El Chopo

There is a place in Mexico City that becomes the epicenter of alternative youth culture every Saturday. It is a paradise for followers of the Goth, Punk, Ska, Emo, Reggae, Metal Head, and Skater subcultures. It is a market place where all the necessary costuming and paraphernalia associated with each genre is bought and sold. It is also a place where people can come together with shared interests and points of view. This place is called the Tianguis Cultural del Chopo or simply El Chopo. You can read a more detailed description of this place as well as other culturally rich venues and experiences in the recently published book, Down and Delirious in Mexico City. A similar book that also gives a studied personal insight into the dense variety to be found in perhaps the world's largest megalopolis is, First Stop in the New World: Mexico City the Capital of the 21st. Century. Both of these books have made me want to become less of a consumer of the culture of Mexico and Mexico City and more of a participant.

How El Chopo was made possible:
Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture