Hola! Que esta' pasando, estudiante's y amigo's? What is happening, students and friends? I am in the Mexican spirit. I have arrived safely en la Ciudad de Mexico. I promised a blog post last night, but had difficulty tracking down some internet service. Esta bien, ahora!
If you haven't heard, I am here for my sister's retirement boxing match. Por que Mexico City? Well, we are half Mexican. Hence, the reason I write half espanol:). Seriously, she chose to accept this fight in Mexico City because she has an enormous fan base here. In fact, they are literally insane for her. The weigh in was like a concert with thousands of raving fans.
Learn more about Mia at http://www.MiaStJohn.com
A little about la Ciudad De Mexico. I wouldn't recommend traveling here for vacation. Stick to Cabo, Cancun, or mi favorito mejor- Puerto Vallarta. Honestly, I'm not into Cabo or Cancun, since it's hardly leaving the United States. Puerto Vallarta still has quite a bit of Mexican culture. Don't get me wrong, it's still for turista's. However, it's also a city that the Mexican people vacation to as well.
Anyhow, we are not here for vacation, so it doesn't matter. My job is to protect my sister and get her from point A to point B safely. A task I'm very familiar with given all her fights in Vegas during her days fighting on Oscar De La Hoya's cards. The big difference is that the population of Mexico City is nearly 9 million people, crime ridden, horrible infrastructure, corupt policia's, and to top it all off... the event tonight is free. 19,000 fans that don't have to pay a dime. Very different from a Las Vegas crowd where tickets are no cheaper than $250 for the nose bleed section and go up to $5,000 for ringside.
Watch for the piratas! That's pirates, in case you were wondering. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go back in time to see things in history like Christopher Columbus, Magellan, and the pirates. The past is a world that can seem so fairy taleish. Actually, many things of the past are alive and well today. You just have to travel to the right part of the world to see it.
In Mexico City, there are 110,000 taxi's. Of that 110,000, 30,000 of them are not registered. You have no idea which ones are registered and which are not. A common practice in Mexico City is for a friendly taxi cab driver to pick up a tourist from the airport, drive for 15 minutes or so, then at a specific stop light 2 armed piratas will jump into the taxi and the driver will continue driving, usually at high speeds. During this time, the piratas will thoroughly go through the turista's belongings and will rob them of all their valuables, then be dropped off in a remote area.
I'd like to think I fended off a possible attack. When I arrived, a taxi driver was trying to get me to come with him. I tried making it clear to him that I first need to see if I am being picked up by the hotel. He told me to meet him at puerto ocho, door 8. He walked off, briskly. About a minute later, an armed officer told me the taxi's are not for turista's. He made it very clear not to accept a ride from anyone, but rather to buy a shuttle ticket.
My sister's trainer, Charles, had a very different experience. He arrived at around midnight, and therefore, had no driver from the hotel to pick him up. He took the taxi. About 10 minutes into the drive, the taxi had taken, what he thought was an unsual turn into an alley. The taxi quickly came to a stop, and before he could question the stop, 2 people got into the taxi and demanded 500 pesos for the taxi to keep moving. Charles is a large man, who has boxed professional, and trains many top ranked professional fighters. This dude is tough, and he looks tough too! I wish I could say he took on all 3 men with his boxing skills, that would've made a great story. Instead, he did what an intelligent martial artist would have done. He lowered his shoulder, and barrelled into one of the men, bursting the door wide open before the pirata could close it, and ran screaming "policia, help... policia, help".
One thing that surpises me is the amount of policia here. Something that always boggled me was that they always have their lights on. After this incident with Charles, I now have a theory on why they drive with their lights on. The number one crime in Mexico City is robbery, and it mostly takes place in Taxi's and while walking. Fortunately, Charles saw the lights of a Policia and knew if he could get out of the taxi he would be safe.
Here is the hilarious part. The policia had trapped the taxi with it's car and questioned the taxi driver and his "amigo's." The taxi driver explained to the policia that the passenger misunderstood and there is no problemo. The policia then assured Charles that it was okay to ride with them. WHAT??? Well, it turned out alright since the policia followed the taxi all the way to the hotel. Talk about an uncomfortable ride!
That's all for now. I'm going to hit the gym, then we're off to the event. The fight is tonight on TV Azteca. In an email, I announced that the fight will be on TeleVisa, which is actually the station that is in Mexico. El estation en La Estados Unidos (USA) es TV Azteca's.
Stay tuned for more!
Respectfully,
Duncan Richardson
Chief Master Instructor
The Academy of World Taekwondo
Ph: 208.381.0587
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment