Christmas Day is a very slow day here in D.F. with everything closed and the streets deserted. Mexico City looks like a ghost town and I wonder where the hell 23 million people went? I mean, normally you cannot get around because of all the people and now I can get around because there no people, weird.

Well, places are beginning to open up, so here I am at an Internet coffee shop – blogging.

Yesterday, Christmas Eve evening I went to the Monument to the Revolution to check out the scene there and then afterward I went to the Zocalo, the Cathedral for Christmas Eve Mass.

First stop of my evening was Mexico City’s Monument to the Revolution which has a sort of a State Fair of Texas – Midway like feeling during the holiday season because of the various games, food and drinks.

When I arrived at the Monument I immediately saw this sign, pictured below, for alcoholic drinks at a stand called “Miami Beach Drinks.” They advertised basic drinks like Sex on the Beach, Margarita, Ruso Blanco (White Russian) etc. PERO the one drink that raised my eyebrows was the one that read “Nalgas de Indio,” which literally means Indian Ass or Indigenous Ass. My mind raced about what kind of drink it could be: Would it be sweet and tasty or bitter and sour? Is it a drink mixed with tequila or pulque I wondered? Who knows – but considering the fine indigenous ass I have seen around here, I would say serve me a double.

One of the best things to do while at the at the Monument is to eat a hot cake on the go. You buy one hot cake and you get your choice of several toppings. I chose “cajeta” because it is so Mexican and it tastes so good. But what I liked more about getting the hot cake from this lady, pictured below, is how she spelled her sign Hot Cake sign. She wrote, Hot KAKES, What? Well the word cake DOES have a K sound in there — So I wonder how she would spell knive?

Then there are the Christmas stages of snowy winter wonderlands where people, families, have their picture taken, see pic below. It is fun to watch and see people have their Christmas portraits taken because some young children cry at the top of their lungs when Santa gets close. Also I hear these Christmas stages have changed from what used to be a small manger with a picture of the Virgen de Guadalupe years ago to the massive two story structures of today.

Click here to see a slide show of pictures taken at the Monument

Second stop on Christmas Eve: After the Monument to the Revolution I walked through Alameda Park to the Zocalo. Once at the Zocalo I heard the church bells ringing at the Cathedral announcing the beginning of Christmas Eve mass so I went in. So it wasn’t like I had planned on going to Christmas Eve mass but I am glad I went. It was great because the one officiating the Misa de Gallo (midnight mass) was Norberto Rivera Carrera, the Cardinal of Mexico City. AND I happened to be standing in the right spot when the Cardinal made his GRAND entrance and he blessed me. It was my first blessing by a Cardinal.

But as I left the Cathedral it was late and the subway, Metro, was closed: I PANICKED! I found it hard to get a taxi home and I started to wonder if I was going to have to walk back home the way I came. I noted that all the taxis were either all full of customers or the driver was not stopping for any new clients because they wanted make it home to be with their families on Christmas Eve.

But one taxi, a beetle, did stop to pick me up, and as I looked into the interior of the old beat up car to determine if I could make it safely home — I WAS LIKE WOW! The whole inside upholstery of the beetle taxi was leopard skin, just like new my sofa and chair I just bought for my apartment, only two days ago. I just knew it was a celestial meaning, my destiny, that I was going to make it home safely and not get robbed or kidnapped. Really, what macho robber or kidnapper would decorate his car in leopard skin?

As I traveled through the now silent night streets of Mexcio City’s Centro Historic District I even thought of hiring this guy all the time, to make glamours arrivals around Mexico City art shows. It was a fab ride and evening.

And if you thought I was kidding about my sofa and chair being leopard skin see the picture below. My first furniture purchase for my new apartment in México City.