Mexico and the Caribbean Islands

March 10

My homestay host, Maria Carmen ready for her daily trip to the church. Adios Mari, Gracias!

And in 12 hours or so – Home Sweet Home!

March 9

I decided to find an exceptionally expensive restaurant in the historic center to treat myself to a farewell lunch. It was nice, no doubt…

…and lovely to sit here. But no more delicious than food from the street!

And speaking of the street, I don’t remember what I did this last day!

But I did find a balcony and take these two pictures.

And then a contingent of the gang met for a final farewell. Such a happy, welcoming crowd. Thanks to one and all for a memorable three weeks full of delights and good fun.

In the evening those of us who were leaving had a graduation party hosted by the school in a Brazilian restaurant. It was a lot of fun, we got certificates and gifts and sweet goodbyes from one and all.

Several of those who started with me were staying for another 3-6-21 weeks, and several who were leaving had come earlier. I think the 3 week ‘semester’ with books that the class can begin and finish in 3 weeks is an excellent idea, and with the afternoon guides it is a very impressive program here at the Spanish Institute of Puebla.

March 8

I went out for lunch now and then for some quiet time between activities and to enjoy more of the local offerings.

Puebla specialties:
Mole poblano.
Chiles en nogada.
Cemita.
Chalupas.
Rajas poblanas.
Tacos arabes.
Pelonas.
Memelas.
Tortitas de Santa Clara.

I’ve had all of them except chiles en nogada which they said was out of season and memelas which I never ran across.

Me and guía Javier who would be defending his college thesis on the following Monday on a topic related to long form poetry in Mexico during the Vice-Regency era. You go Javier!

We ubered over to our destination passing the Templo de San Francisco which I never managed to get to for a visit.

We were headed to the tunnels: “Experts determined that the tunnels were built in 1531. .. Members of the Catholic Church mainly used the tunnels to transport their treasures and acquisitions in and out of Puebla without the public knowing about it.”

Another story is that they were used extensively during the May 5, 1862 invasion by the French.

The same article said the tunnels had been lost and rediscovered in 2014.

It was a cool attraction but I went there on the guides advice because it lead to what I really wanted to see…

…”Zona Xanenetla: from the neighborhood of the brick makers to the area of murals”

Around 2011 a large art group call Colectivo Tomate decided to ““generate social projects that benefit the city of Puebla using art as their flag” and began working to revitalize Xanenetla by painting murals that vividly depicted the neighborhood’s identity.”

They finished a couple of years later.

One interesting thing is that I saw only one occurance of tagging and no fresh murals added after the original effort. It feels like history rather than something that is alive.

Some of the work is not holding up as well as others because, we thought, probably the base surfaces were so different.

Corn. Cool.

From the internet article where I’ve got all this info:

“The artist gets to know the neighborhood and the family who lives or works in that particular building and then creates a design that speaks about both, a process that engages everyone in the project.

“The larger goals are to unite the community and to instill a renewed sense of pride in the neighborhood, a desire to beautify the area, and a new appreciation for its history.”

So Javier and I were walking around, me snapping away (owww I have so many more…) and a woman came out of one of the doors and told Javier we should turn around because the neighborhood is not safe.

I did not feel at all that we were not safe! Javier was getting really twitchy though, feeling responsible for me probably, and he’d never been to this place before even though the neighborhood is part of the historic downtown and part of the UNESCO World Heritage designation.

I wanted to go down this street to see what was what with that foot. So the woman said ok, go ahead, I’ll watch you. Yikes.

Here’s the foot! We then made our way back.

March 7

We went back to Museo Amaro for a new show that had just opened, works by Yoshua Okón called Collateral.

It was room after room of all terrible things, Nazis, Pinochet, McDonalds, corporate dogs of war, and the images were all so disturbing I don’t want to put them here.

The thing is the artist wanted to say something and he surely did make you look.

One piece I can show. It’s about a town in Maine called Skowhegan, originally inhabited by the indigenous Abenaki people all massacred or driven from the area during the 4th Anglo-Abenaki War.

Now though, the white people in the town like to have festivals and celebrations pretending they are the indigenous people. It was creepy.

This was the day the skies opened with a completely unseasonable rainstorm. I did manage to get back between downpours so that was great.

March 6

It’s Tuesday and I went back to school. I also got to meet my third guide/conversation coach, a fine young man named Javier who suggested we visit two places and remarkably I hadn’t seen either yet.

