This is definitely one trip I have planned and dreamt for so long that once I was on the airplane I felt almost like I couldn’t believe it. Mexico is a pop dream of many: sandy beaches, cloudy bright skies and mob have been the scenario of many stories covering the last centuries of literature, cinema and music.
For the trip I would bring along with me the great Malcolm Lowry and his messy masterpiece "Under the Vulcano". I sympatised for the guy before leaving and his wandering madness between Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl draw my attention.
The first time I saw Iztaccihuatl, I was on a bus journey down to Puebla, after the first approach of Mexico City, dealing with the jetlag and so on. The view was astonishing. I felt a certain familiarity, despite of losing that cosiness that Mexico City with all its dangerous shadows walking in the dark, was able to transmit me. I felt I was entering chapter II of my own journey. Seeing a smoking vulcano makes you feel like you should not rely too much on your comfort since things in life can change quickly and makes you learn how important is for oneself to adapt to certain situation that can happen on the road at any time.
Part of the concept of the album "Compulsive Seeking" (the ode to the number twelve, like the chapters of the book, like the hours in a day and the months in a year) and the song Calle Nicaragua are definitely inspired from Malcolm dark journey through his fragile self and the external tropical danger.
Regarding my own journey, the goal I set for myself was to escape as soon as I could a certain kind of mass tourism and focusing more on casual travellers and adventurers, some of them I found very impressive in their committment to challenge the 'mala', the heat, the spicyness, and most of all the wild life of the country in order to make something real out of their trip.
**Beirut,La LLorona/ Leiva,Costa de Oaxaca/ Chico Buarque,Vida/ Caifanes,La Negra Tomasa/ Paolo Conte,Maracas/ Juana Molina,Cristina Tropical/ Vasco Rossi,Vado al Massimo**