X-Fest 2013

I had a fantastic idea. Like many of my fantastic ideas, it was a horrible idea. I was going to go to X-Fest and take all these badass pictures and do a long blog telling you all about it. Fantastic idea.

They have been building "La X" for years. They started working on it right around the time that we moved to Juarez in 2010. Nobody knew what the hell it was. At least, no one I knew. I heard all sorts of different stories as to what it would be. A new rock climbing wall for Parque Extremo. Part of a country-wide group of sculptures which spelled out M E X I C O. Just a statue. Nope. Turns out, it's going to be a Ciudad Juarez history museum and eventually a restaurant. Surrounding La X is a plaza where they will be holding concerts and other events.

My favorite picture of La X during construction. This was on March 10, 2012.

Apparently, there has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding the whole thing because the price tag on the damn thing was $6.2 million US. There are a lot of things that can be done for Juarez with that kind of money. I have mixed opinions because I also feel like Juarez needs something like this in the community to help it rise from the ashes of the drug war. It's something for the city to enjoy and something Juarenses can be proud of. Not everyone agrees. More about that here.

Now where was I... Oh yes. My fantastic idea. So as I'm driving home on Friday at around 6:10 pm, I pass by La X and notice that people are already filling the bleachers for X-Fest. Hmmmm. The event was supposed to start at 8:00. There was a lot of buzz around town so I knew it was going to be packed but now I was a little worried we wouldn't be able to get in. I was right to be worried...

There were posters plastered all over town!

Parking was the big concern and ended up being what prevented us from going to X-Fest. And our friends. And probably thousands of other people. La X is really cool and I am sure there will be some fantastic events there for years to come, but it's pretty obvious that they did not take parking into consideration. Or if they did have some sort of plan, they forgot to tell everyone about it. Oh but this is Mexico, and if I've learned anything over the years here, it's that Mexicans figure out how to make shit work. You give them a 5 passenger car and they'll make it a 12 passenger car. And in this instance, give them 50 parking spaces and they will park 7,428 cars.

People were parking on the skate park across the street, in shopping center parking lots several miles away, in front of the doorways of the Delphi factory, on the sidewalks, on the medians, even right in the middle of the damn road. People were actually driving all the way to the Santa Fe bridge, several miles away, driving up over the sidewalk and onto the bike trail that runs along the border itself, then turning around and driving back as close as they could to La X. I bet US Border Patrol was having fun with that. I love Mexicans. They get it done. I just gave up and went home. Obviously I can stand to learn a thing or two about determination but I was not about to leave my car in some dark alley and then walk 10 miles to La X.

And so, without further adieu, here are the fantastic pictures I took of the event that I didn't actually go to.

Slowly making our way to La X. 

Hmmm... is something wrong with my camera? Better clean the lense.

What the hell? The camera is broken. No baby, it's the dust,  my husband tells me.
No way, let's try a picture in the car. 

Oh. Damn it WAS the dust in the air! Bienvenidos a Juarez.

Gordo doesn't like this game.

Yup. Still dusty.

Gave up on finding a parking spot and watched X-Fest on Canal 44 from the comfort of my living room.

If you care to see what it really looked like out there on Friday, here's a picture taken by someone with a brain.

Picture courtesy of http://www.tiempo.com.mx/_notas/c1440901