Sinking Monuments

Mexico is a wonderful, vital place, and Mexico City has all the vitality plus a great deal of evidence of a kind of messed-up past. The conquerors built their church with rocks from the Aztec Templo Mayor, their main temple. They set it right in front of where the temple had been, and over the years created an amazing monument in stone. Right nearby, other big stone buildings were added as commerce thrived and Spaniards got rich. They recreated the kind of central city they had known in Spain -- forgetting, until it became painfully obvious, that Mexico City was originally a lake. All the oldest buildings are sinking into the mud on which they were built. The biggest problems with the subsidence have to do with unevenness in settling. Despite all efforts, one of the cathedral´s towers is leaning. And of course, on top of that, this is an area of seismic activity.

Buildings that once had magnificent stairways leading up the them now have either very short stairways or a series of steps down to their entrances. In some cases, it really spoils the effect. Naturally, all kinds of engineered fixes are happening all over the city, but they are expensive, and not all buildings will be saved. At least the cathedral no longer has scaffolding all over it to hold it in place. In the meantime, people have figured out how to build tall skyscrapers in this area that not only don´t settle but also don´t fall over in earthquakes. We´ll see. Or at least, they´ll see.

It makes me think of the procession on Good Friday in San Cristobal de las Casas. There were some people, mostly older, who dressed in black and followed the cross to the reenactment of the crucifixion in a mournful spirit. There were some people, not so old, who followed the cross in their regular clothes, looking solemn, mostly. There were a bunch of people who stood on the sidewalk and watched the procession. Things are changing. Ancient monuments are sinking. Ancient practices are becoming something to watch, rather than something to do.

The Zocalo, the big square in the middle of Mexico City, the front yard of both the Cathedral and the Presidential Palace, is filled with a wonderful chaotic blend of vendors, Aztec dancers, jugglers, people offering herbal cleansings, balloon sellers, political protesters, you name it, throughout any day. Then, just to remind everyone, there´s this full military ceremony to take down the giant flag that flies over all this. For 15 minutes or so of an afternoon, the people clear a space, the sanitation guys pick up the trash, and the military come with singing, drums, and trumpets, to honor the flag. They leave with it neatly rolled up (like a sail), and within moments the chaos is back as if nothing had happened.

Walking back to where I´m staying after all that, I saw people dancing in the park, to a band that looked as if it had just set itself up on its own accord, in a little opening with a statue of Poseidon in the middle, left over from Empress Carlota´s fantasy of European Capital in Far Distant Province. They were dancing the dances of now, never mind the sinking monuments.

Something is changing in Mexico, and I´m thinking it´s probably fine.