me were the little people in Teletubby outfits fighting (see vid below)!!! 

The atmosphere was electric, the passion palpable and the noise deafening. Screaming, clapping, stamping, booing – the Mexicans reaaaaally love their wrestling! And we did too. 

Mystico seemed to be a local hero and there was near hysteria when he entered the arena – he played to the crowd, raising his arms, blowing kisses etc – took about 10 mins for him to get to the ring!  He did a lot of acrobatics – probably why he’s so popular, but the villains team seemed to get the better of his (the goodies) team, so not sure what all the fuss was about!! 

I would definitely recommend going to a show. And so easy to organise – tickets through ticketmaster, uber dropped us near the entrance, usher showed us to our seats, then the refreshments people bought beer, popcorn, hotdogs, soft drinks etc to your seat. 

We left 5 mins before the end and jumped straight in a taxi outside – home in 10 mins!!

Having said that, it probably should have taken about 20 mins to get to the hotel but the taxi driver was driving like a maniac – a little worse but not unlike most of the drivers we’ve had here. Road rules like lanes (when marked), one ways and lights seem to be more of a guideline than a rule!  They drive through red lights if no one’s coming or they feel like it, create their owns lanes (whether marked or not) and frequently stop and park in a lane while they pop into a shop – other cars just drive around them. Then as you’re driving along, one of the outside lanes suddenly has a bus coming towards you – the cars move out the lane and then back into once the bus has passed! And because it's not chaotic enough you then have people pulling trailers loaded with goods either by hand or by bike, going in the opposite direction to the traffic! There’s a bit of a free-for-all when merging lanes - people cut in behind and in front, but you don’t hear or see any abuse or road rage, and not as much tooting as I would have expected. 

The other slightly scary thing about driving is that there doesn’t seem to be any kind of WOF required. The uber that picked us up from the airport had soooo many cracks in his windscreen I’m amazed it was still in place. I’m not sure we’ve been in any vehicles other than buses that would pass a wof at home – dents, bumpers hanging off or missing, lights missing - you get the gist. Chaotic, a little crazy but polite. 

They show a lot of #8 wire mentality. The power lines are all above ground and not very high, so when the hop on/off bus couldn't fit under some that had drooped - the crew just grabbed some headphones and tied them up higher!!

The anthropological museum is definitely worth a visit – lots of great artefacts and information about Mexican history. Although I’m glad we weren’t around back in the old days and playing the sacred ball game ullamalitztli. When a play was made that went against the movement of the sun the player was decapitated!!!! 

We were also quite taken with the Coyocan district – very cute and if we were to visit again would look at staying there. It's also where Frida Kahlo's house and museum is.  Mexico City is such a contrast of high rises and old historical buildings, arty sculptures next to bronze and gold-plated statues, modern houses next to falling down concrete bunker type housing but it is incredibly vibrant and clean.

 

I am writing this blog on the bus from  Mexico City to Oaxaca, which due to road closures, works and traffic turned a 6 hour trip into a 7 hour one – but we’ve almost arrived now so I’ll sign off.  We have absolutely loved Mexico City, would definitely come back again and highly recommend a visit if you haven’t already been here.

Our posts may be a little less frequent for the  next couple of weeks, as we’re travelling around a bit more frequently, so adios for now.

J&T x