At the Jamaica Market

It is always interesting to visit Mexico City's Jamaica Market, but the best times to see it are in the weeks leading up to Day of the Dead and during the Christmas season.

When I go to Jamaica, I usually stop first at one of the restaurants within the market building... Carnitas Paty.

I ordered my usual... two pork tacos and a glass of "tepache", a beverage made of slightly fermented pineapple.  I had a seat right in front of the guy chopping the pork (the one with the mask on).  He put on quite a show, wildly chopping to keep up with the orders.  That front row seat might not appeal to the squeamish.  I always order "maciza", the cuts of pork that we are used to.  However, carnitas aficionados would tell you that is the least tasty part of the pig.  You can also order skin, stomach, ears, tongue or snout.  If you are sitting by the chopping block you can immediately recognize the pigs' noses right in front of you.

After my lunch, I wandered around a bit.  Since Jamaica is the main flower market in the city, it is no surprise that this time of year, poinsettias are everywhere.

There is also a plethora of piñatas hanging from above.  You will find piñatas in the market any time of year, but never the abundance and variety that you will find during the Christmas season.

At the conclusion of a "posada", the neighborhood processions that are held for nine nights before Christmas, the children try to break a piñata.  For each "posada" there are one, two, maybe three piñatas, so a LOT of them are sold at this time of year.

After checking out the flowers and the piñatas, I got down to business and went to the stalls around the outside of the building that sell Christmas paraphernalia.  So much of the merchandise is cheap junk imported from China.  However, you will still see some stalls selling traditional Mexican crafts, such as the clay figurines used in Nativity scenes.

I wanted to buy some more decorations for my (artificial) Christmas tree.  Since it is one of those skinny trees, I needed small ornaments.  Most of the stalls were selling plastic ornaments from China.  Finally I found one shop that sold glass "esferas" (that's they call the Christmas tree bulbs) that were made in Chignahuapan, a town famous for its Christmas decorations.  The vendor had five designs of small bulbs, and I bought a mixture of two dozen.  Later I found another stall with "esferas" made by Indimex, a company based right here in Mexico City that makes blown glass ornaments.  So bought another dozen of small bulbs.  I like a tree that is really full of ornaments, and I wasn't satisfied with the tree last year.  These purchases should do the trick!
  

 

Getting Ready to Decorate

Before decorating the inside of the apartment, there were things that I needed to buy.  

First of all, I needed to buy green felt to set down for my nativity scene.  There aren't any fabric stores nearby, so on Wednesday I took the Metrobus and went to a branch of "Parisina", a nationwide chain of stores that sell fabrics and sewing supplies.

I found bolts of felt, but first you have to pay at the register, and then an employee cuts the length that you want.  However, on my way to the cashier I found bags of felt, in lengths of one meter.  So, I just bought several of those instead.

From there I decided to get some exercise and walk about a mile to the Lázaro Cárdenas public market in Colonia del Valle, the neighborhood adjacent to where I live.  There are no Christmas markets in Mexico as there are in many European cities.  However, most markets, at this time of year, have stalls surrounding the perimeter of the market building selling Christmas items.

I am always amazed that they are already selling cut Christmas trees.  The holiday season here lasts until January 6th  (Day of the Magi Kings).  Are those trees going to last more than a month?  Or will they have dropped all their needles by January?

There are lots of stalls selling Christmas decorations that are most certainly made in China.

Of course there are plenty of poinsettias, which are native to Mexico.  Notice the crates to the left.  They are filled with something the Mexicans call "heno".  The dictionary definition of "heno" is hay, but this is something more akin to Spanish moss.  It is sold in the markets this time of year to make the landscape of your Nativity scene look more natural.  Last year I bought a bundle of moss... but it is damp and dirty and makes a mess.  So instead I bought a kilo bag of "heno" for my Nativity scene.

I still had a few more things to buy, but I was tired and walked the mile back to the apartment with my purchases.  The next day I went to a nearby "papelería" or stationery store and bought some sheets of blue cellophane for creating a river passing through my Nativity scene.

