Danny Stewart’s Mexico diary: Five things the Tartan Army learned in Mexico City

IT’S time to head home so here’s Five Things We Learned About Mexico City…

Mexico City is – quite literally – sinking into the ground.

The city of over 20 million people has always been short of water.

And with climate change creating a greater and greater demand from the population, they have been forced to drill deeper and deeper.

But as the underground water level drops so the ground above sinks.

In some places it is a rate of up to four inches a year with the National Palace in Zocalo one of the worst affected with its courtyard having a very noticeable slope.

The Azteca is well worth its hype.

As more and more money gets ploughed into football, there are plenty of stunning new stadiums around the world.

The otherworldly Allianz Arena in Munich, Lisbon’s Estadio de Luz and the National Stadium in Warsaw are just three that spring to mind.

They are all fantastic venues to visit.

For most fans, though, there needs to be a sense of history a ground really special.

The Nou Camp in Barcelona, Real Madrid’s Bernabeu and the San Siro in Milan are all redolent of history and tradition.

As, to be fair, are Ibrox, Celtic Park, Hampden and all the other great Scottish grounds which have stood the test of time.

There is something special, though, about being in the ground where, up a mile and a half in the sky, Pele lifted the World Cup for the great 1970 Brazil team.

Where too, sixteen years later Diego Maradona did likewise for Argentina after producing his ‘hand of god’ and ‘goal of the century’ double act against England along the way.

It doesn’t hurt either that it is a tremendous bowl of a stadium.

The city is as green as the shirt the national team wear.

It might be perilously short of water but vegetation finds a way to thrive.

The richer neighbourhoods are lush with tree lined avenues offering indulgent shade from the sun.

And even in the deprived areas, bits of plant life explode from every corner, window box and roof tops.

Avoiding ice, or water that hasn’t come from a bottle, as the heat creeps up to 30 degrees Celsius is harder than you might think.

Order a coke or a bottle at a café or bar and it is an automatic accompaniment. Often your drink will be half poured over the cubes before you get a chance to hold up your hand.

Most locals are aware of the perils of Montezuma’s Revenge, or worse, faced by travellers whose stomachs aren’t set up to deal with the bacteria they are being served up.

For some, though, seeing something that will make the drink taste better being shunned can get the eyebrows raised.

Mexico isn’t where we thought it was.

Throughout the build-up to Scotland’s tour it was widely reported – including by this writer – that Alex McLeish’s side were heading to Central and South America.

However, while Peru does indeed share a continent with Brazil and Argentina, Mexico is a country in North America.

To be more specific it is a federal republic in the southern section of North America, bordered to the north by the United States.

Come to think of it, that last fact might have been mentioned in news coverage over the last couple of years.

Adios.