The Overpacker

Location: Guadalajara, Mexico

Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The crowd is power.  The crowd is the surge of humanity. The ebb. The flow. The crowd is barely contained chaos. The mob crowd is the antidote to the antiseptic, safe, I-scrub-everything-with-an-antibacterial-wipe modern American world. It’s the thrill of the unpredictable. The rush of the uncontrollable. The crowd is the force that will not be denied.

The crowd was in Thailand; I loved it then. Tonight I discovered that the crowd attends Mexican lucha libre.

I, therefore, love lucha libre.

Look. I know. The idea of enjoying Mexican wrestling—masked men in tights who wrap their legs around each other and body thrust man flesh into the ground for three seconds—is totally insane. But unless you’ve gone in person to a lucha libre fight night, you’re missing the fun. You’re missing the crowd.

When you see lucha libre on TV what you see is wrestling. Ostensibly, that’s what lucha libre is (literally: free fighting). But the cleaned up version shown on your moving-picture-box cannot compare to the in arena experience. Read more…

Location: Guanajuato, Mexico

Date: Monday, May 16, 2011

Today Guanajuato is just a university town. But what makes it special? Why stay here for more than a day? Is it the colors? The theaters? The churches? The mummies? Don Quixote? The giant Jesus, perhaps?

It’s something more. First, a little history. (I promise, this will be short.) Guanojuato was the site of one of the first battles in the Mexican war for independence. In 1810, a group of rebels trapped a group of soldiers and their families in an huge, old grain house; were repelled by soldier sniper fire; eventually burned the soldiers out with the help of an impromptu-stone-shield-and-torch-wielding miner named El Pipila; killed everyone inside (women and children included); and then got themselves captured by the government. (The four leaders of the little rebellion were beheaded, their heads hung on the corners of the grain house. I guess this warning was meant to translate into Spanish and the myriad of native Mexican languages. The skulls were taken down 10 years later when Mexico won its independence.) Read more…

Location: Guanajuato, Mexico

Date: Sunday, May 15, 2011

Why has Don Quixote inspired so much art? You know the Picasso painting. Dali did one, too. And you know the whole fat man/skinny man buddy pairing? Well the book (title in full: The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha) inspired that, too, and thus begat The Blues Brothers; Tommy Boy; Hot Fuzz; and Twins. Cervantes was the literary man.

The best part is, I don’t know anyone that’s read it. Not since Atlas Shrugged has a book gotten so much mileage for not having been read in full (perhaps the Bible?).

Given all this it might seem surprising that a city like Guanajuato has one of the most extensive collections of artwork centered round the wayward knight. A Museum of Quixote Iconography in the middle of the highlands of Mexico? Wasn’t Cervantes from Spain? Read more…

Location: Guanajuato, Mexico

Date: Saturday, May 14, 2011

Over the past year, I’ve grown a little skeptical of things you hear on the road.

“Avenida 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires is the widest in the world.” Sorry portenos, it ain’t true. (If nothing else, there’s at least one wider .)

“You can see the Great wall of China from space.” Umm. . .only if you have binoculars.

“Americans and English are the most obnoxious tourists.” I can tell you right now that the Chinese and Israelis aren’t any better.

So when I heard that the geographic center of Mexico outside of Guanajuato just so happens to be at the top of the hill, you’ll have to color me skeptical. What are the odds that the center of one’s country just so happens to be on top of hill that provides stunning views of the surrounding valleys?

It’s just too convenient. Read more…

Location: Guanajuato, Mexico

Date: Friday, May 13, 2011

Yeah. I know. I said it before. But I swear I’m going to summarize Guanajuato soon. For now let’s focus a few specifics like La Valenciana Church (Templo de San Cayetano de La Valenciana), the nearby Boca mine (Boca Mina San Ramon), and Guanajuato’s mummies.

First, let’s go to church. La Valenciana Church is located up a hill above the city of Guanajuato. It’s a few kilometers outside of town and might seem like it’s walkable. Take it from me (a moron), but just catch a bus. The road is all uphill and there’s no roadside shade. There’s also no sidewalk. Only fools (see: me) would opt to hoof it. Read more…

Location: Guanajuato, Mexico

Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011

As I said before, I’m going to be in Guanajuato for a few days so I’ll leave the history and the overview for later. For now, let’s take a look at one of the city’s sights, Teatro Juarez. Let’s do this all in pictures. Read more…

Location: Guanajuato, Mexico

Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2011

I’ve arrived in Guanajuato, mountain town in the middle of Mexico. I’ll be here for a few days so I’ll hold off on the history and the sights for a bit and save that for the end. For now, a few first impressions (including my first taste of something called a pambazo).

The town is colorful. Houses run up and down the hillsides and are painted an array of colors. Some might call it garish and I might agree if only one house were painted fusia. The difference here is that everyone’s gotten in on the act. The colors enliven what otherwise might be a drab collection of concrete buildings. Read more…

Location: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Date: Tuesday, May 10, 2011

San Miguel de Allende is technically in Mexico. Inland and about four hours from Mexico City, it still resides on the plateau at 6,300 feet (1900 meters) or about 1,000 feet (300 meters) higher than Denver. It’s an old colonial town officially founded in 1555 by the Spanish. By the mid-1700s it was a hugely successful colonial town with a population of 30,000, larger than Boston (16,000) and New York (25,000). It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008 for all its history and pretty, old buildings.

