Castles and Luchadors
- jill
- Jan 16, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 17, 2022
21 December 2021
Got up and planned to have breakfast at McDonalds...but they weren't open, despite it being past their opening time. Welcome to "time" in CDMX! I got a pack of mini donuts from a convenience store instead.
Today I made my first foray into the CDMX Metro system. Went well! I got where I was going with no hiccups. Will be using it as often as possible now that I've figured it out!
Headed to Chapultepec Park to visit the Castle and the Anthropological Museum. Heading to the Castle, I passed the Altar a la Patria--a monument commemorating the heroic death of six military cadets, ranging in age from 13 to 18 years during the Spanish-American War in 1847. One of the cadets, Juan Escutia, is said to have wrapped himself in a Mexican flag and jumped to his death off the cliff in Chapultepec forest.
The Chapultepec Castle is the only true castle in North America and they only one royalty actually lived in (Porfirio Diaz also lived here). It is now a museum. The hill itself began as an Aztec emperor retreat, and the park is twice as large as Central Park in NYC. When you get to the ticket office at the bottom of the hill, you have to throw out your food/drinks (not sure why), but I was able to feed some squirrels before I dumped the remainder of my donuts. Then you climb a long winding hill to get to the Castle which sits at the top.
Worth it. Beautiful architecture, and amazing views from the top. I went first thing in the morning so it wasn't too crowded yet, either. There is a museum in the main part of the building, then you climb stairs to the terrace (overlooking the forest and CDMX) and can walk along looking into the rooms that Ferdinand Maximillian (the Austrian who became Emperor of Mexico from 1864-1867) and his wife (and Belgian second cousin) Charlotte lived in (and later Diaz)
After wandering around forever (I could have spent a lot more time there!), I headed back down the hill and started down the street to the Anthropological Museum (built in 1964)...a bit of a walk down Paseo de la Reforma (a main street)...and I realized I hadn't eaten anything but a few mini donuts and didn't feel like anything from a cart, so when I got to the Museum entrance, across the street I saw the most beautiful Starbucks I've ever seen--it is mostly out of doors--so I stopped for a sandwich and drink.
After feeling more normal with food in my gullet, I headed across the street to the museum. There was quite a line of people outside, and a pole in the park with men hanging by their feet being spun around while moving higher and higher. I discovered they were voladores who are fliers who dance in the air upside down from ropes secured to a pole that stands about 120 feet high. Slowly revolving around the pole, the ropes slowly descend the fliers to the ground. A man sitting atop the pole revolves, too, and he plays a flute to represent a singing bird.
These poles are now metal but originally they were tree trunks and the role of the dance is to appease the primary rain god, Xipe Totec, a visually scary looking character attired in flayed human skin. This is a highly-choreographed dance where the voladores circle the pole 13 times each; a total of 52, the number of years in the Aztec calendar. There are variations on this ritual that is at least 450 years old.
I got in line, which thankfully moved very quickly, and made my way inside the museum. While in line, I ran into the guy from my walking tour the first day! This place completely lives up to the hype. Amazingly cool stuff and I couldn't take enough photos of the pieces they had--I probably could have come here every day this week and still not spent enough time. They have it broken into time periods and have artifacts from each.
The Aztec sun stone is a late post-classic Mexica sculpture and is perhaps the most famous work of the period. It measures 358 centimeters (141 in) in diameter and 98 centimeters (39 in) thick, and weighs 24,590 kg (54,210 lb). Shortly after the Spanish conquest, the monolithic sculpture was buried in the Zocalo, the main square of Mexico City. It was rediscovered on 17 December 1790 during repairs on the Catedral. Following its rediscovery, the sun stone was mounted on an exterior wall of the cathedral, where it remained until 1885. Early scholars initially thought that the stone was carved in the 1470s, though modern research suggests that it was carved some time between 1502 and 1521.
Honestly, I didn't want to leave.
I tried to get back to the Biblioteca Vasconcelos but discovered that it is currently closed to visitors and they are using it for COVID testing/vaxxing. The inside is insane and I'm sad I didn't get to see it in person.
From there I took the Metro back to the Mercado San Juan near my Airbnb to buy souvenirs, but despite what I read about it, it didn't have very much and what they had was overpriced...so I went back to my room to relax a bit before the evening's entertainment--Lucha Libre!
I took an Uber to my host's home--an amazing rooftop (we didn't actually go inside the house) overlooking the Pushkin Garden in the Roma Norte neighborhood. I was the first one there, but 5 others showed up a bit later. We had some mezcal shots (tasted pretty good--served with orange slices that brought out the smoky flavor), cervezas and a snack of tostadas with a carrot/beans/cheese/salsa topping--delicious.
The hosts Jony and Kevin were awesome--it was Kevin's home, but Jony is a hilarious superfan of Lucha Libre. He taught us all the dirty words to scream at the luchadors: arenga du madre (fuck your mother), pounding your fist back on your shoulder means same thing; coo-ler-oh (asshole); bandejo (dummy), cara peen-che (added to another dirty word makes it worse); camer-oun (suck my dick); choo pah may lergah (suck my dick); puto (pussy).
Lucha Libre is about 84 years old. The "technica" are the good guys. If you pull off a mask or punch someone in the balls you are disqualified, but the bad guys will try to do both. They aren't often penalized as the referees all used to be bad guys. There are different types of Lucha Libre--men, women, exotic, small person, and midget classes. Jony's favorite luchador is Mystico, who we get to see wrestle that night.
An actual luchador drops by named Stuka Jr (named after a WWII airplane, and Jr because his brother was the original). He is the reigning champ in his class and will be wrestling this evening for his title. He's been doing this for 22 years! We get to ask questions and get our pictures taken with him.
We have a few more drinks and then walk to the Arena Mexico, the largest arena for Lucha Libre in CDMX. It isn't huge, and has definitely seen better days even if it is only 10 years old. It holds about 22,000 people. We wind up with really good seats close to the ring and next to the ramp where the luchadors enter. What a great night yelling and cheering--and Stuka won! There was even an American wrestler in one of the earlier matches.
As we left we stopped at a stand to buy our own Lucha mask! I got one that looks like Stuka's. Jony waited with me for my Uber, then I headed back to my room--long day coming up tomorrow at Teotihuacan! I pass by the Palacio de Bellas Artes on the way home--even more beautiful at night!
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