The Pope has left Mexico City now and is travelling to different states in Mexico – yesterday Chiapas, today Michoacán, and then tomorrow in the lawless border city of Juárez in Chihuahua. What I photographed on Saturday and Sunday was a tiny grain in an enormous event, where a person who represents some hope for change (for many people) is speaking out and acting against  the injustice and violence of this society. A friend from Montreal wrote this morning what’s a pretty big endorsement from him: “I kind of like this Pope – he’s daring.” I think that’s a good way to put it. The situation here doesn’t seem all that dissimilar to me to what Syria was pre-civil war. In some ways, actually, it’s worse. The main differences are that the issues are more out on the table and there are people and institutions that are in active opposition to oppression.

There has been lots of TV coverage of the visit, and in watching the man who is the center of this event I notice what registers is not only what he says, but his personal manner and the small characteristics which you notice in coming to an opinion of that person. Those things can’t be faked, and he reads to me as a sincere person who is working within a complex system where progress is slower than one would like. Just standing on the podium with the Mexican President and his wife, I’m sure, represents a distasteful experience for him. But while the Pope may have power at the Vatican, here he has to acknowledge the real power of the state.

There is something else too, which is that this trip represents personal danger and that for even a much younger person the itinerary would be hard. It gives him more authority.

Sunday Morning

We had gotten to the steel barricade along the avenue at 8am on Sunday, knowing that the Pope was scheduled to pass at 8:45. The barricades were the same type that are used in Montreal – long linking sections with supporting feet. It seemed like a conservative assumption that early in the morning on Sunday would cut down on the size of the crowd. I was wearing a coat that I normally wear to freezing temperatures, but I had put it over a t-shirt. The temperature wasn’t more than 4C, and after a while I started to feel it.

Unlike the day before, I wasn’t wedged into a crowd. I could move around a bit and observe, which felt a good deal better. I think these photographs reflect that freedom. I like them much more than the ones I took on Saturday, which I think are okay but I miss portraits and a closer feel for the event itself – instead of just trying to get enough space to raise my camera. Here I could see what was going on and do what I like best, which is photographing people.

At first it seemed like I was right, and that there would be few people. But by 8:45 it was starting to feel like a crowd and there was no sign of any motorcade. In fact all the traffic were Mexico City police cars, and many of those were headed the wrong way down the wide avenue.

People were showing up slowly. Perhaps everyone was watching TV and had a better idea of timing than I did, because it was cold and there wasn’t much point to standing around.

There was a lot else going on too. Suddenly out of nowhere these bike riders burst, sprinting down the open pavement. It must have been fun to have open road ahead.

But that was really just a start. I heard what sounded like a loud whoosh and turned around just in time to see this pack racing by. This avenue is normally partially closed to vehicular traffic on Sunday mornings so perhaps the Pope had to make a deal with the bike club in order to get use!

Up until about 8:45 everything had been quite linear, but then events took a twist.

I don’t know how I missed the signal but suddenly the crowd picked up the heavy steel barricades, blocks long at a time, and pushed them (our side) into the street, effectively cutting the width of the Papal passage from six lanes to less than half that. Some people, like me, may have been shocked but the general reaction of everyone was laughing. Like, “now we will be able to see El Papa!” The police seemed shocked but there was really nothing they could do about it.

There ensued after this a long period of consultative behavior. Different forms of police would show up on different forms of transportation and would order the barrier back a few feet, or for it to be lined up more crisply. But still, the passageway had not been expanded to more than just over three lanes, about half of what it had been originally.

Then a helicopter appeared above flying fast and angry. I don’t know what it was – the type or the pilot – but it had the feeling of power and speed. It was definitely displeased with the situation below and crossed us low several times, really just clearing the buildings.

Not long afterward the heavy artillery began to show up.

But they weren’t anything like what followed.

Here you can see the police ordering the barricades back and the road widened.

I have to include a few more portraits before the picture of the Pope.

And then the Pope passes by in a flash. I barely saw him, it was so fast. Beth gasped when she saw this photo and pointed out the crucifix in the foreground, but it’s actually a steadicam.

Below, the inevitable review of the phones. Even the police were doing it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these photos. I enjoyed them even though I ended up with hypothermia! The Pope had been scheduled to pass at 8:45am at 20.4 km/h. He didn’t pass until 10am, and he was hauling.

Beth looked reproachfully at me and said that I was being way too conspicuous, but I guess my question is how do you take pictures here without being conspicuous? I am so huge, so white, and even just having a camera is unusual. Most people use their phones, and there are so fewer cameras in Mexico. It’s not like going to Iceland where every tourist has thousands of dollars of equipment around their necks.

