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[Guy Courchesne]

I fell in love with Latin America all over again tonight...

Don't know how many of you happened to be in the Zocalo in DF Saturday night, but I was. I was reminded of what makes this part of the world the most fascinating there be.

There, to hear the songs sung by Latino, of Latino, for Latinos, in a way we cannot fully understand
or feel

as foreign invaders to this place

I fell in love with Latin America all over again tonight...

hearing Eugenia Leon emote a marching tango of the anguish of Buenos Aires 2001, to the empathetic cries of brothers and sisters many miles away.

feeling what it is to be part of this place, in the heart of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, under a moonlit sky and an ancient Aztec ruin

hearing an 80 year-old Cuban woman, named Omara Portuondo, sing passion of homeland and romance and

a single kiss

with a voice as strong as habanero chile, to the cries of 'viva mexico, viva cuba'

I fell in love with Latin America all over again tonight...

because I think of my friends up north o' here who ask what I'm doing in a third-world country. Well, Omara sang a tune and it went like this.

tiene sabor, sabor, y nada mas

It's the flavor, and nothing more.

[Antaraaaa]

That was some kinda beautiful...


Ant.

[MixtecaMike]

Could you be the new moonraven? Only a nicer, kinder, male one?

[some waygug-in]

I really envy you a lot. As a lover of latin American culture, especially Mexican culture, I certainly miss my time there. If only I could have made a few more pesos per month, I would have stayed.

Korea certainly has nothing comparable culturally. Yes, the money is good here, but there's more to life than money. But on the other hand, I can't imagine returing to work for the low wages that I would have to accept in Mexico.

Every time I return to Mexico, I fall in love over again. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't had that sort of experience.

A friend of mine told me that when someone asks him why he always goes down to Mexico, he answers, "If you have to ask that question, you can't comprehend the answer."

Suerte

[lozwich]

I left Mexico to come to Spain. Somehow, I think I'll be leaving Spain to return to Mexico. There's just nowhere that compares...

[delacosta]

I was in DF the night of the concert, but didn't hear about it till I read the review in La Jornada the next day....and then your words. I would have loved to have gone, sounds like it was a beautiful experience.
I know how you feel...Mexico, it's all about the heart.
I did however manage to see ' Diario de Un Motociclista', a wonderful and moving film that I highly recommend. I myself covered part of that same trip ( Buenos Aires south through Patagonia, Bariloche and area over into Chile and up to the Peruvian border) as a youngster, so I was flooded with the memory of those experiences.
Enjoying the last day of the 'puente', soaking up the big city, relatively tranquilo for el DF, before heading back to the savage coast of Oaxaca...trying to ignore the texas monster on the television in the corner of the caf�.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[Miguelito65]

Guy,

I was there too on Saturday night and had a great time. I'd agree with pretty much most of what you said (except that I've never been a fan of Eugenia Le�n's watered-down "greatest hits of Latin America" show, and Saturday was no exception). I would beg to differ with your comment about us "invaders" being unable to understand what locals were feeling. I think the fact that you were there, and that you enjoyed it and felt moved means you did understand at and were part of it. The vast majority of people in Mexico City (or anywhere for that matter) are incapable of being moved by a show like that.

[moonraven]

What's this:???? "The vast majority of people in Mexico City (or anywhere for that matter) are incapable of being moved by a show like that." How many thousands of folks were in the Zocalo that night?

[Miguelito65]

How many? Don't know, I was down the front dancing and didn't bother counting them, maybe 10,000, maybe more. Is there a point to your question? I know that Elton John or Luis Miguel or the Cure or loads of others would attract many more.....

[moonraven]

There was a point to my question, of course. It was that you had the audacity to dimiss all those thousands as being incapable of responding! I have seen some sweepingly foolish and egocentric generalizations on this forum, but that one takes the cake.

[Miguelito65]

Sorry about that, didn't realise that the "vast majority of people in Mexico City" were at the concert on Saturday night. No wonder it was so hot! I think you'll find that most people in Mexico have no idea who Omara Portuondo is and are not the slightest bit interested either. Nothing wrong with that, people have different tastes and interests, and nobody can say there's is better than anyone else's. The point I was trying to make was that I don't agree with the comment made in the original post that being a foreigner means you are in some way incapable of feeling or understanding what local people feel and understand.

[moonraven]

Wrong again (please be advised, also, that "the vast majority of people in Mexico City" would be way up there in the millions, not calculated in the thousands)--and another foolish sweeping generalization--that most people have no idea who Omara is. The single biggest audience for Cuban music has always been Mexico! FYI, it was not discovered by Ry Cooder and Wim Wenders....

It would be nice if you refrained from implying that the vast majority of people in Mexico are ignorant--smacks of racism, big time.

[Guy Courchesne]

Where is the emoticon for a long drawn out sigh?

Be McHappy y'all. Twas just a poem.

[MixtecaMike]

Come on guys, don't forget that the Moonbeast IS the voice of Mexico. If the beast says so, it is so.

Hijoles, if that sorry old hag was half as knowlegeable as it claims then it would be one of the seven wonders of the world.