Took laundry in, bought ticket for tour on Sunday (tho am far from convinced they know where my hostel is). Come to museo de las culturas de Oaxaca. Walked round the block before finding the entrance. Annoying fifty ONE peso entrance fee. Security check with one of those apparently undemanding metal detectors. They went through my fleece pocket (just one). They insisted I put my can of insect repellent in the cloakroom! What the fuck? If I was planning on doing any damage I don't need a stupid aerosol to do it. I guess at least they didn't confiscate it or charge me for the privilege of storing it.
17:55. Thunder & some lightning earlier and it's raining lightly now. At some pizza place near the museum. Had trouble getting out, I was going down the stairs to leave and some officious git waved me back incomprehensibly. I did a circuit of the museum and ended up in the same place. This time I was allowed out, officious git wasn't there.
Sounds like it's raining moderately heavily now.
Museum quite interesting though the building itself is probably the most impressive things. Views over the adjacent 'jardin etnobotanico' (?) are also very cool.
My feet were and are killing me. Odd as I haven't been on my feet an unusual amount today.
I don't believe it. It sounds like it is chucking it down and the ceiling leaks. I am getting quite a few spots of rain.
Just shifted to the next table. I think it is fractionally better but not much.
OK, moved to a too-tall table with a wobby stool under the first floor balcony, so I am at least staying dry.
18:50. Pizza pretty good. Spotted some bar apparently called Casanova at the back of the pizza place with no door direct to the street. Very small but seems to be just me and some staff. I hope I am not transgressing any unwritten rules by being here.
Slightly annoyingly the TV is on the bar sound system while the barmaid is watching a video of 'Hey Jude' on her Blackberry with sound on. I could handle either but the mix is not good. She's the barmaid, why doesn't she just turn the TV off?
Actually, 'Algo Mas' is playing under the noise of the TV. Stupid. At least the barmaid's video has finished.
Oh, there was a poster outside the museum advertising a free Chopin recital on Sunday at midday. While I might have struggled to get up, that might have been cool to go to, but it's not an option as I will be on the tour then.
20:55. Still here and still only customer, though I suspect a certain affiliation with the restaurant outside.
Picked up reading that 1910-ish book on Mexico again. It's odd to read some rather dodgily racist statements then a few paragraphs later on read stuff which would probably pass without causing a raised eyebrow even today. (For example, from memory, the author praised the pre-Hispanic civilisations - or at the very least admitted they had certain redeeming features, just as he slags off certain aspects of other modern civilsations - then shortly after tossed off some remark about the indians (essentially, the pure-blooded descents of those pre-Hispanic people) being an inferior sort (it was just possible he was referring to reality - see the next bit - rather than anything inherent, but that may be an overly sympathetic interpretation on my part), then later on acknowledges they are in a rather bad way socially and that naturally they therefore lack education (which strikes me as probably fair, or at worst incorrect but not racist, after all, I don't really know what Mexico was like i
n 1910)..
Both teachers talked to me today about the (public) teachers' strike. If what they tell me is true, the teachers and their union sound like a bunch of bastards. Roughly speaking I was told (subject to the inevitable 'Chinese whispers' mangling I might have imposed):
- the teachers do this every year (seriously)
- apart from working shorter hours than teachers anywhere else in Mexico, they work IIRC 20 days a year less than those other teachers because of all the strikes
- they get paid while they are on strike
- the union controls their pay and holidays (on an individual basis, not in the way a UK union might determine pay scales by collective bargaining or what have you) and uses these to 'encourage' them to turn up at strikes like this one in the zocalo
- the strike right now is because (I can hardly believe this) until very recently or maybe still now (not sure which), when a teacher retired, his or her children were automatically entitled to take over his job. This has been or is planned to be changed and they don't like it.
- the general population don't like the teachers but don't want any trouble so quietly tolerate them doing this
- the government tried to intervene three or four years ago and small scale 'warfare' (that phrase sticks in my head, probably as a kind of metaphor used by one of the teachers, but I am sure it would be fairer to say 'rioting') broke out
- at that time, because teachers have the appearance of doing valuable work etc regardless of this alleged reality, teachers' and other groups around the world rallied to the defence of the Oaxacan teachers
I suspect there is an element of bias here (although, and this could cut either way, my main teacher worked in a state school for 8 months about 10 years ago and left in part because he couldn't stand the political atmosphere - eg he was told not to work so hard as it would set a bad example and other teachers might then be expected to make a similar effort) but I can't help but wonder. If there is any truth in this business of 'inherited' jobs and the teachers being upset at that being taken away, I know I'm firmly on the side of the Mexican authorities on that question at least.
