Snow on the Mountain

With the recent rain that we have had in Mexico City, the slopes of the active volcano, Popocatépetl, located 43 miles to the southeast of the city, are once again covered with snow.

Here are a couple of webcam views of the mountain from this morning...

Yucatan Week

Last Saturday Alejandro and I went to an event called "Semana Yucatán en México" (Yucatan Week in Mexico City).

It is being held at the Sports Palace from May 8th through May 17th, and brings together 270 vendors selling handicrafts, food and drink from the state of Yucatán.

There was a wide variety of merchandise for sale including hand-made wooden kitchen implements...

bags made from henequen, the fiber from a kind of agave plant...

and Mayan masks.

There were vendors selling traditional embroidered clothing for women.

And for the men, there were several booths selling beautiful guayabera shirts.

Neither Alejandro nor I need more clothes, but we couldn't resist buying a couple of shirts.

One of the main reasons we went to the event was to see if we could find the artisanal brand of Xtabentún that we like.  I have mentioned Xtabentún before.  It's a honey, anise liqueur that is a specialty of Yucatan.  It is hard to find here in Mexico City, but at some stores you can find a commercially produced brand of the liqueur.  Last year Alejandro and I were at a festival featuring products from Yucatan.  There was a guy selling an artisanal brand of the beverage.  We tasted a sample, and we liked it even more than than what you normally see in the stores.  Some months later, I was at a Yucatan fair held at the Museum of Popular Cultures.  The same fellow was there, and I bought another bottle.  Sure enough, he was at this event, and he remembered us.  We bought two bottles, so that we have a good supply to serve when we have visitors at the apartment.

After spending a couple of hours at "Semana Yucatán", we took our new guayaberas and our bottles of Xtabentún and headed home.  

Mud!

It would appear that the rainy season is off to an early start.  Yesterday at 4 PM we had heavy rains.  Although they tapered off, the precipitation continued well into the night.  On Monday night we only had light rain, but heavy storms affected the western side of the metropolitan area.  The Hondo and Remedios Rivers overflowed their banks and flooded roadways, vehicles and numerous homes.  The most affected areas were the western suburb of Naucalpan and the borough of Azcapotzalco.  Water as high as a meter left a muddy mess inside houses.

The headline of one newspaper today screamed "¡LODO! (MUD!) with a photo of the destroyed furnishings inside of a man's house.

(photo taken from the internet)

Last summer was exceptionally rainy with flooding in many parts of the city.  A repeat this summer would not only be dreadful for the residents of affected areas, but it could cause major headaches for the World Cup games here. 

Welcome!

Mexico City has an advertising campaign for this summer's World Cup games.  I have seen  the signs in Metrobus and subway stations and on the walls of underpasses.  One of the signs is this one...

 It says,

"In Mexico City all nations are welcome."

It seemed to me (and Alejandro agreed with me) that the message is a subtle dig at a certain country that has not earned a very good reputation for welcoming foreign visitors.

At the bottom of the sign is the phrase, "La pelota vuelve a casa." (The ball returns home.)

It seems to be Mexico's slogan for the games and refers to the fact that Mexico is the only country to host three World Cups.

Longer Vacation?

A controversy has erupted over the school calendar in Mexican schools.  Generally, Mexican schools do not close for summer vacation until the middle of July, and classes resume the beginning of September.  Recently, the Secretary of Education announced that the academic year would end on June 5th instead of July 15th due to the World Cup and a heat wave.

The news perhaps caused glee among many students, but it has resulted in an unexpected backlash from teachers and parents.  Teachers are upset that they will not be able to cover the required curriculum if the school year is cut by forty days.  Parents are angry that the quality of their children's education is being sacrificed for a sporting event, and working parents were scrambling to change plans to care for their children during an extended summer vacation.

The "heat wave" is not a valid excuse.  Yes, it has been hot here, but that is normal for this time of year.  It was much hotter two years ago, and classes were not cancelled.  Furthermore, by June, the beginning of the rainy season will moderate the temperatures.  In fact, yesterday a front has passed through and the high temperature in Mexico City was a comfortable 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

How does the World Cup affect the schools?  Yes, Mexico expects millions of foreign visitors, but in what way would that impact classes?  Besides, the World Cup games are only being held in three Mexican cities.

A couple days ago, in response to the furor, the Mexican President backtracked and said that the proposal was not yet final.  Then, yesterday, it was announced that the school calendar would remain as originally planned with classes held until July 15th.  So, the voice of teachers and parents overrode the plans of the Secretary of Education.

    

Green Pillars

To walk from the apartment to the nearest Costco, a distance of a little over a mile, takes about a half hour.  The last portion of the walk takes me parallel to a tangled network of highways that includes the elevated "Anillo Periférico" (Peripheral Ring).  Fortunately, there is a bridge where pedestrians can cross over this mess.

Last week, on my latest walk to Costco, I noticed that the columns supporting the elevated highway were covered with plants... vertical gardens, surely connected to irrigation tubes that keep the vegetation watered.

Had I not noticed these urban gardens on my previous walks here?  Or are they brand new, a part of the city's manic rush to beautify the city prior to the World Cup?  I really don't think it is possible to turn this concrete jungle of highways into a beauty spot, but (if they maintain these gardens) there is certainly nothing wrong with adding some more oxygen to the air.

Art Deco in the Historic Center

 When thinking about Mexico City's Historic Center, most people think of colonial architecture... colonial palaces and churches dating back several centuries.  But in fact the area has a wide variety of architectural styles, including art deco, a style which become popular internationally in the 1920s and 30s.

I was recently reading an article from old edition of "Km. Cero", a free magazine that is handed out by museums and some stores in the Historic Center.

The article listed some of the examples of art deco to be found in the Historic Center.  I decided to walk around the area and see if I could find the buildings in the article.

The first one I found was the Villarcayo Building on Donceles Street. Although it has seen better days, it still appears to be occupied as an apartment building.

The curved balconies, doorway and decorative features all mark it as a part of the art deco movement.

I noticed this banner on the building which says that it is in the process of expropriation by the city government.

From what I read on the internet, expropriation occurs when the residents have requested the process because the building deteriorated and poses a structural risk.  But because the building is of historical and artistic value, I doubt that it would be demolished.  It will be interesting to see what happens to it.

A variation of art deco is a style known as Streamline Moderne whose aerodynamic lines are reminiscent of an airplane or ocean liner.  One example is the Thermidor Building on the corner of Palma and Venustiano Carranza Streets.

The ground floor is occupied by a branch of the coffee shop chain "La Parroquia" and the upper floors are the NH Collection Hotel, part of a chain based in Spain.

A walk east along Venestiano Carranza Street through a congested commercial district away from the tourist area of the Historic Center brought me to this building.

The building originally housed a chocolate factory called "La Cubana".

The facade features art deco geometric lettering and decorative details.

My walk took me past a couple of buildings which were not on the list, but which to my uneducated eye appeared to be art deco.

The original downtown branch of the Liverpool Department Store

An office building built by Lebanese-Mexican businessman Miguel E. Abed.

Later, a quick check on the internet confirmed that both are examples of art deco.

At this point I was getting tired, and the overcast sky threatened rain.  So I took the Metro and Metrobus back to the apartment.  The rest of the list of art deco buildings will have to wait for another day.