I then headed to an electronics store inside a nearby mall to buy batteries for the strings of lights that I have on my tree.  They were all out of that kind of batteries.  However, as I walked back toward the apartment, I passed a photography shop.  They had the correct batteries,  and they were a brand-name, so maybe they will last for the entire season.

I had almost everything I needed to start decorating, but I still wanted to go to my favorite market in Mexico City, the Jamaica Market.

Enter Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving to my readers from the United States.  Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Mexico.  I will be spending the day decorating the apartment.

I wanted to buy a nice wreath for the door of my apartment, but one that is made in Mexico.  So many of the Christmas decorations here as well as in the U.S. are made in China.  When I was in Europe this year, I went into a couple of Christmas shops, and even there half of the merchandise was made in China.

One evening, a few days ago I was in  the nearby neighborhood of San Pedro de los Pinos.  I passed by a store that I have visited a few times that specializes organic products.  Looking through the window I could see beautiful Christmas wreaths hanging on the wall.  Although the store was already closed, there were still some people inside.  One of the employees opened the door, and I asked where the wreaths were from.  He told me that they were from the town of Chignahuapan, a town in the state of Puebla whose main industry is the manufacturing of Christmas decorations.  The next day, I returned to the store, and I bought one of the wreaths.  They were very expensive.  The one I selected was one of the smaller ones, and it cost 3500 pesos or 171 U.S. dollars.  But they were  hand-made and so beautiful that I could not resist.

So, my Christmas decorating began with hanging this wreath on the door.

The petals of the poinsettias are actually made from hand-blown glass and painted with a matte finish.

 

I also set next to the door a large figure of a nutcracker that I bought last year.  It comes from a shop not far from Alejandro's family's house.  The owner makes the resin figures from molds and then paints them by hand.

I think I might go back to the shop the next time I am in the neighborhood and buy another one.

The entrance to the apartment is decorated.  Now it is time to move on to the inside.

From the Roof

It has been quite a while since I have climbed to the roof of Alejandro's family's house to see if I could see the volcanoes.  When Alejandro takes his sister to work early in the morning, there is a spot along the route where they can see the peaks when the sky is clear.  On Monday Alejandro said that the volcanoes were visible.  So, yesterday, I went to the roof just before dawn, braving the nippy morning temperature of only 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  The two mountains, Iztaccíhuatl to the left and Popocatépetl to the right, were silhouetted against the brightening sky.  Uncharacteristically, "Popo", the active one, did not appear to be fuming.

Wicked

Last Thursday the movie "Wicked" premiered in Mexico City, and Alejandro and I went to see it at the World Trade Center cinema on Sunday.

The movie is based on the hit Broadway musical, which in turn is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire.  "Wicked" is a revisionist version of the children's book "The Wizard of Oz", in which the life of Elfaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, is viewed sympathetically.  I read the novel, and quite a few years ago Alejandro and I saw an excellent stage production in Spanish here in Mexico City.

I thought that the movie was very good.  The recreation of Oz and the acting, particularly by the actress who played Elfaba, were superb.  Fans of the musical will disagree with me vehemently, but, frankly, I don't think that the musical score is that memorable.  I have never left the theater humming any of its songs.  However, the singing by the two leads was excellent.  (Just to show you how clueless I am about modern pop stars...  I have heard of Ariana Grande, but throughout the movie, I thought she had the role of Elfaba.  Later, I found out that she played Glinda, the Good Witch.  The Wicked Witch is played by actress and singer Cynthia Erivo.  I had never heard of her, but, as I said, she did a wonderful job.)

The movie is very long... it runs 2 hours and 40 minutes, and it only covers the first act of the Broadway musical.  Part 2 will be released next year.  It seemed to me that the movie brought out the dark elements of the novel much more than the Broadway show did.  In Maguire's reimagining of the children's book, Oz is an authoritarian state in which the Wizard stays in power by playing upon the fears of the populace of anyone who is different... be they green-skinned witches or talking animals.  The one who is truly wicked is not Elfaba but the Wizard.

