Our New Blog Address

We have moved our Tales From The Road Blog to a new site, be sure to book mark it!

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Here’s what’s new on the new blog site:

1.  Tales From the Road

2.  Photo albums of our travels in Mexico

3.  Previews of new merchandise – a first chance to purchase new items that are enroute and can be pre-ordered before it makes it up on our site.

Casa Azul, Frida’s House

The Frida Kahlo Museum and the house that she grew up in, the house she was nursed back to health in after her tragic accident, the house she learned to paint in. This was her family home, which after one of her break ups with Diego Rivera, she moved back to. She painted it blue. She and Diego later brought the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and his wife here to live. She spent her last days and died here. (slideshow at the bottom of this post)

The grounds outside the room where Frida's day bed was.

I was truly stunned by the size of the grounds, as well as the design of the structures which skirted the outer perimeter near the street, different than I had imagined. I was equally surprised at how many preconceived ideas about Frida Kahlo’s life I had adopted which this visit dispelled by just being in the presence of the real thing. This always happens to me with art galleries anyway. For example Goya’s dark series, which are housed at the Prado in Madrid, you can’t imagine what these paintings really are through photographs of them. You think you can, but when you stand right in front of them, they convey emotion, compassion, anger and the power of their story and they become real. You have to spend time with the emotion they create inside you afterwards.

The same happens here. There is a main house where she grew up. You enter and the museum begins in these simple, quiet, thick walled rooms. They are filled with paintings, unfinished works and drawings by Frida and Diego. Her studio, which was built in 1946 is grey stone with large walls of paned windows, reminiscent of a Frank Lloyd Wright building, looking out into the expansive garden, through the tree tops.

As you follow along (and not in this order) you pass through the living room, Diego’s bed room – complete with a rifle on the bed, the bright yellow, incredibly charming and homey kitchen. There are rooms of memorabilia, letters, documents and drawings, folk art and clothing. Then there is her studio with large tables and desks that hold trays of old india ink bottles, mashed tubes of oil paints, brushes that hang on the back of the easel, books on art and painting, small iconic and pre-hispanic figures and toys. Her easel is on wheels, her wheel chair set in front of it and her Tehuana embroidered clothing draped over chairs. On the opposite wall there is a glass enclosed book case that spans a long wall, filled with books on Mexican history, art, prehispanic culture, poetry, Marxism, and a large collection of books in English. You are not allowed to take photographs inside, and are closely followed by a combination of guards in uniform and young men and women that look like visitors but are closely watching you.

You end up in a small alcove between her studio and her bedroom where her day bed is wedged, the famous single four poster bed that has a mirror suspended above it, where she painted self portraits and from which hangs small paper mache figures and little dolls. At this point, you have seen a good sense of a life which has been carefully catalogued, photographed, written about and lived.

Across the courtyard you pass through a large opening into another garden and more buildings which house an archive of photographs. You pass through a room with photographs of her mother’s and father’s families, her grandparents, then her own family, then a series of self portraits of her father (a photographer) posing in an intimate series of photographs including a nude of himself and as an old man, a picture that makes you think you would have liked this man. The culmination of it all for me however, was the x-ray of Frida’s spine, in which you can see the large metal plate fused in three places to her bones and you have to look away, it is so painful an image. This, along with seeing the paintings, the drawings, the unfinished pieces, which are my favorites, was touching and the perfect antidote to the cult-like trivialization, however well meaning and powerful, that has formed around her life

CLICK ON THE PHOTO to view the slideshow

There’s more on the town of Coyoacan, the famous Bazaar Sabado in San Angel, two great restaurants, one good and one bad hotel and a slideshow of photos from one of those great big Mexican bakeries in the next post.

© 2009 All Rights reserved Dos Mujeres Mexican Folk Art

Click on the photo of Diego to view the slideshow.

The Lorenzo Family

Last weekend we visited Nicolas Lorenzo whose family creates these wonderful retablos. We’ll be having more about this family  and their wonderful naive retablos.  You’ll find all of these and more on the site the week of January 20th.

This family is from the state of Guerrero Mexico, a small village in the rio balsa area where most of the amate style painters live.  Their work is in the style of the amate paintings that you see on bark paper but these are painted on masonite and laquered afterwards.  Most depict dances, village scenes, saints, animals performing human acts, popular figures such as luchador wrestlers and skeletons along with the supernatural. They are wonderful examples of naive folk art at it’s best – by untrained artists, using materials that are found nearby.  The entire family, including the youngest of children paint from an early age.

