Before There Was Soccer

 I thought that this billboard in one of Mexico City's subway stations was interesting.

It says, "Before soccer existed, Mexico was already playing ball."

All of Mexico's pre-Hispanic civilizations, beginning with the Olmecs and continuing through the Mayas and Aztecs had a form of ballgame.  The Mayas called it "pok-ta-pok" and the Aztecs called it "tlachtli".  The exact rules of the game are not known, but it is known that it was played with a solid rubber ball.  Ball courts are found in archaeological sites throughout the country.  It is generally thought that the players kept the ball in motion by striking it with their hips.  Hands and feet were not allowed.  However, there is some archaeological evidence that players used wooden sticks or racquets in some cultures.  The ballgame was more than a sport; it was also a religious ritual.  In later civilizations the game even involved human sacrifice.  

It's a Mystery

I am not generally a big fan of murder mysteries, but, since Agatha Christie is considered the Queen of the genre, I decided to give one of her novels a try.  Several years ago, before my move to Mexico, I read "Halloween Party".  I was not very impressed, but I later learned that it was considered one of her lesser works, written late in her life.  I gave the author another try. I picked up one of her most famous mysteries, "And Then There Were None", to put on my bookshelf in the apartment and to read in the future.  I started it a week ago, and at 300 pages in fairly large type it was finished quickly.

The mystery revolves around ten people at a mansion on a small island off the coast of England.  Two of them were servants hired by the mysterious owner of the island and the other eight were invited to spend the weekend there.  One by one the ten people are found dead.  There is no way for them to get off of the island.  The survivors thoroughly search the island and the house for the murderer.  When they find no one they assume that the killer is one of them.  Although there is nothing spectacular about Christie's prose, she weaves an ingenious mystery that leaves one guessing until the very end.  The author said that it was her most difficult novel. 

The story is pleasurable reading, but it does reflect the prejudices of the era in which it was written.   The original title was "Ten Little N*****s" after the name of a 19th century minstrel song.  For a while it was published as "Ten Little Indians", and now its title is "And Then There Were None".  One glaring bit of prejudice that remains is a minor character (not one of the ten on the island) who is referred to as "a dirty Jew".  Beyond that reference, which could easily be edited out, it was an entertaining book. 

Giant Players

The latest addition to the World Cup decorations along Paseo de la Reforma (they weren't there the last time I walked down the boulevard) is a series of large statues of soccer players dressed in the uniforms of various nations.

This one is dressed in the uniform of Colombia.

The jerseys and shorts are actually giant uniforms made of fabric.

June Is Busting Out All Over

(For younger readers, or those not familiar with classic Broadway musicals, the title of this post is a reference to a famous Rodgers and Hammerstein song.)

The year is flying by, and we are now in the month of June.  The photo that I selected for my custom-made calendar is one that I took some years ago when I made a trip to Switzerland, Austria and Germany.  One of the cities that I visited was Munich (or München in German) the capital of Bavaria, Germany's largest state.

The city hall of Munich contains in its central spire a famous "glockenspiel", a mechanical clock with moving figures that represent two scenes from Munich's history.  The top section commemorates the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine in 1568.  Below it, there are figures representing the Coopers' Dance.  According to legend, the city's barrel makers (coopers) danced through the street at the end of the plague in 1517.  There are performances of he "glockenspiel" several times a day, and they attract large crowds of tourists and residents.

The city hall (the "Neues Rathhaus" or New Town Hall) was built in neo-Gothic style in 1874.  The building suffered minimal damage during the Allied bombardment in 1944, and the structure was repaired.  The "glockenspiel" dates from 1908 and underwent restoration in 2007.   

Painting the Town

Here's another example of the city's beautification projects in preparation for the World Cup.  They had just finished painting the wall along the "Autopista Urbana Norte" (Northern Urban Freeway) which passes between the first and second sections of Chapultepec Park.

As I have mentioned before, "¡La Pelota Vuelve a Casa!" (The Ball Returns Home!) is the city's slogan for the games, a reference to the fact that Mexico is the first country to host three World Cups.  It adds "a la capital del fútbol" (to the capital of soccer).  To the right is an axolotl, the amphibious animal that the city has adopted as its mascot.  Just down the highway they were still in the process of painting the mural.

Eating Russian

When we returned from our excursion to see the new airport, we were at Buenavista Station.  Just on the other side of Insurgentes Avenue is the neighborhood of Santa María la Ribera.  We had not eaten since breakfast, and Alejandro asked me if I knew of any good restaurants there.  I said that I had eaten at a couple places there, so we crossed the avenue and walked to the plaza in the center of the neighborhood.

One of the restaurants that I know is called Oaxacaquí.  It is a tiny hole-in-wall place that serves excellent Oaxacan food.  Unfortunately, there was a line waiting for a table.  

The other place, just down the street, is a Russian restaurant called Kolobok.  

I had eaten there once before and liked it.  However, they opened a branch not far from the apartment, and I was not as impressed.  There were tables available so we decided to see if this branch, the original restaurant, was still as good as it was before.

We both began with borscht, a traditional Russian beet soup.  It was quite good.  For the main course, Alejandro ordered the beef Stroganoff with mashed potatoes.

I ordered something called "pelmeni" which the menu described as raviolis stuffed with beef and pork and served with sour cream.  They turned out to be a Russian variation of Polish pierogis.

When I saw the little bowl, I thought that it was a rather small serving.  However, by the time I finished them, I was full.

We finished by sharing a piece of honey cake, one of their specialties.

The service was slow, but the food was good and something quite different than normal.  

The White Elephant Airport

I wrote in the last post that we took the new train to the Felipe Angeles International Airport (known as AIFA) last weekend.

It was a short walk from the train station to the airport terminal.

 The terminal is attractive, bright, shiny and clean.  But there is none of the hustle and bustle you associate with airports.  Heck, it makes the airport at Cleveland, Ohio, look hectic.  Some areas are eerily empty.

Why are there so few people?  There are not that many flights, and most people simply do not want to put up with the inconvenience of traveling so far to get to the airport.

Here is the departures board.  Most of the flights are operated by Viva, a Mexican budget airline.  It's called an "international airport", but there were only two flights to Bogotá, Colombia listed.  None of the airlines from the United States, Canada, Europe or Asia wish to move their operations to this remote airport.

And here is the arrivals board...

Even though Viva is the main airline here, there was no one lined up at the counter, and no employees present.

There are supposedly flights to Caracas on a Venezuelan carrier called Conviasa (not surprising since the government was buddy-buddy with the Maduro regime).  Maybe the flight to Caracas had left earlier that day, but that counter was also devoid of life.

From the upper floor there is a walkway leading to the roof terrace of the building which houses the ground transportation terminal and parking garage.

The terrace is decorated with fiberglass figures of cactuses, each one painted by a different artist.  These have appeared along Paseo de la Reforma and on the Zócalo.  Perhaps this will be their permanent home.

 

In my opinion the airport is a white elephant, a vanity project of former President López Obrador.  He supposedly terminated construction of the planned Texcoco airport (which would have been much closer to the city) due to environmental concerns and corruption.  I suspect that López Obrador also wanted to deny his predecessor, Peña Nieto, the glory of having initiated what would have been the world's largest airport.  AIFA was extremely costly when you factor in the money that had already been spent on the Texcoco airport and the billions paid out for suspended contracts.