Greetings from San Miguel

Well, after some delays (we did not leave Mexico City at noon as we had planned) we made it to San Miguel de Allende before nightfall.

  

We have a very busy day planned today so there is not time to write more this morning.  Stay tuned for adventures on the road, and in San Miguel de Allende.

A Road Trip

Later this morning, I will take the Metrobus to Alejandro's family's house, and from there we will drive to San Miguel de Allende for a weekend excursion.

(image taken from the internet)

San Miguel de Allende is located about four hours to the northwest of Mexico City in the state of Guanajuato.  The plan is to leave the house around noon (fingers crossed... this is Mexico) so that we will arrive before dark.

Alejandro had hotel reward points that he had to use before expiring, so we will be staying for two nights at a very ritzy hotel.  Rooms there cost over $500 (US).  Believe me, that is WAY more than either one of us would ever think of paying for accommodations!  So, it will be interesting to see what it's like to stay at such a posh hotel.

The picturesque town of San Miguel is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its 17th and 18th century center.  It also has a large population of foreign retirees which comprises at least 5% of the population.  In fact, the reason for our road trip is to visit some retirees who also happen to be bloggers with whom I have had contact.

In my blog list in the right-hand margin, you will find "Babsblog" written by Barbara, a retiree from Texas who has lived in San Miguel for many years.  After following each other's blogs for a while, in 2014 Alejandro and I made a trip there and met Barbara face-to-face.  We have been meaning to pay Barbara another visit, and we are finally getting around to it.

We will also have the pleasure of visiting Al and his husband Stew.  Al, who was born in Cuba, and moved to the U.S. as a child. is another blogger.  He is the author of "El Rancho Santa Clara" which is also on my blog list.  He and Stew live on a "rancho" outside of San Miguel.  Although I have been following his blog for a number of years, we did not meet until this June when they made a trip to Mexico City for the Gay Pride Parade.  We have been invited to visit their "rancho".

So, it should be a fun and interesting weekend.  

  

A Language Lesson

It has been a long time since I have written anything on the blog about U.S. politics.  It doesn't mean that I have been ignoring what going on north of the border, or that I have not been fretting about the results of this year's election.

Alejandro found this, and I thought that it was worth posting...

And while I am at it, here is a PARODY that I found on YouTube.

A Big Book

I suspect that most people of my generation saw the TV miniseries "Roots", the biggest television event of 1977.  However, I had never read the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alex Haley upon which the series was based.  When I was buying books to take down to Mexico so that I would have plenty of reading material, "Roots" was one of the books I picked out.  That is what I am reading now.

It is an enormous book, nearly nine hundred pages long.  It's been over forty years since I saw the miniseries, and my memories of it are rather vague.  I don't remember that the TV show spent much time on Kunta Kinte's years in Africa.  However, I have already read over 170 pages, and so far, Kunta Kinte is still a free adolescent living in his Mandinka village near the Gambia River.  The novel begins with his birth and continues through his childhood and youth.  The story details the rigors of his manhood training which he passes.  There is frequent talk about the "toubob", the white slave traders.  It is believed that the captives are taken across the sea to be eaten by the cannibal whites.  I suspect that within the next few chapters, Kunta Kinte will be captured and shipped to America.

Although I am enjoying the book, I will probably put it aside next month when I travel to Europe.  I will pick out something smaller and lighter as reading material for my trip.

Running Through the City

Last Sunday Alejandro and I woke up at 6 A.M., quickly got dressed, and headed out a couple blocks from the apartment to Insurgentes Avenue.  Why in the world were we up and about at such an early hour?  It was the day of the Mexico City Marathon, and the runners' route took them down Insurgentes, passing the World Trade Center at kilometer 7 (4.35 miles) of the 42.2 kilometer course (26.22 miles).

This was the 41st annual marathon in Mexico City, and there were 30,000 participants this year.  The race began at 6, and by the time we reached the avenue, the first runners had already passed by.  We stood along the avenue, cheering the runners on for over two hours.  There were men and women, young and old, all levels of athletic ability.  There were even people in wheelchairs.  The last stragglers, who were jogging or walking, passed us at 8:40.  I give them all kudos.  As much as I like to walk, I don't think I would be able to go 26 miles even at a leisurely stroll!

A few of the runners wore costumes.  There were some mariachis and Aztec warriors.

