TINO'S AND YEDA WEDDING Feb. 28th 2009

TINO'S AND YEDA'S WEDDING FEB.28th 2009 Mazatlan Mexico

DON'S PLACE KEY WEST 10th anniversary

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If you have any photos from the party and would like me to add them to this site please E-mail them to me at tinogon@aol.com.

MEXICO CITY TRIP 2008

" I HAVE AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE"

We recently had the opportunity to visit our son, who resides in Mexico City, being that he had a place for us to stay and transportation, it was an offer "we couldn't refuse". We are currently residents of Key West Florida but are originally from Chicago Illinois.
It seems that that every time the topic of Mexico City comes up in conversation it is joined at the hip with negative connotations of: Crime, corruption, air pollution, over population (25 million), sprawling metropolis (600 sq. miles), poverty, urban blight and so on.
While these tags are true to some extent, I being of a sound mind and positive attitude know that it can't be all bad. So I was bound and determined to see the "other side of the coin" for myself.
In preparation for our exodus I perused the Internet via Google looking for places of Interest and tourist destinations. I also read several historical novels. The most interesting of these by far was the novel by Jeff Shaara entitled "Where have all the Soldiers Gone". It describes the Mexican American War of 1847 and specifically the battles fought at Chupultepec Castle (Which at the time was a military academy) and Mexico City. Three historical points (aside from the fact that the U.S. acquired the western part of the U.S. as war spoils) of interest came out of these battles: The first is that the cadets at "Westpoint" out of respect for the fierce fighting that took place, still wear the uniforms that the U.S. soldiers wore into battle. Two, the U.S. Marine Corp Hymn starts out with "From the halls of Motezuma_ _ _ ", and three, the red stripe on the pant legs of the of the Marine's dress uniform represents the fallen Marines in this battle.

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So the first stop on the trip was the Chupultepec Castle, Which is located in Chupultepec Park. Which in itself a sight to behold, the park is centuries old and lays claim to be the largest park in the world (1600 acres) by comparison New York's Central Park is 843 acres: It is host to Museums, an amusement park, a zoo, several lakes, the home of the president of Mexico and of course the Castle and is surrounded by some of the most affluent neighborhoods in Mexico City, one of which is Polanco, which is where my son lives. So as an extra bonus we were in walking distance of the park. Our visit to the Castle and park were quite rewarding.


NIGHTLIFE: As I am quite fond of music I insisted that we visit one of Mexico Cities Jazz clubs. I could only find a handful listed so we decided on a place in the heart of the city. It was called Zinco's and was located in a dark dingy basement, actually in a vault of an old bank building - Perfect. The night we went they were featuring a jazz band called The Camilo Nu Quartet.
Camilo is a Mexican guitarist who plays a wicked flamenco guitar. Their jazz music was completely different than any thing I ever heard. Their music is a fusion of Spanish flamenco and North African influence. It can best be described as starting out with a solo flamenco dance number so pure that one could vision the flamenco dancer doing her dance with canasta's clicking away and then evolving into a Moroccan belly dance number where the imaginary dancer is gyrating to the beat entertaining the male members of a caravan, while all the time the tread of Jazz winds itself throughout the number. Needless to say the place was packed with a lot of local followers.....It was a great night.


The next stop was the "must see" The Floating Gardens of Xochimilco, so called because "back in the day" long before the Aztecs, the inhabitants lived on lake beds and in order to grow their crops they developed an ingenious system of islands and canals. Legend has it that they developed these islands by building large floating rectangles and filled them with soil and muck and then planted their crops. The crops would sprout roots and anchor the artificial islands to the lake, this was a massive undertaking as they were the breadbasket to entire civilizations. In the 1920's the area was known as the "Venice of Mexico". Today, however it is no longer capable of growing crops so they exclusively grow flowers, hence the "Floating Gardens". The main source of income today is derived from tourism. They cater to the tourist by offering tours on very colorful flatboats powered by an oar man, similar to a gondola. There are hundreds of these boats and miles of waterways.
Here I am on the left giving lessons to one of the Oar men, yes I got fired from this job also. While you are on the water you will be approached by a multitude of vendors in smaller boats (I call them chase boats) offering: such things as jewelry. souvenirs, complete hot meals, flowers and of course a , dressed to the hilt, complete Mariachi Band for your listening pleasure. We hired a band for several songs and it was quite the deal. It is amazing how much volume they produce without amplification. All in all it was well worth the tour.


