There was plenty of serious content at our daily conferences, but there was also dancing in the streets of Oaxaca during the Mexico Today kickoff weekend.
On June 23, Mexico Cooks! and a team of 23 other writers went to Oaxaca, invited (in the strictest Mexican sense)* by the Mexican government-funded public relations initiative called Mexico Today. The 24 of us spent several magical days in one of the most beautiful cities in the country, attending informational conferences and having a party--or two, or three!
All things Oaxaca, from hand-carved and intricately painted alebrijes to Zapotec rug weavers, filled every weekend minute that was not spent getting to know the ins and outs of the Mexico Today program or getting to know one another. As happens at the best of this sort of event, we bonded strongly. The program gave each of us, idiosyncratic to the core, enough room to sniff around one another, feel one another out, and truly get it that all 24 of us writers were already in love--if not with one another, then certainly with Mexico.
Fireworks! There's nothing quite as much fun as an old-fashioned Mexican display of fireworks. This particular variety is called a castillo (castle). In addition to shooting out plumes of fire, it also spins and whirls on succeedingly higher levels.
Mexico Today is a time-limited, strategic Mexican government project designed to showcase what we already know to be wonderful here in Mexico and to highlight the rest of the best that Mexico has to offer. The writers involved focus on that. The team includes people who write on topics that range from hard-data economics to--well, to Mexico Cooks!' tales about off-the-beaten-track Mexico culinary adventures. So, you might ask, what's the point?
The weaver's skilled hands belong to Fidel Cruz Lazo, of Casa Cruz in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. He and his wife, Sra. María Luisa Mendoza Ruiz, make hand-spun and hand-woven wool rugs. All of the wool for the rugs is hand-carded, hand-spun, and dyed using pure, hand-ground vegetable dyes.
The point is this: unless you've been living out of international news range for the last four years, you know that since late 2006, Mexico has been struggling through some very difficult times. Because of true insecurity in several of Mexico's states, international media rumor mills have created ever more sensational reports of what's wrong with this country. Mexico Today wants to make certain that there is a continuing stream of online information publicizing the good and beautiful things about Mexico to help balance the scales. The group wants to ensure that when this spate of trouble is over, everyone outside Mexico remembers why this country is such a marvelous place to invest in business, to plan a vacation, and to love.
Sra. Mendoza had just used her metate (grinding stone)to grind a half-handful of cochineal, a black insect about the size of a black peppercorn, into this red powder. She swept up the powdered cochineal with the escobilla (little broom) and then dissolved just a bit of the dye in the glass of water to demonstrate the color.
An alabaster pot, one of the hundreds of treasures rescued at the temples at Monte Albán and preserved in Oaxaca's Museo Santo Domingo.
Falling in love with Mexico is so easy. If you've been following Mexico Cooks!' wanderings of the last four-plus-years through the kitchens and cultures of this incredible country, you already know that I've been head over heels for more than 30 years. The deal is, unexpected things sometimes happen in any loving relationship. One partner might develop health challenges, one might lose a job: nonetheless, love for one another keeps both partners remembering the miracle of love each one is for the other in spite of temporary dark clouds.
Maguey cactus garden under a tabachín (delonix regia) tree in the atrium of Oaxaca's 16th century church and former Dominican monastery known as Santo Domingo.
Right now, my beloved Mexico needs rehabilitation. Would I desert her in her time of need? Not a chance! The important thing for me is to focus on my profound love for this country and continue to talk about her beauty, her warmth, her humor, her intelligence and creativity. The problems mi México is experiencing are temporary, the glory is eternal. Mexico Today understands that and wants you to see it through the eyes of Mexico Cooks! and through the eyes of every other writer who is part of the program. We want you to fall in love--for the first time or all over again--with the little piece of heaven that is Mexico.
Spring break in a Mexican beach town? Not a chance: it's a city of Oaxaca calenda (street party)! Kelly McLaughlin, a Mexico Today blogger from Cancún, gets hoisted up for a rocking ride on a torito, a little festival bull made of bamboo and, in this case, deer skin.
*Full disclosure: In Mexico, to be invited means that the person or organization that invites you pays the way. Mexico Today is compensating me for anything I write that's actually for use in the Mexico Today program. It's the start of a new relationship, the kind of dream pairing that we all hope for in our relationships: Mexico Today loves Mexico Cooks! just the way it is, which means the program chose Mexico Cooks! because it already presents its readers with the wonder and joy that this glorious country offers to the world. They simply want me to keep telling you what I see as the fabulous reality of my country. They don't want Mexico Cooks! to change a single word for them. That's easy--and they want you to spread the word, too. You can start now by adding Mexico Today to your circle of friends on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @mexicocooks or @MexicoToday.
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"...city of Oaxaca calenda (street party)!" Wow, looks like fun!
Posted by: Steven Miller | July 23, 2011 at 10:56 AM