Dressing Baby Jesus

January 6th, the Day of the Magi Kings (Epiphany), marks the end of the Christmas season.  But technically, the Christmas season in Mexico is not over until February 2nd, the Feast Day of Candelaria (Candlemas).  The day commemorates the presentation of the baby Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem.  Many Mexican families have a doll-like figure of the infant Jesus, "el Niño Dios", which they take to church on that day to be blessed.  But before they take that figure to church, it must be dressed in a brand new outfit.

A while ago... I forget how many trips ago... I came upon a street in the Historic Center of Mexico City, Talavera Street, which was lined with shops selling outfits for the "Niño Dios" doll.  Since it was not anywhere near the feast date, most of the shops were not even open. Since we are approaching Candelaria, I thought that it would be interesting to make a return visit to Talavera Street. 

I went to the main plaza, the Zócalo, and then headed east, an area that is rather scruffy and full of street life.  Many of the streets are filled with vendors.

When I reached Talavera Street, it was much, much more than I had expected.  Not only were all the stores open, but the street was filled with stalls.  In some places it was difficult to make my way through the crowd of people who were there to buy new clothes for their Baby Jesus.  The street market stretched for three blocks and continued on the next street over from Talavera.

The stores were also doing a brisk business.  

The variety of different outfits for the dolls is amazing.

You can even dress the baby as a pediatrician...

or as a surgeon.

When you take your Baby Jesus to church you can set him in a chair...

or in a crib or basket...

or even in a bed or a display case.

You can buy him a pair of wings.

And don't forget a new pair of sandals.

If your doll is broken or in need of a paint touch-up, there are stalls where that can be taken care of.

It was all very fascinating, but I have to admit that to the eyes of this gringo it also seemed quite surreal. 

Photography Exhibit

I have written here numerous times about the free exhibits that are held several times a year in Iturbide's Palace, a colonial mansion in the Centro Histórico of Mexico City.   The building is now owned by Banamex, the Bank of Mexico, and is the headquarters of their cultural foundation.  Usually the exhibits are excellent.  They have ranged from colonial paintings, to Latin American handicrafts, to Nativity scenes, to the last exposition which dealt with the "Horsemen of the Americas". 

I was looking forward to seeing what new exhibit would be in the palace, but I have to admit that it was a letdown compared to other shows I have seen there.  On display is the work of a well known Mexican photographer by the name of Graciela Iturbide.  A lot of her photos are sort of "out there" and not really my cup of tea.  The exhibit continued upstairs, but I felt as if had seen enough, and I did not feel inspired to climb the stairs.

Here are just a few of her photographs...

A man from the state of Tlaxcala in Carnival costume.

In the background is the volcano Popocatépetl.

Many of her photos were of the women from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the fiercely independent women known as "Tehuanas".

 This is her most famous photograph.  It is called "Our Lady of the Iguanas".

Yes, those are live iguanas that she is carrying on her head.

A Sunday Stroll

It was a beautiful afternoon on Sunday.  Alejandro and I decided to take a walk with no particular destination in mind.

We headed first to the public park in my neighborhood of Colonia Nápoles.  We had never been there on a Sunday, and we were surprised that they have an organic food market each weekend.  

We then passed by one end of the Sunday "tianguis" (outdoor market) which stretches for several blocks along one of the streets in Nápoles.

We crossed over into the next neighborhood, San Pedro de los Pinos.  For some time I have been watching the construction of this high-rise building, and it appears that is nearing completion.  Its architecture is quite interesting, and the X shaped beams are supposed to be a technique to help the structure withstand earthquakes.

Right across the street is the Metropolí Shopping Mall.  We went inside because Alejandro wanted to see what was playing at the movie theater.  There was nothing of interest to us, so we moved on.

I stopped in my tracks, however, and I had to take a picture when I saw that a Borders Bookstore still exists in Mexico.

Like the old stores in the U.S., this place had a coffee and snack bar.  The store however is tiny compared to the ones that used to exist back home.  I found it rather strange that within the limited selection of books there was a large number of science fiction titles by L. Ron Hubbard, the author who went on to found Scientology.

Once you get away from the major avenues, the neighborhood of San Pedro de los Pinos is a rather peaceful area with a small town feel.  Here Alejandro poses in front of the bandstand on the pleasant little plaza in the center of the "colonia".

Next to the plaza is the neighborhood market building decorated with marine life mural.

I prefer the market in Colonia del Valle that I wrote about a few days ago, but Mexican markets are always colorful, interesting places, so we went inside.

Besides the bananas and pineapples, here you see "guayabas" (guavas) and "jícamas", a large root vegetable.

I think that these fruits are completely unknown in the U.S.  They are called "tejocotes" and they are used in the traditional Mexican Christmas punch.

As in most Mexican markets, there are stalls selling food to eat on the premises... sort of like a food court.  Alejandro says that the stalls here at San Pedro de los Pinos are very popular, especially the ones selling shellfish.  They still have their Christmas decorations up.  Notice the one young lady who appears to be posing for my camera.

Here we see "ollas" (large clay pots) filled with the pastes which are diluted and simmered to make "mole".

The vendor told us that her husband had painted the "ollas" himself.

Our route back toward the condo took us past Plaza México, the largest bullring in the world, and there was a bullfight that day.  The streets around the bullring had a carnival atmosphere with booths selling bullfight related trinkets.

¡Olé!

Mexico City from the Air

I found a short video on YouTube of aerial shots of Mexico City.  The photography is astounding!
Check it out here...CDMX - the Hypercity

Strolling through the Park

After our visit to "Los Pinos" on Saturday Alejandro and I decided to walk through Chapultepec Park rather than head back to the condo on the subway.

Just outside of the complex of "Los Pinos" are the remains of a colonial aqueduct built in the 16th century.

Near the aqueduct once stood an old mill called "Molino del Rey" (the King's Mill).  Here in 1847 one of the last battles of the Mexican American War was fought.  The Mexican forces tried to repel the U.S. Army as it made its way toward Mexico City.  (At that time Chapultepec Park was several miles from the city.)  It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war with heavy casualties on both sides.   After around seven hours of fighting, the Americans took the mill.  They marched on to fight another battle at Chapultepec Castle, and within a week they had taken Mexico City.

The white building which stands on the site of the mill is now a military barracks.

Nearby is a monument to Francisco Madero, a hero of the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

He was elected President after the dictator Porfirio Diaz was forced into exile.

In 1913 Madero was assassinated in a counter-revolutionary coup.

One of the park's residents

The route we took through the park was along one of the less frequented paths.

Even though it was a Saturday when the park is crowded, our walk was tranquil.

Alejandro poses in front of the remains of "El Sargento", a cypress tree which dates back to Aztec times.  It lived for around 500 years before dying in 1969.

After our walk we had dinner at a restaurant just outside of the park called "Mirador de Chapultepec".  We have eaten there a couple times before, and although by Mexican standards it is rather expensive, the food is good.  We had a pitcher of "clericot" (a wine beverage similar to sangria), soup, main course, and a shared dessert.  The bill came to $66 US for the two of us.

Alejandro had beef medallions in a three cheese sauce with jalapeños.

I had what is called a "milanesa", beef filet pounded into a thin sheet and breaded.

It was topped with ham and Manchego cheese.

When we left the restaurant it was such a pleasant early evening that we walked the remaining two miles to the condo... and burned off a few of the calories.