Mexico Cooks!

Sanctuary of Jesus the Nazarene (Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno), Atotonilco, Guanajuato

The facade of the mid-18th Century Jesuit church in Atotonilco is simple.  The interior of the church is astonishing.  Built between 1740 and 1776, the Santuario is still visited and revered by religious pilgrims as well as by some visitors.  Just a few kilometers from San Miguel de Allende, it's an easy day trip to stop in Atotonilco to view this church and then go to Dolores Hidalgo for more Mexican Independence history (and for the incredible range of ice cream flavors you find there!).

Several years ago, while Mexico Cooks! visited San Miguel de Allende, we took advantage of some free time to go to Atotonilco to visit the Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno (Sanctuary of Jesus the Nazarene), one of the best-kept secrets of central Mexico.  In 1996, the church was added to the World Monuments Fund, and in July of 2008, UNESCO named the Santuario to its list of World Heritage sites.

The main altar in the Calvary Chapel, the largest in the church.  Religious figures important to Christ's Passion give visual impact to the  meditations of the faithful. A reliquary rests on the red cloth.

The Santuario is a mixture of European Baroque and New World Mexican decoration.  It consists of a large church, and several smaller chapels, all decorated with oil paintings by Rodríguez Juárez and mural paintings by Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre.  Inspired by the doctrine of St. Ignacio de Loyola, the founder of the Companía de Jesús (the Company of Jesus, otherwise known as the Jesuits), the glowing paintings and murals in the church served in the evangelization of Nueva España, where the indigenous spoke their own languages but could neither read nor write, and where the Spanish conquistadores knew little if any of the multiple languages they heard spoken in the new land. 

St. John the Baptist pours baptismal waters over Jesus as a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, hovers above them.  In the 18th Century, the Santuario also served as a retreat house for the Jesuits.  Pilgrims still make week-long retreats at this church, praying in a chapel reserved just for their needs.

Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus with a kiss.  Note the demon monkey on Judas's back.  Every inch of the Santuario walls is covered with paintings of the many details, Biblical and apocryphal, of Jesus's life.  Nearly all (or perhaps all--stories vary) of the murals  were painted by Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre, a native of the area.  He worked for thirty years painting the murals.

St. Cristopher carries the infant Jesus on his shoulder.  Captain Ignacio Allende, for whom San Miguel de Allende is named, married María de la Luz Agustina y Fuentes in this church.  It was here, on September 16, 1810, that Padre Miguel Hidalgo took up the standard of Our Lady of Guadalupe and bore it into battle at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution.

This side chapel, one of several at Atotonilco, is dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary).  The mirrors that surround the figure of Our Lady are painted with oils, probably by Rodríguez Juárez.

Detail of the chapel window.

Detail of the Marian litany in the Lady Chapel.

The Santuario has been in the process of restoration since 1997.  Scaffolding still fills the church but detracts very little from the amazing paintings.

Off the beaten tourist track, the Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno will fill your eyes and heart with wonder.  Let's plan a visit to see it together.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

Looking Back Through 2016 :: Una Mirada Hacia Atras 2016

Due to the pandemic, it's generally been impossible in 2020 to travel and tour with Mexico Cooks!  Here's a look back through 2016 at some of our many fantastic and fascinating travel experiences.  I hope that when it's prudent for all of us to travel again, Mexico Cooks! will be your first choice for a market/cooking tour in Mexico. 


Ceremonial tortillas from the state of Guanajuato, made only in the Otomí communities of that state as food for certain ritual occasions. These were served at Restaurante Azul Condesa during July 2016, when Guanajuato's cuisine was featured for the month at the restaurant. They became so deservedly popular that the restaurant has continued to offer them.  The tortillas, made of nixtamalized corn masa (dough), are shaped, pressed, and cooked on one side on a comal (griddle). They are then flipped and stamped with a hand-carved wooden stamp that has been dipped in muicle, a liquid vegetable dye made from a wild plant.

In mid-July, it was my tremendous honor to host an evening in honor of Zarela Martínez (seated, center), who in 1987 opened Zarela, a Mexican restaurant that is credited as being a pioneer of regional Mexican cuisine in New York City.  She is the author of several wonderful cookbooks, including Food from My Heart: Cuisines of Mexico Remembered and Reimagined (1995) (nominated for Best International Cookbook of the Year, James Beard Foundation); The Food and Life of Oaxaca: Traditional Recipes from Mexico's Heart (1997); and Zarela's Veracruz (2001). Some of the guests surrounding Zarela are: (seated) Celia Marín Chiunti and Rosa María Villareal; (standing from left) Rafael Mier, Marisa Zannie, Pedro Luis de Aguinaga, Mexico Cooks!, and Sonia Ortiz. 

As a frequent visitor to a local tiradero (slang for flea market--literally, garbage dump), Mexico Cooks! has bought many wonderful old things for decorating the home place. This is not one of them.  In August, a friend asked me to photograph this tableau of a javalí (wild boar) and rattlesnake for her nephew, a fan of taxidermy. One can buy anything from a silver ring to--well, a stuffed javalí--at this flea market.


I often go out looking for interesting graffiti, and almost always find something fun.  This cat face, stenciled onto a wall close to my home, looks very much like Risa, my tortoiseshell kitten.

An event in Mexico City at the end of August brought several cocineras tradicionales (traditional cooks) to visit from Michoacán.  This woman spent most of the day pat-pat-patting truly hand-made tortillas to serve to the public along with home-style food.  The gentle rhythm of her hands against the masa (corn dough) coupled with the laughter of other cooks made me feel like I was home again in Michoacán.  Listen as she pats out the tortilla; imagine the smell of woodsmoke.  Both are still iconic to rural Mexico.


This hard-working market bag advertises a butcher shop in Tehuacán, Puebla.  No recap of the year 2016 could be complete without at least one mention of the life-changing weekend I spent in this south-central part of Mexico.  Remember the Mexico Cooks! article about the cave where...well, re-read it here: Corn, An Ancient Gift from Mexico to Feed the World. Chills still run up the back of my neck when I think about gazing into this small hollow space, a shelter in the mountain.


Early September took us to the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Palace) in downtown Mexico City.  The traditional music group Los Folkloristas celebrated its 50th anniversary here.  A good friend is a member of the group and made certain that another friend and I had great seats, a couple of levels below the glorious stained-glass dome.

Sometimes a person can't help being ecstatic.  Meeting Laura Esquivel (author of the extraordinary and ground-breaking Like Water for Chocolate, among other wonderful books) near the end of September was a real highlight of my year.  She was part of the press conference for the MODO exhibition Del Plato a la Boca--the beautifully curated, kitchen-oriented show will be at the museum through February 2017. Don't miss it.


Mid-October took me to Toluca, in the State of Mexico, to see the Cosmovitral.  The Cosmovitral is a beautiful stained glass-enclosed botanical garden.  The group Aztec Explorers, which organizes mostly day tours for people new to Mexico City or the surrounding area, invited me to come along to see the kind of work they do.  The tour company advertises primarily to people who live in or near Mexico City and want to make friends with others while enjoying an overview of sites they've heard about and want to see.  If this sounds like a day that suits your style, you'll enjoy the inexpensive tours that Lilia and Peter give.  By all means tell them Mexico Cooks! sent you.


