Mexico....or how the locals call it, MeHeCo. Before I arrived here, i read a lot about how unsafe the city is and that you should be careful when taking a taxi or that you should not carry too much cash with you or even wear any bling bling with you.
Best to take a proper taxi when you arrive at the airport. It costs about 300pesos but at least you know you will be safely arriving at your hotel on the day of arrival.
This year is Frida Carlo's 100th year celebration since her birth. Mexico City has plenty of art exhibitions to commemorate this auspicious occasion. At the Bella Artes (at the Bella Arter Metro Station...duh!), you can see the extensive exhibition of her works and even a history of her depicting her as a child til her death. I have to say, I was moved by her strength and ability to overcome the hardship that she had to endure in her life after her near fatal accident. Warning though, there is one picture of her taken when she just passed away on the bed. I think that is such a gross invasion of privacy. I suppose the only consolation was that at least she looked peaceful at her last moments before her death.
In conjunction with this celebration, her husband's works are also displayed in the Diego Rivera museum as well as Bella Artes. If you are a fanatic of their work, you can even visit their house at Coyocan. I did not manage to go there, but my colleague told me it was well worth the visit. There, you will feel as if you are their special guest who is given a personal tour of their sanctuary.
Also not to be missed is the Zocalo. That is the 2nd biggest square in the world, after the Red Square in Moscow. There you could see one of the most famous and older cathedral in Mexico City as well as the Parliament building. In the building, you get to see another one of the famous mural by Diego Rivera. The mural is unbelievably huge. I wondered how long it took for him to complete it. Me being cheap, I didn't bother to hire a tourguide (which you could hire there and then). I just went around admiring the mural and making my own conclusions out of it. My conclusion is that it is breath-taking. Each mural depicts a different chapter of Mexico's history. Very intriguing indeed.
The nightlife there is even more superb. There is this area called Zona Rosa (Pink Zone). As the name implies, it is pretty gayish! Apparently, this place is even bigger than Castro in San Fransisco. So, I started off on Amberes Av. When I arrived, I could already see it packed with rainbow flags all over the place and lots of gay girls and guys holding hands and being kissy kissy.
I walked down that road just to cruise around and noticed that the most packed bar is called Pussy. It is adjoining to another bar called Lagata. As I was about to enter the place (it was a Thursday), a woman bouncer stopped me and asked for my ID. So, I suggest to you girls, do not forget to bring your ID if you do look like a teenager but know for a fact that you are not. So, people in Mexico start to party on Thursday nites. In fact, Thursday nite is more for the gals than the guys. Almost all clubs around this area will only admit girls into their clubs. Some have a "you can bring a gay friend" policy though.
So, what I would suggest is to drink at this bar. They have quite extensive drink menu and it is quite cheap too. With drink names like Pussy lover, you can't really go wrong. The music in this bar is pretty loud and it is not really suitable for dancing. Yet, you can see some ass drunken people trying to groove on the dancefloor. I think when they return home, they will notice quite a lot of bruise on their tights since they kept knocking over the table with them. So annoying. But the turn of events were certainly boosting my mood. They started apologizing for grinding my table and then asked me to join their grind the table move. I initially was too shy but I later succumb to them..or maybe it was the alchohol.
If you are into serious dancing, then you should later on visit Lipstick, which is just opposite the bar. I didn't get a chance to visit the place since the bunch of people I met said that it is too expensive to enter after 11pm. The crowd who frequent the place on Thursday nites are mostly stylish feminine women with a little more dough. If you know the L Word, then you can imagine what type of crowd is in Lipstick. On other nites, it has more of a male clientale.
We ended up going to another club close by instead called V.I.P. It is also situated at Zona Rosa. On a Thursday nite, this place is filled with women and they even do not allow men to enter the club. The club is pretty huge with two dance floors. One is playing your typical pop/mexican/spanish/salsa/meringue flava while the other plays House/Techno music. I was truly impressed with the girls there. They knew how to dance and shake their booty. I suppose they started dancing before they start walking. It's amazing how they twirl and spin their partners over and over again without stepping each others feet. One girl took me in her arms and started dancing with me. After stepping her feet several times, I decided I should stop before she plots her revenge.
At about 1am, some female strippers came on stage and started to tease more than strip. They took off their bras but somehow, their breast are still well hidden. I guess it takes lots of practise and skills to do that while u girate to the music and fend off girls who are climbing on the stage to have a grab at it. Funny, there were no bouncer to stop the girls from climbing the stage. Bear in mind, the stage is quite high up, maybe about 4 feet, so whoever who managed to climb up there, must be quite resourceful ....or desperate...hehe. The club opens til late. I left at 3am, but people were still coming in. Entrance is super cheap (2eur) and drinks are also super cheap (beer for 1eur). Girls are a mixture of young and old, butch and femm...so pretty eclectic. Have your go, I definitely recommend this place. I actually went back here on Saturday. Saturdays is a mixed crowd of boys and girls...but there are fairly big number of girls there, which is surprising for any gay clubs at all!! Again, without fail, you are sure to get new phone numbers or at least girls grabbing your hands to dance with you....so go crazy! Be daring! It is all worth it.
On Friday nite, I ventured into another club called Living. Apparently, its the biggest gay club in Mexico City with the best quality sound system and laser technology. I definitely would not argue with that. It is a huge club with 3 different floors. One for Techno/House, the other R&B and the other one plays Pop music (spanish music included). On Fridays, the R&B section is closed. Entry is super expensive though to this club. It costs me about 10eur to enter. So, as you can see, this would already filter out the low income people. I have to say, it is a lot to pay for a foreigner, so you can imagine it would be an exorbitant amount for the locals. Somehow that doesn't deter people from hanging here though. The club was still quite full. As usual, people only start trickling in after 12midnite. Music is superb if you like techno/house. The DJ doesn't repeat the music. But for the pop area, the DJ was spinning the same tunes after awhile.
Drinks here are also quite expesive compared to the other clubs that I have been to in Mexico (2eur for a beer). As for the crowd, of course its mostly men, but there are a handful of women, lets say about 4% women. Yup, thats how few they were...which of course would increase your chance of getting hit on by a woman at the end of the night....hehe...afterall, you should try to look at the glass half full right?
Living
Ambience *****
Music ****
Girls **
Service ****
Price *
VIP
Ambience ***
Music ****
Girls *****
Service **
Price *****
Pussy
Ambience ***
Music ***
Girls *****
Service *****
Price *****