Here are a few close-ups

© 2010 Dos Mujeres Mexican Folk Art

Seven Deadly Sins

In Queretaro, there is a nacimiento in the main plaza – four blocks filled with larger than life Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the three kings bearing gifts, walking along with their elephant and white horse. There’s the annunciation, with Mary and the Archangel Gabriel, a menagerie of animals surrounding the manger, shepherds and towns people, a garden of Eden – not just a little garden but complete with a lake, flamingos, water birds and a naked adam and eve.

On one side there are statues of families breaking pinatas, women in nostalgic Mexican dress in the kitchen cooking, a forest with bears and wolves. But not to be outdone by the worst of them all – the seven deadly sins depicted as super size devils, some with their heads in the ground, only their feet and legs dangling in the air, the rest as the seven deadlies – Greed, Sloth, Pride, Wrath, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, as shown in the slideshow below. What can I say except only in Mexico will you see the Virgin Mary with naked Adam and Eve, and the seven deadly sins depicted as devils – and bigger than life at that – in a Christmas nativity.

Click on the Devil to view this community nativity.

The Nativity and the Seven Deadly Sins -- Click on the photo to view the slideshow

Castillo Fireworks

Click on the photo to view the slideshow and fireworks movie

Thursday night, near the mercado Ignacio Ramirez, the final event of the celebration of the Virgen de Guadalupe was held. Vendors food booths and people filled the streets. The Virgin’s altar was in full bloom, the procession of women carrying a wood nicho on a litter of flowers, and singing Buenos días, Paloma Blanca, had just arrived, followed by a lineup of followers who are served tamales and atole.

Castillo fireworks, which in this case include the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe who will be burned up in flames at the end of the evening, are being assembled in the street, roped to the surrounding buildings. It is a raggedy but self assured group of men from Guanajuato climbing around these towers, tying rockets, whistlers and vueltas. Grupo La Tuna Provinciana de San Miguel de Allende, dressed in black velvet shakespearan costume continue on from the women carrying the litter with Buenos días, Paloma Blanca, one of the many songs written for the Virgin of Guadalupe. It is song you would probably recognize, widely sung by mariachis, norteno bands, school children and women carrying statues, whenever the Virgin is present.

As the evening wears on and the crowd has had it’s share of pozole, tamales, enchiladas, gorditas, hamburgers and fries, the rockets begin. Roman candles are lit off in the middle of the street one after another from a triple iron stand, watched by it’s owner who counts the number of booms by bobbing his head and looking up in the sky after each one. The rockets are followed by the lighting of the first side of the castillo, popping and crackling as the first fuse ignites.

The banda Risuena, dressed in shiny silver suits, decked out for the occasion, begin playing a cacophany of songs and drum rolls, accompanied by trumpets, trombone, clarinets, providing music for the display. After all these years, I still don’t quite get the banda music, which in local groups include the youngest of children to the old guys who have been practicing for years but sound like they can’t hold a tune. But over time, even I can hear the difference between the local neighborhood groups and the professionals. One thing for sure though, if there is a banda, there is a party, and they are there to help it along.

CLICK ON THE PHOTO to view the movie

The photos of castillo fireworks towers don’t really do justice to the feeling they create in the street while they are going off all over the place, sending flames and paper into the crowds. Up until about three years ago, young boys, from ages five to about thirteen, were allowed to run under the falling sparks, wearing cardboard boxes over their heads and backs, a rite of passage that is no longer allowed here in San Miguel. Nevertheless, these are thrilling fireworks to watch in person, something impossible to compare to anything you’ve ever seen in the U.S. and certainly nothing you would ever be allowed to watch from 25 feet away.

Click on the photo to view the song

As for the subject of this post, Buenos días, Paloma Blanca, here is the Grupo La Tuna Provinciana singing the song, with the words to follow along below. Click on the photo to view the video.

Here’s the words, which kick in mid-song:
Buenos días, Paloma Blanca
Hoy te vengo a saludar.
Saludando tu belleza
En tu trono celestial.
Eres Madre del creador
Y a mi corazón encantas
Grácias te doy con amor
Buenos días, Paloma Blanca.

Niña linda, niña santa
Tu dulce nombre alabar.
Porque eres tan sacrosanta
Hoy te vengo a saludar.
Reluciente como el alba
Pura, sencilla y sin mancha
Qué gusto recibe mi alma!
Buenos días, Paloma Blanca.

Que linda está la mañana
El aroma de las flores.
Despiden suaves olores
Antes de romper el alba.
Mi pecho con voz ufana
Grácias te da, Madre mía
En este dichoso día
Antes de romper el alba.

Cielo azul yo te convido
En este dichoso día.
A que prestes tu hermosura
A las flores de María.
Madre mía de Guadalupe
Dáme ya tu bendición
Recibe éstas mañanitas
De un humilde corazón.

