In the Streets of Mexico City

With 24 million people, Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world. It is also one of the most ancient in the North America (founded in 1325, well before Columbus). But when we first arrived, about 10pm in the evening, the street outside our hostel was dark and deserted. Little did I know that the next morning, it would transform itself to part of one of the largest street markets that I have seen.

Around 8am each morning, people start to set up their stalls. Some have stands or tables on which they display their wares; others just put a tarpulin on the road. Anything and everything is for sale - accessories, clothes, bags, CDs/VCDs/DVDs, down to extension cords, towels, Christmas ornaments, lawn and house decorations and so on. We tried finding the borders of the market, but could not find the eastern border. There's a tremendous amount of buzz. People are calling out to customers, shouting at others to get out of the way and so on. And the traffic is trying to get through. Yes, traffic. What I'm still not clear about is whether there are any rules as to which streets are closed to vehicles when the market starts. There were traffic lights, but there was plainly no way for any vehicle to make its way through the stalls and human traffic. Then there was the occasion when this chap who had set up shop in the middle of the street had to move when a truck came down. Somehow, the market had made its own rules.

A different set of rules applies to the hawkers outside the Catedral. Whilst the large street market seemed to cater to locals, the hawkers outside the catedral catered to tourists - craft items, t-shirts, little sombreros, etc etc. There were shoeshine booths and also a little bird which picks your fortune out from a box. They do a busy trade but every now and then, someone raises an alarm and the hawkers, in the blink of an eye, pack up their wares or throw a blanket over them. Then we see a policeman walking down the street. So evidently, it is not legal to peddle goods outside the catedral area. But it is all a wayang. As long as the policeman doesn't see the actual goods, or an actual sale taking place, then he ignores the bags of goods and the covered items. Once the policeman walks off, it all starts again.

In front of the Catedral is a huge square - the Zocalo. This used to be the ancient ceremonial centre of the Aztecs but it has now been turned into a large square, or the Zocalo. Performing groups in the square draw the crowds - such as this group of Aztec dancers here. There are also folk dances performed on a stage in a corner of the square. It turns out that this is a "soft sell" of the people in Oaxaca to win sympathy for their cause - turfing out the unpopular governor of the province. So whilst you're watching the dancers twirl around, someone thrusts a flier in your hand.

The protesters are everywhere. They have camped outside major national monuments such as the National Art Museum (mentioned earlier) and in the Alameda Central (a park). There was one group which occupies the pedestrian crossing once the traffic stops and only marches off once the green man turns red. Apparently, the protests go beyond Oaxaca province. The Presidential Election (in July) was won only very narrowly and the people are disputing the result. Now that I'm safely back in Singapore it is also time to reveal that some bombs went off the first day we were there. But these were in the dead of the night so no one was injured and they were at very specific targets. So we were really quite safe :-) Oh yes- forgot to add that that the protesters also apparently invaded the Catedral and disrupted a mass the Sunday I was there! (Not the mass I went to though. Not sure whether that was good or bad).

So that's what the streets of Mexico City are like. Full of people, full of action. More stray dogs than I've seen anywhere else. Men making cloth flowers on one side of the Catedral. Beggars, shoeshine booths, protesters, performers. Lots of hawkers and the occasional policeman. And of course us tourists. (Incidentally, I was taken for a local quite frequently until I said my favourite phrase, "no hablo espanol" which of course means I can't speak the language!).