Staying at the Holiday Inn Zocalo during the Spectacular Light Show
The view from the roof top patio at the Holiday Inn Zocalo
So even though I’m totally screwed changing my pesos back over to dollars every time I go home, I’m very thankful that my rich, childless relatives get such a good exchange when they visit. Their good taste got me a week at the Holiday Inn – Zócalo, which I had always scorned on my back-packing trips but which I am feeling a little fonder of.
I was up from my Day-Job at HOY Community in Cuernavaca for a few days this past September.
Part of the El Grito independence celebrations included this incredible light show on the Presidential Palace.
With its discrete front door reception facing the street Cinco de Mayo, the Holiday Inn is a building of cement grandeur that blends into the surrounding downtown architecture. The staff is friendly; though somewhat reluctant to practice their English (the English menu translation is a hoot for anyone like me who enjoys translation mistakes). We got two rooms – one on the 1st floor facing Cinco de Mayo, and the other on the 5th floor facing the zócalo – wow – and it was from this breathtaking height that we got to see the the light show that has been playing in el Zocalo since this past September.
We knew they were preparing for something – the sudden flashes of blue light that would pierce through the curtains throughout the night, or the random sound clips of strange, feral music that could be heard from any room in the hotel kind of gave the big surprise away. On the 5th floor, both of our neighboring rooms were filled with artsy types with press passes bearing cool titles such as “video” or “sound manager” or “art producer.” They practiced all week long – even though hotel staff didn’t know when the show was supposed to start. We finally figured out that it was show-day when the crowd started to arrive – armed with flying, spinning, blinking light toys and flashing headband animal ears.
The show began with the haunting, moving music we had been hearing all week long. Lights were played all over the Presidential Palace – blues, purples, whites, and the colors of the Mexican flag. It seemed like a simple, pretty show until the computer programmers started to really have some fun – the Presidential Palace was turned into 3-D blocks, made to look terraced, like a pyramid. The building grew vines and flowers and turned jungle – then decayed. The building began to move – the bricks (is that building made of bricks?) slid from side to side, moved in and out. You felt like maybe the Presidential Palace was really a Transformer that was now coming to life. The building took on the blue and white tiled design of los azulejos – like a pretty patterned china dish – and then the pattern fell down and swung off the building – a paper doll losing its clothes.
Three giant projection screens in the zócalo plaza showed a slideshow of famous Mexicans – politicians, actors, musicians, revolutionaries, artists. Another super cool aspect of the show was the fountain, well, huge spray of water that sprang up from who knows where in front of the Presidential Palace. At the beginning we thought it was a smoke screen where they also played a video of images, but then we realized that the image was moving back and forth as the water streamed everywhere. Cute, well, I suppose I could say cute – you might say creepy, little skeletons appeared on the water screen playing instruments – Day of the Dead figures in their element. At the very end of the show the artists displayed “Viva México” in giant cube letters across the building, and closed out with a train that ran horizontally across the “stage.”
Fireworks went off at different times, and the crowd was always visible by their bobbing lights. We definitely had the best view in the house – so since the show will be running a few more nights, maybe you can get a hotel guest to share their room with you for half an hour. The show was well worth braving the cold, and the digital art and technology used for this show left everyone breathless – is the Presidential Palace really made of bones…or are you just seeing things?
Anyway, the projections continue in el Zocalo through the end of the year. The show is totally worth seeing whether you’re staying at the Holiday Inn or just passing through the city center.