 

Back to Painting

Many years ago, when I was a member of the local fine arts club back in Ohio, I did a lot of landscape paintings.  I would participate in the club's art shows and actually sell some paintings.  However, after meeting Alejandro, I spent more and more time in Mexico, and I really did not have time to devote to the club or to painting.  It reached the point that the only painting that I did each year was the one that I would use for my Christmas card.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found a store down here that has a good selection of art supplies.  I have wall space in the apartment that could use some artwork.  So a couple weeks ago, I began work on a painting that I plan to hang at the entrance to the master bedroom.  Several of the pieces in that room are from Yucatán, including a large painting by an artist from Mérida, and a Mayan wood carving.  I decided to continue that theme, went through photos that I had taken of Mayan ruins in Yucatán, and decided on a picture to be the basis for a painting.

It is far from finished, but the work is progressing, and (knock on wood) I am satisfied with it so far.  It is a painting of the palace at one of the lesser known Mayan archaeological sites, Sayil.

Hopefully, before the end of the year, the painting will be finished, framed, and hanging in the apartment.

Street Art in Culhuacán

As I left the Sanctuary of the Lord of Calvary, I notice that the street past the church had a number of mural paintings.

The paintings were not in the best of condition and needed touch-ups, but they were interesting.   Doing a bit of research afterwards later on, I even learned a couple of things about Mexican history.

The first section of murals has images from pre-Hispanic civilizations.

Next to it is a scene which obviously depicts the legendary foundation of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.  Supposedly they built their city on an island in the lake when they saw the omen of an eagle perched on a cactus.

The caption on the mural says, "Culhuacán.  The Aztec people admired your progress and courage and because of that requested Acamapichtli as guide."  I later looked up Acamapichtli, and discovered that he was a prince from Culhuacán whom the Aztecs chose to be their first chief.

The next painting depicts men and women riding off on horseback to fight in the Mexican Revolution.

Next are portraits of a couple heroes of the Mexican Revolution.  First is Emiliano Zapata, one of the more idealistic of the revolutionaries.  He fought to give land to the peasants, and here he holds a scroll saying, "The land belongs to those who work it."

I later discovered that Zapata had a connection with Culhuacán.  When Zapata and his army marched to Mexico City, he and his chief revolutionary rival, Venustiano Carranza, skirmished briefly at Culhuacán.

Next to Zapata, is a portrait of another hero of the revolution, Pancho Villa.

This painting shows the two volcanoes Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetln outside of Mexico City.  In the foreground are "chinampas", the so-called "floating gardens", a unique form of agriculture in pre-Hispanic times. The natives of the Valley of Mexico would build rafts on the shallow lake, pile soil on top of them, and plant crops.  Eventually the rafts would become rooted to the lake bottom forming a network of canals and islands.  As the lakes of the valley were drained, most of the "chinampas", including those in Culhuacán, disappeared.  Only in the southern district of Xochimilco do the canals and "chinampas" still survive.

As I was leaving Culhuacán, I saw this mural on the wall of a dental office.  The dentist must be an admirer of VanGogh and had a copy of a VanGogh painting in the shape of a tooth painted.

I headed back to the Metro station to return to my apartment, glad that I had taken a trip to Culhuacán.

A Unique Church

 As I was leaving the ex-convent of Culhuacán I saw the nearby towers of another church.  I had read about when I was researching Culhuacán, and I decided to walk a block along a narrow street to see it.  It is called the Santuario del Señor del Calvario (Sanctuary of the Lord of Calvary).  It is highly venerated place for the people of Culhuacán.

The story goes that in the 1530s, just a decade after the Spanish conquest, a group of indigenous stone cutters heard a baby crying in a nearby cave.  (Another version says that they saw a bright light emanating from the cave.)  They cleared away the brush and stones at the entrance to the cave, and inside they found a recumbent statue of Jesus. In the late 1800s a church was built over the cave, which is considered by local residents to be a holy site.

