Solemne Fiesta al Patriarca SAN JOSE

On Sunday Quince and I went out to Rodeo de San Jose, the little town near Maria’s family’s ranch because it was their patron saint’s day and there was a big celebration that would culminate in eating the most delicious mole in Mexico, which Maria’s mother, Lidia, makes.

We took the city bus way out into the country outside of Guanajuato and got off at a little dirt road. We followed the road which soon became paved and found ourselves in a little tiny town, festooned with papel picado and all the vendors who are generally out for any celebration

There were lots of cowboys of all ages.

The main event while we were there was this jousting/golden ring type event where two guys race at a time and try to get a golden ring onto a stick off of a rope that they ride under.

When someone gets the ring they take it over to the queen and all the princesses who are standing on the back of a truck and give them the ring and give the queen a kiss. They were all a’twitter when this rotund fellow got the ring.

And a little more positive twittering when this handsome young lad got it.

Everyone else watches. Quince and I were wandering around poking our heads in the crowds trying to find good view spots that weren’t too crazy sunny and hot. A few times we found good spots just to decide to move away because of the super drunk fellows that would come and try to talk to us in no comprehensible language. I think we were the only gringas around.

We eventually found Lidia and joined her and a large group who walked across the road to the ranch to sit in the shade and eat the most delicious mole.

¡¡Estamos a Casa!!

Mikko and I arrived home Wednesday night after a mellow day of air travel, with our new six month visas in hand. Maria picked us up from the airport in Leon. She gave us big hugs and told us that we can’t go back to Portland, she will be too sad. It felt like a real homecoming.

Mikko and I were both ecstatic to be back amongst the dogs and roosters, in our own little house and sleeping in our own little beds.

We have mostly just been hanging out with our computers and toys and games.

I would just like to point out that Little Maggie kicked Mr. Burns’ arse!!

We were shocked yesterday afternoon to walk into town and it was packed. It is Semana Santa, the week before Easter and everyone is on vacation, so the town is full of tourists.

This is the first time I have seen papel picado in Guanajuato.  I had been told that it creates too much litter and because this an UNESCO site, there are rules against it.  I guess Jesus’ rebirth trumps the UNESCO regulations.  Right on Jesus!

We were also shocked to find that our favorite little restaurant on the jardin, Pengüis, became a clothing store while we were gone.  (Update, it has only moved and is now closer to our house!!)  The good news is: a movie theater has just reopened in town, right next to the university, so it is an easy walk from home and back.

The new theater is right around the corner from here.

Ferry from Los Mochis

At around 6:00 we took this bus from los Mochis to the little town that the ferry leaves from. I loved this bus, it was so cozy.

I don’t know why the only ferry was at 11 pm, but it was. The ferry station was a ways away from town or anything else so we just waited out there for hours. There were a lot of others waiting as well, families, college students, and few tourists. It became quite a mob of people by the time the ferry arrived and we loaded.

Everyone immediately staked out places to sleep. There were people under staircases, on the floor in the hallways, on the couches in the bar, and lots of people stretched across the bucket seats. I wish I had gotten more pictures, but it felt invasive, like taking pictures of people in their bedrooms.

We all slept pretty well. I woke up in the wee hours and wandered around on deck. It was surprisingly warm. The air was my new favorite kind of air. It was fresh and wet, in a soft, non cloying way. The air all over Baja is like that. I was digging it.

This pelican greeted us as we disembarked just outside of La Paz. Mikko gives some very edumacational commentary:

Guest Post: Cabalgata Cubilete 2008

Our landlady, Anna Troutner, is from the US and is a horse lady. She has a partnership with a family here who have a ranch. She has her horse out there with theirs and gives riding lessons and is very close with everyone in the family.

She had been telling me about this amazing event coming up - and afterwards sent me pictures and the story she wrote about it. It is all so amazing, I wish I could have gone. Maybe some day.

Here’s a picture she just sent of me on Dulcenea, on Xmas day. This way it looks like I was there - but I wasn’t.

These are Anna’s pictures and Anna’s story.

CABALGATA CUBILETE 2008
We have returned from our big ride. WOW! January 5th, we drove to Rodeo, about 15 miles from Guanajuato (Mexico), and saddled ElPinto and Atajo, our horses, before dawn. Then as the sun rose, we heard thousands of horse hooves clopping on the pavement. We could see the highway at a great distance, with the police escort coming from Sauceda,, followed by all those riders. We mounted and our horses were excited. We joined in at the end of the group. I rode quietly and was quite content thinking about what we were about to achieve.