The guidebook says, however, that many consider San Miguel “a bit like a Mexican Disneyland for foreign (mainly American) retirees.” That’s because out of a population of around 62,000, a bit more than 10,000 are foreigners who have permanent or part-time residences. Read more…

Location: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Date: Monday, May 9, 2011

I’ve fled Mexico City for San Miguel de Allende, a small town four hours to the northwest. It’s incredibly clean, picturesque, and full of foreigners. But we’ll get to that tomorrow.

For now let’s focus on the food of San Miguel (de Allende). After hours traveling on a bus (another bus!) it seems like an easy enough topic.

It also gives me a chance to talk about guidebooks. Since Argentina, I’ve traveled without one, surviving off the internet and word of mouth to get by. This worked.

For Mexico I opted to pick one up because I actually have to plan. Most importantly, I needed a place to go to when I got off the plane and a decent map to keep the cab driver honest—you know, keep him from driving me off the grid and murdering me for my satchel of American gold. Read more…

Location: The Zocalo, Mexico City, Mexico

Date: Sunday, May 8, 2011

Today, I am a protest veteran. I’m not talking about some G7 or G8 or G40 or whatever it is now where the participants don’t know what they’re protesting (Whales? Capitalism? Meetings?). Nor am I talking about some hippie crap where you sit in a tree and poop in a bucket so that the rotted plant doesn’t get cut down. And I’m definitely not talking about holding your breath until Mommy gives you ice cream.

I’m talking serious protests. The kind where people chant for the president or prime minister or whoever to get the hell out—all for the same reason. The kind that’s got a slogan. The kind that’s got its own media center to beam its message to the world. Read more…

Location: Mexico City, Mexico

Date: Saturday, May 7, 2011

What do you think of when you think of Mexicanos? Day laborers hanging out in front of Home Depot? The guy who mows your lawn? Cholo gangsters? Families running across the U.S.-Mexico border? General Santa Anna at the Alamo? Aztecs and Mayas, maybe?

Whatever you thought, it’s almost assured that it’s more complicated than you think. Mexico has one of the most diverse populations on earth. Like Vietnam, Mexico is a tableau of ethnic minorities. The Mexican government officially recognizes 62 indigenous groups, but no doubt there used to be many more. Disease, conquest, and intermarriage have eliminated or integrated many more.

Furthermore, these indigenous peoples aren’t like the marginalized Native Americans in the United States. A full 10% of the 107 million Mexican citizens have indigenous roots. Nearly 5 million of those are spread between what used to be the Aztecs and the Mayas. But there are many more with even more unpronounceable names: Mixtec, Otomi, Totonac, Tzotzil, Tilapanec. . .the list goes on. Read more…

Location: Mexico City, Mexico

Date: Friday, May 6, 2011

Mexico City (D.F. pronounced “Deh Effeh” to the locals) is huge. A population of over 21 million in its metropolitan area makes it the largest city in the western hemisphere. Here, size matters.

But buried in all the bustle and hubbub, behind the tiendas and tucked into alleyways, are thousands of details. Like the good clubs in Los Angeles or the most lenient marijuana clinics in San Francisco, finding these hidden gems is easiest with the help of a local. Or a hired guide. Read more…

Location: The ruins of Teotihuacan, Outside Mexico City, Mexico

Date: Thursday, May 5, 2011

Turns out there’s a lot more to Mexico than Aztecs and Mayas. We’re just not always sure who they are. Take for instance the ancient city of Teotihuacan. Not nearly as famous as Machu Picchu, it should be. For one, it was built 1,200 years early in 250 A.D. Unlike Machu Picchu, which was probably a holy site or resort for royalty, Teotihuacan was an actual metropolis that probably held up to 200,000 residents. And no one knows for sure who built it.

It is still imposing even in its ruined state. Bisected by a large boulevard known quaintly as Calzada de Los Muertos (Road of the Dead), the central avenue runs for more than 3 km. The calzada was the main thoroughfare of the urban area, but houses of commoners, markets, and more rudimentary structures filled out the lands to the left and right. Read more…

Location: Mexico City, Mexico

Date: Wednesday, May 4, 2011

There are 107 million people living and Mexico and nearly 20% of them (21 million) live in the Mexico City metropolitan area. Known by Mexicanos as D. F. (Distrito Federal and pronounced “Deh-Effeh”) it is in many ways the center of the Mexican universe. It was originally founded by the Aztecs in the 1300s and is rich with history. Museums, theaters, and parks give the city a thriving, vibrant culture. Read more…

Location: Lima, Peru

Date: Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Did you catch it? Did you notice the disturbance in The Force? That something’s changed?

Like a gimmicky TV show, we’ve flashforwarded.  A quick look at the dateline above reveals the following:

—–1. This post is labeled as “Day 205″ a full 100+ days after my last post.

—–2. I am now in Lima, Peru even though my last post has me in Chile.

—–3. It is now today’s date. In other words for the first time in a long time I am posting on the same day that I write. Read more…