Any excuse for a parade

Posted on December 12, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

Taxco, like Madison, is considered by outsiders to be a party town. Perhaps that has something to do with the frequent celebrations often including marching bands, parades, and fireworks.

At least once a week, if not more often, a parade goes by my house, filling the main street in town with children, balloons, queens, kings, costumed characters, and of course, marching bands, bringing traffic to a screeching halt and pedestrians, trying to get to their destination, weaving in and out of marchers, dancers, and balloon waving participants.

Today is December 11th, the night before the Festival of Guadalupe (the Mexican Virgin) and official kick-off of the holiday season in Mexico. So far, at least 4 drum and bugle corps have marched by. The streets are filled with processions carrying icons of the virgin followed by the reverent often carrying candles and smaller icons of their own (click here for pictures). The drums echo through the streets and off the mountains. Every so often, “air works” (fireworks without the fire, only the boom) add to the cacophony.

I think this is one of those nights when “there is no rest for the wicked.”

Hola mi amigos!

Posted on December 3, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

Greetings from Mexico!

It is early December and I am sitting on my balcony overlooking Taxco, Mexico. The sun is shining, the birds chirping, a light breeze stirs the 75 degree day — just about perfect I’d say, except you all cannot be with me.

Since I have not posted to my blog in almost 6 months, I feel I owe you a brief explanation. My last posts were describing my trip home to Wisconsin from a rather mad-dash trip to Florida to escape the heating season in my apartment which was seriously affecting my chemical sensitivities . I got as far as Charleston, SC and was ready to head West into the mountains (Asheville and the Great Smokies) promising you more. (I’ve provided links my blogs on Charleston, Asheville, and the Smokies, to read posts on Florida, search in the box above.)

Sorry I let you down. Because of a need to speed home (rather than meander) the last couple of days I got behind. Then when I arrived home, the usual sensitivities reaction, “stopped me in my tracks.”

In the end, the decision was made that I had to find a different place to live, which with my sensitivities was not so easy. I spent the summer searching the possibilities, traveling hundreds of miles in the process, while at the same time making contacts, taking classes, and getting certification for a new occupational direction I hope to launch in the summer of 2015. To say I have been busy — coming and going, barely touching base at home before I was gone again — would be an understatement.

But that was then, and this is now.

By mid-November I finished selling, donating, or recycling most of my worldly goods, put a few things in storage, vacated my apartment, and traveled off to Portland, Maine to visit my daughter and family. Now, in Mexico, I finally have the pleasure of stopping long enough to catch my breath and tell about it.

First, though, I want to tell you “the rest of the story” of my trip through the mountains. Hang on to your sombrero, it will be a fast ride!

Fat Tuesday — Mexican Traditions

Posted on March 5, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

Today is Fat Tuesday. They are partying in Rio (Carnival), New Orleans (Mardi Gras) and other places around the world — celebrating a night of excessive eating, drinking, and revelry before Ash Wednesday and the Lenten period of fasting leading up to Easter.

I have never been to Rio or New Orleans on Fat Tuesday, but having been on Ludwig Strasse in Partenkirchen (Bavaria), Germany, where it’s called fausching and involves cow bells, yodeling, and an excess of sauerkraut and beer, the processions and celebrations in Taxco are a tame in comparison. But what they lack in revelry and drunken debauchery, they make up for in duration filling the streets today, tonight, and every Friday leading up to the Thursday before Easter, when the really big procession begins (more on that in another post though).

There are stilt walkers, costumed dancers representing indigenous traditions, and revelers of all ages — from school children who get off school early to dress in costume and parade the winding cobblestoned streets to adults forming informal street bands wandering through the city serenading the neighbors.