This fellow was the only one I was quick enough to photograph.

The morning began cloudy and chilly.  It wasn't until eight o'clock that the sun began to break through the clouds.

In these videos you can hear the spectators cheering, applauding, using noisemakers, beating drums, and blowing horns.  You can hear Alejandro shouting "¡Bravo!", "¡Vamos!" (Let's go) and "¡Animo!" (Don't give up!).

The course took the runners past many of Mexico City's landmarks... Chapultepec Park, the monument studded Paseo de la Reforma, the Palace of Fine Arts, the Historic Center... and ended at Mexico City's main plaza, the Zócalo.

First, second and third place in the men's division were won by runners from Kenya.  In the women's division, first and third place were won by Kenyans and second place was won by a woman from Bahrain.

First prize in each division was 550,000 pesos (almost 28,000 dollars).  Second prize was 245,000 pesos (over 12,000 dollars), and third prize was 180,000 pesos (over 9,000 dollars).

A Festival of "Chiles"

 Last week when I was in the "Centro Histórico", the streets were lined with banners advertising the 4th annual "Festival de Chile en Nogada".

From August 16th until September 30th, eighty restaurants in the "Centro Histórico" are competing for the title of best "chile en nogada".  I was planning to fix something to eat at the apartment after I returned from downtown.  However, seeing all the banners for "chile en nogada" made me hungry to try out another restaurant.  If you have been reading the blog, you know that I have already had this delicacy, generally reserved for the months of August and September, three times this season at three different restaurants.   The winner so far has been Restaurante Testal.

As I walked around the area, I saw several restaurants advertising their "chiles".  I definitely would NOT be trying the "chiles" at VIPS, a chain of eateries comparable to Denny's in the U.S.

VIPS actually used to be a pretty decent place for breakfast, but the quality seemed to go downhill after the pandemic.  Regardless, it would not be the place to try a gourmet dish like "chiles en nogada"

I managed to download the QR code on the posters to my cell phone and see the list of participating restaurants.  One of them was Mayordomo, a restaurant operated by a chocolate company from Oaxaca.  Their Oaxacan food is quite good, and even though "chiles en nogada" is from Puebla, not Oaxaca, I thought that I would give them a try.  I headed south down Isabel la Católica Street away from the main touristic area of the "Centro Histórico".

The neighborhood becomes more noisy, chaotic and gritty as you continue south.  Before I ever reached Mayordomo, I passed a restaurant that I had never noticed before.  It is called Casa Manzano, and the sign at the entrance advertised "chile en nogada".

I peeked inside and the restaurant seemed uncharacteristically elegant for this stretch of the street.  I decided to go inside.

The restaurant is in the courtyard of an old house that I would judge to be nearly 200 years old.  It was a tranquil oasis from the noise of the street outside.

I started with corn soup.  It was served cold and had a very distinctive flavor.  I couldn't put my finger on the flavors, but since there was a sprig of dill in the bowl, I think that was one of the seasonings.  A very good start to the meal.

Then came the "chile en nogada".  The presentation was lovely.  In addition to the garnish of pomegranate seeds, there were also chopped walnuts sprinkled along the side... a touch that I had not seen before.

The "nogada", the cream walnut sauce, was extremely rich.  However, the poblano pepper was rather hard, and the filling of meat, fruit and nuts seemed to be lacking something.  I guess I have become a "chile en nogada" snob.  If I had never tasted this dish before, I would have probably been ecstatic about the "chile" served here.  It was good, but... Testal remains the winner in my book.

Contest Winners

When I was at the Palace of Fine Arts last week there was another exhibition which displayed the winners of the 11th annual contest of "Great Masters of the Artisanal Patrimony of Mexico".  This contest honors the artists and artisans who create the varied and beautiful folk art and handicrafts of Mexico.

Here are some of the works that were displayed...

An enormous tray made by Carolina García García from Olinalá, a town in the state of Guerrero that is famous for its wooden laquerware

 

Cotton fabric woven on a backstrap loom by Sebastiana Guzmán Hernández from the state of Oaxaca

Copper jar with an axolotl (an aquatic animal related to the salamander) for a handle by José Germán Punzo Núñez from the state of Michoacán

A drum carved from wood, similar in style to those of the Aztecs, by René Martín Flores López from the State of México

A clay jug with scenes of traditional life by Esteban de la Cruz Miranda from the state of Guerrero.