Remember the gorgeous October 15, 2016 super moon?  I took this shot with my cellular phone, from my bathroom window!  Moon over Mexico City, a lucky shot indeed.


For November 2, Día de Los Muertos, Mexico Cooks! took a small group of tourists to that flea market I mentioned above--no taxidermy this time, though. Alfredo Vilchis Roque, who is proclaimed as "the Da Vinci of the market", built an altar for Day of the Dead 2016.  Click on any of the photographs for a larger view.  Sr. Vilchis, whose work has been exhibited at the Louvre and is sold at a Paris gallery (among others), was generous enough to point out several fascinating aspects to the altar.  Look, for example, just at knee level and in front of him: there's a tribute to Juan Gabriel, Mexico's world-famous singer and idol, who died on August 28, 2016.


November 17, 2016, marked the launch of a program called Salvemos el Maíz Palomero de México (Let's Save Mexican Popcorn).  Part of the project for the preservation of Mexico's native corns in general as well as for the preservation of the tortilla made of nixtamalized corn, the popcorn event was particularly designed to bring the near-extinction of Mexico's original corn to the attention of the press.  It was a tremendous success; even Aristegui Noticias, the foremost news in Mexico shown on CÑÑ (CNN in Spanish), picked up the story and broadcast it to the Spanish-speaking world.  You'll be reading a lot more about this multi-faceted project in the weeks and months to come, right here at Mexico Cooks!.


Whatever your faith, may the New Year bless you with abundance in all things, especially joy and peace.  From our house to yours, we wish you a blessed 2021.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

The Sanctuary of Jesus the Nazarene :: El Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno in Atotonilco, Guanajuato

The facade of the mid-18th Century Jesuit church in Atotonilco is simple.  The interior of the church is astonishing.  Built between 1740 and 1776, the Santuario is still visited and revered by religious pilgrims.

Several years ago, while Mexico Cooks! visited San Miguel de Allende, we took advantage of some free time to go to Atotonilco to visit the Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno (Sanctuary of Jesus the Nazarene), one of the best-kept secrets of central Mexico.  In 1996, the church was added to the World Monuments Fund, and in July of 2008, UNESCO named the Santuario to its list of World Heritage sites.

The main altar in the Calvary Chapel, the largest in the church.  Sculptural figures important to Christ's Passion give visual impact to the  meditations of the faithful. A reliquary rests on the red cloth.

The Santuario is a mixture of European Baroque and New World Mexican decoration.  It consists of a large church, and several smaller chapels, all decorated with oil paintings by Rodríguez Juárez and mural paintings by Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre.  Inspired by the doctrine of San Ignacio de Loyola, the founder of the Companía de Jesús (the Company of Jesus, otherwise known as the Jesuits), the glowing paintings and murals in the church served in the evangelization of Nueva España, where the indigenous spoke their own languages but could neither read nor write, and where the Spanish conquistadores knew little if any of the languages they heard in the new land. 

St. John the Baptist pours baptismal waters over Jesus as a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirt, hovers above them.  In the 18th Century, the Santuario also served as a retreat house for the Jesuits.  Pilgrims still make week-long retreats at this church, praying in a chapel reserved just for their needs.

Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus with a kiss.  Note the demon monkey on Judas's back.  Every inch of the Santuario walls is covered with paintings of the many details, Biblical and apocryphal, of Jesus's life.  Nearly all (or perhaps all--stories vary) of the murals  were painted by Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre, a native of the area.  He worked for thirty years painting the murals.

St. Cristopher carries the infant Jesus on his shoulder.  Captain Ignacio Allende, for whom San Miguel de Allende is named, married María de la Luz Agustina y Fuentes in this church.  It was here, on September 16, 1810, that Father Miguel Hidalgo took up the standard of Our Lady of Guadalupe and bore it into battle at the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.

This side chapel, one of several at Atotonilco, is dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary).  The mirrors that surround the figure of Our Lady are painted with oils, probably by Rodríguez Juárez.

Detail of the chapel window.

Detail of the Marian litany in the Lady Chapel.

The Santuario has been in the process of restoration since 1997.  Scaffolding still fills the church but detracts very little from the amazing paintings.

Off the beaten tourist track, the Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno will fill your eyes and heart with wonder.  Let's plan a visit to see it together.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

Morelia, Michoacán, and Its Sweet History :: Museo del Dulce De La Calle Real

Lilia Facio Hernández offers us one of the 30+ gorgeous varieties of cakes made at the Museo del Dulce de la Calle Real (the Royal Road Candy Museum).  Buy as little as a slice to indulge yourself, or purchase as much as an entire cake for a party dessert.  Each cake is more beautiful than the next and each one has a name from Mexico's history.  This one is the Iturbide, named for General Agustín Iturbide, hero of Mexico's 1810 War of Independence and designer of Mexico's first flag.

Mexico Cooks! has had some very sweet interviews, but none has been sweeter than the time spent several years ago with Arquitecto Gerardo Torres, owner of Morelia's Museo del Dulce (candy museum).  Imagine spending several hours in a 19th Century Morelia mansion presently converted into a real-life version of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!  Delicious aromas of melting sugar constantly waft through the air, sepia-tone photographs carry us back to earlier times in Morelia, and charmingly attractive employees treat each customer like visiting royalty.

Walking into the Museo del Dulce's retail chocolate and cake shop is a voyage to the Porfiriato (the era of Porfirio Díaz), a trip to the late 19th century.

De la Calle Real, the candy-making firm that's part of the Museo del Dulce, has been in constant business since 1840.  This oldest family of candy makers in Morelia prides itself on the continuity of its passion for the sweet life.  Family recipes, hand-written in spidery script on yellowing pages, family photographs dating over the last two centuries, and the importance of family heritage glow in every corner of the building that was at one time the Torres home.  Every corner of the many rooms of the house, now converted to a museum and retail shop, breathes history and love of Mexico.

An old wooden carreta (cart) parked in one of the museum patios looks like it's just waiting to be hitched up to a team of draft animals.

The original De la Calle Real candy shop was located in Morelia's portales (arched, covered walkways) on Avenida Madero, across from the Cathedral.  Later, the shop moved to its current spot--still on Avenida Madero, just a few blocks to the east.  Now, De la Calle Real has locations in Morelia's upscale Plaza Fiesta Camelinas, in Mexico City's traditional neighborhood Coyoacán, and in both Sanborns and Palacio de Hierro, two of Mexico's swankiest department stores.

One room of the museum is set up with machinery used in the 1940s, when the family candy business was only 100 years old!  This beautiful hand-made copper pot has a double bottom, like a bain-marie, to keep the cooking candy from burning.

Not only does the company continue to produce candy from old family recipes, Arq. Torres also prides himself on participating in the rescue of recipes dating back as far as pre-Colonial days.  Sweets composed of native fruits and vegetables were made with honey until the Spanish brought sugar cane to the New World.  Chocolate, native to Mexico, was consumed only by the indigenous nobility as an unsweetened cold drink--served either as bitter chocolate or flavored with chile--prior to the arrival of the Spanish. 

