A Short History of Postage Stamps

The Postal Museum in Mexico City included a display on the history of postage stamps.  There was a time line showing when various countries first started to issue stamps.

The first postage stamp to be issued was from the United Kingdom.  The so-called "Penny Black" came out on May 1, 1840.  It featured a profile of the young Queen Victoria.

Prior to the introduction of stamps, the recipient of the mail was the one who paid the cost of its delivery.  However, so many people either did not have the money or simply did not accept the piece of mail, that it became a burden on the postal system.  Thus, the concept of postage stamps was born.  The sender instead of the recipient bore the cost.

In 1843 Switzerland became the second country in the world to issue postage stamps.

.The four rappen (penny) stamp was used to send mail withing the canton of Zurich, and the six rappen stamp was for mail to be delivered to the other cantons.

Postage stamps first appeared in the United States in 1847.

The five cent stamp featured the portrait of Benjamin Franklin, the first postmaster general.  The ten cent stamp bore the likeness of George Washington.

In 1856 President Ignacio Comonfort authorized prepaid postage using adhesive stamps.

Each denomination (from 1/2 real to 8 reales) was a different color, but they all featured a rather crudely engraved image of Miguel Hidalgo, the man who started Mexico's War for Independence.

The Postal Museum

Last week I visited one of the newer additions to the list of more than 150 museums in Mexico City... "El Museo Postal".

The museum is housed in Mexico City's main post office.  The elegant building was inaugurated in 1907 during the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz.  That period, known as the "Porfiriato", saw the construction of many European-inspired buildings.  The designer of the post office building was the Italian architect Adam Boari, the same man who designed the Palace of Fine Arts next door.

Even if you are not planning on visiting the postal museum, it is worthwhile to step inside and take a look at its ornate interior.

The museum exhibits are located on the upper floors of the building, areas that previously had been closed to the public.

The ornate antique elevator still functions although its use appears to be restricted to authorized personnel.

The former reception room is decorated with frescos by an Italian painter which depict children writing, sending and reading letters.

The Oval Room was originally the office of the Director of the Postal Service.

There are displays of Mexican postage stamps...

...displays of postal equipment...

A 19th century scale for weighing packages

A 20th century postage stamp dispenser

A early 20th century post office safe

...displays on the delivery of the mail.

A mailperson's uniform

Postal bags

Mail delivery on horseback  1890

Mail vehicle  1928

Delivery by bicycle  1940

Post office motorcycle  2006

Although the postal museum is certainly not a "must-see" for visitors to the city, it is a nice addition to the growing list of museums in this city.

Yet Another Volcano

While I was writing yesterday's post about Mexico's highest mountain, Pico de Orizaba, Alejandro sent me a photo of yet another volcanic peak in Mexico, Nevado de Toluca.  You may remember that Alejandro has a mountain climber friend who takes tourists on climbing expeditions.  He often sends Alejandro photos of the mountains.  This is the one he took yesterday, shot from the top of Nevado de Toluca and looking down into its crater.

With an elevation of over 15,000 feet, Nevado de Toluca is the fourth highest peak in Mexico.  It is located 50 miles to the west of Mexico City near the city of Toluca.  On the floor of the crater there are two lakes, the Lake of the Sun and the Lake of the Moon.  In the center of the photo above you can see the Lake of the Moon.  The other lake is hidden by a hill know as "El Ombligo" (The Navel).  The Navel is a volcanic plug which filled the vent after the mountain's last eruption more than 10,000 years ago.

You used to be able to go into the crater with a four-wheel drive vehicle.  Many, many years ago, when I visiting the family of an exchange student, we drove into the crater and right up to the lakes.  Unfortunately, I no longer have those photos.  That road is now gated, and you have to hike more than a mile down into crater.

Rumblings from the Peak

I have frequently written about Popocatéptl (Popo for short), the active volcano to the southeast of Mexico City.  However I have not written much about Pico de Orizaba, Mexico's tallest mountain. 

(images taken from the internet)

The mountain is located about 120 miles to the east of Mexico City on the border between the states of Puebla and Veracruz.  The peak, which is also known by its Aztec name of Citlaltépetl, has an elevation of over 18,000 feet... 800 feet higher than Popo, Mexico's second highest mountain.  It is the third highest mountain in North America, and the second highest volcano in the world, surpassed only by Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro.