Stilt Walkers – Fat Tuesday, Taxco, Mexico

Indigenous costumes, Parade, Taxco, Mexico

Three kings parade participants, , Taxco de Alarcon, Mexico

Parade, Taxco, Mexico

I am told that the processions — both solemn and fanciful, the parties at the churches, the fireworks, and the bands playing are all to remind people of the sacredness of the season, which is really ironic when a ragtag band comes over the hill playing “Roll Out the Barrel.”

Time out

Posted on February 28, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

I really don’t know what I did to have to face the wall this way!

Let the sun shine

Posted on February 7, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

Currently I live on the top floor of a house, on a hill in Taxco. When I open my eyes in the morning I look over the top of the city and beyond to the mountains, where every morning the sun comes up to greet me.

Since winter is the dry season in Mexico, that usually means the sky turns from deep indigo, to violet to shades of magenta, coral, pink and peach, in layers sort of like a sand sculpture or those gelatin cups they sell everywhere here (Mexicans love their gelatin).

Days are clear and bright with azure blue skies occasionally dotted with a few white puffy clouds.

Imagine my surprise and wonder when I opened my eyes and saw this.

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He certainly knows how to paint a beautiful sky. I just love how the beauty changes minute by minute.

Going Bananas

Posted on February 7, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

Took a little trip out to Irma’s ranchero (now belonging to her son, Fabian.) The house is situated on the side of the mountain about 20 minutes or so outside of Taxco. To quote The Who, “I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles.”

Below the house, by about 50 or so steps, is the Acamixla KH, which has a balcony that wraps around the side and back.

I was snapping some photos and admiring the view when I came around a corner and and there on the deck sat a big bunch of bananas ripening in the sun.

Looking around, I discovered the bananas must have come from one of several trees growing on the property..

Having only seen banana trees at botanical gardens, and then usually with a bunch of bananas high over head, I was amazed to see this “double-decker” banana flower up close.

You can clearly see the bunch of bananas at the top but look closer at what appears to be a relative of Audrey II, the man eating plant in “Little Shop of Horrors”, and you will see a banana flower just starting to open.

Look closer still and you will see the individual banana flowers under the larger open petal. As the larger flower bud opens, petal by petal, it exposes a ring of long, tubular yellow flowers with red tips. I am told that when these have had a chance to be pollinated, the covering leaves drop to the ground and a new set opens revealing another ring of sweet smelling golden blossoms. When the flower has opened completely, all that remains is a bunch of green bananas to grow and ripen – upside down of course. But you knew that didn’t you?

Banana anyone?

Everything is better with ketchup!

Posted on February 3, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

Mexicans love “American” clothing, whether they know what it says or not.

Men are more guilty of wearing the unknown than women. I spotted one man wearing a shirt declaring himself the “World’s Greatest Grandma” and another as as a member of the “Women’s Naked 5K Team.”

Instead of donating old clothes to Goodwill, perhaps I should bring a bunch down here. I could just layer them on, walk around town, and sell them to people on the street. “Hey buddy, want to buy a shirt?”

What do you think? Might just pay for my ticket that way.

Fill ‘er Up

Posted on February 1, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

Taxi break!

All pumps full on this side of the street also. Do you think the cars all got together and demanded to be filled before they drove another inch?

It may not be the end of the world but…

Posted on January 14, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

The superintendiente (CO) is in town so that has meant many travels visiting people in their homes. Between mountain climbing in Tetipac, and Indiana Jonesing it in Dolores, I have had my share of adventures right here in Taxco.

Taxco is built on several mountains, and I can safely say that, with the exception of the zocolo, a small park area in the middle of town, if you are not climbing up, you are headed down.

Houses are perched on the side of a steep hillsides. Sometimes there are proper steps and other times, there is a dirt path to scramble up or down. And sometimes the dirt path, leads to a set of steps that for some reason adorns just part of the hillside (often the part in the middle.)

I have joked about needing to be part mountain goat when walking in some parts of town, and that was true of a recent day in service. We started at the bottom of town, walked up a not too steep hill, past the chickens and pigs, and headed out into the outer reaches where the cobblestones stop and the gravel road begins; but that was not the most challenging part of our day.

