Mexican Haiku

My posts here have been slowing down, and there's a reason. I've been doing quite a bit of creative writing lately, and posting some of it on my writing blog, Mexican Haiku. If you want to check that out, click on the link over at the right, and you will get there right away. I've been having a lot of fun writing with other people, in my writers group on Friday mornings, and ususally during the week with my friend Kimberly. Occasionally I write alone, but find myself doing more revising on my own. The rough first draft always needs some polishing up before it's presentable in public.

Last week another writers group offered a demonstration, and invited anyone interested to come along with paper and pen. I went with Kimberly and Beverly, also from our writers group, and that's where I wrote the piece about writing in San Miguel. There were about five people in their group, and about twenty-five audience participants. Many of us read our fresh writing out loud to the group, and the stories were personal and real, and some of them were funny. There was one woman from Iceland, who wrote in Icelandic, but translated it into English when she read her piece out. Kimberly asked her if she would read it to us in her native tongue, and it was delightful! We are trying to get her to defect to our group when she returns next winter.

What's amazing about being in a writers group is how good, and interesting, everybody's writing is, how much everybody's writing has improved and grown, in just a few weeks, and how we have all grown in our concept of ourselves as writers. Some of us actually have writing goals, and are writing and submitting work for publication! Profound shifts.

My time left here is getting short. I will still try to record some of my impressions, while they are fresh and immediate (like the young women's basketball games I've been watching in the parque the past couple of evenings), but there is too much that I see here in a day, to write it all. I find myself having to decide between living life, or writing about life. Sometimes it's a tough call.

Hasta Luego,
Jacquie

El Raton

I Mexico, they don't have a tooth fairy. In Mexico, they have a tooth rat. Yes, it is El Raton who comes and takes children's teeth from under their pillows and leaves them money for it. They think our tooth fairy is hilarious! Myself, I wouldn't feel all that happy about a rat reaching under my pillow, but maybe he's a cute rat, in a funny costume. I didn't ask.

What you can buy for $112.50 pesos

in the Farmacia Guadalajara, on a Sunday afternoon (all prices in pesos):

1 roll of paper towels @ 7.50
1 loaf of multigrain bread @ 14.00
1 50 g. bag of pistachios @ 11.60
1 14 oz can of frijoles @ 9.70
1 package Halls lozenges, pinapple flavour @ 3.60
1 small notepad @ 11.30
2 bic roller pens @ 13.00 each
1 small package of saltine-type crackers @ 4.80
1 small package of cookies @ 9.30
1 package turkey weiners @14.70

For a rough average, I divide pesos by 10 to get dollars, but it's more like 11.
Total about $13.00 Canadian.
PS There is no sales tax here.

Some things cost about the same as Canada, most things cost less. San Miguel is expensive compared to other cities in Mexico, because the international community has pushed prices up, and stores know they can charge more. Shopping in the markets is cheaper by far, although even there, I will typically get charged more than a Mexican would for the same product.

For the very best deals, you have to go to the Tuesday market, which is huge, and scout voraciously and barter. Discuenta para dos? Discount for two?

Adios

Rainy Season

The weather patterns are changing here. It still gets really hot in the afternoons, but then in the evening, clouds start gathering and thunder rumbles in the distance. Then, at night, it rains. The rain cools and freshens the air, and the mornings are delightful. It will do this all summer, apparently. It doesn't usually start this early, usually it's sometime in May, but they didn't get much rain at all last year, so it's needed badly. For example, where our gardener, Leon lives, there is no water now, and there won't be until it rains enough to fill his resevoir. His family takes their dirty dishes to his mother-in-law's house to wash them, and he is bringing all the family (one baby, one toddler and two parents) laundry here to do. Also, there is no water to flush the toilet at his home. I do not know what they are doing about that. Shayne suggested they at least fill some empty five-gallon drinking water bottles with tap water, so they can have some basic hygeine. Here, Leon has set up the washing machine so the used water flows into the gardens. The roses are happy about this! Many Texans come to this part of Mexico in the summer to escape the scorching heat at home. It puts our Pacific Northwest rains into perspective, sort of.

Guanajuato

This week I took a day trip over to Guanajuato with my friend Will, and his dad, Bill, who was visiting from Connecticut. We caught the first class bus at 10 AM, for about $8.00. By quarter to 12 we were having lunch in one of the delightful squares in that city.

