August, 2011: Mexico City - Day

Having came all the way to Mexico, I couldn't leave without checking out Mexico City. The capital of Mexico, Mexico D.F (Distrito Federal), is by one count, the 3rd largest city in the world.

After 3 weeks in Monterrey it was time to leave for Mexico City, before getting out of the country. The evening before I left, I could hear the train horn blowing at the far edge of the industrial park from my hotel. Too bad, it was not a "Alllll-aaabooooard!!", since it is not a passenger train, just cargo.
Standing at an altitude of 2,240 metres, in the Valley of Mexico right in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, it is probably one of the highest above sea level.
Most of the Mexican I worked with in Monterrey were from Mexico City, and they looked incredulous when I actually have to ask if Mexico City is bigger than Monterrey. Of course, they said. Go see for yourself, they suggested. I did, and now I am a believer. It is hugh.
And it is colorful, too. The street out of the airport was a crash of color.
I checked into the Cathedral Hotel, near the main city cathedral. It is at the centre of Federal District, and, judging by the crowd, the touristy part. Although here in the Historic Centre, it is a much sombre part of town. Even the 7Eleven shop lost their colors.
The website of the Cathedral Hotel promised me a view of the Cathedral. Well, I wasn't getting any of that. The only view I got was the window of the room opposite. But at least it is right at the centre of most of the touristy places I was planning to see.

First stop ,the Metropolitan Cathedral, of course. The tourist has already descended on the cathedral and the main square in front of it. As with all churches in Mexico, the church came with the merchants. All along the front gate of the church were souvenir peddlers, stalls selling drinks and food.

I skipped going into the cathedral for now and followed the crowd into a side street.
Along the way, a Xi'an terracotta statute by the National Museum caught my attention and I went into the museum. Admission is free, and there were a China exhibition going on. In it were the usual Chinese costume, pottery and the likes.
A Confucius saying on the vermillion wall seems to attract a lot of attention from the Mexican visitors. It turns out to be
“己所不欲，勿施于人。”
《论语·卫灵公》

They also have a interesting permanent display of rice as staple food in the Asia Pacific rim.

After the museum, I wander into the old part of town. There were more churches, and more stalls. The old town seems to be organized by the same way as old Hanoi, where each streets has a concentration of a specific trade. The longest street I wandered into was textile street: everything from thread to panties. I have my lunch by the street, and then continue back to the Cathedral.


This time round, I went into the church. A Spanish sign ('cripta') seems to suggest there is a crypt right below the church. I followed the sign and went down a flight of stair to the basement. But there was a desk by the door and someone at the back of the desk, who look like he is there to stop busybody like me from entering. I never got into the crypt.


But images of death seems to be commonplace on the street. This reverence towards is probably carried over from Aztec belief before the introduction of the Catholic church. Mexico is quite famous for its Fesival of the Dead. Juxtaposition of church and death is everywhere in the street.


I would hate to run into this statute of Santa Muerta in the middle of the night.
Just right outside the cathedral, the Indians were doing their dance. Once they noticed me taking pictures, one of them came over for 'tips'. The sent the right guy, I gladly parted with some spare changes.

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July-August, 2011: Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico...退一步粉身碎骨

The Copper Canyon is really a misomer. There aren't copper mines found in the Canyon. In fact, it could very well be named the Grander Canyon, because in size, it is much larger the American Grand Canyon.

Standing at 2400m above sea level, the Divisaderio station is one of the highest point on the Chepe route between Chihuahua and Los Mochis. It is also the station where the train stop the longest. For this reason, I was expecting a sizeable town built around this station. As it turns out, there really isn't many buildings anywhere near the station.
There is a hotel with part of it hanging over the edge of the canyon (a good place to stay to have the scenery right outside your balcony), a small hut which is the ticket booth to the park built near the station, a little shop behind the station selling anything from powder detergent to Nacho tidbits and about a handful of buildings further down the track which serve unknown purposes.
I guess the train stop here the longest to allow the passengers to take a picture of the scenery, and to eat at the stalls along the track.
The cast of this stations are the passengers getting a quick bite, sourvenir peddlers and Mexican Indians just milling around with not much purposes. They just chat with each other, chat with us visitors, watch the coming and going of us visitors, check through the garbage can to look for something recycleable, or simply sit around. Some stray dogs were wandering around the stalls, hoping to get some scrap from the visitors. But none were Chihuahua dogs, though.
One indian guy commented on the dressing of a Mexican city-dwelling lady visitor. She was in some tight blouse and pants, with everything spilling out. I guess the indian was enquiring if she was 'for sale'. Her answer, in Spanish, seems to include a price in peso. I guess she was saying she is for sale, she named her price, and she was asking if the guy can afford it. The embarassment on his face was pretty visible.

