Mexico's sporting heart - Lucha Libre

It is often said that the best way to get a taste of the true spirit of a country is to attend a sporting event. Sport is a microcosm of culture, brimming with fierce pride and nationalistic spirit in both the competitors and the crowds.

What better way to get up close and personal with Mexican culture than watching a few bouts of wrestling, or Lucha Libre, meaning free fight. The sport is reminiscent of WWF exhibition fighting with a Mexican twist. For one thing, its really camp. I mean, with the tight leotard outfits, the elaborate colour schemes, the gimp masks, the amount of oil smeared over participants, who are they trying to kid? Some of the moves, which involve much thrusting and vibrating at very close range, are also highly dubious.

We went to a Friday night showdown in Arena Mexico, one of the country's many wrestling rings. There were four bouts on the bill, each of them tag fights with three or four wrestlers per team, with names such as "La Sombra" (the shadow) "Mascara Dorada" (the golden mask) and hilariously, "Mascara Enchilada" - needs no translation! Here is a pic of us with the Enchilada.

The headline fight was the most hilarious, not just because the moves were more advanced, but because of the soap-opera type story that was being played out between the two teams. There was infighting in one of the teams, where two wrestlers turned on their third team-mate, who had rocked up late to the fight in a poncho.

The pair started attacking poncho-man, and eventually had to be pulled off him by the opposing team. The domestic continued after the official round was over, all the way up the aisle leading into the arena. At one point poncho's attackers pinned him down and ripped off his mask, the ultimate mark of shame for wrestlers. Poor poncho could not show his face to the audience, and just lay there, covering his head with his hands.

The fight continues up the aisle

In the final bout the fighters were joined by midget helpers, one dressed as a parrot and the other in a gorilla suit - I'm pretty certain they were midgets and not kids (fingers crossed). One midget was assigned to each team, but disappointingly they did not get involved in the fighting. They did help out from outside the ring, whacking their team's opponents with saucepans when they leant back on the ropes. Some wrestlers are accompanied by mini-me's - identically dressed midgets who snap at the heels of their opponents during fights.

Wrestling is hugely popular here - this was just a regular weekly bout yet it drew a crowd of at least 20,000. Sections of the arena were enclosed in tall wire mesh fences, where the rowdy participants were sat. Kids rocked up in the masks of their favourite wrestlers, and everyone seemed to follow the masked characters, egging them on or booing them at various times.

Security was pretty tight in the arena too - everyone was patted down at the entrance, and cameras were banned apparently. So we snuck in the iphone and took some pics, which partly explains the poor quality!