On a different note, I was also told that apparently there are no/few petrol refineries in Mexico. All or nearly all of Mexico's raw oil is apparently sent to Texas for refining.
I hope I didn't get the wrong end of the stick with any of this, but I think I'm reporting more or less what I was told.
21:30. Nearly finished my fourth beer. It is OK here if not great and I am wondering what I should do. I don't want to be too drunk (or 'at all' really) when I leave, but I am also disinclined to seek anywhere else at the moment. If nothing else, I suspect it's a little bit early. I think I might have one more then make the call.
I do sort of want to stay out a bit tonight. On the other hand, I have to check out by 11am because I have to change rooms, and if I can manage it I would like to be up earlyish to get the bus over to Monte Alban for a couple of hours before it gets too hot. Ideally I would get a 9am bus to be there for 9:30 when it opens. That may be pushing it of course.
Rambling generally, it is perhaps unfortunate that I probably gleaned more information from a short film about the various ruins in SE Mexico which alternated between Spanish and English - by sheer chance I caught the English version - than the rest of the museum. There were huge amounts of text which in an English-language museum I would have read easily and probably half remembered. I could get the gist of the Spanish text no problem, but there was so much of it and reading was such an effort that I couldn't take in all I read and just didn't have the willpower to read most of it. I wonder if this is how English-speaking but less fluid readers than me feel in some English-language museums. I don't like it, it makes me feel dumb. Maybe one day I will acquire sufficient Spanish abilities to be able to read it with as little effort as I read English.
21:50. Just got a fifth anyway. A few people are actually in here now. I suspect this bar is forming a kind of 'chill out' area from the pseudo-club atmosphere (the music is loud in here but it's clearly coming from there) in the restauranty area (clearly it is not just a restaurant).
Continuing to read the book, I am inclined to think - as I believe I have done before, I think - that a lot of what would at one time have been attributed to race and thus sounds wrong today could be fairly transparently recast in terms of cultures or at least 'certain shared beliefs and attitudes'. Of course you can't generalise too much in either system if you want to be fair, but if you have a wellish-defined group of people with a common culture, you can probably make strictly factual observations about them without attributing it to unchangeable factors. The incorrect implicit attribution of a statement like 'the indians are excessively suspicious and stupid' (a rough quote from memory) could be recast as 'the indian populations tend to be suspicious and lacking in formal education' and the latter might well be true (you could doubtless explain any suspicion as reasonable, even if at the same time you could potentially argue it was excessive). My point - insofar as I have one,
I am just rambling really - is that if you look over the slightly dodgy attitude implied (though I get the feeling the author in this particular case is probably someone you could cheerfully have a drink with, even if you were a native Mexican, it's just the viewpoint he was trained to), the observations are at least potentially still valid, even if the observed behaviour and attitudes are facilely attributed to 'racial tendencies'.
22:25. Nearly finished this one. Still torn. I am vaguely thinking I will have one more then force myself away, I will wander down towards B&W where I might hope for live music and if anything appeals on the way I will go there instead. I really don't think I am drunk - and I have eaten, and I am wolfing down the free popcorn they keep giving me (there is an enormous, and I mean enormous, container of the stuff over in one corner), which must help - so as long as a slight feeling of tipsiness doesn't steal over me during the next beer that should be cool.
22:40. Got another. Bar is suddenly crowded (I am sat here, partly due to slightly low tables) although no one is sitting. But I saw some people eating pizza earlier which encourages my belief this bar has some fairly strong connection with the restauranty bit. The music while a bit pounding is not that bad, I find myself jiggling my feet a little. However, I suspect I can do better and will probably try to be strong after this one. It would be nicer to be watching some live music than sitting here reading my book on the phone, for all the fact it is managing to grip me fairly well.
There is a woman sat at the other end of the bar showing strong symptoms of being drunkely knackered. Head on hands etc.
23:00. OK, nearly finished this one. Sorely tempted to stay but I will leave in search of greener pastures. I can always come back here some other night if I want.
Popped slightly out of my way to check out Nude. Some 'cheerleaderish' (ie not titty bar scanty) women on the pseudo-first floor stage, so I guess there's no chance of live music there.
The pizza place itself is apparently La Rustica. But the area I ate in earlier was very bar-like when I left.