The saga continues, Golf: Background: Mexico City a city of 25 million (with a huge populace of wealthy and affluent people) has only 9 golf courses and and these are all private country clubs. So basically speaking one is out of luck unless he is a notable superstar of some sort. They didn't believe me, however, when I introduced myself as Tiger Woods. So the only option was to drive 2 1/2 hours through the mountains to the closest public course. As it turned out it was well worth the trip.
The golf course was part of a 16th century historic estate. The name of the facility was the Hotel Hacienda Cocoyoc and claimed to be a 5 star establishment, keep in mind that we were in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The beauty of the place was that the architecture was all original colonial from that time period. I counted 5 swimming pools and three restaurants. At one time it consisted of about 400 acres but today it is down to 168 acres. Legend has it that ( Please note that all tour guides and descriptive literature start out by saying: "Legend has it that.........") so in keeping with tradition: Legend has it that the great revolutionary leader, Emiliano Zapata burned the place to the ground during the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Today it is lush with landscaping and accented with gardens and fountains. Unfortunately, the golf course was not the crown jewel of the empire. It was not very well maintained and was not worth the cost: $55.00 walking (no carts) and hiring a caddie was mandatory ($15.00) but "when in Rome........". They advertised that they had 18 holes but in truth it was only 9 holes. If you look closely at the picture of the green to the left you will notice that there are 2 flags. For the first 9 holes you play one of the colored flags and for the next nine holes you play the other colored flag, "Hey, Gringo I don't need no stinkin' flag". Who won? Who knows? Who cares? The only other thing of interest was that they had a heliport right in the middle of the golf course... Hey! don't let that noise bother your swing! All in all it was a good road trip, as we got to see the "unbeaten path".

Several days into the trip we decided to take a Tourbus to get an overview of the historical points of the city.

These buses were all double deckers, painted red with huge paintings on them depicting the points of interest along the way. It was a 3 hour trip with 24 stops, of which you had the option to get off and on. One of the advantages, other than avoiding the massive traffic congestion, was the personal audio description of the tour, "In English". What most impressed me was the spectacular boulevards and the great monuments. I have never been to Paris but I could not help but think that these boulevards and monuments would rival anything that Paris has to offer.


Last but not least, "Cantinas and their History" : The word Cantina conjures up visions of cowboy saloons in old western movies and bars and taverns in urban Hispanic neighborhoods. It definitely has a different connotation in Mexico City. They are not bars or saloons as we know them. In fact the patrons sit at tables opposed to bellying up to a bar. Today they are best known for being informal, family oriented, having free "Botanas" (appetizers, tapas etc.), strolling street musicians (Mariachi's, guitarist and singers all belting out classic Mexican favorites for a few pesos) and all in, (thanks to a recent change in law), a smoke free environment.

However, this was not always the case. Their golden age was in the 1940's and 50's. Up until 1982, females were not even allowed in the establishments. They were a gathering place for the macho: artists, writers, politicians, Intellectuals, revolutionaries and such, all debating on how to change the world in a smoke filled environment.
Legend has it that these types of places were the favorite haunts of such men as former president Benito Juarez, artist Diego Rivera and revolutionaries like Fidel Castro, "Che" Guevara and Pancho Villa. Unfortunately these places are disappearing like the sunset. In fact some famous "Cantinas" are now museums.

So I felt very privileged when on the last day of our vacation we found our selves in a Cantina that my son and his girlfriend recommended. It was the "El Faro de Cadiz" It was located in an out of the way, nondescript, blue collar neighborhood. We had a group of eight, of which some spoke English, some spoke only Spanish and a few were bilingual. What a night we were in for! My son had told me that they usually spend three hours in the cantina. I said to myself: " how could anyone spend 3 hours in a cantina?"
It was larger inside than I imagined, nothing fancy but very clean with a simple decor of tables and chairs. We no sooner pulled some tables together and settled in than a well dressed waiter appeared and took our order for drinks: So we drank a little and got know each other and drank some more. A while later the waiter reappeared and took orders for soup, we had two options. So we ate and drank and carried on. About this time the strolling street musicians appeared, we had them sing a couple of favorites and joined in on cue as is the Mexican custom. The waiter reappeared and took our order for the entrees, we had two choices. When the food arrived I realized that these portions were more than appetizers, this was the real deal. So we ate and drank and and carried on in an international mix of languages albeit slightly louder and more boisterous. The first entree I had was meat but I was curious about the fish so they also ordered me the fish, It was delicious. Other members of the party order seconds. I think there was also a sort of appetizer served but not sure as things got hazy from this point. I do remember that we were being taught the proper way to drink tequila. Apparently in Mexico you sip it straight, no chugging, no lemon/salt, just straight sipping. So we ate, drank, sipped and carried on.

Then, a while later the waiter came around with a huge tray of deserts on a wheeled cart, I was stuffed but I felt good, so I indulged. I then noticed that some of the other patrons were playing "Dominoes" at their tables (you could also hear them as they were in a competitive spirit), dominoes is like the national game, like checkers I suppose. Anyway I thought this could be fun, and as I looked up for the waiter he was already on his way to our table with a box of dominoes. So we ate,drank,sipped, played dominoes and carried on (loud and boisterous) all in a friendly competitive spirit. Who won? Who knows? Who cares?

And a good time was had by all: the total bill for eight people (remember they don't charge for the food ,only the drinks) was $130.00 U.S. and by the way we spent FIVE hours in the Cantina. What fun, can't wait to go back.