Uncovering Mexico

Uncovering Mexico

Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.

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The entry titled "300th (and final) Post: The Best and the Worst."

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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2009 > March > 26 > Entry

300th (and final) Post: The Best and the Worst

By Jeremy Schwartz | Thursday, March 26, 2009, 02:15 PM

Following in the tradition of the 200th and 100th blog posts, here is our latest, and last, offering of the best and worst in Mexico over the last several months. I’ll truly miss writing this blog, but all the feedback from you all has made it a great ride.

Most impressive tequila collection: Ricardo Ampudia’s 3,600 bottles in his Tepotzlan villa are an amazing sight. There are bottles shaped like rifles and whales, donuts and Pancho Villa. Visiting his tequila cave is like entering shangri-la for anyone who likes a snort. I didn’t get a chance to try his favorite bottle, the Don Maximiliano, but seeing how he almost began drooling as he described it, I can imagine it’s pretty good.

Best Mexican Documentary: “Los Ultimos Heroes de la Peninsula (The Last Heroes of the Peninsula),” perfectly captures the plight of five ex-champions in the Yucatecan city of Merida. The humor and spirit of these men, even as they struggle to get by, is a look at the best of Mexico. The men have lost their fortunes thanks to wine, women and unscrupulous promoters, but retain their dignity. This quiet movie blew me away at the Morelia Film Festival. Hopefully it becomes commercially available soon.

Least favorite Mexico City activity: Fighting off the paranoia. Living here, it’s not hard to succumb to the creeping tendrils of fear. You see friends robbed and assaulted. You hear of far worse in the local papers. You lay in bed at night and plot escape routes. You keep a wooden stick studded with sharp nails in your bathroom. But you can’t give in. To do so is to miss out on the carnival of experience available in this unique city. Here you can catch a Klezmer band playing in a 17th Century building at 2 a.m.; find exquisite street tacos and gourmet fusion cuisine on the same block; wander through labyrinthine markets of potions and moles. You can enjoy it all - if you can keep the paranoia at bay.

Favorite Discovery: Mexico City rapper Boca Floja is among the best in a burgeoning movement of Mexican rappers. While in Mexico I saw Cartel de Santa frontman Babo get locked up for murder. But evening out that depressing turn of events was the discovery (a little late granted) of this Chilango MC. A buttery flow over head-nodding beats, spiced with socially conscious lyrics makes him a must-know for anyone into hip hop. And further evidence that the true soul of rap may just have fled the bling of America and migrated south of the border.

Best soap opera: As dull as it sounds, my vote is for watching Mexico City try to solve its infrastructure woes. From its search for a place to stash its tons of daily garbage, to its plans to smooth out traffic horrors and find an adequate water supply, the city is on a constant quest to make itself more livable. It’s unclear whether that’s possible in a bowl-shaped valley stuffed to the mountaintops with people, but check back in 2010, when the city plans to strut during the Bicentennial celebrations.

Best tacos in Mexico City: I never made it to the famed cow eye tacos in the Coyoacan quesadilla market, but I’m torn between two other delicacies: the tacos al pastor from El Huequito, a literal hole in the wall that’s been making tacos since the 1950’s; and the carnitas tacos in the stand outside the Zapata Metro station. The latter are so good, I’ll invent reasons to travel to this charmless section of the city just to get a taste.

Ugliest Trend: The extortion and protection rackets that are proliferating in cities and towns in the grip of drug cartels. This is one vivid example of how the drug war affects innocent third parties. Everyone from the hamburger stand owner to the hardware store magnate gets hit. And in most cases there is no local authority to turn to. Either pay or lose your business (or life).

Most inspiring story: Watching Carlos Villanueva and a group of other migrants from the U.S. try to break the political vice grip of the local strongmen in San Marcos, Guerrero. Talking with the men, it was possible to imagine a different kind of future for Mexico’s countryside, where democracy has yet to arrive.

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