Cuernavaca and Taxco

Nov 18-20th we took a quick bus trip starting with Cuernavaca, about 45 minutes south of Mexico City in the State of Morelos. Since we only had 1/2 day by the time we arrived we created our own tour of the city, including the outstanding Robert Brady House. Here we are in the garden of his beautiful home.

Brady was born in 1928 in Idaho but lived in Venice for 5 years before settling in Cuernavaca in 1962. He had a great eye for collecting and filled his house with original works by artists such as Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and artifacts from his lifetime of travels. He was close friends with the famous Josephine Baker and there were photos of them and posters and statues of her throughout the house. He died in 1986 and left his house and grounds to a foundation where it remains as it was when he died.

I love this story of Brady's relationship with Josephine Baker:
In 1973 he became involved with African-American singer and dancer Josephine Baker (1906-1974). Baker promoted her belief that people of various ethnicities can live together harmoniously. Divorced from her fourth husband, Josephine and Robert decided to say wedding vows in an empty church in Acapulco, Mexico, to cement their platonic friendship in 1973, but the 'marriage' ended and they separated in 1974.

We visited the palace of Cortes which was built in 1529 and you can see bits of the original walls and floors. Now a museum, it contains murals painted in 1929-30 by Diego Rivera depicting the bloody history of the Spanish conquest. Here he included himself in period dress as a plantation owner. It is interesting that he rendered many of the images to appear three dimensional like this alcove but it was all to fool the eye.

Our hotel was the beautiful Hosteria Las Quintas








The next morning we went to Xochicalco to see the pyramid, one the the three main pre-Hispanic archaeological sites in Mexico, which flourished between 800-900AD. We got there early enough so that we were the about the only ones there and were able to wander without the normal crowds.








At the top was the nicely preserved Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent.


We continued on through the mountains to Taxco, the famous "silver city," but I'll blog about that another day.

Preparing for Dia de los Muertos

Preparations were well underway Friday for the display of altars (ofrendas) in the Jardin. You know it is time because of the piles of marigolds, the most traditional flower of the season, and the vibrant red coxcombs.

This year hundreds of high school students are involved in designing and assembling individual altars and it reminds me of decorating for prom; lots of energy.




We watched a group carving fruit and veggies for display and were told that some were from the culinary school. The carvings were intricate and fanciful.


Many families, including us, build personal altars in their homes or businesses to remember their dead. The traditional legend states that people die three deaths. The first death is when our bodies cease to function; when our hearts no longer beat of their own accord, when our gaze no longer has depth or weight, when the space we occupy slowly loses its meaning. The second death comes when the body is lowered into the ground, returned to mother earth, out of sight. And the third death, the most definitive death, is when there is no one left alive to remember us.

We are looking forward to observing the celebrations tonight in the Jardin. Saturday night is when families congregate at the cemeteries to clean the tombs and decorate with flowers and candles and gifts of food and sugar figurines. There are special markets around town where you can purchase the sugar sculptures.

I Love Zumba

I guess you've heard me say that before but I thought I'd post a few photos of a Zumba fundraiser for breast cancer education in the center square tonight so you can see why. It was a cool evening and about 200 men and women joined everyone's heartthrob, Cezar, in "Zumbaing." The audience was at least as large as they sat around the square watching us workout.

































Here is a website that provides free mammograms when you click through to low-income, inner-city and minority women whose awareness of breast cancer and opportunity for help is often limited.

The Celebration Continues

We went down for our usual Sunday breakfast this morning and ran into these guys who were really into getting their photo taken. You know me, always ready to oblige.

This is the last day of parades and dancing which closes the celebration of St. Michael Arcangel. The drumming and fireworks will continue into the night.

Speaking of celebrations into the night, our neighbor celebrated her 15th birthday (la Quinceanera or Quince (XV) Años) in a traditional manner recognizing her journey from childhood to maturity. The celebration highlights God, family, friends, music, food, and dance which includes disco balls flashing and speakers blaring into the night. We left at dusk but the dancing continued until after midnight.

The family asked if Yoli and I would please take photos which we will print and give as a gift. I was very pleased to see that this celebration didn't follow the over-the-top tradition we have seen in the past which includes an elaborate white dress for the birthday girl and a court of 14 young people in formal clothing. This one had a simple service at the local church, the food was tasty homemade chicken mole and rice and the party continued in their compound.

Here she is with some of her guests and here is the beautiful 15 year old birthday girl.

San Miguel Arcangel

As always, this was an exciting week in celebration of the patron Saint of the city. The highlight is, of course, La Alborada (in English, the Dawn) which starts at 4am on Saturday morning and continues for an hour until the Devils have been vanquished in their attack on the Parroquia. By 3:30 the main square was standing room only.

I wrote about this last year here and I really like that slide show but I wanted to add this video to give you a sense of the incredible hour of noise and energy. This video is about 11 seconds and if your volume is up you will get the idea of what the hour sounded like. You can hear the church bells as well. Bryan says he will bring his ear plugs next time.

Forever 54

In the US we have the shop Forever 21 but here in San Miguel we, apparently, aspire to remain the magical age of 54. Thought you would enjoy.

The Birthday Girl

I woke up this morning to some wonderful birthday greetings from friends and family. Thank you all so much for sending good wishes and your love this way. Here is the birthday girl getting ready to share her mocha cake with Bryan, sitting on the 3rd floor terrace of a pastry shop we love. I don't even know the name of the place but it overlooks the street that runs into the Jardin, Calle San Francisco. Below us we could hear the ankle bells and drums of the Indian dancers who were celebrating in front of the Parroquia.

My birthday is special because it coincides with the celebration of the city's patron saint, San Miguel, which includes plenty of fireworks, parades and other festivities over the next week. With this in mind, I would like to share this beautiful video, San Miguel de Allende: The Heart of Mexico, which I just saw today. It is the one presented earlier this year to UNESCO, along with tons of documentation, to secure World Heritage status for San Miguel de Allende. www.terrazassanmiguel.com/heart_of_mexico.html Enjoy.