A colorful gateway was at the entrance.  I suspect it was there for some holy day.  The Spanish says, "Thank you, Lord.  Shed blessings and health."

  

The interior of the church is very pretty and perfectly maintained.  I do not know where the image of Christ is.  I did not go right up to the altar to investigate.

Notice the man working on the pilaster to the right.  He was applying gold paint to the decorations.  It appeared that he was completing his work because everywhere the church gleamed with freshly applied gilt.

Even the ceiling is beautifully decorated.

A painting on one of the side walls portrays the story of the discovery of the statue.

Another spot with an interesting history in a neighborhood unknown to tourists

A Hidden Colonial Gem

Yesterday I went to yet another one of Mexico City's many museums.  And unlike the radio museum I wrote about a couple days ago, this one was definitely worth visiting.

Looking at Google Maps for new places to visit, I came upon the ex-convent of Culhuacán, which is now a museum.  Culhaucán is a neighborhood with ancient, pre-Hispanic roots.  It is located in the borough of Iztapalapa.  Iztapalapa is not the safest part of the city, but there is a Metro stop just a couple blocks away from the convent along a major avenue, so I figured I would be OK.  I walked from my apartment about a half hour down Insurgentes Avenue to the subway stop on Line 12.  That line took me right to Culhuacán station.

Culhuacán may be a gritty, unattractive neighborhood, but it is very historic.  For centuries it was a separate town sitting on the shore of Lake Texcoco, the lake which once covered much of the valley where Mexico City stands today.

This painting shows what the Valley of Mexico looked like in Aztec times.  The arrow points to Tenochtitlan, the island capital of the Aztecs, which today is Mexico City's historic center.

On the lake shores there were many other cities, with names that are familiar to anyone who knows Mexico City.  Chapultepec, Coyoacán, and Xochimilco were once separate towns that are now part of sprawling Mexico City.  The arrow points to the location of Culhuacán.

This sign says that Culhuacán, the place of the Culhua tribe, is one of the oldest cities in the Mexico Basin.

However, this plaque, just a few steps away, was placed in 2010 to commemorate the 1340th anniversary of Culhuacán's founding in A.D. 670.  It says that Culhaucán is THE oldest city in Anáhuac (the Aztec name for the Valley of Mexico).

After the Spanish conquest, Culhuacán remained an important town, and Augustinian friars chose this place as the center for their evangelization of the natives.  In 1560 they established the monastery of St. John the Evangelist.  It is one of the very few remaining buildings in Mexico City from the 16th century.  The monastery included the Seminary of Indigenous Languages where the monks learned the native languages, and the natives, in turn, were taught Spanish.

 The museum contains several rooms where pre-Hispanic and colonial artifacts are on display.

Large quantities of pottery from Teotihuacan have been found by archaeologists at Culhuacán, suggesting that the later was linked to that great metropolis that flourished more than one thousand years ago.

After the decline and eventual abandonment of Teotihuacan, Culhuacán became an autonomous jurisdiction.  From around A.D. 800 it was ruled by a dynasty of chiefs who extended the city's control over the southern part of the valley.  However, by the early 1400s, Culhuacán was conquered by the Aztecs.

An Aztec sculpture of the corn goddess found at Culhuacán

The remains of an Aztec urn in the form of the rain god Tlaloc

One room contains Spanish colonial era objects from the monastery.

A baptismal registry from the 1700s

What was most fascinating about the former monastery is that its walls are covered with fragments of mural paintings that were done by native painters and Augustinian friars in the 16th through 18th centuries.  In addition to decorative designs, these paintings depict Biblical scenes, saints, and members of the Augustinian order.

In 1944, the National Institute of Archaeology and History began the restoration of the abandoned monastery.  Centuries of grease, soot, dust and bird excrement were painstakingly removed from the walls to reveal the paintings.

In 1993 the former monastery was opened as a museum.  It is far from the typical tourist areas, and I never knew of its existence.  However, it is a unique historic gem that is worth visiting.