Guanajato is the capital city of the state of Guanajuato. It is built in a valley. We took the Funicular up the hill to the statue of the Pipili, and a guide gave us a brief tour of the city splayed out before us, and took our pictures with the city in the background.


The Pipili was a miner who stormed the granery when the people were starving during the War for Independance. He strapped a large stone, or pad, to his back so the arrows and spears of the guards inside the granery couldn't hurt him, and he opened the doors so the people could get the grain. He is a very famous historic person in these parts. For example, he spent some time here in San Miguel, and there is a plaque commemorating this on a building by the park, and a huge statue of him in the middle of the Glorieta.

This statue was comemorated in 1939, and the plaque says something to the effect that, "There are more graneries to storm!"

This is me in front of my favorite place in Guanajauto, a fountain in a square, near the University. The University has about 25,000 students, many of them come here to study Spanish form all over the world. So the city feels younger and more cosmopolitan that San Miguel. Also, there are twice asa many alleys as streets here, a pedestrian's dream! My favorite part of this photo is the Mexican children in the background at the left, looking on.

One of my favorite walls in Guanajuato. It is a very colourful city.

This is what the pedestian alleys look like. They are very picturesque and charming. Colourful wals and planters cheer everyone up. The tunnel at the right is one of many that run under the city. They are old mining tunnels that have been made into roads. In this way, the cars dun beneath the city, and the people walk uabove. It's a very sensible and aesthetic arangement Guanajuato is also home to Diego Rivera's birthplace, now a museum, a Mummy Museum, an active silver mine, a market, an early 20th century opera house, the second best one in Mexico, open for tours year round, and open for shows during the Cervantes festival in the fall, and a magic festival in the spring. The city feels more open to me that San Miguel, the streets are wider downtown, and there are more squares for hanging out in. Also, the streets are paved with flat sones rather than the cobbles of San Miguel, making walking easier, but it is very hilly!
I'd like to come back and spend more time here, maybe do some Spanish immersion here. There are few Americans living here, as compared to San Miguel, and the city has a completely different feel to it.

Friday

I had my writer's group this morning, so it must be Friday.
Last night I was fighting with a stiff-neck type headache, a persistant, but invisible mosquito, barking dogs, a new neighbour who is sharing the kitchen here, and then, Fireworks, Very Loud Fireworks, which started going off at 5:30 AM, and continued until after 10 this morning. This is Mexico too. I'm sleep deprived, and as soon as I finish doing my laundry, I am going down for a nice long, hopefully, blissfully, quiet siesta, with earplugs.
Walking home at noon, the heat already rising, It sunk in to me that I'm only here for a little over two more weeks, and that means every day is precious. I don't want to leave here, but I am looking forward to seeing everyone in Nanaimo, to being on familiar ground, and to the summer in Ontario. But also, I think I will be coming back here.

Judas Effigies

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday is celebrated with many masses, inside the churches, no processions, and the exploding of the Judas Effigies outside the city hall building on the Jardin. The Effigies all represent various evil politians, in funny costumes. It wouldn't be a celebration if there weren't fireworks! One at a time the effigies dance and whisle around, then explode with a loud, baby-crying-inducing BANG! All the little kids then rush into the street to grab pieces of them. You see these kids wandering around carrying a large papier mache leg, or arm, or face. Not sure what they do with them later, but the are definitely trophies of some sort.

The church bells are ringing again, after two days of eerie silence. This has been the most intense Easter I have ever experienced, and I didn't even attend all the processions. Easter here is not the same celebration as in Canada, that is for sure. Definitely go see Jamie's photos at Mexican Botany, to see the emotion of the people.

Good Friday

This evening was the longest and most solemn of all the Easter processions. The paper said it would start at 5. As I walked down to the Oratorio, the church where it was to begin, the streets were blocked off to traffic, and already lined with hundreds of people, most of them Mexican, many of them middle class tourists from Mexico City. As at all these events, there were families with small children and older relatives, groups of teens: boys with boys, girls with girls; and pairs of young lovers sprinkled charmingly throughout.

At about 6:00, the procession began. Chamomile flowers were strewn in the streets, the fresh, sweet fragrance blending with the cooking smells from the nearby vendors, and incence from the church. Then came plaster angels bourne on platforms piled with flowers, followed by an orchestra and male choir, followed by bigger angels, Jesus in a glass casket, grieving Mary, St. Peter, grieving Mary Magdelene and more saints. All the women who accompanied the saints were dressed in black dresses and high heels, with black lace mantillas, and the men wore black suits. There were the ever-present young girls in white, this time with purple sashes. Essentially, this was the funeral procession after Jesus' death on the cross.

