* Photo above by Aura Bogado.
If you tried making it to the last presentations of this mysterious "light show" at the Zócalo on Saturday night, bless you. We passed through the plaza at around 5 p.m., coming down from Tepito, and it already felt congested and tense.
"What's going on? Get us out of here."
By 10 p.m., when the last show was supposed to have happened, the Zócalo and surrounding streets were packed "beyond capacity." Reporters on the scene said there were minimal police and emergency crews on hand, producing chaos between people who were desperate to get inside the plaza for a view of the show and those desperate to get out. "I don't want to die like at News Divine!" people reportedly screamed. Just too many people, too many stalled vehicles, not enough order in Centro, which makes you wonder where the authorities were spending their evening. Milenio says spectators organized themselves to create exit passages.
At around 11 p.m., we went for a stroll to see how close we could get to the plancha. Rivers of humans walked past us in the opposite direction. At the Zócalo, tens of thousands, at least, were still milling about.
Two thoughts on this. First, the people of Mexico City clearly need more free family activities at their disposal, even with the mayor's winter ice rink and springtime "beaches." Second, incredibly, no one in the crowds seemed stressed or fatigued as they left the city's core.
Defeños, tough as nails.