We rode to a designated meeting point off the highway in the campo, where more horses were waiting to join the cabalgata. Women had trays of hot coffee in styrofoam cups and two steaming tamales in plastic bags handed up for our breakfast. All these riders stayed on their horses and ate, drank and listened to the bullhorn. Someone explained how we would ride through the communities, until we met with a police escort on the highway, again. And how we really needed to stay together in twos, and be considerate of each other and the other horses to stay safe. Then all these riders threw down their plastic bags and cups and walked their horses on out, pairing up with their friends and family groups. We rode with Bernardo and a dozen others.

I saw all men, mostly campo types, whose horses were for working, not leisure. The purpose of the tack was understood, although the martingale could be made of a fairly strong plastic string, tied to the halter that could be made of hand woven agave fiber, tied to the breast collar or cinch that could be made from a woven plastic bag.
We rode and rode and rode. We followed in the rear of thousands of horses, mostly lined up in pairs. Annie, my friend visiting for the holidays, and I threw wrapped candies from our saddlebags, to the myriads of children waiting with their mothers along the trails and rural roads. We signified the three King’s traveling to the savior, Christ the King (Cristo Rey), bringing gifts for tomorrow’s Epiphany. Mass was held in a couple of specific chapels along the way, which rested the horses. The final mass was at Cristo Rey, on the mountaintop. It is also called Cubilete, and is considered the geographic center of Mexico and a popular pilgrimage destination.

We came to the first watering trough at the base of the mountain, with all the horses pushing and crowding, to suck up the water. There was a line of thousands of horses leaving and arriving. We began the accent, on the treacherous cobble stone road. These horses have come a long way. Some were from Salamanca, Joventino Rosas, Dolores Hidalgo and San Miguel de Allende.

They camped last night in Sauceda, and began riding this morning, to camp on the mountaintop for the Epiphany. A few riders were from the United States, and Annie was from Croatia.
We continued up the long cobble stone road of seemingly endless switchbacks to the top. As the horses neared, the chapel bells gonged, announcing our arrival. It was now late in the afternoon. We turned away from those riding to mass, and set up our camp, while listening to mass projected from the distance. We got the horses unsaddled, situated and fed alfalfa. Then we made a fire and heated the pozole, tamales and ponche that the women, Lidia and Chuya, brought in the truck, along with the camping gear. We set up our bedding on level ground, near our horses tied to the few opportune places. We ate by the fire and sat under the stars and looked at the 75 foot Jesus statue, right in front of us, lit against the night sky. The King’s had arrived.

Ann Troutner

National Geographic article about last year’s ride:

12-12 night of lucha libre

Monday was our second night of Lucha in good ol’ Guanajuato. It was fabulous as was expected. Even better than the last time actually. We were right up front!! Look, this is the legendary Blue Demon Jr. overpowering the legendary Hijo de El Santo. They were so close I could have touched them, I didn’t though because I was taking the picture.

OK - I am sensing that some people need a little background on Lucha Libre. LUCHA means FIGHT. LIBRE means FREE. So literally it means Free Fight. It is a combination of wrestling, boxing, martial arts (basically, all fighting techniques,) including lots of acrobatics. For me it is mostly a spectacle, full of humor, drama and action and sprinkled with a lot of love.

Mexican wrestlers started wearing masks and adopting personas to match in the 1930s. (It was actually a wrestler from the US wearing a mask that inspired a Mexican promoter to promote mask wearing in Mexico.) El Santo is probably the most famous luchadore. He was biggest during the 50s and 60s. He was not only a luchadore in the ring, he also starred in movies and was the star of a comic book series, always with his mask and cape. People loved him. He was a super hero that you could see in real life. Even though he has been dead for 20 years he is still the best known and best loved luchadore.

On Monday we saw El Santo’s son, Hijo de El Santo, fight against the sons of two of his contemporaries, Blue Demon, and Dr. Wagner Sr. who were also big and starred in movies, but not as big as El Santo. Hijo deEl Santo’s partner was Gronda XXX who I had never heard of. He was a giant, who seemed pumped by steroids and dressed as the devil. I wasn’t so crazy about him.

That match was a little confusing for me, because I’m used to rooting for the technicos, who are typically the “good guys” who play by the rules but in this match Blue Demon Jr. and Dr. Wagner were the rudos, who are supposed to be the “bad boys,” and they were beautiful together. Talk about love. You can see some of it in this video that Matthew took. Unfortunately the big galoot is in the way when they do their twinkle finger love thing.

