Mexico City Travel Guide (Mexico City, Mexico)

Entertainment in the Plaza Garibaldi (Metro Bellas Artes and Garibaldi) is not for those of nervous disposition. Here in the evenings gather hundreds of competing mariachi bands, all in their tight, silver-spangled charro finery and vast sombreros, to play for anyone who'll pay them among the crowds wandering the square and spilling out of the surrounding bars. A typical group consists of two or four violins, a brass section of three trumpeters standing some way back so as not to drown out the others, three or four men on guitars of varying sizes, and a vocalist, though the truly macho serenader will rent the band and do the singing himself. They take their name, supposedly, from the French mariage , it being traditional during the nineteenth-century French intervention to rent a group to play at weddings. You may also come across norteño bands from the border areas with their Tex-Mex brand of country music, or the softer sounds of marimba musicians from the south. Simply wander round the square and you'll get your fill - should you want to be individually serenaded, pick out a likely looking group and negotiate your price. At the back of the square is a huge market hall in which a whole series of stalls serve simple food and vie furiously for custom. Alternatively, there is at least one prominent pulquería on the square, and a number of fairly pricey restaurant-bars, which try to drown out the mariachi bands with their own canned music, and tempt customers with their "No Cover" entry.

Plaza Garibaldi is the traditional final call on a long night around the capital's bars, and as the night wears on and the drinking continues, it can get pretty rowdy around the square and pickpockets are always a threat: despite a high-profile police presence, you'd be better off not coming laden down with expensive camera equipment or an obviously bulging wallet.

The Plaza Garibaldi is on Lázaro Cárdenas about five blocks north of Bellas Artes, reached by walking through a thoroughly sleazy area of cheap bars, streetwalkers, grimy hotels and several brightly lit theatres offering burlesque and strip shows. The last Metro leaves at midnight