But you wouldn't find these people in the pictures. I have been in Mexican for 2 weeks, and I found that Mexicans just don't seems to be taking photoes, even if this has one built into their cellphone. I assume they just don't like taking picture. And here in the remote Divisedario, I just assume the Indians here still have their superstition about having their photoes taken (the camera taking away your soul and all). Anyway, pictures with just mountains, no people.
The souvenir peddlers also don't approach the customers. They just sit in the shade waiting for customer to approach. Along the edge of canyon, a little park was built, with a hiking path and a few vantage points. Most remote places like this, the kids will look, if not stare, at the visitors inquisitively. But here, the kids don't even bother with eye contact. They could either be used to visitors, or it is simply not polite in their culture to make eye contact.

Or, very likely, I just don't look that much different from the Indians to warrant a second look. It might sound ridiculous, with Asia and South America being so far apart, but many of the Indians in Mexico has facial feature that reminds me of someone back home, albeit in a darker shade. The Aztec Indians are supposed to originate from Siberia, they probably move east across what is now the Russia far east, cross into America (now Alaska) many many years back (before CFC was invented, before global warming and before some ice bridge between Asia and America still exists), and then move down south into Mexico. If you think of how closed Siberia is to the Mongolia steppe, it is possible the Indian gene merging into the Mongolian gene. And think of how closed Mongolia is to China, so is it possible for the Mongolian gene to merge into Chinese gene. So, maybe it is not surprising that the Mexican American actually looks more like us Asian than an African or Caucasians.

Anyway, along this hiking path, you can just walk up closer to the edge and try to look down. Not recommended for those who are afraid of height.
The walk took about 2 hours. About half way through, I could hear a loud train whistle from the direction of the station. I was thinking has my return train just pulled out of the station, leaving me here in Divisedario. Luckily, that was the day's 1st class train leaving for Chihuahua. My 2nd class train is not yet here.
I arrived back at the station early for my train back to Chihuahua. As expected, the train was late. I while away the time people watching, and did a little shopping at the small grocer behind the station. Surprising, even at this remote touristy place, I found that the prices were not inflated. As it approaches late afternoon, the souvenir peddles were packing up and coming out from the parks, and were board the back of pickup trucks. I guess they are calling it a day and going home from their 'office'.

When the train did arrive, it was the same familiar scene of passengers rushing for the food stall. Probably because the train needs to make up for lost time, the stop was much briefer, and some of the passengers was seen trying to finish their food from the disposable plates as they run along the track to board the train. This gave the stray dogs to sniff out some crumps. But I did not see a single Chihuahua dog.
I picked a seat where I could see the scenery on the side opposite the one when I came into Divisedario. When I inform the conductor that I have no ticket for the journey back, I could almost see his ears prick up. Call me a pessimist when it comes to human nature, but I could predict he was coming up with some scheme.
When he later came back with his colleague, he inform me that I could pay for the ticket to them. Well, nothing wrong with that, since I was told at Chihuahua to pay for my return trip at Divisedario, and the Divisedario station has no ticket counter. But then the conductor came back and inform me that, unfortunately, they have ran out of paper to print the ticket. If I am OK with that, I can have the ticket for 450 peso, a discount of 75% from the actual price. I paid up, since I would have to pay anyway, but I suspect the conductor would have pocketed the 450peso, since there is no paper trail for my purchase.

Anyway the scenery back on this side of the train looks much better.
The guy's name is Juan. if it isn't, he has no business blocking the sign for the town of San Juanito.
But it was late in the afternoon, and before long, it was dusk, and then it was dark.

It was past midnight when I arrive back in Chihuahua. There was a mad rush at the station for passengers trying to secure a taxi back home.
I agreed on a price for my trip back to the hotel, without knowing there were already 3 other passengers on the cab, going to 2 different places. The driver has to drop them off before taking me to the hotel. I was trying to memorize all the turn the cab made as it pulls further away from the station, but I gave up after the fifth turn. As the cab travel down dim and lonely roads to drop off the other passenger, the fear in me grows. The cab driver could threaten to abandon me by the road in a bid to jack up our agreed price (the cab don't run on the meter system). Worst, he could just rob me and abandon me by the road. I would be at his mercy.

Fortunately, none of that happen. He got me safely back to the hotel, all the way carrying on this conversation:
Him: Ibis hotel, Si?
Me: Si, Si.
Him: Ibis hotel, Si?
Me: Si, Si, Ibis, Si.
......(repeat from the top.)

In fact, once I am safely in the hotel lobby, I insisted he pay me the change of 10 peso, a very small sum. He has no small changes so have to ask the hotel receptionist for it. I could sense his frustration (face turning beetroot red, beads of sweat on the forehead), but no anger. So, while the Mexican drug gangs are killing all over Mexico in their turf war, the majority of Mexicans are just making an honest living.
After a brief shut-eye, I was back on the road to Chihuahua airport to catch the flight back to Monterrey.

