Day 12

Monday Nov 10

Day off today. It really does feel like a day off and it’s our first one in what seems like forever. During this whole thing we’re getting a taste of what it could be like to be a full time touring working original act. It has certainly been feeling like a full time job.

Today it’s just out and about as Richard has decided today is the day to take us on an open top bus tour of Mexico City. Before that, me and Maja go for a walk out in the local area and just luxuriate in the fact that we have no place to go and no time to be there. We’re just going to do market wanderings and things and then go out with Richard when we’re about ready to do that.

Which is exactly what we do and we all head into the main city and select our open top bus tour to go on. You know, the whole double decker thing. And we manage to get the front seats at the top.

I’m not going blow by blow on this, but special mention must be made to the large avenue which displayed a whole load of wonderfully colourful and would-be lifesize and more models of fantasy animals. Surreal actually. These are called alebrijes and if you want to call them dreamlike, you’re right on track. The story is they came in a dream to a guy called Pedro Linares, a papier mache artist active in the 1930s. His surreal animal designs soon caught on in the artwork, most notably with the legendary Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. In time they became a part of Mexican tradition and are now mostly associated with the Day of the Dead and get displayed prominently here in October and November. So now here we are trundling leisurely down a wide city centre through road past a whole host of large, brightly coloured, literally dreamlike animals. 

Oh, and why have we so easily managed to get the prestige front seats at the top of the bus? Because the day we’ve been able to do this outdoor activity is the first actual cold day of our whole Mexico trip and will remain the only cold day for our entire time here. I know I said it was getting a bit chilly yesterday, but that was just by evening time. The rest of that day was lovely.

When we first arrived in the city today, and before the temperature had dispiritingly plummeted, Richard had pointed out a rooftop bar and said it was a bit of a secret must for anyone coming to Mexico City. That’s where we’re going to go afterwards, he said. 

By the time we finish the bus tour we can’t bear to be outside a moment longer so all thoughts of rooftop bars are totally gone. Instead Richard decides to introduce us to a seafood restaurant which is enormous and just a fantastic experience.

When we get back to his place, we discover we have another radio studio interview. At 12 noon on Saturday and quite far away. Way up in the hills of that place where we had the altitude affected gig – Milpa Alta. And the radio station? It’s Musika Real, the same station that had contacted me as we were leaving the airport in Richard’s car minutes after we’d arrived in Mexico. Oh damn, that feels like about a year ago.