This is the San Pedro Museum of Art…

…that is now undergoing another renovation.

From Lonely Planet: “Opened in 1999 as Museo Poblano de Arte Virreinal, this top-notch museum is now named after the 16th-century Hospital de San Pedro in which it is housed. Galleries display excellent contemporary art and a fascinating permanent exhibit on the hospital’s history.”

One of my favorite parts was the bathroom – wow, gorgeous Talavera basins.

Then we went to the Casa Del Mendrugo Museum. I can’t remember the nature of the exhibit. Bummer.

But this was in the entry.

March 5

I skipped school today and slept for 18 hours in honor of which here is a picture of me, Jordon, and our FABulous teacher Gabriela.

Gabriela is one of those gifted-in-her-profession people of whom I was in constant awe. Not because I’ll remember though, she shouldn’t be judged by that, but what a joy it was to learn from her.

March 4

Field Trip! An all-day outing to Teotihuacan, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, and then into Mexico City.

……….Click Here To See
……….Pictures from the excursions
……….including the trip to Teotihuacan/Mexico City but you might need to scroll down.

After the trip to Cholula a group gathered for dinner at a seafood place and the food was especially delicious.

And then Party Hearty! One of the students invited everyone over for a happy hour.

I didn’t make it through the whole festivity and then everyone went out for a lively dinner. I think they didn’t get home until midnight. This is a party hearty crowd.

At the Convento Secreto de Santa Monica we saw a lot of paintings collected from the various closed convents. It was so quiet and peaceful inside the plaza just like they said it would be.

Another guide told me how all the ex-convents are haunted.

March 3

A couple of pictures from inside the house because I did not go outside the house today.

I am about at the end of my strength and tomorrow is another Great Big Day where we have to be at the school at 7:30am for the drive to Mexico City and a visit to Teotihuacan, home to the Pyramid of the Sun and The Pyramid of the Moon.

So I studied a little, watched tv a lot on my computer, did pictures, napped off and on and tried to not get sick.

The two hours with the guía are two hours of walking and talking and walking and talking. Good and good for you! And something every day and night.

March 2

It’s my last day with Angeles. Muchas Gracias Angeles!

Our first stop was a quick buzz into this church because there was a line and we needed to get in that line.

It was quite the scene. I think it was a special Friday for the Templo de Santa Monica, Señor de Las Maravillas.

We squirmed our way in to see the image from the front and then squirreled our way to the side where…

…this was happening. Everyone who left touched the glass here praying for a miracle.

Finally! We were both so excited because we had passed by this church every day hoping it would be open and today, Voila!

The main attraction is La capilla de la Virgen del Rosario, a chapel located inside the Templo de Santo Domingo.

Some detail…

…and some more.

March 1

This is insane, I have zero recollection of what I did on Thursday and the pictures are no help! I know we went to get this sweet treat called Tortitas de Santa Clara and my word are they sweet.

There’s my guía and her sister on their way home. Vroom Vroom!

My OMG spot, the best churros EVER and it always looks like this.

And since it was already dark for going home I thought to pop back to the Zocolo and have a look at the cathedral in lights.

February 28

It’s Field Trip Day. The school includes two field trips in the price and this is the first, an afternoon outing to Cholula and surrounds.

First we visited the Templo de San Francisco Acatepec, a total gasper followed by, and I couldn’t imagine how this would be possible, an even bigger gasper, the Iglesia de Tonantzintla. The Great Pyramid of Cholula was interesting and well preserved. No gasping however emitted from the crowd at the pyramid.

……….Click Here To See
……….Pictures from the excursions
……….including the trip to Cholula but you might need to scroll down.

…could it even be possible? even MORE ornate than San Francisco. This church has a particularly interesting history because when the Catholics came to convert this area they quite openly merged the local religious practices with the saints and stories of Christianity which is vividly displayed here.

Wow, it is aMAYzing in there. No pictures allowed inside so I took the overview and the inset off the internet because somebody out there didn’t follow the rules.

(internet)

Then we walked over to a lovely city garden with sculpture and archeological sites mixed in. It is set in an area surrounded by light manufacturing and it’s right in the Old Town, so that’s rare.

Then churros!

February 27

At lunch today someone somewhere along the line called for an earthquake evacuation but we never felt the least bump, which is the best outcome possible from an earthquake evacuation.