July, 2011: The CHEPE: Chihuahua Pacifico, Mexico...可是我不曾见过海洋

和拉丁美洲大多数国家一样， 在墨西哥土地上运行的客运火车已经是寥寥无几了。 有能力的搭飞机， 要不便搭巴士。

虽然货运的铁路网络还存在着， 可是客运方面， 除了几条迎合tourist的线路外， 基本上已不复存在。 其中， 最令人津津乐道的是运行于吉娃娃和Los Mochis间的 Chepe。 Chepe 是 CHIhuahua PAcifico 的缩写 （不是CHIPA,因为西班牙语的读音和英语不同。。。好家在。） Pacifico， 因为Los Mochis 是靠近太平洋的一个镇。 Chepe把墨西哥太平洋海岸和北部内陆的吉娃娃连起来， 也把两地间峡谷中的乡镇和景点串起。

车票在Monterrey已经通过电话预约了。 到吉娃娃当天下午便到车站取票。 我住的IBIS网站把车站写的像是很靠近车站似的， 可是要不是有路人指点迷津， 我还真找不到。 车站藏在一所牢房后。整座牢房像座碉堡似的。
我不小心跑进了铁道公司的办公楼， 被保安叫了出来。 车站在铁道公司旁， 车站前停了一台马路-铁轨两用的Ford Pickup Truck。

我在取票刷卡付款时， 售票员认出我的名字： “是你哦， 你的预约电话是我接到。” 因为工作关系， 我得同一天回到吉娃娃，无法一路到Los Machis， 所以只我买了吉娃娃到Divisaderio的一等票。 回程的票， 票务员要我到了Divisaderio再打算。 吉娃娃-Divisaderio单程一等票约墨西哥比索1200.
走出车站， 我第一次 （也是唯一一次）在吉娃娃看到吉娃娃犬： 一尊雕像， 被安在车站对街的hotel门上。
火车隔天7点开车， 我提早到了车站， 想想还是先买些吃喝的， 估计一等车上的餐车东西应该不便宜。 还好在计程车上注意到车站附近有加油站， 应该有类似7Eleven的便利店。

24小时营业的便利店确实有， 可是过了午夜， 天亮前， 店门是锁上的。 门旁开了个小售货窗， 窗后座了位欧巴桑， 正在翻阅报纸。 她把售货口拉开， 问了我要什么。 我指了指耳朵， 摇了摇手， 外加一句Espanyol non， 她马上了了。 打量了我上下， 或许确定我毫无杀伤力， 便起身把门打开， 让我进店， 然后在我身后把门锁上。
我在店里shopping时， 店外来了个买烟的欧吉桑， 从零星听的懂的西班牙语， 大概知道是一下的对话：
欧吉桑： 老太婆， 都几点了， 你怎么让人进店里。 怎么不让我进去？
欧巴桑： 无法度丫， 外国人， 西班牙语他听没有。
欧吉桑： 按奈奥。

回到车站， 月台上已经热闹起来了。 乘客们有的搬行李上车，有的在拍照。 和昨天取票时的冷清车站有天渊之别。 我找到我靠窗的座位， 7点多， 火车准点开出月台。 我那节车厢大概有8分满， 看来大多是出游的墨西哥人。
火车开离吉娃娃市时， 天也开始亮起来。 一路窗外清楚的告诉乘客吉娃娃是个畜牧业大本营。
窗外不时有牛， 有马， 偶尔也有骑着马的牛仔。 骑驴的也有。
鸡，鸭，猪不时也会出现在铁道旁。 有些死掉的牛只倒在铁轨旁， 狗儿正啃着牛骨头。
火车继续前进， 平坦的草地开始出现小溪， 续而是河川。 有几处地形还让我以为火车在蒙古的草原上奔跑。
不久火车开始爬坡， 草丛也开始变为尖锥树林。
当然， 一路上也有些乡镇。
火车开了大概7个小时， 在Divisaderio停靠。 我也在这里下车。
Divisaderio是Chihuahua Pacifico 沿途最高点之一。 也是停靠最久的一站， 让乘客可以到车站旁的景区拍几张照片。 不过我发现大多数乘客对月台旁的小吃摊较有兴趣。
我记的Lonely Planet (又或者是Rough Guide) 提过这里的小吃摊， 说得像是是美食天堂似的， 让我对它有太大的期望。
或许是因为这样， 失望也比较大。 沿着铁路和通向景区的梯级旁有十家左右， 各个摊位上的小烟囱都冒着烟， 发出食物的香味。 可是没一摊买的是近乎一样的食物： 烤玉米面皮儿（红得，黑得，绿的都有， 看起来怪怪的， 但还不错吃）， 夹肉馅。有一家像是被guidebook强力推荐似的， 生意特别好， 摊子边的凳子座无虚席。 它旁边的生意明显差多了， 所以有位置坐下。