June 15th 2007- Bacarday Partaayy

My first evening in Mexico City started out with quite a bang. I arrived safe and sound to Libby and Ric’s house… 114 San Louis de Potosi, Colonia Roma Mexicooo ciudad. Then I got picked up by some friends of a U of C friend to go out for the night. They had tickets to a Bacardi Promotion Party. It was basically a free concert with and open bar in order to promote a new kind of rum or something. You, the Mexican youth, were supposed to go in, look like you were having fun drinking Bacardi and listening to interesting roquero (rock) bands so they could film the whole thing and take pictures. It was an invitation only party which mean you had to have tickets to get in. I am not sure where or how people were supposed to have gotten tickets, but it was obviously and elite sort of thing. The people I went with were very friendly and we danced a lot even though the music was not very good. Although,for all you Peter Bjorn and John Fans out there, during a break between acts we did hear one of their songs and one of the girls I was out with recognized it by name (cool points for the Mexicans, and more specifically Greta’s dad for exposing her). All in all I had fun dancing and hanging out but it really was a strange scene. People were sizing each other up and down and I was most definitely
under dressed (jeans, a sweater and sneakers…can I get a woop woop for the Guerra?).
On the way to this fiestote we stopped at all their houses. This provided me with a tour of the lifestyle of Mexico’s elites. On the drive they told me about the kids they went to school with, who lived in these barrios, and speculated on the origins of their wealth. Politician’s hijos (who had stolen such and such funds and of some of whom were in hiding in the US), Narco-traficos, media tycoons, bankers etc. It was interesting to hear them be so frank and critical of these neighborhoods and these people they knew. They brought up stats about social disparities and the large amount of wealth in small number of hands. All the while though they seemed to construct their critique and my introduction to the city and the noveau-riche suburbs we drove through as though the places we were picking members of their banda up from were not their own neighborhoods.
There were so many scenes from the night that made me think of Y Tu Mama Tambien. Ideal cinematografic sequences where an omniscient narrator’s voice would have been perfectly placed. One of these scenes was as were driving in the supposed richest part of town two huge trucks filled to the brim with limes pulled up next to us probably coming from some rural southern province and going who knows where (our Bacardi drinks?). The second scene was a lot harder for me to stomach. 3 am, we started heading out through seas of trashed cups and cigarettes that covered the floor of the hippodromo (big globe stadium…hippostadium heh heh). This little old lady dressed in candy striped janitors shirt bent down right at Diana’s feet to pick up a few cups that was only a small fraction of trash that had just been dropped. The reaction of the party-goers around was to laugh, scoffingly. Why was she picking these up now? The party wasn’t over. It was 3 am, this abuelita seemed so out of place among the 4-inch high heels, slicked hair and designer jeans. More eerily though, she seemed to fit right in. I wouldn’t want my grandmother to have seen some of the kids in the state they were in and even less to have to clean up after them. Que asco. First night and already reconciling mad social differences becomes a part of my experience. I am curious to understand more about how the social stratification is understood by Mexico’s different age groups and social classes. It’s not like it’s unique to hear. I am sure there are abuelitas who pick up my trash at parties in Chicago too, maybe it just does not happen right in front of my face. I might be wrong but I would be surprised if the first night of going out with a group of kids in the US the majority of them would have any idea of the socio-economic disparities and increasing poverty in their own cities. Come to think of it, I am probably not as well versed in the stats as I should be.