On our way back, we were going to visit Veronica. We came to a house set about 8-10 feet below the level of the road. There was no obvious way to get to this house, still, it was apparent that someone lived there. It was indicated to me that we should go down the hill, but how? Where?

Never fear, there is always a way. In this case, it was a few tumbled rocks, next to an unfinished building foundation, that led to a dirt path with a trickle of water running down the middle. Now how was I supposed to know that this was the callejon (little street, aka alley) and not a drainage path???? I followed Sarah and our Mexican companion and picked my way down the path, thinking we were going to the house, but noooooo! we walked right by, and then it really got interesting.

Tame compared to where I was walking.

The path beyond the house dropped steeply down the mountainside. Now a mountain goat I am not, but believe me I needed to be as this path, all twelve inches wide of it, winds steeply, like the roads, down the hillside, with plants, most of which have some sort of burr or thorn, grabbing at you from both sides. There were rocks in places, giving some footing in the loose soil, which cascaded down the hill as we walked; tree branches and even a discarded tire or two formed make shift steps along the way.

Veronica & Luis Angel

Down, down, down we went, step by slow, careful step, when suddenly we came to a set of stairs. Oh good I thought, when just as suddenly as they started, they ended 50 feet (and one house) later at a 4-foot high platform which we had to scramble around, hands in the weeds, to get back to the path. After descending probably 300 yards in this fashion, we came to the house. Veronica, her husband, and 6 month old son live in one room – about 12 x 12 or so – in a 3 room house probably shared with one or the other set of parents.

There is a small plastic table with a few plastic chairs, a two burner gas cook top and a small refrigerator, plus a dresser, double bed, and a mattress on the floor where she sits pulling a cord that rocks the baby suspended in a makeshift cradle (created with a blanket wrapped around a couple of ropes and secured with clothes pins. ) The mattress, covering most of the floor, is not only where Veronica and her husband sleep, the double bed serving as a changing area for the baby, is also a safety measure in case the baby falls out of the cradle. (Think about this family the next time you complain about what you do not have.)

When it was time to go, we stepped over the dog and scrambled up the dirt path with the rocks and sticks, around the base of the stairs to nowhere, climbing the hillside, up and up, over the old tires, until finally, all weak knees and out of breath (at least me) we reached the road at the top. I can’t imagine carrying a baby or groceries up or down this way, but they do.

Later, our Mexican companion confided to Vanessa that she was worried about me the whole time. “What would I tell the brothers if I broke her?” she said.

Today, I had the opportunity to view the path from a house across the way. Doesn’t look so bad from there!

Street Signs

Posted on January 13, 2014 by The Adventures of Blue Bear

Taxco is not a small town, yet it is small enough that the residents (the permanent ones anyway) seem to know everyone. There are no traffic lights in Taxco, though there are traffic police that stop traffic on busy roads so pedestrians can cross. Other than that, it is pretty much a first come, first go philosophy, or the typical Mexican attitude of if you can squeeze your car into the space, do so. Add that to the general steepness of the terrain and as you can imagine this philosophy comes with a lot of horn honking and occasionally (amazing really how rarely), scraped paint, broken lights, and shouting.

But having no traffic lights does not mean that there are no street signs. This being a colonial town, with the exception of the main highways into and through town, the streets are as they have been for centuries made of cobblestone.The road builders, set each stone by hand, and sometimes, using the three colors available (black, white, and red) take the opportunity to add some creative variety to their jobs by placing a pattern into the pavers.

There are the typical white lines down the middle, supposedly the line demarks two lanes but usually they serve more as a guide for one car, as if it could not get around the bend without straddling the line.

Other times, the lines form patterns — leaves, geometrics, even intricate pictures in stone outside businesses or in the plazuelas.

Here are a few of my favorite street signs. enjoy the show.