As always at these processions, I find myself thinking about the staging, which the Catholics have down to a fine art, but also I am impressed with how moving the ceremonies are, and how attached the people are here to these traditions, which have been practised in these ways for over three hundred years. I feel the grief of Mary. I wonder about the Magdalen, and what her story really was, and what about Jesus, what was his story really? The ceremonies allow one to spend time really thinking about what happened, and why it is all still so meaningful and relevant, or not.

The procession was very long and very slow. After it finished passing, I went around to a couple other streets, to see it from different angles. The crowd was thick, and I couldn't get up close, without having claustrophobia, so I hung back. I had hoped to run into friends, but never did. At about 8:00, after a good stint of people-watching, I headed up to the Jardin, which was packed like I have never seen it before! Everyone ready to party after all that solemnity and mourning. I watched the clown show for a few minutes, and still not seeing anyone I knew (this has never happened before in the Jardin, which tells you how many people were out tonight) I made my was slowly home in the dusk.

I find myself falling deeper and deeper in love with these people.

Stations of the Cross: a Solemn, Beautiful and Moving Procession

In the Conservatory at the Botanico

Click on photos to enlarge.

At the Botanical Garden

This morning I woke up feeling like I wanted some space and some nature, so I decided to head up the the Botanical Garden. First I walked to the mall to get a memory card for my camera so I could take more than 15 pictures at a time. I've been finding myself wanting to take more pictures, but my built-in memory would be full.

It's about a half-hour walk, and the first 20 minutes is directly up a steep hill. Three rest stops on the way for this little cardio-deprived heart! But once you're at the top the views of the city and surrounding countryside are spectacular!. These are not photos of that. I got the technology I needed, and took a short cab to the main gate of the Jardin Botanico. This was the smart place to take the cab, as it was hot, full sun, and a very dusty road.

The top two pictures are of the resevoir. As you can see, it is pretty much completely silted in, and now serves as a much-needed wetlands for bird habitat.

The third photo is looking down the canyon, same vantage point as the second one. If you click on the picture to enlarge, you will see the old, colonial water system that used to bring water into San Miguel.

I took the last picture on the way home. The parrochia is visible from pretty much everywhere in the city. I tried to take another better picture, minus the dead branches hanging into the screen, but my batteries wouldn't let me. Now I need to get more re-chargeable batteries, and I will take many, many wonderful photos and share them all with you! I do have more plant pictures from the Botanico, and I'll post them later.

Viernes de Dolores

Outside the Angela Peralta Theatre, on the corner of Mesones and Hernandas Macias, a man and a woman prepare this altar, while Mary waits patiently on the bench. The Viernes de Dolores is celebrated on the Friday before Holy Week, with altars to Mary's mourning throughout the city. Some of them are in the many public fountains, and some are inside, or outside people's homes. The entire city turns out and walks the streets, looking at the altars. The hosts give out juice and ice-cream to the neighbours and guests. Whole families wander the streets together, as always in Mexico, along with children and babies in arms. This festival is not celebrated in many areas of Mexico, and San Miguel is well known for it's love of this night.











In the photo below, the altar is complete with a child palying the living role of Mary.


The altar in the three photos beneath were taken at the fountain on Umaron, just below the Jardin.



Grass symbolizes rebirth. There is much much symbolism in the altar decorations, the colours, plants and symbols all represent different aspects of Mary and her suffering.

The altar below is on Recreo in the fountain I pass daily on my way into town. Some of the altars will be up all week, but most of them will be taken down later tonight.

Holy Week begins in earnest on Sunday, which is Palm Sunday, with serious processions in and around the city, and special masses. Tonight is a more relaxed, social evening with friends and family. During Holy Week thousands of visitors fill the city and take part in the many ceremonies. It's starting to heat up.