23:15. Down at B&W. Some guy on the stage is fiddling (non audibly) with a guitar which bodes well. About three other groups here, hardly rammed but not deserted.
Saw a few other bar/club places off Alcala near Nude & Casanova but they were absolutely heaving in a way that made me disinclined to force my way in. I may give them a try tomorrow night, if I turn up 9 or 10ish I can see how the land lies and stake out a table or a section of the bar before it packs out. I am not saying I couldn't have got in, but there were small groups loitering outside in a slight 'overspill' way (they didn't even seem to be smoking, though I think a lot of the more bar-type places here allow smoking inside anyway, either way that doesn't really explain them loitering outside in the doorway) and it was far from clear I could even have snagged a seat at the bar.
Music right now is slightly crap (a dancey remix of that damn 'words to describe this girl' song, for example) but OK. Right now I would probably be better off back at Casanova (another time I might aim a table in the 'restaurant' as I call it, since it's clearly more than that at night, or a seat at the bar in there if there is one) but I think the change will prove to be a smart move in the longer term. Tables a bit wankily low here but not intolerably so.
Beer is cheaper here too, though I changed brands so it may not be fair (MXN25 for a Bohemia - which I think is slightly 'premium' - at Casanova vs MXN20 for a Victoria here).
It occurs to me I probably have an advantage being short on the lowish cuboidal stools here. My knees naturally form a right angle as I sit, I imagine it would be more annoying for someone taller.
Biggish group just turned up. I hope it doesn't get so rammed in here I will lose my table when I go to the bar.
23:30. Music turned off and we now have five guys on stage making 'testing' kinds of noise. So this looks promising.
I must say live music tends not only to be more fun (it's something to pay attention to, unlike even good sound system music) but generally more to my tastes - I guess because of a certain universal 'pub rock' quality about low-end live music, and in some sense because it's not easy to perform that kind of 'dancey'/RnBish music live in an amateur way.
They just started. It is vaguely Pink Floyd-esque. This looks like it could be good.
Misled by the intro. It's Spanish language rock/pop. Not bad tho. They are covering some 'dificil de creer' song I have heard before now.
23:55. "I'll fly tonight" (wish I could remember the exact song name) now.
00:25. I think I have reached that 'quietly a bit pissed' stage. It's cool but I don't seem to be slowing down naturally so I need to be careful.
00:30. Just got another. Felt a bit self-consciously drunk at the bar. Oh well. It's all good.
00:40. Band just off. I hope it's just a break.
Can't resist quoting this from the Mexico book, though I am not claiming it is true any more if it ever was (and insofar as my experience goes, this would be truer in Puno, Peru, than anywhere I've been in Mexico):
"Then I distribute some small largesse to the woman and her numerous progeny, for am I not an inglés, of that famous race whose pockets are ever lined with silver and who are known even throughout these remote regions?"
01:05. Band coming back on. I am taking it slowly and am not so much pissed as busting for a piss, which I will leave out of innate prudence til I finish this beer. Hence torn between drinking slowly and necking it. :-)
01:40. Got another but left the beer for a piss and it was OK. It's amazing how much better I feel after.
Band did three Beatles covers. I am not a big Beatles fan but maybe just because it was familiar music it was cool. Their 'Yesterday' was a bit truncated but their 'All my loving' rocked.
Don't understand what they are saying but guys at adjacent table are using the verb 'chingar'. I have heard a few people in the street say 'que padre' which is a phrase I learned from Zheyla.
01:50. They are covering Hombres G's "Venezia". Suck on that, Zheyla! Who says they're not cool? :-)
02:25. Band on third pretty uncontrived encore (nothing like that foul thing at big professional gigs where the band go off and come back on for a few more). Is a shame will be over soon really.
02:30. OK, it's over. I really should go - I mean, screw Monte Alban early, I have eight and a half hours till I have to check out. But I think I will have one more.
02:35. Yeah, got another. Feel oddly sober though I suspect am not. Must be second wind. My wallet is now empty except for the small wodge of 2 reais (sp?) notes which perpetually inhabit it. But I do have more cash on me and I may stay later depending how I feel. I know I can get up for 11 whatever if I have to, and I can go to Monte Alban tomorrow late or even after classes next week. (For that matter, I am here Saturday morning/afternoon next week depending how the buses on to Puebla work out. Tho the England-US world cup match takes place midday local time that Saturday and it would be oddly cool to watch it if I can.) It may be hot but it's not a complete killer. At least I won't be lugging a kilo of coffee around with me this time whatever happens. And maybe the thunderstorm today will result in lower temperatures. The school owner (the teacher who I spent an hour with today since my regular guy had to leave early) says it is not normally so hot every single day. To be fair, it
is undoubtedly hot and I am sweating like a bastard much of the time, but it is far from intolerably hot. I am sure I have felt worse elsewhere.