Decorated like a convent shop, this museum and sales room carry us back to the time when fine candies were made in Morelia by cloistered Dominican nuns.  Click on the picture to enlarge any photo.

In the demonstration kitchen, Mexico Cooks! watched as the cook combined equal parts fresh membrillo (quince) pulp and cane sugar in a copper pot.  She was preparing ate de membrillo (quince candy somewhat like fruit leather).  When the mixture formed una cortina (a curtain) without dripping as the wooden spoon was lifted from the pot, the ate was at its point of perfection.  Everyone watching the demonstration got a small cup of freshly-made ate to taste.

It's an easy walk from the Centro Histórico (Morelia's historic center) to the Museo del Dulce, but why not take the little tourist trolley instead?  Hop on in front of the Cathedral (buy tickets at the Department of Tourism kiosk in the Plaza de Armas, just to the right of the Cathedral).  The trolley will take you from there to some of the most important historic sites in Morelia, including the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, the Conservatorio de las Rosas (the oldest music conservatory in the New World) and the lovely Templo de las Rosas (Church of St. Rose of Lima, originally the home of Morelia's 16th Century Dominican nuns), and the Museo del Dulce.  The trolley trip, which lasts slightly over an hour, gives the tourist plenty of time to enjoy all of these Morelia traditions.

Dulces de la Calle Real (the candy maker's brand name) prepared specialty ates de membrillo in molds which were carved for the 200th anniversary of Mexico and which create the embossed images of some of Morelia's historic landmarks: (from left) Las Tarascas fountain, the 18th Century aqueduct, and the Cathedral.

The candy maker prepares and packages small gourmet ates made of strawberry, pineapple, blackberry, and other fruits that are little-used in this presentation.  Each box tells a story, each ate is perfectly molded.

For special culinary events, the museum occasionally re-creates antique recipes, some of which date to Mexico's colonial days.  This just-made historic ate contains chayote (vegetable pear, or mirleton) and fresh fig leaves.

An excellent video, shown for everyone visiting the Museo del Dulce, tracks the history of candy making in Morelia.  Long known for ates  and laminillas (fruit leathers), Morelia developed another culture of candies during the Porfiriato, the long presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1875-1910).  During those 35 years, the influence of everything French invaded Mexico and colored the fashion of Mexico's upper-class society.  French-style sweets became all the rage, and Morelia never lagged in preparing candies and cakes to meet the demand.  Today, Porfiriato-style cakes, beautiful to see and delicious to taste, are made and sold by De la Calle Real.  You can sit for a while in the cozy elegance of the Café del Patio de Atrás (the Back Patio) coffee shop and choose from a menu of more than 30 different cakes, house-made Mexican hot chocolate, delicious fresh-made ice creams, and a mind-boggling selection of other delights from the Museo del Dulce's menu.

The candy maker created beautiful embossed jamoncillo (milk candy similar to penuche) ovals to honor Mexico's 2010 Bicentennial.  Each one carries the image of a hero of Mexico's independence.  These candies represent Miguel Hidalgo, father of the Independence.  The candy molds are hand-carved by a museum employee.

There's a room of the store where you can dress up in Victorian-era clothing--from elegant feathered hats to fancy silk dresses, from black top hats to cutaway suits--and a shop employee will take your picture.  A Mexico Cooks! tour client in Morelia was so overwhelmed by seeing his wife and daughters dressed in such elegant clothing that he burst into tears.  "They've never looked so beautiful!"  What a terrific souvenir!


In part of the retail shop, lines of baskets hold individual candies for instant gratification of your sweet tooth--or to pack easily into your suitcase to carry home as gifts.  These tissue-paper-wrapped candies are similar to jamoncillo.

Another entire room of the store is just stuffed with a variety of small toys, perfect for an inexpensive souvenir from Morelia.  Inexpensive and easy to pack, they're exactly right for the child in all of us. These are baleros.  The idea is to hold the long handle in your fist (with the cup on top) and catch the small wooden ball.  It looks easy to accomplish--but it's quite a challenge!

Nuns originated Mexico's famously delicious rompope (a kind of eggnog).  You'll find it in several flavors and bottles ranging from small to large, all made by the artisan candy makers at Dulces de la Calle Real.

Absolutely everything about the Museo del Dulce and De la Calle Real is devoted to reverence for the past, passion for perfection in the present, and devotion to the future preservation of Mexico's traditions.  Every product and its packaging, designed and developed by Arq. Torres, is an homage to Mexico.  Each candy box incorporates an old photo and a paragraph-long history lesson, with the treat you purchased as your sweet reward for learning. 

Elia Ramírez Ramírez is packing small sweet treasures in Mexican pottery containers.  The packaged candies are destined for the retail store.  All employees who work directly with the public wear 19th Century costumes.

As Arq. Torres said during our time together, "We are the in-between generation.  We still remember mothers and grandmothers who made candy at home.  We still hold that tradition in our hearts.  It's up to us to keep those memories alive, to pass them to our children and help them pass the traditions to the generations that follow.  Otherwise, we will forget everything that truly makes us who we are."

Arquitecto Gerardo Torres, the delightful gentleman who runs this sweet business with passionate care, comes from a long line of candy makers.  He showed Mexico Cooks! lovely old photos of his mother, his grandmother, and his great-grandmother--candy makers one and all.

Whether you are a fan of jamoncillo, ate, chocolate, rompope or another traditional Mexican sweet, you will be as thrilled as Mexico Cooks! was with everything about the Museo del Dulce and De la Calle Real.  If De la Calle Real is your first experience of heavenly Mexican candy, it will spoil you for every other kind. 

Come to visit, stay to give in to temptation!  Employees at the Dulces de la Calle Real Museo del Dulce will be glad to help you find the perfect house-made candy for yourself, your relatives, and your friends.

De la Calle Real Museo del Dulce                                    
Av. Madero #440
Colonia Centro
Morelia, Michoacán, México
443.312.8157

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

Michoacán-Based Sculptor Ana Pellicer: 2010 Premio Estatal de las Artes Eréndira :: 2010 State Eréndira Award for the Arts

A look back in time to this important and emotional event, when my beloved friend, the sculptor Ana Pellicer, was awarded the highest artistic honor given by the state of Michoacán.  All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.


On October 25, 2010, the Michoacán state government awarded renowned copper sculptor Ana Pellicer the coveted Premio Estatal de las Artes Eréndira for 2010.  The important prize is given annually to a living artist who best represents--at the international level--the arts of Michoacán.  Ana Pellicer is the first woman to receive the award.

The Premio Estatal de las Artes Eréndira 2010.

Grupo Erendi, regional P'urhépecha musicians, played at the award ceremony.  Celebratory well-wishers filled Morelia's newly renovated Teatro Ocampo for the event.

Leonel Godoy Rangel, Michoacán's then-governor, personally awarded the 2010 prizes to Ana Pellicer, to Purhépecha painter Jerónimo Mateo, and to the Morelia vocal group Coral Moreliana Ignacio Mier Arriaga.


James Metcalf and Ana Pellicer celebrate on October 25, 2010.  Photo courtesy Casandra Rubio.