Sounds Like Mexico to Me

doves coo
brooms sweep sidewalks
motorscooters roar
hummingbird wings
dogs bark
egrets gobble in treetops
church bells, frequent
siren, seldom
airplane, maybe once a day, if that
songbirds twitter, chirp, whistle
bells clang, garbage pickup
Santorini! Agua!
mariachi bands compete in the Jardin
children play
construction, by hand: tink tink tink
workers shout to each other
radios
TV's
men singing
mariachi bands competing
band practise in the park
basketball shouts!
roosters
slap of sandals on stone sidewalks
frogs sing at night

Kibbles and Bits II

Yesterday I was walking down Insurgentes Street, and met two Mexican women walking towards me. As they passsed by me I almost missed the fact that one of them held a large, live turkey in her arms, wrapped in a blanket!

Went to dinner last night at a restaurant that caters to Americans. There was a sign in the bathroom that said: Please put toilet paper in the toilet. I had to read it three times to make sure of what it really said (And I was sober!). Most of the plumbing in the old part of the city can't handle TP, and you toss it into a conveniantly placed garbage bin. So this was a mind-boggling, reverse-reverse TP disposal situation.

The Virgin of Guadeloupe is probably the most important saint in Mexico. One friend told me a Mexican told her that, “we are Guadaloupians first, and everything else after that”. Her image is everywhere, from watches to shower curtains. You will often see bumper stickers that say, “In Guad We Trust”.

Egrets nest in trees. And they gobble. They sound ridiculous! But they are very elegant otherwise, especially when they glide over head, with wings spread wide, necks tucked, and legs trailing behind, like a white shadow in the air.

Kibbles and Bits

The only American chains I have seen here are a Dominos pizza and a Blockbuster Video. There are a couple of Mexican fast food places, called Tortitlan. All food deliveries are made by motor bike.

Spring is bursting out all over. The bouganvillia is brilliant, the Jacarandas are muy elegante, and many other spring blooming shrubs and plants are celebrating the season! This morning I had a parade accross my terrace. First I saw a little lizard, then a grey squirrel and then a wild cat all cut accross and then over the wall and into the canadita. Doves coo and birds sing all day long. Egrets nest in trees in the Canadita and the Parque Benito Jaurez. They fluff up their feathers and gobble at each other in mating and territorial displays. It's funny to see shore birds in trees. They are beautiful.

It's really starting to warm up here. The days get up in to the nineties in the warmer parts of the city, although here at Casa Dharma it stays cooler. The nights are not as cold and the walls in my room don't retain the cold like they did in February. I have a lot of moments lately when I feel like I'm at the cottage; there is that relaxed feeling, like there really isn't anything to do if you don't want to.

I'm really enjoying my writer's group. We meet once a week and do some writing exercises, and read what we've written out loud, if we want to. Just doing this once a week is supporting me to write more. We are using guidelines from an organization called the Amherst Writers and Artists. It's a lot of fun.

I have new neighbours upstairs. He is a klomper. One of those people with a heavy tread. My whole ceiling shakes when he walks around up there; luckily he doesn't walk around all that much. I might be able to move out into the casita, if it's ready anytime soon. My room-mate Mark is due back some time. Not sure when, probably this week. It's been quiet here without him. I haven't minded. I've enjoyed the solitude.

I'm planning to be here in San Miguel until around the first week in May, then head to Austin for a week, and should be back in Nanaimo by mid-month, before heading out to Ontario sometime in June.

One American told me he has noticed a difference in attitude, in how the Mexicans interact with him, since the Bush Administration announced the construction of a wall along the Mexico/US border to keep Mexican Illegals out of the US. I've heard this refered to as the “wall of shame”. It is apparently being built with Mexican labour.

I went to a small roof party last night, and it was a lot of fun. As the token Canadian, I get kidded about being British (who's on all your money?)( I frankly can't remember who's on our money, but everyone smiles wryling when I explain about our loonies and twonies.); but most of the Americans I have met hate the Bush administration, and wish they were Canadian. I haven't had the heart to disillusion them about the tax differentials. I took a plate of Nanaimo bars, which were a big hit. I offered one to my taxi driver: “Quiero dar a usted un postre; es el postre de mi ciudad: El Nanaimo Bar. “ He didn't seem to care what it was called, but he happily bit into it. : Rico!” he commented. “Si, muy rico, “ I replied. I had to substitute crereal crumbs for graham cracker crumbs, so the base layer was a bit crunchy, and I forgot to put the cocoa in with the melted butter, I put it in with the dry ingredients, but nobody seemed to mind, and they all got eaten. Naturalmente!

Hasta Luego a todos, and Adios,
Jacquie