dyton mupawaenda
Tafadzwa Zimoyo recently in MEXICO
“iQue’padre!” translates to “How cool!” This is Spanish. The phrase is a great way to express enthusiasm, whether one is discussing a beautiful place, environment or a delicious meal.
This is Mexico for you!
What I have been seeing in Mexican movies has become so real.
In fact, Mexico reminded me of Mexican fans at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa who were so colourful and made their presence felt at the OR Tambo International Airport dancing, chanting and ululating.
They changed the way I view football.
Loving, colourful and joyful.
That is Mexico.
Well, after hours of flying from Harare into Mexico City, in yonder north America, the need to take off the tiredness of jet leg with stroll on the streets, became a benevolent necessity.
But Mexico City is not Harare.
And Harare is not Mexico.
Mexico is incredible.
It is highly populous in human and vehicular traffic.
The screeching vehicle tyres, the hooters, the symphony from car radios, and people criss-crossing the streets in colourful dressing, makes walking on the streets a real drill, a legendary hubbub, for lack of diction.
Good thing, I have been to Europe before and seen all types of cars, but with Mexico they are not much bothered about driving the latest or top-of-the-range model.
If you see an Escalade, you definitely know that it is a diplomat, a celebrity or rich cartel or minister, driving or in it.
Well, Escalades are famous in the United States.
With the hullabaloo, comes crime, and what worsens the situation and raises your adrenalin is the feeling that comes with the rarity of being a lone black man pacing up and down the streets.
Lone ranger!
I immediately called back home alerting them of what I was experiencing.
Not that I sought to scare them or was afraid, but was just settling, giving feedback as Mexico City was going to be my home for the next nine days.
So scary are were notices, hanging precariously on street corners of “Missing People”, something that you do not get in Harare, even by the faintest of all imaginations.
They also love dogs.
Each time, I walked in the streets, I would not pass 100 metres without counting 10 dogs.
I asked at my lodgings the essence of dogs, they said companionship, because from the look of things they are the real ‘pet’ dogs, different from Harare where we keep dogs for security.
Even at the airport you could see designer dog leashes and attires for sale.
At first, I thought it was for celebrity status since we were just four hours away from Hollywood.
Definitely, we were close to Los Angeles, California in America.
As I walked, the feeling was eerie and profound.
Having visited Mexico as a tourist under the Miss Universe banner, I wanted to maximise time and see Templo Mayor (a 13th-century Aztec temple), the baroque Catedral Metropolitana de México of the Spanish conquistadors and the Palacio Nacional, which houses historic murals by Diego Rivera.
My literature made me understand that all these antiques were situated in and around the Plaza de la Constitución, the massive main square also known as the Zócalo.
It was real.
I could feel all eyes on me.
I felt lost.
I felt in danger.
But the danger never came.
I walked on with trepidation.
But I walked, walked and walked.
Walked!
I found a restaurant along the street, irresistible, what with the nice aroma.
But nice aromas do not always mean that the food is nice.
Taste is something different and the experience can be horrible.
I was shocked when I ordered the famous tacos and the hot spice made it infamous with me.
My innards turned.
On to alcohol, well, I did not have Tequilla, like everyone else, since I am a teetotaller, so I did not try.
I only bought as souvenirs.
I liked the bottle decoration, it almost tempted me, but I remembered and reminded myself, that this is not me.
I survived on eating buns and my favourite drink, Fanta, things that I know.
I missed sadza for close to nine days.
It was different in the sense that, one could think of looking for an African restaurant. But according to my geographical location, none were near, nevertheless, doubted if they had.
Language was another problem, thanks to the Google translator.
My worst experience was communication.
What I do not know was that real or they were naïve when it comes to communication?
They did not understand or speak English and it was horrid time for me.
I even bought a total of seven mobile phones sim cards, each time throwing a sim card away after spending the pre-juiced air time.
The main reason, I did not know how to top up airtime so buying sim cads with pre-paid airtime was the easiest for me.
Just like some parts of Harare if not in CBD, food was sold in the streets and most was the tacos.
They understood the word ‘tacos’, each time I was buying one.
Then the main reason why we went to Mexico was the pageant and it was time.
We attended the preliminary round and the finale as Team Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe was represented by 28-year-old model, Sakhile Dube and they felt our presence, be it on social media and live in action.
Many thought our queen Sakhile was going to bring the crown home but alas, judges made their decision and it went to Danish 21-year-old Victoria Kjaer Theilvig.
Indeed, it was a tight competition.
Some would say the modelling competition is corrupt and full of nepotism but that is a story for another day.
Lessons learnt in Mexico in terms of pageantry is concerned is it should be treated as a full show.
Invest in pageantry if you want to make it big.
This I learnt.
The production and creativity were amazing.
I laughed out loud as they also did not start on time, just like us back home, but when the show began, it was non-stop action.
More than 300 people were employed for the production.
The issue of teleprompter in production in Zimbabwe be it awards or modelling shows, should be taken seriously.
The biggest secret that many do not know about hosts is that they will be reading a big screen behind the audience which they only can see and you think they are looking at the crowd.
No wonder why we always thought they are brilliant and intelligent with no papers, reciting everything live just like news readers.
This influenced me to change my opinions, values and translating art, creation and experiences across space and time.
Looking at how those in pageantry business embrace, respect, support and appreciate their art, one could be green with envy because they are on top of the game.
The pageant was held at Arena CDMX which has a seating a capacity of 22 000 seater.
It was like a village of models where everything starts and end on one place.
Imagine having more than 10 live television, bloggers from around the world, more than 100 journalists, red carpets posts as you walk past the red carpet where each area is styled and you get interviewed by different show presenters.
With the main red carpet for Miss Universe pageant, it was like that is where the whole show was taking place but that was just the beginning.
Full of love, surprises, tears and joy.
As they say, “En u’ltima instancia”, inconclusion, Mexico was fun and I can go back anytime given a chance and good thing I now know my way like the palm of my hands.
