Monterrey
We are finally leaving Mexico City!!
With all of the shows that we played, I didn't make time to visit other areas of Mexico City, and so what I experienced here was only a fraction of what this huge city has to offer.
Some things that were different from two years ago:
The area near the arena seemed a bit cleaner, and there was a stronger police presence. This may just be my imagination, but that's what I noticed. There were also far fewer people attending our shows. This was really disheartening. Feld doesn't get money from ticket sales here(?), but still...some nights we had to start the show with fewer than 100 people in the audience, and in a 22k arena that's just depressing. It's a big change from two years ago, when we had to delay the start time because so many people were on the arena floor taking pictures. I really hope that in the future, we'll find a way to advertise more or do what needs to be done to get butts in the seats, because it's a hard thing to do twelve shows a week for only a handful of people per night.
(photo courtesy Brett)
Some things that were the same were the houses and the general living conditions of the working class. Although many people here seem happy, it makes me feel sad to see families living in houses made of scraps with no doors, no clean water. As mentioned in the last post, stray animals are rampant. I have seen so many types of feral cats and dogs wandering the streets, and some lying sick or dead next to the road. I wonder if the Mexican government has any programs in place to at least begin to address the problems of potable water, sanitation, and animal control.
Anyway, although I personally didn't get out much, I think many people had a good time in Mexico City. We did a better job of taking care of ourselves this time around; fewer people got The Revenge, and I didn't see many people passing out either. We got through it! Great job everyone :)
I had been a bit under the weather on Sunday, so spent the Monday train run resting and taking pictures from my window.
This is kinda interesting, some walls use broken glass cemented to the top in place of barbed wire.
We arrived in Monterrey a bit early, but weren't spotted until around dinner time. We have come down significantly in altitude. Some of my bottles look squished due to the change.
In this yard we are in five cuts, meaning the train is split into six pieces.
Crew cutting the train at car 39:
I remember this yard well. It's a weird little square, part of an abandoned office complex.
We are surrounded by beautiful mountains.
Caught this poor little guy scrounging through our trash.
The generator car is left open so that it doesn't overheat.
On opening night we had a great crowd, a welcome change from Mexico City. The weekend was pretty uneventful, just another eight shows in three days. Audiences in general were far better here, larger and more enthusiastic. It made doing so many shows much easier :)
The arena, inside and out:
On the very last day, Alex and Irena got The Revenge :( They performed admirably despite it. Hopefully they can rest and recover back in America. Mike, our sub on trumpet, did a great job here in Mexico. This is one of the most difficult legs of our tour, and he handled everything professionally and covered the part like a boss. Thanks Mike!
As load out begins, we are all chomping at the bit to get back to the states. We'll have a day of travel to New Loredo, then customs super early on Tuesday morning. We expect to arrive in New Orleans on Thursday.
Other stuff:
Some photos from other peoples' adventures in Mexico. Ryan had dinner in a cave!
(photo courtesy Ryan)
Some folks had a harder time climbing the pyramids than others. Don't let go Raymond!
(photo courtesy Raymond)
Our lovely Spanish-speaking ringmaster saying goodbye to the band.
(photo courtesy Claudia)
The clowns, doing the real work as usual ;)
(photo courtesy Claudia)