Cuidado

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That is “Be careful” in Spanish.

One thing I am not fond of about Mexico is the drivers. The pedestrian does NOT have the right of way here. Oh, sure, a taxi or combi might stop and signal for the gringo to cross a busy street but that does not prevent someone behind from speeding around him and hitting you.

With all the processions clogging the streets these past two weeks and all the vacacionistas in town, it has been particularly peligroso on the streets. Cars, taxis, and motor bikes are more plentiful than usual and all are in a hurry to get somewhere, so pedestrian, be aware.

You might start crossing the street without a car in sight but before you reach the other side, a car comes zooming up and passes mere inches behind you. That is scary! What is even worse is when the driver misjudges or you slow just a bit to negotiate a pothole or curb and well….

I had a taxi hit my bag once and a few of those “give me a little space” moments but that is nothing compared to a friend who is currently laid up because a car hit his foot or the two friends of friends we lost this week because of a pedestrian/car accident.

Time and unforeseen occurrence may befall us all, however, it is always wise to be careful out there.

Motorbikes, Taxco de Alarcon, Mexico

Calor

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Studying Spanish in a hammockCalor is the Spanish word for hot when you are talking about the weather or climate.

April and May being the hottest months of the year – the sun is mighty strong at this latitude and there are few if any clouds to deflect its rays. That means that afternoons get very warm, well into the 80s.  However, houses are built to deflect the heat — it truly is 10 degrees cooler in the shade, and unlike August in Wisconsin, cool breezes come down from the mountain at night and make sleeping tolerable.

Many people here are complaining about the heat. Apparently no one remembers a year when it was so warm this early. Yet they still wear long sleeve sweaters and wrap their babies up in heavy fleece blankets with winter hats on their heads when they take them out. I don’t get it.

I could understand, light, long sleeved clothing to protect the skin from the sun’s rays, and even a light blanket swaddling a newborn, but if it is 80 degrees and you or the baby are sweating, let’s lighten up in the clothing department!

I know I am different. I come down here in the middle of winter, when it is truly FRIO (cold) for them, and I wear short or sleeveless tops, with perhaps a long sleeve shirt over my shoulders in the early morn and a sweater at night. I come from a much colder climate though and the mid-60s of December feels warm to me. Only two or three times did a cold front come through where I needed to put on socks, a fleece, or once, for the first time ever, even don a jacket to protect from the cold rain.

I go barefoot and sleep with my door open for fresh cool air. To the typical Mexican, this behavior is asking to develop a cold. They always wear shoes because the tile floors are “muy frio,” and sleep with their rooms closed up to avoid drafts.

This is just another one of those cultural differences (though it doesn’t necessarily apply everywhere —the children of the indigenous people run around barefoot most of the time even in the snow) that makes life interesting.

One culture’s customs and traditions are neither right nor wrong, they simply are what they are. To me, the differences are what makes life more enjoyable. Do you agree?

25 Bottles of Mezcal on the Wall

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25 bottles of mezcal on the wall, 25 bottles of mezcal

take one down, pass it around,

24 bottles of mezcal on the wall

Forgive me for adapting that old drinking song to the occasion. I walked into a grill to get some dinner and found this lovely collection of one of Mexico’s traditional spirits.

Mezcal, a relative of  its smoother cousin,Tequila, is distilled from the heart of the maguey plant (a form of agave). In a process that has remained relatively unchanged for centuries, the heart of the plant is cooked in an earthen mound over hot rocks, for about three days. This gives the mezcal its distinctive smoky flavor.

The roasted agave hearts are then crushed and fermented in large vats with water. When fermented, the liquid is distilled in clay or copper pots, and sometimes mixed with fruits and spices, such as apple or cinnamon, or other ingredients as family recipes dictate. Then it is distilled again to raise the alcohol content.

It can be consumed raw at this point, or allowed to age anywhere from 3 months to 4 years, the alcohol content growing yet the liquor becoming smoother with age. The raw liquor is called white due to its color, and reminiscent of “white lightening” in the hills of Appalachia, this aguardiente (literally fiery water) reportedly burns all the way down. And due to its high alcohol content is highly intoxicating.