On April 10, 2010, Mexico Cooks! published the following article about Ana Pellicer's 40-year history as an artist in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán.  An earlier article discussed her life and work and that of her equally highly acclaimed husband, James Metcalf.

La Tehuana (1996).  Silver-plated copper, resin, and electroformed lace fabric.  Click on all of the photographs for a larger view of each sculpture.

In September 2009, Mexico Cooks! met and interviewed James Metcalf and Ana Pellicer, internationally acclaimed artists who are long-time residents of Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán.  Privileged to photograph a number of their sculptures at their home in September, I was nevertheless unprepared for the visual and emotional impact of Poemas Forjados (Hand-hammered Poems), a lifetime retrospective of Ana Pellicer's work that opened on March 27, 2010 at the Palacio Clavijero in Morelia. 

La Libertad P'urépecha (1987).  Mixed media: fiberglass, wood, plaster of Paris, textiles, copper, and brass.  In honor of Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the French sculptor who created the original Statue of Liberty, the pleated skirt which represents the traditional guari (P'urhépecha woman) garment is the colors of the French flag.  I asked Ana Pellicer why she chose to create the body of the sculpture in purple.  The simple answer: "She is in mourning."

The 75-sculpture exhibit, which fills several huge rooms at the Clavijero, is divided into themes: Secretos, Mujer, Luz, Poder, Libertad, and Juego (Secrets, Woman, Light, Power, and Sport).

Caja, Jugadores de Pelota (Box, Ball Players), Serie Secretos 2003.  Hammered copper, repoussé and silver plate, approximately 20cm long, 12cm wide, and 3cm deep.  The sculptured box top represents the pre-Hispanic P'urhépecha ball game that may have been the forerunner of both baseball and basketball.  The 'Secrets' portion of the exhibit includes boxes, books, clouds, and other sculptures.

Ana Pellicer sculpts predominately in copper, hand-forging and hammering every piece.  She works directly on the metal in the traditional pre-Hispanic "technique of fire" that is still practiced by Santa Clara del Cobre's artisans.  She begins her labor directly on the tejo (round ingot) of copper.  Her sculptures also may include bronce (bronze), hule (hand-harvested rubber), chuspata (lake reed), resina (resin), latón (brass), and plata (silver).

Libro 1 (Book 1), 1970.  Hammered repoussé brass, plastic, and paper, approximately 20cm square.  Ana Pellicer produced this and other mixed-media sculptured books to record her creative process.

La Medusa, Serie Mujeres, 2010.  Cast bronze, repoussé copper, marble and wood.  Ana Pellicer points out details of the sculpture; the Medusa's head opens on a hinge, revealing her brain.

For more than two years, Ana Pellicer worked to gather the pieces in this current exhibit.  Dispersed in public and private collections around the world, the owners have loaned the sculptures to Michoacán, where they were originally made.  "It gives me so much pride to exhibit my sculptures in the enormous rooms of the Palacio Clavijero, where the proportions of the building suit the proportions of the work," said Pellicer.

Querubines, Serie Luz, 1998. Repoussé copper, resin, and iron.  Many of the pieces in the series Light include resin, which collects and concentrates the light in each of the sculptures.

The recurrent themes of Pellicer's work--light, power, women, secrets, sport--develop in strength and beauty as the viewer passes from gallery room to gallery room in the Palacio Clavijero.  Quotations from philosophers as diverse as Greece's 700 BC poet Sappho and Mexico's 15th century AD poet Netzahuacóyotl dot the exhibit's walls, both taking from and giving depth and comprehension to the works.  From Netzahuacóyotl, for example:

    "Percibo lo secreto, lo oculto:
    Así somos,
    somos mortales.
    de cuatro en cuatro nosotros los hombres,
    Todos habremos de irnos,
    todos habremos de morir en la tierra..."

    "I perceive the secret, this hidden thing:
    we are this way,
    we are mortals. 
    Four at a time we men,
    All of us must leave,
    All of us must die to this earth..."

Arracada Monumental de la Libertad (Monumental Earring for the Statue of Liberty), 1986.  The hand-forged hollow copper earring weighs approximately 45 pounds.  Ana Pellicer sculpted the single earring and several other pieces of jewelry to fit the Statue of Liberty on the occasion of the statue's 100th birthday.

Anillo de la Libertad (Ring for the Statue of Liberty), 1986.  The repoussé copper and resin ring, made to the same scale as the earring above, fits the ring finger of the Statue of Liberty.  The statue measures 305 feet from its base to the tip of her torch.

Objeto Encontrado en la Tumba de una Reina (Object Found in the Tomb of a Queen), Serie Poder, 1996.  Hammered copper, glass, and tempered mica.  The axe is the pre-Hispanic Purhépecha power symbol.  Ana Pellicer described this piece as el hacha santificada (the sanctified ax) because of its halo.

Beisbol (Baseball), Serie Juego 1999.  The baseball sculpture measures approximately 70cm in diameter.  Pellicer laughingly said, "I signed this huge baseball as if I were a sports star!"

Ana Pellicer herself embodies the five themes of this magnificent retrospective exhibit.  A strong, intelligent woman, filled with light, with power, with humor, with deep love, and with her own creative secrets, Pellicer's life work offers us a penetrating look into her world and our own.

Poemas Forjados de Ana Pellicer
Palacio Clavijero
Nigromante No. 79, between Av. Madero Poniente y Santiago Tapia
Colonia Centro
Morelia, Michoacán
March 27-June 30, 2010

 

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

Bazar Sábado (Saturday Arts and Crafts Market) in San Ángel, Mexico City

Sun-and-shade dappled Plaza San Jacinto, Colonia San Ángel, in the southern part of Mexico City, hosts Bazar Sábado.  Open only on Saturdays, the hours are 10:00AM until 7:00PM.

So many people who tour with me want to shop for high-quality small items to take home as souvenirs or as gifts for relatives and friends.  The only place to go?  Bazar Sábado, the huge artisans' market held every week in gorgeous Colonia San Ángel in the southern sector of Mexico City.  The market includes both indoor and outdoor shops and booths.  What's to be had?  Just about anything! 

These tenangos (hand-embroidered textiles) are made in the state of Guerrero.  We saw full-size table cloths, napkins, table runners, and place mats. We bought a dozen or two fabric coasters hand-embroidered with birds, fish, and flowers.

Napkin rings to match any decorator's color combination.

Crowds at Bazar Sábado tend to be large and shoppers are fairly aggressive.  Lots of tourists go: you'll hear Japanese, French, English, German, and a slew of other languages on the pathways of Plaza San Jacinto.  Be prepared to spend a little more money than you might in some other markets, but the atmosphere and the enormous selection of goods will give you great stories to tell back home.  Bazar Sábado is so well worth attending!

Wooden boxes, the tops decorated with icons ranging from the sacred to the profane.  Frida Kahlo, Che Guevara, and Mexico's lucha libre (wrestling) stars are among the most popular secular images.

Children's toys made of wood.  A million years ago, Mexico Cooks! knew these toys as Jacob's ladders.  Remember the sound they make?  Click, clack, click, clack, click, clack--now turn it over and start again.


