Mexico

[pattycakes_]

Is there Mexican food in the uk?

In London there was loads. Even Chipotle. You get chains that do a cheap trashy version in most decent sized cities. Never bother with those personally. Every now and then you'll find a little hole in the wall doing nice burritos (I know, I know..)

I'm in Berlin tho and yeah anywhere hipster tends to have decent mexican

 

[version]

Also lived like a king there on American dollars. Is there a euro country all the brits travel to to get everything half off?

Portugal? @IdleRich ?

 

[shakahislop]

i've been to monterrey, juarez, chihuahua and mexico city. i don't have anything particularly interesting to say about mexico except that it's an interesting place and i liked it. the entanglement between the US and mexico in particular, the way those two countries are so closely linked, how they influence one another. walked across the border between the two in juarez. that felt like a pretty bleak town, something told me to get out of there as soon as possible, it felt like one of those old paintings about 'the poor' in victorian london, and strange as fuck to get over this border fortress and into el paso, which is standard texan wide streets and girls in bars wearing tight tops to improve their tips.

 

[version]

Shaka during his time in Mexico.

 

[shakahislop]

there's an interesting american cultural thread about wanting to lay claim to mexico in some way. people going there and loving it and wanting to somehow own it, or be associated with it.

 

[shakahislop]

Shaka during his time in Mexico.

that's my look in oxfordshire as well

 

[WashYourHands]

seems an effective firewall as a border state to the US in that narcotics, guns, money and people moving through porous borders are deeply embedded in the whole fabric of connections between both countries, been on a to do list for forever

the only place I ever encountered anything approaching a heavy MS13 presence directly was in Manassas of all gaffs, buying heroin. car pulled alongside the one we were in at a red light, gun pointed directly at my mate, cue laughter at us ducking and their car pulled off - series of summers it got nicknamed Manasty

 

[version]

I think the first thing a lot of people think of when they think of Mexico nowadays is the cartels. They're the predominant feature in the media. There seems to be a concerted effort to present the place as a more or less constant bloodbath.

 

[shakahislop]

i met some nice people running hostels and airbnbs. it reminded me of the euro-hippie backpacker thing that i swear used to exist so much more than it does now. lots of curiosity about who you are. lots of people sitting in courtyards playing cards and drinking beers with scuzzy travellers. openness and all of that. but then leaving the US for most other places always makes everyone in the place you arrive seem so gentle and soft by comparison. i used to love backpacker-land, it was great.

 

[linebaugh]

I think the first thing a lot of people think of when they think of Mexico nowadays is the cartels. They're the predominant feature in the media. There seems to be a concerted effort to present the place as a more or less constant bloodbath.

My wife's family are such stereotypical dumb Texan rubes that if they were written into a movie it would be criticized for bad writing and apparently they all cried when they learned we were going

 

[shakahislop]

i liked that mexico seemed on the face of it to have a continental european level of arts funding. there are hardly any places globally speaking which have all of these massive art museums, even in places like monterrey which aren't exactly tourist-land or artist-land. the museum in monterrey was empty and had some of the best installations i've seen. there was a few rooms of ai wei wei and all of this 'sculpture' with water and steam, and some sound installations too.

frida kahlo on the other hand is another interesting north american cultural thing, she's been turned into a symbol, there's a resturant in greenpoint named after her, there's murals of her all over the place, there's exhibitions of her stuff in Seattle that cost $25 to get into and are totally packed. the kind of artist that everyone's mum has heard of. her house is on the mexico city tourist trail

 

[version]

Linebaugh saw a Varo whilst he was there.

 

[wild greens]

Turkey

 

[HMGovt’s Glorious Return!]

Mexico is not as old as New Mexico

 

[Leo]

I once rented a car in San Diego, the person behind the counter said “you’re only allowed to drive in the US, you can’t drive to Mexico.” I said “can I drive to New Mexico?”, and she just stared it me for about 10 seconds before saying “yes” in a sort of confused manner.

 

[Mr. Tea]

i've been to monterrey, juarez, chihuahua and mexico city. i don't have anything particularly interesting to say about mexico except that it's an interesting place and i liked it. the entanglement between the US and mexico in particular, the way those two countries are so closely linked, how they influence one another. walked across the border between the two in juarez. that felt like a pretty bleak town, something told me to get out of there as soon as possible, it felt like one of those old paintings about 'the poor' in victorian london, and strange as fuck to get over this border fortress and into el paso, which is standard texan wide streets and girls in bars wearing tight tops to improve their tips.

Juarez is known for being particularly muder-y, isn't it? I think it's the real-life inspiration for the fictional city of Santa Teresa in Bolano's 2666 ('the part about the murders').

 

[sus]

I've never left the country properly before, so this could just be an everywhere but america observation, but it was fun too see remnants of culture persist after thousands of years

This is my favorite part, and because of the differences in civilizational/technological "advancement," the juxtapositions are much stronger than in Europe—in Mexico you have colonial Catholic churches right next to ruined temples where they cut peoples hearts out and rolled them down stairs. Maybe there are some parallel juxtapositions in English history w/r/t Romanization, but

 

[sus]

So what did you do and see

Did you go to Xochimilco did you see the pyramids did you bum around the Romas did you walk the Hippodrome

 

[linebaugh]

This is my favorite part, and because of the differences in civilizational/technological "advancement," the juxtapositions are much stronger than in Europe—in Mexico you have colonial Catholic churches right next to ruined temples where they cut peoples hearts out and rolled them down stairs. Maybe there are some parallel juxtapositions in English history w/r/t Romanization, but

There was a funny thing I noticed where most American sources tried to down play the amount of ritual sacrifice going on and then when actually in Mexico everyone goes 'oh ya we we really fucking people up!'

 

[linebaugh]

So what did you do and see

Did you go to Xochimilco did you see the pyramids did you bum around the Romas did you walk the Hippodrome

Did go to see the teotihuacan pyramids, saw all the big museums, walked around the down town area and saw the cathedrals and ruins, lots of putzing around in street markets