And the Rains Came

Since my arrival here in Mexico City on April 9th, I have not seen a drop of rain.  There have been some parts of the city that have received a little precipitation, but nothing at the condo I rent, at Alejandro's home, or the various places in the city where I have wandered.  But that is not surprising.  This is the dry season, and on an average the month of April sees less than an inch of rainfall.  The rainy season does not begin in earnest until June.

Since Saturday I have been at Alejandro's house.  Yesterday at about 6:00 P.M. we had a very noisy thunderstorm with about a half hour of rain.  The rain, which was not in the forecast, should clear out the air pollution for a little while and green up the parched vegetation.

Taking this picture of the pavement of the courtyard at Alejandro's home, 

with the rainwater flowing to the drain, and the sky reflected in the water,

I was reminded of the opening scene of the film "Roma".

If you have seen the movie, you know what I mean.

All that is missing is the image of an airplane passing overhead

and reflected in the water.

Hello Señor Montezuma

You could classify this entry under "Too much information"... but since Montezuma's Revenge is on the mind of most tourists to Mexico, I figured that I should go ahead and post this.

I have lost track of how many trips to Mexico I have made in my lifetime.  It is possibly more than 100.  Yet I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times which I have suffered from Montezuma's Revenge.  Early this morning Montezuma came a visiting.  It's very difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of the malady.  Tourists will often blame the last restaurant where they ate, but sometimes it takes a couple days before symptoms strike.  In my case, my best guess is that I simply ate way too much yesterday.  I had a huge plate of "chilaquiles" when we went out for breakfast.  In the afternoon, Alejandro and I went to a nearby establishment that sells "tortas", Mexican sandwiches that are so tasty but not very healthy.  The place is a greasy spoon, and if it were back home in Ohio, it probably wouldn't pass muster with the Health Department.  Nevertheless I have eaten their "tortas" before with no ill effects.  We took carry out back to Alejandro's family, and no one else got sick.  So I suspect that it was probably not a problem of the food being bad, but rather a matter of the quantity and the combination of what I ate.

Alejandro went out to the store this morning and bought me a Mexican equivalent of Gatorade to keep me hydrated.  (It actually tastes better than the sports drinks that they sell back home.)  He also bought me a couple small bottles of Coca Cola.  I never drink Coke, but in the olden days of my childhood, Coca Cola syrup used to be recommended by doctors to alleviate diarrhea in infants and children.  And he bought me a package of "Salmas", baked corn crackers.  That, plus a couple of Imodium tablets seem to have done the trick.  Hopefully Señor Montezuma has gone bye-bye.

Another Holy Week Festival

On the day before Easter, Alejandro and I, accompanied by his friend Pancho, went to another festival that is held during Holy Week.  Visitors to Mexico City might find it hard to believe, but there are areas within the city limits which are rural.  In the southern part of the city, in the "delegación" (borough) of Xochimilco is the village of Santiago Tulyehualco. There for the last 134 years they have celebrated during Holy Week the Fair of "Nieve".

"Nieve" (which literally means snow) is a water-based variation of ice cream.  It dates to pre-Hispanic times when ice from the peaks of the volcanoes would be brought down and flavored with honey or sweet syrup.  Xochimilco was the center for the production of this delicacy, and it was reserved for priests and nobles.

The main tent of the fair is lined with vendors of artesanal "nieve".

The traditional method of making "nieve" is similar to our old-fashioned ice cream makers.

Ice and salt are placed in a large, wooden bucket.  The ingredients for the "nieve" are placed in a metal pot.  The pot is rotated within the bucket and the ingredients stirred until they have congealed into "nieve".

The variety of flavors offered is mind-boggling.  

Many of the flavors such as chocolate, strawberry, pineapple seem fairly conventional.  Others are tropical fruits such as "mamey", "maracuya" or "zapote" that are not well known north of the border.  Some "nieves" are flavored with tequila, Kahlua or even beer.

Many of the names of the flavors are extremely fanciful.  One has to wonder just what the heck are a "rabid dog", a "crazy penguin", "Pikachu" or "Viagra"!

Then there are exotic flavors, some of which sound downright disgusting!

I would be willing to try "rose petals".  I love avocados and "mole", but I don't want them in my "nieve".  And I definitely don't want rattlesnake.  (Yes, the "nieve" is actually flavored with snake meat!")  Nor do I want shrimp, octopus or oyster!

At the far end of the tent there was a stage where couples were dancing "danzón", a Cuban dance which came to Mexico by way of the Yucatán.

On a much more somber note... Santiago Tulyehualco suffered heavy damage in the 2017 earthquake.  The parish church, which was built in the 17th century, is still closed.

The cracks by the entrance and in the bell tower are clearly visible.

Happy Easter!

Easter eggs and the Easter bunny are not part of the Mexican celebration of Easter, and unlike some holiday customs from north of the border (such as Santa Claus and Christmas trees) they have not caught on here.