While you're at Bazar Sábado, do go into Museo Casa Risco--at Plaza Jacinto #5--to see this glorious fountain.  It's entirely made of old dish ware and shells and fills one entire wall.  The building is off the beaten tourist path and definitely worth a look.  The museum also has both permanent and temporary exhibits that you'll enjoy.

Woven straw soft baskets to match your napkin rings.  These are perfect for serving bread at your dinner table.  We loved them.

Mexico Cooks!' antique painted box from Olinalá, Guerrero may well have been sold originally at Bazar Sábado.  Booths there still sell similar examples--new, of course.


Both on Plaza Jacinto you'll find restaurants and snacks of almost any kind, from this sort of traditional Mexican breakfast to pizza to a burger or even Chinese food.  

Mira, los títeres!  He's still young enough for the excitement of these simple fantasy-animal marionettes.

Maestro Enrique Segarra López, one of Mexico's most famous mid-20th Century photographers, holds court on Saturdays at his booth.  It was always a joy to spend some time with him.  He passed away a few years ago.

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Mexico City Earthquake :: We Interrupt Our Regular Programing...

Beautiful Plaza Río de Janeiro, Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City. The tall pink building on the right-hand side of the photo is (was, I suppose) the home of a friend.  It was seriously damaged in the quake and all residents were evacuated. Photo courtesy Capt. Ricardo Gómez Garrido and Pinterest.  

At 11:00AM on September 19, 2017, the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, the nation as a whole took a few moments to sound its earthquake alarms as a test run for city residents to practice precautions, and as a memorial to the many, many thousands of people who lost their lives in Mexico City that day so long ago.  The earthquake alarm is arguably the most shocking sound in this city where I live.  There are 8000 alarm speakers set up, one or more in every neighborhood; one of them is just on the corner, only one door from my apartment building.  The horrible and unmistakeable sound--alerta sísmica alerta sísmica alerta sísmica, accompanied by unspeakable sirens--comes directly into my home office window.  As 11:00AM approached, I steeled myself and warned the cats; the alarm went off as scheduled, stopped within a minute or so, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Two hours and fourteen minutes later, all hell broke loose.  A massive earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter scale, shallow and with a nearby epicenter, crashed into Mexico City with no warning.  Due to its proximity, there was no time to sound the alarm until the quake had already started.  As is usually the case, the neighborhood where I live and the neighborhood nearest me were hardest hit.  There are geological reasons for that, but no need to elaborate on those now.  Parts of the whole city sustained serious damage; at last count, about 50 buildings collapsed, thousands more are in danger of collapsing, more than 400 people lost their lives, and thousands more are seriously injured.


This building collapsed in my neighborhood.  Photo courtesy El País.

On September 24, a young Mexico City woman whom I do not know used social media to express her thoughts, feelings, and experiences as she volunteered that day with an earthquake relief effort.  I contacted her and asked her permission to translate her writing into English and publish it here.  She calls herself "Al" and she asked that I not publish a photograph of her.  She says she's not a writer, although in my opinion she most definitely is.  
___________________________________________________________

"Yesterday I spent six hours helping at Ground Zero on Calle Escocia, in the Del Valle neighborhood of Mexico City. I had stayed overnight at my parents’ home, and got up at 6:30AM. My mother made breakfast for me while I was getting ready, and then I lined up to go to the place where volunteers were to gather.


"Al" wrote about the wreckage and rescue efforts at this building. Photo courtesy El Universal.

Those in charge explained to us that we women were to pass empty buckets to the Mexican army, who were going to fill them with rubble and then pass them to two lines of men who were behind us, pressed up against the walls. The army was to move any metal, glass, furniture, and other more dangerous objects. They knew how inexperienced most of us volunteers were and they didn’t want us to run any risks.

In order for us to go in, they gave us equipment—helmet, gloves, vest, and face masks. They used permanent markers to write our name, a contact number, and blood type on our arms. They vaccinated us against tetanus.

And then we went into Ground Zero in silence, our cellular phones turned off. Right after a 45 minute delay due to the scare of the second earthquake [Saturday 23 September, a 6.2 aftershock from the earthquake on September 7, 2017], the army immediately put us to work. We had to wait while Civil Defense made sure that it was safe to go into the building.

My eyes could not believe what they were seeing: I had never seen a collapsed building, never thought how a structure so strong and solid could become a mountain of rubble and memories. The “line of life”, as we called it, began its work, and we put thinking aside in order to be able do our job.


The 'line of life'.  Photo courtesy Daniel Águilar and El Universal.

While we were actively working, other volunteers continuously offered us donated water, electrolytes, candies, tamales, and hard-boiled eggs. We volunteers preferred not to eat; we just took candies and left the food for the army and the engineers. Doctors came through continuously, asking if we were feeling all right, putting drops in our eyes, and helping people out of the building if they looked over-tired.

Passing buckets, even the big paint-bucket size ones we had, seems simple, but after an hour I felt blisters on my hands and cramps in my shoulders. I knew I was not the only one tired when buckets began to drop from the hands of other volunteers. Some shouted, “Be careful! Those could break!” The men tried to make us feel better, saying we were doing great work.

Meanwhile, we tried to concentrate so as not to delay the work as we watched pieces of other people’s lives go by: shoes, photographs, chairs, clothing, blankets, pictures from their walls. Objects that they surely obtained from their own efforts and dedication, and now they are nothing. A wheelbarrow, thrown aside by the masonry workers who were removing bigger pieces of the wreckage, grabbed my attention. In the wheelbarrow was a set of brand new drinking glasses, still in their wrapped box.

As the women at the head of the ‘line of life’ withdrew, those behind them advanced. I came closer to the head of the line, and suddenly I saw a car among the ruin of the building’s parking garage: a bright-red Nissan Sentra, undamaged. Nevertheless, the garage entrance is blocked, so the car will never get out unharmed.


Memories among the wreckage.  Photo courtesy La Jornada.

Nobody is taking selfies, nobody is playing music, no one talks, no one makes jokes or acts lazy. Respect is tangible. The entire area is filled with mourning. Yesterday, workers here rescued a pug dog and a cat, which tells us that there is still the possibility of life among the rubble. If we do our work efficiently, it could make the difference between life and death for someone else.

The Army, the Navy, and the engineers work tirelessly. We have a crane that operates with millimeter-sharp precision, moving walls as the driver is instructed so that the search for life can continue; when the crane is working, there is absolute silence. The Mexican flag waves on the tip of the crane as it maneuvers, and my heart expands. The military men stand shoulder to shoulder in front of us volunteers to protect us from the massive cement walls that the crane manipulates.

Once a wall is on the ground, the men take up their pickaxes and in minutes turn the wall into pieces. Our work starts again: pass the buckets as fast as possible to get the hunks of cement out fast, as fast as possible. The buckets come back with the men, the wheelbarrows come and go, the army takes the riskiest material away. My throat aches, my heart hurts even worse, my soul grows larger as I see the massive and selfless effort put forth to help others.


Photo courtesy Daniel Águilar and El Universal.

The rescue team from Chile arrives to help; they climb up to evaluate the ruins. Our activity continues hour after hour. I get used to my companions; I know that the one on the left is quick, but the one on the right is scatterbrained. I keep helping her so we don’t get behind. Because of her helmet and her face mask, it’s hard to tell how old she is, but many are much younger than I—the majority of the volunteers are younger.

