Mexico. Day Three

we had to be in the lobby at 10:15am. this was our last day in mexico city, as we were leaving the next day very early. carlz, alz and i woke up around 7am, got dressed and just went out walking around el zocalo. everything was closed, but hey, so what? we had a small breakfast, and just walked and walked and walked. we just admired the architecture, the people, the weather. it was a nice walk. going back to the hotel around 10am, we saw that "mixup", a record store, was opening. we looked at each other, and said.... what the hell. went in and bought yet more cds. we met with the rest of the crew in the lobby at 10:15am and we were ready to go to el chopo. one of the event's organizers came to get us, so three of us went with him, the others got a taxi.

when we arrived, the place was packed. lots of people walking around, there was already a band called fuzz playing. they greeted us in a very nice way. we put our instruments in a corner and just gazed at the sight. the backline was pretty good, it was a relatively small place to play, so we didn't need the big speakers or anything. it sounded really good despite the conditions. the band was playing some instrumental surf music and everybody was just observing, analyzing, and moving their heads or feet. they were giving out some sort of bulletin, which they hand out every saturday (when the market takes place), and to our surprise we were in there. there was a review of the group and it said we were playing there. the offer came the night before at around midnight, so these are very organized and dedicated people. we were very surprised. well, they said that we were going to play at 2pm, so that meant that we had two hours to "kill" in el chopo. thank g-d.

we started walking and in the first stand... they had original 7 inches, 12 inches, imported cds from japan, europe, everywhere. special editions. things that wouldn't be easy to find anywhere, especially in venezuela. we went mad. the next stand had bootleg dvds. concerts from morrissey, the cure, placebo, anything you wanted... from any year you desired, from any tour you missed. it was heaven, and yes, it was cheap. the bootlegs were really cheap. around 5 - 6 dollars each.
we saw leather jackets, leather boots, leather accesories, rock t-shirts, cds, dvds, books, everything. the hours passed by and it was time to play, and i had spent around $50 dollars, and had LOTS of things. pretty good ;)

they introduced us to the audience. a nice applause greeted us. we connected to the backline, and just let out our short set of 5 songs. people were enjoying the music, trying to figure out the lyrics, and just having a good time. again, we had a good response from the crowd, and when we finished some people approached us and congratulated us. it was really really nice. we had played in el chopo :)

we went back to the hotel, left our instruemnts and it was already kind of late, around 5pm. this day (saturday) was supposed to be our get-to-know-mexico city day, but this event in el chopo, in the middle of the day, didn't let us do that, but hey, what the hell... we came to play. so we still had to buy some things... and we didn't have time :o so we went to la zona rosa (the pink zone), a very tourist place with lots of big name stores. maybe it wasn't the traditional side of mexico we would have liked to see, but it was perfect for the sitaution. we bought what we needed there, and went to a mexican restaurant to seal the night and celebrate for our wonderful trip. there was a juxebox and we just kept putting some mexican rancheras music in the place. mexican people are usually very calm and quiet, so it was very obvious we were foreigners because we were all shouting and laughing out loud. well, it's good to be venezuelan ;) and yes, the night meal ended with some mana songs... hahaha, if you don't know, mana is a popular rock band form mexico, very big in latin america..... and they're horrible, but it was just for our own amusement ;)

ok, the event had payed for the hote,l but only until saturday morning, but we had decided to stay until sunday, so we had to find a place for the night. we saw a hostel just next door, so we looked at eachtoher and said ..... WHY THE HELL NOT? we were seven and we got a six bed room. so yes, i had to sleep in the same bed as alz. not the first time, so no biggy. at night everyone was falling asleep, we went to a seven eleven just across from the street (yes, seven eleven, very mexican, huh?) and we listened to some electronic music coming out from the spanish cultural center, where we had played the night before. i went in the room and asked who would like to check it out with me. the man for the job was carlz. we got appropiately dressed and went there. yes, there was a dj putting some music and we went in... had a couple of beers, had a good time and went back to the hostel.

at night i couldn't really sleep much because marcos snored like a mofo, and well... it was just horrible. we woke up really really early, had breakfast at the hostel, went to the airport and said goodbye to this wonderful country. mexico, i'll miss you, but i'll see you again, that's for sure.