So, whenever my April trip to Mexico coincides with Easter I bring a package of plastic Easter eggs and some bags of Easter candy so that Alejandro's nephew, Ezra, can have an Easter egg hunt.  The night before Easter most of the family went to the vigil service at the parish church.  While they were gone I filled the eggs and hid them around the house on the ground floor.  (Ezra and his mom live upstairs.)  Back home I bought an Easter basket that is a plush toy in the form of the head of a bunny.  When you squeeze the handle of the basket, the bunny's ears pop up.  After the family returned from church and Ezra went to bed, I put the basket, with an Easter card inside, in an obvious place where he would see it the next morning. 

When he came downstairs before breakfast he found the basket and read the card (which of course was signed by the Easter Bunny).  The hunt for the hidden eggs began.  He found most of them quite easily, but the last six were a challenge.  (There were 36 eggs in the bag that I bought, and even I couldn't remember where I had hidden them all.)

After the last egg had finally been found, the five of us... Alejandro, his dad, his sister and nephew, and I... all went out for breakfast at a nearby VIPS.  (VIPS is a chain of restaurants that might be compared to Denny's in the U.S., but their menu has a very wide selection of tasty breakfasts.)  

Ezra and his mom at VIPS

Our bellies were full and happy after a big breakfast, but, even so, we stopped at an ice cream store for chocolate covered "paletas"... like popsicles but made with ice cream.  It was a very fun Easter morning.

Happy Easter... Happy Passover... Happy Spring... to all!

A Festival for Holy Week

On Good Friday Alejandro and I went to a handicraft festival that was being held on the square of the neighborhood of Santa María la Ribera.  Accompanying us was Pancho, a friend of Alejandro´s who is visiting Mexico City from Monterrey.

Pancho took a photo of Alejandro and me posing in front of the beautiful Moorish-style pavilion that stands on the plaza of Santa María la Ribera.

The event was the seventh annual Festival of "Cartonería".  "Cartonería" is the creation of papier mache sculptures.  There were more than fifty "cartoneros", masters of this traditional Mexican craft, selling their colorful work here.

  

Alejandro tries on a papier mache mask.

"Alebrijes", the sculptures of colorful, fantastical creatures that are one of Mexico's most popular handicrafts, are often associated with woodcarvers from Oaxaca.  However, they originated in Mexico City in the 1940's with the "cartonería" craftsman, Pedro Linares.  There were several artisans at the festival selling "alebrijes".

One of the most traditional manifestations of "cartonería" are the large Judas figures which are a part of the Holy Week observances.   On the day before Easter Judas is burned in effigy, and on Saturday as a part of the festival Judas was going to be set on fire.  There were numerous Judas figures on display.  Those, however, were not going to be burned, but were in competition for prizes which were going to be awarded at the end of the festival. 

   Pancho and Alejandro pose with Judas.

Sometimes the Judas figures are caricatures of celebrities or politicians.   This figure is a caricature of Mexico's new President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

I thoroughly enjoyed the event.  If you are a follower of this blog, you probably know that I am a sucker for handicrafts.  I definitely did not leave the festival empty-handed.

Cleaning Up

Close to my condo is a small green space located in the middle of a busy intersection.  A while ago they placed two metal letters, "BJ", in that space.  The letters stand for Benito Juárez, the name of the "delegación" or borough in which the neighborhood is located.  On my last trip, I was upset to see that some vandal had spray-painted graffiti over one of the letters.  But when I returned on this trip I was happy to see that the graffiti had been covered over with a stylized painting of the World Trade Center which is just down the street.  (You see a bit of the building in the background of the photo.)

However, I was thinking that the green space was in need of a good clearing out of litter and weeds.  A few mornings later, I saw city workers giving the area a thorough cleaning.  

It looks much better, but the plants really need to be watered.  There has been no rain since I arrived on April 9th, and the weather has been very hot (by Mexico City standards) with temperatures in the 80s Fahrenheit.  Hopefully the plants recover when the rainy season begins in a couple months. 

On the Zócalo

I frequently mention the Zócalo, the main plaza of Mexico City and the historic and political heart of the nation.  I also have mentioned it appears to be the policy of the new city government not to clutter up the plaza with tacky fairs and exhibitions.  The view of the historic buildings surrounding this vast square, one of the largest in the world, is now unobstructed.

Well… almost...

The President's embrace of the underdogs of Mexican society has encouraged protestors  from impoverished states such as Chiapas and Oaxaca to set up banners and tents right in front of the National Palace.

Striking employees from one the city's universities were protesting in front of city hall.

In one corner of the Zócalo there is a temporary structure that resembles the old-fashioned bandstands that grace the central plazas of many Mexican towns.  

I don't know if they are intending to use this structure for band concerts.  I wouldn't mind if they built a permanent and prettier bandstand... the kind with decorative wrought iron embellishments like the ones from the 19th century.

One feature of the Zócalo under the new government are photographic exhibits along the perimeter of the square.  I have written about a couple of them here.  This month is the 100th anniversary of the assassination of the revolutionary hero, Emiliano Zapata, so there is currently a display of historic photos of his life and times.

One of the most famous photographs of the Mexican Revolution is included.  When the armies of Zapata and Pancho Villa entered Mexico City the two leaders went into the National Palace.  Pancho Villa brazenly sat in the Presidential Chair.  Zapata, an idealist who had no desire for personal power, later told Villa that the chair should be burned to put an end to ambition.