Pineapple Pottery near Patzquaro

A quick trip last week to Guadalajara and Patzquaro turned in to 4 days because there was just too much to see. We were with our friends Yoli and Victor and one of Yoli's goals was to buy some pineapple (piña) pottery from the source.

Just outside of the village of San José de Gracia we found these two pots placed by the road and we knew we were there.








This little shelter was the shop where we met Maria Cruz, the artist.

She graciously showed us how she hand builds the pottery with no wheel and applies the surface texture by pulling off a little bit of clay and "pinching" it onto the pot.Then she places it in her wood-fired kiln
which produces these intricate pineapple pots
and pottery sculptures.
Pineapple pottery is an acquired taste for me but I was charmed by these clay tables she makes to hold her plants.
We drove on into the town and found several more little shops along the road
where Yoli happily added more pineapples to her collection.

The Circus is in Town

The circus sprouts colorful tents in a vacant field behind our house once or twice a year. There are a number of traveling circuses and this is the first I have seen the Atayde Brothers Circus.

Prices seem to be high: 200 pesos for the good seats (about $15) to 60 pesos ($4.75) for children in the top row seats. That is a lot for a large family.

I love to come early when they are putting the tents up. These guys are doing their own high wire act without ropes.
But the main reason I love the circus is we get to see the cats.
They are right out in the field, up close and personal. Anyone want to pull her tail?
The workers enjoy showing how "tame" they are. Here is one getting a "beso/kiss" from the white tiger.
Such beautiful markings.

They are all so healthy and well fed.
I'm only disappointed that we haven't seen the circus parade this year yet; perhaps later in the week if we are lucky we will turn a corner in town and there it will be.

Big Day for Saint Michael the Archangel

October 3rd started at 2am for us when the fireworks and bells began. We walked to the center of town about 3:30 in time to see the parade of the paper mache stars lit from within by candles.

It is difficult to capture the massive fireworks of the Alborada with my little camera; I need Melissa down here with all her lenses. I have posted about the fireworks battle previously with a slide show.

The celebration continues into the day with a massive parade. Each year it is slightly different but with similar components.

There are always the creepy clowns
and crowds lining the parade route
Lots of horses
Dancing people in traditional costumes
A scary monster devil guy
Giant paper mache dancing figures, called Mojigangs

Little angels on a float with St. Michael
Dancers from the city's neighborhoods and neighboring regions representing different tribes which inhabited the region before the Conquest.
An appreciative and enthusiastic crowd
And finally, the Xúchiles, 20-foot traditional floral offerings to St Michael the Archangel made out of an ancient desert plant (cucharilla) and marigolds. The constructions are so heavy it takes 10 men to carry them along the parade route where they are finally installed in the courtyard of the Paroquia.
As the light was dying, the Voladores, flying dancers from Papantla, Veracruz, performed overhead while we sat in the shadow of the Xúchiles the Paroquia courtyard
and looked up at the image of St. Michael he Archangel displayed on a Xúchile.

A Special Blessing

Since this is the week of the Feast of San Miguel, we were not surprised to see a procession carrying his statue passing under a banner of his namesake, San Miguel de Allende. Apparently San Miguel is also the saint of taxi drivers because following behind was a line of taxis reaching up the road to the top of the hill, decorated in red paper flowers, balloons and streamers.

The drivers carefully maneuvered in front of the Paroquia
and were arranged in neat rows facing the church.

Then at the appointed moment it was "hoods up"   

 and the priest appeared with the holy water.
Each taxi was individually blessed.
One more reason to love living in San Miguel de Allende!

Back to SMA

This is how I know we are not in Portland any more: the donkey man with his loads of dirt to sell was passing our house this morning.

To get here, we flew first to San Antonio for some shopping, bbq and to meet up with our friends Yoli and Victor and their SUV. The righteous bbq was at County Line Barbeque on the River Walk. They really do know barbeque so don't open this link if you are a vegetarian.

After a full day of shopping (Bryan says it was the longest day of his life) we loaded the Chevy Tahoe to bursting. Much of this load was Bryan's grill from Lowes, but Yoli and I held our own at Ross and Jo-Anns. Fortunately the customs stop gave us the green light! Unpacking the Tahoe would have been a task.

The drive is about 8 hours from Laredo, Texas, not including the stop for visas and car registration, so we broke the trip at Matehuala. Before toll roads, freeways and fast cars Mateuala was the mid-point for travel between Laredo and Mexico City. It still has remnants of 1960s-style neon signs advertising the motels as you drive through. We stayed at our favorite, Las Palmas, and I was disappointed that the neon light was off as we drove in after dark. The desk clerk explained that it is too expensive to run when there are not a lot of hotel guests. Here it is in the daytime.
After a relaxing breakfast at the hotel the next morning we drove the last 3 hours to San Miguel. A long section of this last leg is lined with Joshua trees which I once thought were native only to southern California. I know they are in Baja, and Matejuala is the same latitude as La Paz so that makes sense.
It feels good to be home.

Wild Rivers and Big Sky, Pt. 2

Eastward we head, through the wheat fields of Idaho. (Yes I know there should have been potatoes, but we didn't see that many, just miles of wheat and barns.)

I thought Dr. Pierce's General Tonic might be a cure for our new "improved" health system, when served with a bit of gin.

We arrived in West Yellowstone and were greeted by a herd of life-sized painted buffalo. I had seen the painted cows of Chicago but the town of West Yellowstone choose buffalo to decorate and auction off. Some of them were beautifully done.
I love this red one below with petroglyphs of buffalo

And sure enough, just after we entered the park we saw this guy for real.
But I came for geysers and mudpots and I wasn't disappointed when I saw these plumes in the distance.
From Yellowstone it is possible to drive through the Grand Tetons National Park

to the town of Jackson Hole. WY, where the old west is still alive, according to the city planners . I did spy this lovely old neon sign, however and I'm always happy to see them preserved.

Also, we can recommend highly the Snake River Brew Pub in Jackson.

From Wyoming, we moseyed west to Craters of the Moon National Park. This was one of our stopovers on a trip across the US in the summer of 1970. The park consists of mostly inaccessible lava beds with one corner set aside for camping. That night's Park Ranger's presentation was on the Oregon Trail which passed through as Goodale's Cutoff at the north end of the park. The lecture was fascinating and from then on I kept an eye out for remnants of the trail. Here we are parked on a portion of the Cutoff visible and still used (for reenactments)
The next day we followed the amazing Snake River along it's route to eastern Oregon.
We spent the night in Joseph, checked out Wallowa Lake, and lunched at the supremely excellent Terminal Gravity Brew Pub in Enterprise. If you detect a theme here, it might be called "Destination Brew Pubs Tour of the West."

I 'll leave you with another lovely neon sign.