After a while, one of the engineers asks what time we started work. 8:30AM. He says we need to leave, but my companion on the left and I say that we can keep working for a couple of hours longer. He says it’s almost three o’clock—I can scarcely believe it!—and that we need to stop now so that our exhaustion doesn’t cause an accident. They stop the ‘line of life’ and announce that a convoy will leave with fifteen women. We leave our buckets and head out toward Calle Escocia, in the direction of Calle Eugenia. While we are leaving, people drop what they have in their hands, take off their gloves, and start applauding us: the volunteers, the paramedics, the engineers, the masonry workers. Someone from the army shouts: “Long live our brave Mexican women!”

Among applause and cheering, with my eyes on the ground and holding back tears, I leave Ground Zero. Our group turns toward Calle Eugenia, I turn in my equipment, and people offer me fruit, food, and water as they congratulate me. With many thank yous, I continue on my way out. As I walk, I realize that I am alone: I don’t know where my companions are, but I would have liked to say goodbye to them.


Rescue dogs have been critical to the relief effort.  Photo courtesy Daniel Águilar and El Universal.

Everything hurts, I’m so hungry, my face is burning and I feel dizzy. A volunteer notices and she stops me and takes me to a control booth, where they give me a banana and a soft drink. I wait a few minutes and go out through the cordoned-off area, where the volunteers who will relieve us and the police applaud me again. I’ve never gotten so much attention, and I only smile. Fame is not my thing. I take a grateful breath, I comb my dust-stiffened hair, shake off my pants a little, and keep walking toward Calle Gabriel Mancera. I think about what I have lived through, proud of my work and above all, that I didn’t cry in front of the others. This ends when I see my mother waiting for me at the first checkpoint, among the dump trucks waiting to take away more rubble.

We are so fortunate to have all that we do. The least we can do is help those who are going through such difficult times. A friend took a picture of me as I arrived at her house, so that I would never forget what I learned and felt that day. And I won’t."
__________________________________________________________________

 None of us will forget, Al.  Thank you and God bless you.

The Painter's Eye :: Dr. Atl, Watching Mexico's Volcanos

In conjunction with last week's article about the volcano Popocatépetl, please enjoy this short history of Dr. Atl (Gerardo Murillo), Mexico's quintessential painter of volcanos.


The painter's eye.  Detail of Dr. Atl (Gerardo Murillo) 1962 self-portrait, oil on cardboard.  Private collection.

Gerardo Murillo was born in 1895 in the San Juan de Dios neighborhood of Guadalajara, at the height of the Francophile rule of Mexican president/dictator Porfirio Díaz.  He began studying painting at the age of 19.  After studying in Italy in 1921, Gerardo Murillo became been better known as 'Dr. Atl' (atl is the Náhuatl word for water), as he was re-christened by Leopoldo Lugones, an Argentine writer and leftist political colleague.  After his death in 1964, his ashes were interred in Guadalajara in what is known today as the Rotonda de Jaliscienses Ilustres (the Rotunda of Illustrious People of Jalisco).  During his life, Dr. Atl was profoundly eccentric, his entire being immersed in his passions for painting, for politics, and particularly for volcanos. 

Gerardo Murillo, self portrait 1899.  All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

The Museo Colección Blaisten, part of Mexico City's Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco (part of the UNAM, the huge multi-campus National Autonomous University of Mexico), mounted a December 2011 through April 2012 exhibition if 190 of Dr. Atl's masterworks.  Dr. Atl, one of Mexico's most prominent 20th century painters, is actually very little known in the United States.  Mexico Cooks! thought you might like once again to see a part of this exhibit. 

Volcán Iztaccíhuatl (the Sleeping Woman volcano), 1916.  Colleción Museo Regional de Guadalajara-INAH.  Labels of this and many other paintings in the exhibit indicate that they were painted using Atl color (a type of paint created by the artist).  Atl color is similar to Greek encaustic paint.  It contains resins, wax, and dry pigment which are melted, mixed, and hardened to form a medium similar to oil pastel.  Dr. Atl used his eponymous colors on paper, cardboard, rough fabric such as jute, wood, and other bases.

Although Dr. Atl is best-known as the passionate painter of volcanos, he also painted portraits.  Nahui Ollín, pictured above in 1922, had a five-year romantic relationship with Dr. Atl.  During the early part of her life, Nahui Ollín's name was Carmen Mondragón.  Dr. Atl gave her the Náhuatl name to honor the date in the Aztec calendar that commemorates the renovation of the cosmic cycles.  Private collection.

The Valley of Mexico from the South, 1931, oil on fabric.  Private collection.

Dr. Atl's scholarly observation and study of Mexican geography (he was not only a painter, but also a volcanologist and writer) combined perfectly with his travels in Europe to give him the tools necessary to become one of the outstanding landscape painters of the 20th century.  In 1897, then-Presidente Porfirio Díaz gave young Gerardo Murillo a scholarship to study in Europe.  Murillo studied not only Italian frescoes but also philosophy and penal law.  He involved himself ever more deeply with leftist, anarchist politics, a consequence of his studies that President Díaz probably did not anticipate.

Dr. Atl was also an exceptional painter of clouds.  This painting is Nubes sobre el Valle de México (Clouds over the Valley of Mexico), 1933, Atl color on asbestos.  Collection Museo Nacional de Arte INBA.

Detail mid-right side, Nubes sobre el Valle de México.  Note the variety of brushstroke used to create texture in the painting.  Click on any photograph to enlarge the detail.

Dr. Atl began studying volcanoes during a trip to Italy in 1911.  Beginning in 1925, he spent long periods of time at Mexican volcanoes such as Popocatépetl, Iztaccíhuatl, and the Pico de Orizaba.  A tireless traveler, Dr. Atl climbed Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. Later those volcanoes became an important theme in his body of work. 

In 1942, he visited the site of Mexico's newborn volcano Paricutín in the state of Michoacán.  He said, “…El espectáculo del cono ardiente vertiendo aludes de materia ígnea, bajo un cielo de guijarros incandescentes, en sí mismo tan fuera de lo común que toda invención sale sobrando…” 'The spectacle of the burning cone spewing avalanches of lava under a sky of incandescent ash was by itself so far out of the ordinary that every other invention became like something left over...'

Volcán en la Noche Estrellada (Volcano on a Starry Night), 1950 (Paricutín).  Atl color on plywood.  Collection UNAM.  Dr. Atl was the first artist to paint what he called 'aeropaisajes' (landscapes from the air); he took to the skies in small airplanes, flying over various volcano sites to immortalize them from above.

Life imitates art.  April 16, 2012 photo of volcano Popocatépetl spewing flame, ash, and smoke.  Popocatépetl straddles the state line between Puebla and Morelos, approximately 40 miles south of Mexico City.  Photo courtesy Todo Oaxaca.

Dr. Atl, astonished and awed to see a volcano born in his lifetime, lived for approximately a year near still-erupting Paricutín.  He observed, painted, and wrote for more than seven years about this majestic and completely unexpected young volcano.

