Pachuca

I met Ellen's plane in Mexico City as planned, but the trip to Pachuca didn't work out too well. It was Friday night and a storm had caused some local flooding. A trip that should have taken an hour and a half took nearly five, mostly just to get out of Mexico City. The best description of the traffic, supplied by Brady, was "traffic tetras". Any time a space opened up on the road, it was filled by a vehicle, without regard for which way the vehicle was going or where the driver wanted to go.

But we are here now and enjoying ourselves. Traveling with Ellen, the first thing we did was scout out the markets, and they are everything you would expect of markets in a Mexican city of 220,000.

"Best Before" had rehearsals today as they are breaking a new character, Conde, who will provide a Spanish speaking presence in place of the characters played by Bob and Arjan at other venues. The show opens a two day run here on Monday before moving to Mexico City.



This is the view from the front door of our hotel in Pachuca, looking across the Plaza Independencia.

We saw an amazing performance in the Plaza Juarez. The Transversales 2010! Festival that "Best Before" is a part of likes to combine art and real life. "Best Before" combines actors on stage with a video game that the audience participates in. In "Transports Exceptionnels" a dancer performs a pas-de-duex with a construction excavator. Since the machine's windows are reflectorized, you don't see the operator, so the dancer is dancing with the machine. The machine lifts and swings him. (In this picture it has just set him down in a handstand.) Other times the dancer seems to control the machine with his hands. Since Ellen is familiar with digger operators both good and bad, she was most impressed with the precision and delicacy exhibited by this operator. It was beautiful. You will never see this performed in Vancouver. There is no public space large enough.



My favorite translation. This notice greeted us at our hotel.