And let me just say - Lucha Libre is nothing like WWF. (I have never really watched WWF, but I have seen the commercials and I find it all quite disturbing.) There is real love and humor in the ring with Lucha.  It doesn’t have the soap opera/Jerry Springer type vibe that WWF has.

I suppose you are wondering where I find the love. I have been wondering that myself, ever since I wrote it. The love I see is in the crowd. People are laughing and taunting and teasing, but it is the way you tease your siblings or your best friends, it isn’t mean spirited or angry. There is also that love between the luchadores, they tease and taunt, and pummel eachother just like siblings. And so many of the moves are so well choreographed that you feel that they are all working together to create a good experience for everyone involved.

And then of course you can bring that love home.

Our lady of Guadalupe

Yesterday was the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe or Our Lady of Guadalupe, or La Virgin Moreno (the dark skinned virgin.) She is the most important religious icon in Mexico.

This is what I learned in my culture class (with a little help from Wikapedia):

In the 16th century the Spaniards were struggling to convert the indigenous people to catholicism. Luckily a Nahuatl fellow, Juan Diego, who was one of the first converts, and very devout, met the Virgin Mary on a hill outside of what is now Mexico City. She told him to tell the church to build a temple to her on that spot. When he told the bishop, the bishop didn’t believe him and said he would need a sign. Juan went back and Mary told him to pick flowers to show the bishop. It was December so flowers were out of season, but when he went up the hill there were Spanish roses blooming. Mary placed a bunch of roses into Jaun’s poncho type thing called a tilma. He took them down to show the bishop. As the roses fell out of his tilma, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on the cloth.

What makes her special and what seemed to win over a lot of people is that she is dark skinned, she is pregnant and there are many other symbols in the image that match the indigenous religions of that time.

This was supposed to have happened over the days of December 9th to the 12th. The 12th being the day the image appeared. Therefore the 12th is super important. Everyone goes to the temple of Guadalupe, (I believe most towns have one,) to give an offering. Many women and children dress in traditional indigenous outfits, I’m not sure why men don’t. The little boys get mustaches and sideburns painted on them so they will look like Juan - though, I don’t think indigenous people had facial hair… hmmm. Well that’s what people do anyway.

We walked up the road to the temple with a whole passle of kids and the rest of the town. My mother and stepfather just got here, so they got to experience the whole thing too. Of course the way up was full of vendors, selling all the delicious food, cheap plastic toys, tee shirts and baskets of fruits and vegetables for the offerings.

All along the way there were these beautiful backdrops set up so that people could get their pictures taken with the virgin.

We didn’t make into the temple. The crowd action was just too… crowded. And by that time the baby had fallen asleep in my arms, which was amazing considering the crush of people I was making my way through.

So we found ourselves a place to sit in the shade, past the crowds, then headed back down to town on a different route.

And my camera ran out of battery.

Happy Dia de Muertos (people don’t actually say that.)

DISCLAMER = I mispelled altar thoughout this post, and don’t want to go back and change it so ALTER = ALTAR

I don’t know how much you know about Dia de Muertos, but it is a day that is believed to be the day that the dead come back from the other world. Because their journey is so long people leave food and drink for them on the alters. People also leave things that were important to them in life, like thier tools, or toys for kids. Actually kids and Saints come back on the 1st and everyone else comes back on the 2nd. These are things I have learned, though there is definitely more to it. It seems to be very widespread and celebrated by most everyone. It has been connected by the date to Catholocism, but it has very indigenous roots. The celebration in GTO is pretty low key. There are alters all over, in businesses and homes, but no big street celebrations. The big public thing is on to go up to the cemetary on the 2nd. Families gather at gravesites and clean and decorate the graves.

Stuff to buy for your alter at home

The alter at Mikko’s school

The alter at my school (Frida and Diego are quite the icons here.)

Alter at the Mercado Hidalgo, in the center (notice it is for Frida and Diego.)

Alter in public passageway, all made of seeds.

Our alter at home

We took the bus up to the cemetary and wandered around, but it was a much more familial thing than a public thing. Everyone was very accepting of all of us gringos wandering around with cameras, I’m pleased to report. It reminded me of memorial days with Grandma ans Scotty and going to the graveyard in Astoria to be with the Syvanens. Just a lot more crowded.

These are flower vendors at the bus stop on the way to the graveyard.

The road leading up to the cemetary complete with plenty of vendors selling everything from flowers to brassiers and of course lots of delicious looking food.

Inside the cemetary gates

I would like to start a random acts campaign to come and take care of the graves of people who have no one left.