Nacimiento Babes

Every Christmas,
Markets are set up all over town,
Hundreds of stalls selling
Cactus,
Eno,
Tree bark,
Fir boughs,
Painted clay figures,
Glittery things,
Lights,
Nino Jesus dolls,
And elaborate hand made clothing
To dress him in, for his birth

Nacimentos (nativities) here in Mexico,
Are room size affairs.
They are not a little box that sits on your hearth,
Not by any stretch of the imagination.
They literally fill a whole corner or wall of the living room.

In the next posts,
I’ll go into the making of a nativity,
The fabulous over the top Christmas markets here,
But for now, here are the babes of the nacimientos.

Click on the photo to view the slideshow

If you click on the photo above,
It will take you to a slideshow of these gorgeous creatures.
These dolls belong to the owners of the market booths.
They will be placed in their nativities on Christmas eve.
Some are very old, have chips and flaws,
Have been repaired.
They can be found in outfits
Ranging from nurses to the pope.

The owners of these market stalls
Have been sewing for months -
Some all year long
To bring these charming outfits to market
For you to buy for your baby Jesus.
© 2009 Dos Mujeres Mexican Folk Art

Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe

CLICK on this photo to view the video, Virgen de Guadalupe 2009

I think the saying goes
‘Let me count the ways’
And today, the multitude of ways they honor the Guadalupe, Lupe, Lupita, beginning at midnight with fireworks and a mariachi mass.

At 7am there is a rosary at the altar down the street, with singing, praying, tamales and atole.

Every statue in town is decorated, every statue is sung and prayed to. Many are carried through the town in arms, atop taxis, in nichos, carried by four women on litters that are covered in flowers. She is placed in doorways and windows, serenaded to by norteno bands, recorded music in the markets, and the people.

Her altars are decorated in gold lamé,
Red, white and green flowers and Christmas lights.
She is made from wood, paper,
Plastic, plaster, metal, clay and sequins.
Her image is on everything from notebooks
To curtains to car windows.
She resides in everyone’s home.
They believe in her with all their hearts.

In our neighborhood
Her altar is painted on a wall, decorated with flowers, bread and food. There is a rosary and singing after which everyone dresses up in their locos costume to party, eat and dance. There’s even a greased pole with presents at the top for the children to climb.

Click on the photo below to watch the movie of how today’s day in honor of the Virgen de Guadalupe unfolds.

CLICK on this photo to view the video -- Virgen de Guadalupe 2009

Weavers of Peña de Bernal

Peña de Bernal Is considered the third largest monolith in the world following the Rock of Gibraltar and Sugarloaf in Brazil.In mass, it is second to Ayers Rock in Australia and towers at a height of about 450 feet.San Sebastián Bernal sits at the bottom of the mountain, a small quiet town that claims an average life span for it’s inhabitants, of 94.7 years.

The mountain is believed to have magical properties,
Bringing thousands of pilgrims each spring equinox,
Dressed in white robes, to an evening community ritual
At the small chapel mid-way up the mountain.
The town has been bestowed with the gift
Of being one of Mexico’s 35 or so Pueblos Magicos.

On the weekend, the town is full of people,
Mostly tourists who live within a day’s ride.
Rock climbers come to scale to the top of the mountain,
Hikers skirt around the lower half.
Most likely you’ll see walkers in tennis shoes or boots,
But being as we are here in Mexico,
We also saw groups of younger women
In high heels. Go figure.
During the week, it is a peaceful, colorful ghost town.
We went last year on a Wednesday for the night.
The town closed up at seven so our dinner,
Was up on the highway, a taco stand
Which sold tacos de cabeza – eye, tongue and brain,
Or chorizo.

That didn’t stop us from enjoying the town,
Climbing part way up the Peña,
Or buying some of the fabulous wool traveling blankets.
The weavers here make many things,
The women of the town knit sweathers, shawls and vests,
But Bernal is famous for it’s wool textiles,
Blankets, rebozos, bufandas,
Which I have to say are top quality,
In beautiful natural colors and designs.
It is worth a visit to the workshops
Where the rhythm of the shuttles and pedals
That work the loom create a quiet music
As meter after meter of cloth forms at the other end.
Besides the wool, they make colorful cotton bedspreads,
Pillow covers and decorative wall pieces and rugs.

Click on the photo to go to our site where these can be purchased.

Besides the hand woven textiles,
One can find artisan foods,
Including cheeses,
Hand made candies
Artesanal jams and jellies.

