Buying talavera in Dolores Hidalgo

Today we went with our friends Yolanda and Victor Del Rio and Trish and Dick Snyder to help Yoli select tiles for her home remodeling project at their favorite tile factory in Dolores Hidalgo, about 1/2 hour from San Miguel. Talavera is the name of the hand painted multi-colored pottery produced primarily in this town.





Once they had selected their tile, the owner invited us to view how they make it. We watched first as the clay was rolled the exact thickness and then trimmed and dried.
And finally it is carefully loaded in the kiln.
The tiles are individually hand painted or silk-screened. Yoli tried her hand at the latter and did an acceptable job under close scrutiny.
Here are some hand painted tiles ready for shipment all over the world.
In addition to tiles, Acosta produces beautiful hand painted sinks like the ones we have in all 3 of our bathrooms.
We watched the intricate hand painting process.
With all that watching, we worked up an appetite for carnitas, jucy pork boiled in oil. There are literally dozens of carnitas shops in Dolores; most seem to be named Carnitas Vicente.
Here they are, waiting for us. (Sorry to the vegetarians out there for the graphic photo.)
The inside walls were covered with murals with a Mexican theme. Here are Yoli and Victor waiting for the food under the watchful eyes Father Hidalgo.
After a full meal, that included fried tortillas filled with pig brain (thanks! Victor for not telling me until I ate it), we enjoyed some fresh coconut milk from a table out front. Here are Yoli (holding the plastic bag of coconut milk), Trish, Dick and Bryan.
This lovely woman risked all of her fingers and her knee as she calmly slashed the coconut meat off with nasty looking knife, a towel over her knee, and her son on her back.
And finally, here are the pretty hand-painted plates I couldn't resist.

Road Trip - Day 2 and 3 Taxco

My mother, Barbara Crow, went to Taxco in 1943, just before she married my dad, and saw a much different Taxco than we did. I have her watercolor of a hillside with single story homes climbing vertically. The vertical part is still there but the homes have been built up and we weren't able to identify where she might have stood to paint her view. Here is the view from our hotel room by day and by night.















To get to the MonteTaxco Hotel and this incredible view we had to take a cable car up the shear cliffs.


Here is the view of the cliff and the hotel on top from across town.




















The town itself is a beautiful historic town. The silver mining industry took off in the late 1500s when Cortes staked a claim and sent silver around the world. This lasted for about 200 years until the mines were mined out. Then in 1716 Don Jose de la Borda (a Spaniard of French descent) "rediscovered" silver in Taxco and built this beautiful cathedral, Santa Prisca.

Again the art of silver work died out until 1926 when William Spratling moved from the US and motivated the community artisans to create designs and rediscover their craft of silversmithing. As a result, we were told by our taxi driver, 80 percent of the industry of Taxco is related to silver.

I had read a book about Spratling years ago and was able to find the newly established Spratling Museum in town. We didn't have time go out to his hacienda where they still make his jewelry designs.

We were traveling with our friends Trish and Dick Snyder from North Carolina. They are building a house in San Miguel as a second home.

We headed into town to look for lunch and found this intriguing 2nd floor restaurant right on the main square with three tables and a killer view of the church.

The walls were covered with black and white photos of movie stars including a very prominent Elvis. We asked the owner if he was an Elvis fan and he denied it but his white jumpsuit and gray pompadour hairdo said Elvis was alive and well in Taxco. Here he is with his granddaughter. You decide.



















After a comfortable night at our hotel we headed to some limestone caves nearby. Not quite Carlsbad Caverns but nicely lit. In the little town the women make intricate wooden flowers from local materals. I wouldn't believe the detail if I hadn't seen it.



Our second stop on the way home was a small town where craftsmen make intricate Trees of Life. The trees can tell religious stories or just depict some part of Mexican life such as the Voladores of Veracruz who hang by their ankles and spin from a tall poll..

It was fascinating to see them being crafted out of many tiny clay pieces in the workshops. You can click on any of the photos to see more detail.

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.