My reason for bringing up Pico de Orizaba is that I recently read an article discussing the frequent tremors that have been occurring around the mountain.  There have been a total of 32 since August of last year.  The volcano is dormant but still considered active.  The last eruption was in 1846; the last major eruption was in 1687.  The seismic activity does not necessarily mean that there will be any imminent eruptions.  However, just as Popo came back to life after decades of dormancy, the same could happen with Pico de Orizaba. 

Happy Dog

 

Alejandro with Pepe, one of the family's two dogs

It was two years ago this month that Pepe, a scruffy, abandoned dog living on the street adopted Alejandro's family.  Smart canine.  He sensed that they had kind hearts with a soft spot for dogs, and he followed Alejandro home.  Two years later he's a happy member of the family.

More Flowers

A flower which, unlike the jacaranda, seems to bloom all year long in Mexico City is the bougainvillea.

 Like the jacaranda, the bougainvillea is native to South America.  Like the poinsettia, the "flowers" are actually bracts, colorful modified leaves that surround the insignificant blossoms.  The vining shrubs can grow as tall as forty feet.  The most common color is purple, but there are other varieties, such as this bush.

What color is it?  These color-blind eyes would call it salmon.

Early Jacarandas

A couple weeks ago I wrote that I had seen my first jacaranda tree in bloom.  Last week I was downtown, and I saw more trees in blossom in the Alameda, the park next to the Palace of Fine Arts.

The jacarandas usually bloom in March and April, but during my winter trips to Mexico City, prior to moving here, I would usually see the first blossoms in February.  However, I have read that this year some of the trees began to flower in the middle of January.  Scientists are concerned and are studying this early-bloom phenomenon.  They suspect that it is the result of climate change.  The flowers attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies, but there is fear that a disruption of the normal blossom schedule could lead to a decline of the bird and insect populations and lead to the flowers not being pollinated.  Changes could also make the trees more susceptible to pests.

We have already seen the palm trees of Mexico City dying by the hundreds.  The Canary Island date palms, the species most common in the city, is weakened by higher temperatures and has fallen prey to the red palm weevil.  Let's hope that nothing similar happens to the beloved jacarandas of Mexico City.

A Meaningless Exhibit

I have written a number of times about exhibits at one of Mexico City's more eccentric museums... El Museo del Objeto del Objeto (The Museum of the Object of the Object).  The museum has a collection of of over 140 thousand mundane objects from Mexico from the last 200 years.  Several temporary exhibits are shown each year drawing from that collection.  For example, I have seen an exhibit of memorabilia from Mexican Presidential campaigns, and an exhibit of Mexican health and beauty products over the years.

Right now there is a show called "La Exposición sin Sentido"... the Meaningless Exposition.  The name is appropriate.  I still don't know what the point of the show was, other than the fact that it was inspired by the art movements of Dadaism and Surrealism.

The one section of the exhibit which I found somewhat amusing was a room full of machines and gadgets.  The identification of each was slightly hidden to the side, and you had to guess the object's use.  I'll let you guess what these things are, and I'll put the answers at the end.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

1.  A heliograph (1957)  I had to look that one up.  A heliograph sends telegraphic messages through flashes of sunlight.

2. The mechanism of a clock (1930)

3.  A base for shining shoes (1900)

4.  A machine for putting corks into bottles (1906)

5.  A comb for teasing hair (date unknown)

6.  An air compressor (date unknown)

7.  A postage scale for weighing letters (1909)

This object's purpose was unknown even to the museum curators.  Visitors could write down their guesses.

The most whimsical guess was a Victorian fairy trap.

 

Transplanting Cacti

Last Sunday I wanted to go to Home Depot.  There is one about two miles away from the apartment, however driving there is difficult and the parking lot is always chaotic.  So, I suggested to Alejandro that we get some exercise and walk there.  Actually, we walked to the nearest subway line, got off after two stops, and then walked the rest of the way, around a mile.

We immediately went to the gardening section.  There was something there that I had seen on a previous trip that I needed.

I have a couple of cactus plants that needed transplanting.  I had bought two decorative clay pots to replace the ugly plastic pots in which they came.  However, I needed some potting soil for the transplanting.  I had seen that Home Depot had small bags of soil especially for cacti and succulents.  I picked up a bag, and a plant saucer for one of the cacti.  Even though there were lots of houseplants there that were very tempting, that's all I bought.