Oh, apart from seeing the claim when I booked, I overheard an American woman ask in English if reception was 24h the other day while surfing on the terrace, so apart from the checkout at 11am I have no real worries about the hostel.
To do justice to myself and the author of the Mexico book, I think the following quote both shows he is not some foaming at the mouth racist yet also shows that slightly antiquated attitude I have referred to:
"The humble peones arouse the foreigner's pity. Poor people! they are bound by centuries of class-distinction and priestly craft transplanted from an old-world monarchy. These people are generally affectionate and respectful; they will undergo hardship and toil to serve us if we have by justice and tolerance won their respect and sympathy; and with a faithfulness that is almost canine. Their feasts, ceremonies, griefs, are quaint and full of colour and the human touch. Their simple state of life and humble dress take nothing from their native courtesy."
Those may not be acceptable sentiments taken at face value these days (and I have to agree) but at the same time you can see the respect the guy has for those people despite the way he expresses it.
A male cover of "Me cuesta tanto olvidarte" on the sound system now. Quite cool.
03:05. Just got another. Don't feel that drunk but it is annoying about the 11am checkout tomorrow. I am not too fussed about Monte Alban - I want to go, but I can go late tomorrow or after class - but it is annoying I will be forced up tomorrow (well, this) morning and then be homeless for four hours. What can't be cured must be endured, I guess. "Hey Jude" just come on the sound system.
There is a slight after-hours feel. There are maybe 10-15 people here and the bar staff made no fuss about serving me but the music just went off and generally it feels a bit dead in a slightly cool way. (Teacher told me bars generally shut at 3am here. I can believe that given this, tho given I just got served it's probably not that strict. I guess I am not in somewhere as wankily strict as the UK.)
03:25. While I intend to check out on time, I wonder what they can do to me if I don't. The penalty would normally be an extra day's charge - but I am already staying there tomorrow night anyway. I suppose they could double charge me. I hope the issue won't come to the test.
03:30. Just got another. I must admit this is stupid, but although I feel decidedly drunk I am not off my face, and I have admitted on many previous occasions to my desire to see just how late I am allowed to stay out. However, I suspect it may be vaguely possible to get another after this, but I will probably not try it. Honour, such as it is, is satisfied by having pushed it this far.
03:35. It suddenly occurs to me - and while feeling drunk I am pleased to observe I can type well, so it can't be that bad - that the bar door may be awkwardly closed to prevent ingress. I have nasty visions of the semi-pissed tourist attracting far too much attention as he tries to leave.
03:40. Aha. Some guy just left with no door opening ceremony. He may have a key but I doubt it. So that is reassuring.
I can't help feeling I have not behaved overly sensibly tonight, but on the other hand I haven't made a twat of myself so except for feeling like shit tomorrow morning, it's all good.
03:50. Just left - no problem, the street door was shut but openable from inside. Am writing this to record that there are a few people up and about in the zocalo and an immense quantity of - I assume - teacher protestors sleeping in the street. There are tents and I saw them before, I assumed everyone would be sleeping in such accommodation, but no. As I write this I hear some guy breathing/snoring a couple of metres away. Odd. Though I suppose in this climate sleeping outdoors is not such a major hardship.
I am typing fluidly and while I wouldn't care to undergo a breathalyser test right now I feel pretty sober. Must be the night air. I left a couple of swigs in my last bottle of beer.
While I didn't stay because of that, in hindsight I might have hoped to have had a social encounter as a stray foreigner in the bar that late. Still, no big deal. It was cool no-one made a fuss, and seriously, maybe they just respected my privacy. I know in an analogous situation in London I would probably have done the same.
The impish thought occurs to me that I could scream my head off and wake the cunts up. But I am not that much of a bastard (if a local did it, I would be bang alongside him tho) and - truth, though it crush me - I would probably get the shit kicked out of me unless I could leg it fast enought.
Anyway, I need to get to bed instead of standing here in the zocalo blogging for the hell of it. But hey, love that live reportage feel. :-)
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