I´M GOING TO RADIOHEAD

Yep, my favorite band -ever- is coming to Mexico City in March for the first time this decade, and I have a decent seat…my pants are charred from the $90 I spent, but how often do you get the chance to see the world’s best rock band in the world’s best country?

On a sidenote, they finished their U.S. tour this past summer, and I was on the verge of going to St. Louis to see them, but nobody could go with me…sigh.

PS. Thanks, Gabo, for buying the tickets. It beat camping outside Foro Sol for two days.

Big guns

I want to comment on the fuzz, or as my friend Eric endearingly calls them, the Popo.

Last night I went to the Sumesa (supermarket) to get some milk. It was about 8:30 and the store was empty, except for the cashiers and about five police...with guns...big guns...like, shotguns and Uzis.

One was at the entrance, two were in the corner, and two were outside. Apparently, they were watching the unloading of food from a semi truck. But armed cops are a common sight here…I started to get used to them, becoming a normality, until yesterday, thinking…what if one of those things goes off while I pay for my Alpura ?!

Everywhere I go, especially near banks and large stores, police stand guard outside, solemn and unmoving. You might think it was a war zone or something, or from heavy crime, but it’s not just in Mxc you see cops with big guns, but everywhere. When I was living in Xalapa two years ago I saw them frequently as well, and this was before Felipe Calderon took office and began to heavily militarize the country.

Their salary is as small as their guns are big, and I’m afraid police aren’t afraid to use them...so that’s why I have no photos for this post.

Coincidences

Thanks to Bralapa readers for voting for Obama! If you voted for another candidate, well, it's ok because he didn't win. I celebrated heavily with friends and an expensive bottle of champagne. It was more exciting than Christmas when I was 10. I was thinking the race would be closer but once he nabbed Ohio it was over. I'm not a huge sports fan, but Tuesday was the world cup for political junkies.

Despite all the US' voting problems, we're lucky to have absentee and overseas voting. Some of my co workers were abroad during 2006's presidential elections and couldn't vote. If you're Mexican you can vote at the embassies, but not every place has one. Mexico was plagued by voter fraud and rigged elections for 70 years thanks to single-party dominance until 2000, so voting is still sort of a fragile issue.

And now for something completely different. For having 20 million people, Mexico City is really fricking big. Strangely, though, I see the same people over and over, and it´s happening more frequently. It´s mostly on the MetroBus, which is a linear route along Insurgentes. Everyone has his or her routes for home-work-home, but I see more familiar faces on the bus with each day: and it´s strange because I have a 30-minute window when I leave for work, between 8:05 and 8:35, and on top of that there are frequent busses, so given all these variables, the chance of the same people on the same bus day after day is rare. Or maybe not...

...on Sunday, I was running all over Mexico City with a friend, who was interviewing people about their jobs and recording them for a work project, and I saw this kid near a cafe. An hour later, we took the metro from Chilpancingo (see photo; bottom left) to Chabacano, then up to Pino Suarez (top right). Changing lines at Pino Suarez I see the same kid from the cafe, walking to connect as well, but going the opposite direction!! It might sound whoop-dee-doo to you, but living in a big city you get used to the idea that most of the people on the street you´ll never see again in your life.