3/18/08

Mexico City

After more than a year at adidas they finally sent me on one of the skate trips. Mexico City was the destination. The whole week I tried to dig up all the Spanish I knew in high school. I was able to remember quite a bit. Our crew was massive. I was there there as the adidas marketing guy. We had Matt, Brett, and Andrew from our creative agency. Noren and Wolfe on filiming. Benjamin Deberdt on photos. Gonz, his lady Heathermary, and their little baby William. And the skate team - Dennis Busenitz, Tim O'Connor, Dave Bachinsky, Lem Villemin, Nestor Judkins, Vince del Valle, Benny Fairfax, and Bryce on TM duties. Add to that Shadi and Alfredo as tour guides and we were rolling really deep.

Until I got there and skated I didn't realize the city was at such a high elevation (about 7500 feet) combine that with the poor air quality and I was sucking for air.

The city is full of great skate spots. They are all pretty spread out so we did a fair amount of driving. Really had minimal hassle from La Policia. But the few times we did, a little dinero got them to ease up.

There wasn't much partying to Lem's disappointment, although we did get out a couple times.

The only downside from the trip is that because we were skating from morning til dark, we didn't get to do much in the way of cultural activities. I guess next time I will extend my ticket a couple days.

There are some funny shots with a porn mag in them below. If that bothers you, proceed with caution.


Token wing/sky shot.


Cubist hotel ceiling.


Hotel lobby. This place was massive. Apparently it was built for the '68 Olympics. The thing was solid concrete, there was 5 restaurants and all sorts of other stuff. 2 notable guests while we were there - Don King and the President of Mexico.


Micheladas are great.


Gonz and baby William.


Van life with Irving, Andrew, and Noren.


Farmacia.


VW bugs were everywhere.


You don't need a garage to run a repair shop.




Coffee with Matt, Nestor, and Dennis.


Wolfe getting it all on film.


Get in the van.


Noren had a quick X-games, flow board warm up session.




Street paved with bottle caps.


Team photo with Gonz action about to occur.


Knee boarding.


"Mexico City, cero ocho. Dios Mio, man!"


Film everything.



All the gas stations have these flaggers that try to lure you to their station and guide you to the pump.


Media den.


Watching clips.


Benjamin's friend's band was supposed to be playing a show so some of us made a trek to the old part of the city. Turns out we were 24 hours early. So we walked back to the hotel and took in some of the city.





Super creepy billboard.


Massive map.


Dudes taking pictures of dudes taking pictures.


Board stack.


Lem and Dave.


Coach Noren.


Looks more fun than it actually was.



Best ride in the city.



Everyone was filthy from the spots. It didn't stop Vince from eating some Mexican Doritos.




Hardware store.








Here's Tim with that porn I mentioned earlier.



The newest Slap has an interview with Matt. Tim read the whole thing out loud.



This way to the Revolution.



Vince making friends on the highway with the porn.






Lem loves the all-over print.


full team dinner.


Lem making friends with the DJ.


And with the DJ's friend.


Brett getting spilled on.




This = trouble.




These kids were hyped. They got everyone's autograph, including mine.





I took this picture for Doug.



The university is one of the largest in the world. It was full of crazy mosaics and some good spots.




Our favorite taco spot.


Lem thanked us all for coming.


Airport ceiling.



Closing wing shot. That brown line across the middle isn't the horizon. It's the line of smog.