Mezcal is so much a part of the culture that there is a saying which says something to the effect of “Para todo mal, mezcal; y para todo bien, también., which means “For everything bad, mezcal; and for everything good, the same.”

What goes up…

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It is said of Taxco, that the only streets that do not go up are those that are going down. And that is very true. With the exception of Benito Juarez, the main tourist street that winds along a ridge halfway up and halfway down one of the mountains the city is perched upon, the streets climb steeply up or down. And, even Benito Juarez heads significantly uphill as it reaches the zocolo in the center of town.

Originally designed for donkey carts, everywhere there are streets so steep that I wonder how the cars and taxis get up them. Sometimes they don’t and they have to back down, rev their engines, squeal their tires,and burn rubber before succeeding. (This is a common occurrence at my corner.)

Once, I was climbing up one of these roads, with a hand rail attached to the house wall to help pull myself up, when a taxi came down. In navigating the 90 degree turn, it locked its brakes and slid on the oil and rubber slicked and smoothed cobblestones, diagonally across the street right toward where I was standing. Suddenly, the wheels caught and the taxi veered away from me. (Whew! I thought I was a goner for a moment!)

You get used to walking up and down, sometimes on the cobble stone streets, and other times on cement ramps, and if you are fortunate (or not) a set of steps. Coming back into town the other day on our way to a lunch invitation in Los Jales (at the bottom of town), we had to negotiate this set of stairs.

Yeah I know, gave me vertigo, just looking at it. It is a loooooonnnnnnnng way down.

As the World Turns

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Back a while ago, I was posting pictures of spectacular sunrises over the mountains. Flaming reds, oranges, and golds dashed across a molten sky. They were awesome and took my breath away. Waking up in the morning was a feast for the eyes and a boost for the whole day.

Sunrise, Taxco, Mexico

At the time there were discussions about what made the sunrises here so spectacular. Was it ash from the volcano or other debris in the air? Was it the location of Taxco? The location of my house on the side of the mountain? The angle of the sun? What? What? What?

In late February, the sky became mostly cloudless. Without clouds to add their puffy, rolling, or roiling influence, most sunrises were a calm, pastel rainbow of shades from pale yellow to coral to pink to violet.

Sunrise, cloudless sky, Taxco de Alarcon, Mexico

I was away much of March and when I returned to Taxco I noticed another shift in my sunrise watching. No longer could I see the sunrise from my door; I had to go outside. And even then, the view of the sun rising in the valley below was obscured by one of the mountains of Taxco.

Sunrise, Taxco de Alarcon, Mexico

And so it remains.  Each day, the world turns a little more and with that so has the location of the sunrise. Oh I can see the sunrise from here, but only the afterglow IF there are clouds high enough above to reflect the rays. The colors are more muted and last just a moment; it is not the slow awakening of the day it once was.

And if no high clouds? The light just gets brighter and brighter until the sun itself rises above the buildings.

But there are enough of those special moments to keep me watching. Here’s a glimpse of a few of those “high clouds” days over the last few weeks.

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With the change to daylight savings time and the continued movement of the sun around and behind the mountain, I fear there may be few sunrises to share with you before I leave. But, rest assured — if a spectacular sunrise comes along, I will certainly do so.

Bricks and stones…

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When I first arrived in Taxco, I watched in amazement as a one story building on the street side, which revealed a three story caved-in structure on the back began to be transformed into a beautiful multi-story edifice with covered balconies and beautiful views.

Quite the transformation right?

What is even more amazing is how the work is done — by hand! There are no cranes to lift bricks to the second, third, or higher floors, they are carried there a few bricks at a time. And if you need supplies delivered to an inaccessible location. Where there is a will there is a way.

Cement is mixed by hand, put into buckets, poured into the forms (which were also created by hand), and so it goes, day by day by day, little by little, one brick at a time until eventually walls, and doors, and balconies appear where there was only air.

