World Cup trek

In 1986, I took the train from Nuevo Laredo on the Texas border to Mexico City with two friends. The trip takes a long time - something like a day and a half. It's hot and the heat seems to rise out of the toilets before passing throughout the train and out the windows. In the mountains, the steep cliffs dropping from the tracks add up their toll in train wrecks crumpled at the bottom. The stops are seemingly interminable. You're nearly always likely to end up helping old women pick spines out of cactus (nopales) to pass the time. Meals come through the windows too, purchased from vendors at each stop. The train represents economy itself, the brief moment in which one earns a living. The rest of the day passes in empty dust. I believe this was also the first time I read Notes from the Underground, an odd choice chugging through the desert, although the endless heat may lead one to self-loathing.

Mexico City also arrives slowly. The train ascends through miles and miles of slums that encircle the sides of the city on the hill. The sight is impressive - corrugated tin and broken boards built one on top of the other, eating up each small bit of packed dirt space. Many inhabitants of Mexico City never see it. They see only the begging and crime in the city. I've been in slums around the world, but Mexico City remains my experiential baseline for the vastness of poverty.

The 1985 earthquake had devastated large portions of the city. Most city blocks had at least one patient pile of concrete and rebar where a building once stood. The city itself is exciting, dangerous, massive, polluted.

Now, the goal. This was World Cup 1986 hosted by Mexico. Our goal was actually to enjoy Mexico, go to Oaxaca and to the beach (Zihuatanejo at the time was still the quintessential sleepy fishing town), eat good food. Most of this was accompanied by a nearby television showing the matches. I don't think we ate one meal without a match to watch. The Game, however, was the highlight. 45,000 fans filling the stadium. Rain soaked us. We chose a team and cheered. Mexican fans cheered. The returning sunlight filled with warm afternoon mist.

The match ended in an anonymous tie in a group that also featured Argentina and Italy:
Bulgaria 1 - Korea 1.