Cráter y La Vía Láctea (Crater and the Milky Way), 1960.  Oil and Atl color on masonite.  Private collection, courtesy of Galería Arvil.

Detail, Cráter y La Vía Láctea.

For his entire life, Dr. Atl involved himself in left-wing political movements.  In 1914, he allegedly was part of the plot to assassinate then-President Victoriano Huerta, because of which he was imprisoned briefly.  After his release, he lived in Los Angeles, California until 1920.  When he returned to Mexico, revolutionary leader and President Venustiano Carranza named him director of the Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts) and then Jefe de Propaganda e Información en Europa y América del Sur (Head of Promotion and Information in Europe and South America), a position he held for only a short time.

In 1956 Mexico awarded him the Medalla Belisario Domínguez and, in 1958, the Premio Nacional de las Artes.

Gerardo Murillo Pintando en el Valle de Pihuamo (Gerardo Murillo painting in the Valley of Pihuamo), 1952.  Photo by Ricardo Salazar.  Dr. Atl's right leg was amputated in 1949.  Popular legend has it that the amputation was due to the inhalation of gases at Paricutín, but it was actually necessary because of  complications of diabetes.

Mexico gave poet Carlos Pellicer the task of writing Dr. Atl's biography.  Dr. Atl wrote to him, "Now it looks like a biography will really get off the ground!  A couple, nearly human, came from Los Angeles as if they had fallen from heaven, to write a biography of me.  Then I remembered that you were writing one.  To make a long story short, I make the following proposal: you finish the biography that you already started.  I enclose a slip of paper with some suggestions for organizing it in the most convenient way...I send you the most cordial handshake..."  Some of the biographical material was printed in Carlos Pellicer en el Espacio de la Plástica, Volume 1, by Elisa Garcìa Barragán and Carlos Pellicer, UNAM 1997.

Dr. Atl died in Mexico City on August 15, 1964.  His ashes are buried in the Rotonda de Jalisciences Ilustres in Guadalajara, where this statue is part of the site.  Photo courtesy Rodrigo_gh, Flickr.

The five-month exhibition was an opportunity to see, through the eyes of this genius painter, the Valley of Mexico before Mexico City's explosion of population with its lava-like rivers of concrete swallowed nature whole.  We had the chance to see the Valley and its volcanos when they ran with rivers, when the mountains burgeoned with trees and flowers. 

Today, even though the exhibition has closed, we can see Dr. Atl's vision of the Valley of Mexico every time we visit the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City's Historic Center.  His design, executed by the house of Louis Comfort Tiffany, is immortalized in the theater's million-piece stained glass curtain.

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At Home and Away in the Kitchen and on the Street: Mexico Cooks!

Like many of you, we started our year with the Women's March--in our case, at the United States Embassy in Mexico City.  This delightful young man exemplified everyone's spirit of joy at spending an afternoon in solidarity with so many marchers from so many countries: Mexicans, US citizens, Canadians, Europeans from several nations, Asians, and more, all eagerly participated.  


At the beginning of February, the Pacific Coast lured me away from home.  Twenty years had passed since I had been to Baja California's wine country in the Valle de Guadalupe.  Just the scenery was worth the trip--but oh!, the vineyards and the food were so exciting.  My mind keeps drifting back there; I should have returned so much sooner.


Yes, it's a taco--but what a taco!  Have you ever tasted something that almost made your knees buckle, it was so delicious?  That's this taco: shreds of birria de res (long-stewed beef) topped with tender, fried tripitas (beef intestines), all tucked into a folded, chile-drenched and toasted two-tortilla package and topped with cilantro and minced onions. Add either salsa roja (red) or salsa verde (green) and get ready for an OMG moment.  You can get these at Tacos Fitos, at one side of Mercado Hidalgo, Tijuana.  A big shout-out to Fernando Gaxiola of Baja Wine + Food for everything you did!


To finish our two-day February tour in Valle de Guadalupe, we ate our farewell dinner at the impeccable TrasLomita Comedor Campestre. The beautiful setting outdoors under the trees, the wonderful owners and staff, and the really marvelous meal made our evening perfect. Above, a salad of grilled asparagus, seasonal greens, a variety of seeds, and ricotta cheese--all dressed with epazote oil.  Two of us split the salad, but either of us could have eaten the whole thing!


One of the several desserts on the menu when Mexico Cooks! was at TrasLomita: arroz con leche (Mexican rice pudding) with tweaks by Sheyla Alvarado, the incredibly talented young chef.  The base is traditional arroz con leche, which is served with conserve of fresh guavas, honey, nuts, and house-made ice cream.  Photo courtesy Fernando Gaxiola of Baja Wine + Food.
 

In late February, Mexico Cooks! took a tour group to Morelia and neighboring towns in Michoacán.  One of our stops was in Santa Fe de la Laguna, at the taller (workshop) of grand master potter Nicolás Fabián Fermín and his wife, María del Rosario Lucas, a potter in her own right and one of Michoacán's well-known cocineras tradicionales (traditional home cooks).  This large bunch of mazorcas (ears of native corns) was drying, hanging from the ceiling beams.


In Morelia for several days after the tour, Mexico Cooks! took an old friend to Origo, Panadería de Origen (Bakery of Origin), at Boulevard García de León 936.  This delightful new bakery is owned by Pietro Lembo Islas and his wife, Marie Lembo. The Lembos's idea is to work to take food back to its simpler, local origins, in addition to hiring and training local people to work in the restaurant and bakery.  When I was there in early March, Pietro told me that they currently employed 30 people from Morelia. 


Panadería Origo's beautiful flour mill, where they grind flour for bread and pastries.  Pietro Lembo demonstrated the mill and the various processes that achieve the texture needed for baking the delicious products that come from Origo's ovens.


Delicious (if I do say so myself) and simple home-made albóndigas (meat balls) in caldo (broth).  If you want to make these traditional Mexican meatballs in your own kitchen, the recipe is in the link.


Mexico City springtime color!  The purple is jacaranda, the deep fuchsia is bougainvillea.  Late March, April, and May are the hottest months in central Mexico; temperatures can be has high as 90º Fahrenheit during the afternoons.  Even though the temperature is very warm at midday, morning, evening, and nighttime are cool (in the low 50s)--and the humidity is extremely low.  By mid-to-late May, the rainy season starts and the weather cools off even during the afternoons.  It rarely if ever rains for more than an hour or so on any day!


In early April, a visiting friend was eager to see the exhibition "Pinta la Revolución" (Paint the Revolution) at Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Palace). The exhibition, which will be on display until May 7, 2017, includes paintings, sculptures, and photographs dating from the early 1900s to about the 1950s; the works come from museums both inside and outside Mexico as well as from private collections. Artists range from Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and other top Mexican painters to Tina Modotti and Paul Strand, foreigner photographers who were profoundly affected by their lives in Mexico. The photo above is a detail of a Diego Rivera painting called Naturaleza Muerta con Botella de Anís (Still Life with a Bottle of Anise Liqueur), painted in 1918.


Our glorious springtime blue sky.  You're looking at the back of the late 16th century Metropolitan Cathedral, in the heart of Mexico City's Centro Histórico (historic center).