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It took three years, but now there are some mighty fine looking rooms (habitacions) at the Hotel de Mineral de la Taxco  ready for occupation.

Silence

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Early morn, Taxco de Alarcon, Mexico

It felt like I was walking in a ghost town. Streets, that had been jam packed with food carts, street venders, and hordes of people, were suddenly empty. The whole city was silent except for the pealing of a single church bell.

After a week of processions, horns honking, drums beating, and hordes of people — penitents and their entourages and the thousands of onlookers that came for ” the show,” milling about, talking, shouting, and eating, the chaos of Seman Santa was suddenly all over.

It was very strange to hear no noise and to see no people, not even a taxi. It might have seemed that everyone was whisked off into some giant alien abduction until I realized that in addition to probably sleeping in or staying home for a quiet day with family, there was a time change.

It was the first Sunday in April and “Spring ahead” had come to Mexico.

The Silver Capitol of the World

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Taxco is known as the “Silver Capitol of the World.” And for good reason, the area was rich in silver. The indigenous people mined it and created beautiful jewelry, decorations, and items for the home from this precious metal. Then the Spanish came and exploited the natives and the land to fill their own coffers. When the bulk of the silver was gone, the town went back to being a sleepy village (well sort of).

Then, in the 1930’s, an American named William Spratling came and reintroduced the lost art of silver jewelry making. Basing his designs on the original designs of the native peoples, he sold them to places like Tiffany and Cartier, and the silver industry in Taxco was reborn.

Now approximately 4 out of 5 adults are involved directly or indirectly with the silver trade. On weekends the streets teem with vendors offering their wares from nearly every nook and cranny and visitors looking for a bargain. It is chaos with a capitol C.

However I noticed a big change this year. Due to the high price of silver, the Silver Capitol of the World is fast becoming the brass and copper capitol instead. I wonder how much longer the artisans that I frequent can afford to produce pieces made from semi-precious stones and silver.

Here is a sampling of some of my finds this year.

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In addition to the all silver jewelry, the mixed media pieces like in the slide show that I favor, there is the “costume” jewelry made mostly of beads but still strung together with handmade silver links, like these:

Rose Quartz Drop
Purple and Fuschia
Aqua and White
Purple and greenish yellow

Tostadas

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If you have ever eaten a tostada, you know that it can be a challenge.

You have a toasted tortilla, piled high with beans, meat, lettuce, tomato, crema, salsa, and cheese, possibly with a slice or two of avocado on top and you have to figure out how to bite into it without it cracking and crumbling into a heap. (Chips are so much easier.)

We had tostadas for lunch the other day. I was up for the challenge. I had neatly polished off one and started on my second when a couple of bites in, it suddenly cracked and fell out of my hand landing upside down on the placemat.

Alejandro, my hostess’ grandson, said, “No mas experiencia con tostadas?”

I heard that. Not only that, but I understood that.

Now what kind of thing is that to say?!!!!

We all had a good laugh, when he realized that I understood him.

Psst…the secret is to let the tostada sit a little while so the toppings have a chance to soften the tortilla a little before you try to bite into them.

Provecho!

And the band played on

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…and on and on and on until the wee hours of the morning.

With all hoopla going on in Taxco last night and today, it might be easy to miss a quieter but much more important celebration happening down the street and in communities around the world.

Conmemmoracion, Taxco de Alarcon, Mexico

The night before he died, Jesus celebrated his last Passover meal with his disciples. He shared bread and wine with them as symbols of his body and blood to be poured out (with his death) on behalf of all those who put faith in him and the value of his offering his perfect human body as a ransom for our sins.  This act provides all with the hope of attaining life as God originally purposed, living forever in a Paradise earth. As he passed the bread and wine to his disciples, he said to them, “Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)

Tonight, after sundown, is the anniversary of that momentous event. If you value the ransom Christ paid for our sins, I invite you to attend the commemoration nearest you. To learn more and for a full list of locations in communities near you, around the world, click here.

Millions around the world will attend. Will you be one of them?