I asked Alejandro if he wanted to return by subway, and he said "No".  We walked the two miles back to the apartment.

Yesterday, I finally got around to transplanting the cacti.

The smaller one was given to me by Alejandro's sister last year for the Day of the Dead.  It was decorated like a vampire.  I posted a photo of it back then.

 

After the Day of the Dead, I carefully removed the decorations with tweezers.  The cactus suffered no ill effects from my surgery, and if you compare the two photos, you see that it has grown quite a bit since then.  I bought the larger cactus a few weeks ago at the Thursday "tianguis" (outdoor market) at the park where I do my exercising.  There is a stall there that sells houseplants.  I have my eye on a jade plant that I might buy next week if it is still there.

The Price of Eggs

 

I hear that north of the border the price for a dozen eggs is around $5.  Here in Mexico, people are also complaining about the price of eggs, even though they are much cheaper than in the United States.  Earlier this week I bought a dozen eggs at Walmart.  They were not large, but the price was 45 pesos.  That's around $2.20 U.S. dollars.  Alejandro generally buys eggs by the kilo at the neighborhood store, and the price has been around 70 pesos.  There are usually 18 eggs in a kilo, so the price per egg comes out about the same.

Speaking of eggs, many visitors from the U.S. are surprised when the go to a supermarket in Mexico and see the eggs sitting out on the shelf rather than in the refrigerator section.  The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where eggs are washed before before being sold.  The washing removes the natural protective layer that covers the eggs, and thus makes them more susceptible to contamination and spoilage.  However, when I return from the supermarket I put my carton of eggs in the refrigerator, partly out of habit, but mostly because they take up counter space.

A Big Poinsettia

A few days ago I wrote about my poinsettia plant which is blooming again this winter.  North of the border we are used to the poinsettia as a potted houseplant purchased for the Christmas season, and which is often discarded after the holidays.  Here in Mexico, where it is known as "flor de Nochebuena" (Christmas Eve flower), it is also popular during the holiday season, and, just as in the United States, millions of the potted plants are sold in the stores and markets.

The plant is native to Mexico and Guatemala, and it grows in the wild. In spite of the fact that the plant is mistakenly thought to be poisonous, the Aztecs used it for making medications.  Their name for it was "cuetlaxóchitl" which means "excrement plant".  Birds would eat the seeds and the plants would germinate from their droppings.

Outdoors, the poinsettia can grow to be a small tree. Last weekend, while we were talking a walk, Alejandro took a picture of this poinsettia, in full bloom, which has grown almost as high as the roof of the house.

 

 

Valentine's Day - One Day Late

As I mentioned in the last post, Alejandro and I decided to wait a day until celebrating Valentine's Day... and our wedding anniversary... until the next day.

I made reservations for us to have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  (Yes, the Cheesecake Factory exists in Mexico City.  In fact, there are five locations here.)  Our reservation was for 5 PM at the location closest to us in the Parque Delta mall.  We took the Metrobus part of the way, and then walked the short distance to the mall.  I thought that it would not be very crowded at that hour since it was between the mid-afternoon dinner time and the later supper hour.  As it turned out, it's a good thing that I made a reservation since there was a crowd waiting for a table.

We were seated a few minutes before our reservation time, and we looked over the lengthy menu.  This was a special occasion, and we were not going to worry about sticking to any sort of diet.  We began with an appetizer of cheese sticks and each had a cup of the cream of chicken soup.  We actually could have skipped those because our main course was enormous.  I ordered what the menu described as their most popular chicken dish, Chicken Madeira.  The chicken breast was covered with a Madeira sauce, asparagus and mushrooms.  It was delicious.  The chicken was perfectly cooked, juicy and tender.

Alejandro ordered a "combo plate" of the Chicken Madeira and steak Diane.  He was very happy with his choice also.

 

Even though we were very full, you can't go to the Cheesecake Factory without have cheesecake!  Alejandro ordered the salted caramel cheesecake, and I had the raspberry chocolate cheesecake.

Needless to say, after our dessert we were stuffed!  We decided to burn off a few of those calories by walking the two miles back to the apartment.

We really enjoyed our meals, and we have already decided take the family there for his sister's birthday next month.