We were getting into a Metrobus. I made a decision that perhaps the most interesting place to take pictures would be outside the Basilica where the Pope was celebrating Mass. But a small glitch happened – as we were getting on the Metrobus I was mobbed by a girl gang. It seemed odd that there was so much pushing and shoving to get into a not-so-crowded Metrobus but the point was stealing the phone out of my pocket, which they did quite skilfully (my pocket is tight!) I didn’t realize what had happened until a couple of stops, and by then it was too late. People here say “Welcome to Mexico City” but my sister writes that the same routine is used in Paris and that she’s fantasized about an i-Phone that would lecture to the thieves interminably.

Anyhow, that started the day.

Getting close to the Basilica was a no-go too. Getting there, other than having the phone stolen, was easy but as soon as we started approaching the Cathedral we ran into lines of security that forced us to turn south. There were three security levels we went through, and at the third level we were close to the street that the Pope would be coming on but penned – we could only move on that side of the street and on that block without going out again, and if you exited to the second level you were directed only to the pens that were further and further away.

The old Cathedral is with the gold roof, and the modern Cathedral, where the Pope celebrated, is just visible as a turquoise blue on the right. This photo, from a visit in 2013, show the scale of things with the downtown in the far distance. The street we waited to see the Pope on is just visible in the center of the photo between the two towers and the tree.

This panorama, which I posted once before, is the modern Cathedral and then the old one, to the right, which is also the same building that you see below, two pictures down. On the same site are at least two other (older Cathedrals) and a chapel. This was the plaza that we were naively hoping to reach. The Plaza was a gift of Carlos Slim, the Mexican businessman of Lebanese origin who owns a lot of South America’s telecom, along with Tracfone in the US (and many other things).

As a fall-back position I remembered this vantage point and was hoping we might be able to go around and get there. It’s hard to express how far from reality these plans were! This photo, also taken in 2013,  is just a regular day. The average per-day count of tourists is 14,000 people.

I took this photo quickly as we were being led to our pen – it looks back up to the old Cathedral. The overlook in the picture above is on the hill behind the Basilica. The telephoto compresses this space, we were actually quite far away.

These people had their act together in a way we didn’t – they could see! They also seemed to be feeling no pain as I watched them from my vantage point on the street.

This was what it looked like on the street. At this point I was worried if I’d even see the Pope. In order to get close the barricades you had to stay in place, and really I needed to be able to move around. I felt though that it would be a little silly not to even get a shot of the Pope, so I tried to box out a spot along one of the metal barriers. This is what it looked like in the area.

It was intimate quarters. There was a woman sitting on a stool in front of me who looked small and disabled. When she stood up she was stronger than a basketball center and held her space quite well too. So it was a challenge.

The Pope going by was almost anti-climatic. The speed of the caravan was so fast that if you blinked you missed the whole thing. I hadn’t noticed it before but there’s a perfect image of the top of my head in the person’s cell phone on the left. It must be hard to be the Pope doing these things, just miles and miles of waving under the hot sun. Anyway, I got the Pope picture done under hard circumstances.

I think really the most surreal part of this all was watching the screen that you can just see set up on the street to the right of the cellphone. It was broadcasting the image of the Pope’s motorcade – so you could see him coming towards you on the streets south of where we were, and then suddenly he pops up for a fraction of a second and just as quickly he’s gone again, and back in the screen.

The symbolism involved with Santa Maria de Guadalupe – the female saint that the shrine and complex of cathedrals commemorates – is controversial and a large part of the core Catholic/Spanish narrative in South America. In our earlier visit we had spent the day watching the devotion of people – especially indigenous women – to this shrine. As with many religious shrines, the church co-opted this site from the previous religion and created a story that served its purposes.

The next day (Sunday) was quite a different and surprising experience, and what I’ll post about next.

On Saturday I decided to go for it and head up to the Basilica where Pope Francis was celebrating Mass at 5pm. Even though we were hours early we got no where close to the Basilica, and instead had to settle for the road his motorcade would take perhaps a mile south of where we had hoped to be. Even there the crowd was deep and was being managed in segments of blocks – once you were let into a specific zone we were boxed in and couldn’t travel any further. Above: waiting for the motorcade to pass.

Not being part of the official press cuts both ways. You have almost no “access”, but on the other hand you see a lot that the normal press misses in the frantic rush to follow the Pope. Unfortunately much of how the visit is being portrayed in media (here, at least) is the Pope doing cute things: putting on sombreros, interacting with children. There is so much more going on! It’s not that I wouldn’t have liked a little freedom to move – I would have. But I felt lucky too for what I could see and photograph. Above: part of the ritual. The Pope’s motorcade has barely passed and everyone breaks into groups to look at pictures and see what they captured. He goes by fast … so it’s a challenge. I too looked – the first time.

Over the next few days I’ll be posting about the actual experiences, and more.