The Peña has been used as a backdrop
In many Mexican movies including
La Cucaracha with Pedro Armandas and Dolores del Rio,
El Gallo de Oro with Ignacio Lopez Tarzo and Lucha Villa,
Adios Nicanor,
El Lugar Sin Limites with Isaura Espinoza
To name a few.

Although never mentioned in travel books,
Bernal has a wonderful cemetery
Which sits at the bottom of the monolith.
It has some of the more unique burial mausoleums
That I have ever seen, not to mention
Being a very peaceful place to spend some time.

Although Bernal is a tourist town,
It maintains a sense of self and place
That we didn’t find in Tequisquiapan,
Which although has many thermal baths to draw people,
Didn’t maintain the sense of place that Bernal has.
Perhaps this is because of the mountain,
Or the hand crafted textiles that are made here,
Or perhaps that it hasn’t totally given itself over
Completely to the tourist.

Click on the photo below to view a slideshow of photos which includes a short movie of the town and one weaving studio at work.

CLICK ON THE photo to view the slideshow including a video of the town and weavers of Bernal

©2009 all rights reserved.

Dia de los Muertos Altar

I spent most of the day on Calle Relox, with Elvia and her girls, watching and helping a group of young men build an altar for Jesus (Kiro) and in honor all of the other deceased of this neighborhood -parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and friends. The decorating and painting of this fountain is a tradition with these guys and is also decorated by them for every major holiday or religious festival.

The day began at 9am – a group of men on a mission carrying buckets of soapy water, hanging two story long black curtains, placing the muertos figures, plants and Xuchiles. Then the draping of boxes and tables on which photographs were placed along with tequila, beer, food and last, a giant seed and sawdust painting of Jesus (nickname Kiro) as an ironworker (his profession) and the dates of his life, 1971-2009.

Here’s a few pictures of the day.
The links to the entire slideshow are at the bottom.

Teri, Jesus’ daughter, plucking flowers

Elvia, surveying the scene

Little Lupita
Who wanted a picture of herself below her father’s picture

The seed and sawdust painting.
Kiro as a skeleton ironworker, hammer and anvil, 1971-2009

The altar at night

Elvia and her four girls at the altar at night.
Beto, her son, didn’t want his photo taken as he had just had
An operation on his jaw, but nevertheless, played a large part,
A rite of passage for him to be included with the men
In the construction of the altar.
CLICK ON THE PHOTO to view the entire dia de los muertos slideshow

CLICK ON THE PHOTO to view the entire dia de los muertos slideshow

Six Months Later

I met up with Elvia and her four daughters at the cemetery today. She was late so I waited in front for an hour, arms full of flowers – you know me by now, trying to video people coming in with flowers, buckets, shovels, eating a bag of home made potato chips with salsa and lime, trying not to grease up the lens of my camera, wiping my dirty hands on my white blouse. Boy are those potato chips good, I usually don’t let myself eat those, but I coudn’t help myself.

There were hundreds, if not thousands of people inside. Gravesites were covered with flowers, candles and food. Little boys were running around with plastic buckets, offering their services to get water for the flowers. Mariachis, Norteno bands and street musicians were playing. I’ll never tire of watching a group of mariachis in their white embroidered suits, carrying trumpets, guitars and violins, sing to an elderly couple who have crawled over the iron fence which surrounds the grave, to place flowers, light candles, and sit down holding hands, while they enjoy the music with their loved one.

But that isn’t the point of this post. About seven months ago, my neighbor Petra lost her daughter Maricela to complications with lupus and on the ninth day of her novenas, Elvia’s husband, was murdered by a seventeen year old boy who wanted money for beer. It was and is a terrible tragedy for Elvia’s family. Elvia has a son and four daughters, ages four to seventeen. Today, was the first dia de los muertos for them. For a while we just stood around looking at each other, waiting for someone to bring a ladder to reach Jesus’ crypt which was at the top level. While we are waiting, Elvia tries to hold back tears as she notices that someone had come earlier in the day, leaving flowers and a can of Modelo beer. She is pretty sure it was her brother Fila.

Karin decides it is not worth waiting for the ladder and climbs the crypt asking for flowers. The older girls and I break off flower tops and hand them to her while Elvia holds her in place. Little Lupita stands by finishing off my bag of potato chips. Imagine having to decorate a gravesite this way. If it weren’t so sad, it would be comical. It takes us about fifteen minutes to get it just right, with Elvia putting on the finishing touch – the can of Modelo right up front in the center.

There is a deep resigned grief, a few minutes of reflection, hugs and kisses around and agreement about how nice it looks followed by an agreement that he will like that Modelo, which makes us all laugh even though it is hard not to cry a on a day like this.

Go here to view the slideshow of this week’s dia de los muertos celebration