My out-of-town friend and I also went to see Callegrafía, a photography exhibit at the Museo del Archivo de la Fotografía (Photography Files Archive Museum) at Calle República de Guatemala 34, just opposite the entrance to the Templo Mayor.  The photographer, Keith Dannemiller, photographs almost exclusively in black and white; his specialty is Mexico City's downtown street scene and his gift for seeing what most of us miss is uncanny.  Above, a Mexico City diner.  Even angels need sustenance.  The exhibit will close in mid-June; here's a preview: Callegrafía.


Tlayuda (a Oaxaca-style thin, crisp corn tortilla, folded over asiento (a smear of lard), refried black beans, chorizo, and cheese.  April 2017, at Restaurante Pasillo de Humo, Av. Nuevo León 107 (upstairs).  The restaurant is far and away the best Oaxacan food in Mexico City.


On the spring menu at Restaurante Pehua (the name means 'beginnings' in Náhuatl), an appetizer called 'Monocromatismo' (monochromatic). The dish is composed of finely minced green chayote and green apple, a light agua (in this case, a cool broth) of tomatillos, and swiss chard. Neither my supper companion nor I wanted a full meal; this and another shared dish or two were just right for us. Monocromatismo was both stimulating and refreshing, truly delicious.  Chef and co-owner Lezli Ramos Fabiel, formerly of Restaurante Quintonil, surely has a winner on her hands at Pehua.

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De Vaga en Veracruz, Tierra Jarocha :: Vacation Wanderings in Veracruz, Part II

After leaving Puerto de Veracruz, our next stop was the town of Coatepec, high in the coffee-producing mountains of central Veracruz state. We stayed just outside the town, at Eco-Hotel La Jicarita (hee-cah-REE-tah).  The property at La Jicarita is beautiful, planted with native trees and flowers (and shade-grown coffee).  You'll find hiking paths, a swimming pool, and delicious Veracruz breakfasts (not included in the room cost).  Although the rooms and bathrooms are fairly primitive, the beds are quite comfortable.  The rooms are inexpensive and the management works hard to please guests.  The photo, courtesy Hotels.com, is the outside of the room where I actually stayed.

Coatepec is just about equidistant between Xalapa (the Veracruz state capital) and Xico (a charming provincial town known for its mole), and was an ideal place to stay in order to visit all three towns.  

Before the trip, several friends who are from the Xalapa area recommended with great enthusiasm the breakfasts at the Hotel Mesón de Alférez, in Xalapa.  The restaurant is charming and service was attentive, but what we ate left something to be desired.  There was nothing exactly wrong with it, but we had hoped, given the high recommendations, that the food would be more regional and of higher quality.


After we finished breakfast in Xalapa, we went to the Xalapa Museo de Antropología primarily to see the display of colossal Olmec heads. The heads, carved of basalt and estimated to date between 1400 and 900 B.C.E.,  range in height from just under five feet to just over eleven feet and weigh between six and fifty tons apiece.  Seventeen--or possibly 18--heads are known to exist.  The color variation in the photo is due to the lighting of the displays.


The original Olmec head comes from Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, a town near the Papaloapan River (upper left in the map).  The area in the map is the original Olmec territory.  According to archeological notes seen in the Xalapa museum, the American archeologist M. W. Stirling and his team found the head face up at the bottom of a canyon in 1938.  Some scholars dispute this version of the find, and some say that a Mexican traveler accidentally discovered the first known Olmec head in 1861, but that the find was kept secret until the mid-1940s.     


Each of the heads is a portrait of a distinctly different Olmec man; each wears a helmet.  Theories about who these men were (warriors, rulers, ballplayers--one now-debunked theorist even believed that they might be Africans) have never been proven.  The Olmecs brought the basalt used to sculpt the heads as many as 150 kilometers to the site where carving took place, dragging the raw stone with ropes and rudimentary wheels.


Excavation of a  monumental Olmec head.  The photo appears to be original, but the website where Mexico Cooks! found it is full of astonishing and probably inaccurate and misleading information.  Read at your own risk.  Photo courtesy MessagetoEagle.com.  

Writing the basic description of the Olmec heads is merely reporting data.  The personal impact of standing in front of these giants is extraordinarily moving and difficult to put into words.  Once we were on the street, we saw that the faces carved in stone and many present-day faces of the area men and women are the same as these colossals: strong, individual personalities in ancient stone and in modern-day flesh and bone.  
   

While in Coatepec, we had the great pleasure of a visit to Panadería El Resobado, one of the few remaining commercial bakeries in Mexico using wood-fired ovens. The bakery opened for business more than a century ago; its ovens have not been allowed to cool in more than 25 years.   


We were completely entranced with El Resobado. The bakery is faithful to its traditions: to make delicious bread with the flour, sugar, and yeast, the basic ingredients. People say that the best breads at El Resobado are the conchas (shells)--and that if you should be stricken with hunger in the middle of the night, don't worry: the bakery is open 24 hours a day!  


One of the several ovens at El Resobado, ready for baking the next load of bread.  To judge the oven temperature, the skilled bakers stick their hands and forearms in--the bakers' experience is so great that they don't need oven thermometers.


Bread dough, kneaded, shaped, cut, and ready to be separated for baking.


Shelves at El Resobado, loaded with hot, fresh-from-the-oven conchas.  We bought a huge bag of many kinds of bread; we were struck by the unusual smokiness of what we tried.  


Some of the many cats that live at El Rebosado.  We were a group of crazy cat ladies and truly appreciated their gentle feline presence.  The bakery is a mouse-free zone! Photo courtesy Pamela Gordon.


Also in Coatepec, we visited Museo El Cafetal to see the process of growing, harvesting, roasting, and grinding Veracruz's high altitude, shade-grown coffee.  Museum admission charge is 40 pesos and worth every centavo. Photo courtesy Museo El Cafetal. 


Coffee beans against a tree trunk at the Museo El Cafetal. Photo by Mexico Cooks!.


Coatepec also boasts an orchid museum--a private collection in a private home.  This photo shows less than a quarter of the collection.  

After two nights in Coatepec, we moved on to Casitas, on the Gulf of Mexico.  We'd had some drizzle in Coatepec, but we arrived in Casitas to discover that the coast had suffered a tremendous storm the night before.  Although we'd been looking forward to sunshine, the beach, and the humid heat that Veracruz is famous for, instead we had grey skies, churned-up Gulf water, and weather unsuitable for swimming.  

We settled for driving to nearby San Rafael, which has the reputation of being a French-influenced town due to French settlement there in the 1840s.  We asked every adult on the streets about how to find a hint of Frenchness, but nobody knew.    


Here's what we did find: a carnicería (butcher shop) with a really wonderful sign.  Click on the photo to enlarge it for a better view; the sign painter had a field day with accents!  Two charming young women behind the butcher counter let us taste their version of carnitas.  Verdict: not bad for Veracruz, but definitely not carnitas from the state of Michoacán, where carnitas originated.

Next week, come with Mexico Cooks! to Papantla, Veracruz, where we investigated regional food and vanilla.  We'd planned to stay one night and ended by staying three!  We had a marvelous time and truly wanted to stay even longer.

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