A cotton "quezquemetl", a traditional, poncho-like woman's garment, by Juliana Secundino Vargas from the state of Puebla

A clay jug by José Rosario Alvarez Ramírez from Tonalá, Jalisco, a town famous for its pottery.

A wooden tray with marquetry decoration by Juan Valencia Villalobos from the state of Michoacán

A Day of the Dead figure made from sugar paste by José Ignacio González Quinzaños from Mexico City

A carving made from a tree branch with intricate traditional scenes by Samuel Torres Briones from the state of Tlaxcala

I thought this papier mâché Day of the Dead figure was very sweet. It is entitled "The Grandfather", and it was created by Efraín Caballero Sánchez from the State of México.  It shows a little boy painting a sculpture of his departed grandfather, while in the world of the dead, the grandfather is carving wooden toys for his grandson.

  

A Lot of Rain

As I have said before, it has been an exceptionally rainy summer.  The precipitation total so far in August has been nearly 17 inches.

One place that has been especially hard hit is the city of Chalco on the east side of the metropolitan area.  Areas of the city have been flooded for the last 20 days.  The beginning of the school year has been delayed there because 19 public schools in Chalco require cleaning and disinfection before opening.  Numerous families have been evacuated from their homes by boat.

Mexicans have a way of finding humor in most situations, as evidenced by this image that someone sent to Alejandro.

A Mural Destroyed

Arguably the most famous mural painting in the Palace of Fine Arts is Diego Rivera's work "Man, Controller of the Universe".  

It was a reworking of a mural that Rivera was commissioned to paint in the lobby of the RCA Building of Rockefeller Center in New York City.  The original was destroyed due to its communist imagery.

Currently, the Palace of Fine Arts is hosting a special exhibition entitled, "Diego Rivera: New Life to a Destroyed Mural".  Last week, I went to see the exhibit.

The exhibit is divided into two halls.  The first deals with a trip which Rivera made to the Soviet Union in 1927.  The artist, a member of the Mexican Communist Party, was invited to participate in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.  There were plans for Rivera to paint some murals in Moscow.  However, those projects never came to fruition, probably because of his sympathy for Russian artists who were considered dissidents by the regime and because he admired Leon Trotsky, the main opponent to the totalitarian regime of Stalin.

There are a number of drawings that Rivera did during his stay in Moscow.

 

The second hall deals with the commission that Rivera received in 1932 to paint a mural at the newly built Rockefeller Center.  The mural was to be called "Man at the Crossroads" which would portray man at the controls of modern science and technology.  Rivera presented his preliminary sketches to the Rockefellers.  They knew of Rivera's Communist affiliation, but they did not find the sketches controversial.  A contract was signed stating that the mural would not be different from the sketches.

Some of Rivera's original plans are on display.  Unfortunately, for some reason, photography is not allowed in the second hall.  Here are a couple of photos from the Palace of Fine Arts website.

The sketch above is quite different from the mural that Rivera did.  I am not sure if this is what the Rockerfellers approved.  I looked very carefully at it, and other than a small section in which workers are marching in Moscow's Red Square, there is nothing obviously communist about it.

However, Rivera added a portrait of Lenin to the mural.  Nelson Rockefeller objected, and asked Rivera to remove it.  When Rivera refused, the painting was plastered over.

Before the mural was destroyed, Rivera had photographs taken of his work.  He returned to Mexico City, and in 1934, using the photographs repainted the mural in the newly completed Palace of Fine Arts, renaming it "Man, Controller of the Universe".

Here is the portrait of Lenin which created the controversy.

Rivera made some additions to the Mexico City mural.  He added portraits of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, the philosophical fathers of communism (the white bearded men to the right).  He also added a portrait of Leon Trotsky, the man holding the banner.

In the nightclub scene, which represents the decadence of capitalist society, he added a portrait of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who in fact was a teetotaler.  Floating above him are syphilis bacteria.

   

I can understand both viewpoints.  Critics of the Rockefellers say that destroying the mural was an act of censorship and vandalism.  On the other hand, Rivera did not abide by his contract.  The painter was paid for his work, and the mural belonged to the Rockefellers.  It was theirs to do with as they pleased.

The mural in the Palace of Fine Arts is a superbly painted piece of political propaganda.