Saturday, September 10, 2005

Carousing in Coyoacán and Groovin’ at Garibaldi

Click on today's title or copy and paste the following website into your browser to view undercover photos of Coyoacán and Garibaldi, taken from my cell phone:
http://homepage.mac.com/rachelsair/fulbright/PhotoAlbum27.html

I spent the afternoon with Andi wandering through the Saturday market in Coyoacán. We enjoyed an amazing empanada in a café along Coyoacán’s main plaza. Then, in the evening, we went to Plaza Garibaldi in the historical center with her co-worker and friend José Luis. Besides teaching English at the university with Andi in the morning, he also teaches at a Prepa (high school) in the afternoon and is in two mariachi bands.

Plaza Garibaldi has been a “nightlife hotspot since the 1920s with the establishment of Salón Tenampa and its mariachi band. Because of the success of the bar and the group, the plaza became a magnet for mariachi musicians. Now you can see mariachi bands strolling around Garibaldi looking for clients at all hours of the afternoon or night. On weekend nights, competing groups line Eje Central.” (Courtesy of the Moon Handbook on Mexico City) Eje Central is one of the main streets leading to the plaza and as the cars crawl along, the groups try to pick up gigs for private parties.

At first glance the plaza looks decrepit, run down and quite shady. After a bit, I got into the spirit of Garibaldi and enjoyed the mass of mariachis singing for small groups, servers offering drinks and others passing flyers and enticing customers to their restaurants and bars that line the plaza. We had some drinks and quesadillas and guacamole at the historic Salón Tenampa. At one point there were three different mariachi bands playing within the restaurant. José Luis “ordered” a song for us, for posted price of $70 pesos.