Popping Out of my Cozy Protective Bubble

No, is a complete sentence

Anne Lamott

Here kitty…

No, is a complete sentence and so is Goodbye…

I am finally leaving the comfortable and cozy Guanajuato bubble I called home for nearly half a year.  I have been accepted and loved by new friends, my ‘Mexican’ family, and many kind teachers.  Making it not easy to leave.

Nevertheless – there is so much to experience out there.  Mike had wanted to see a place called Huasteca Potosina, more specifically, a special garden named Xilitla, so I made it my next destination. My continuing travels honoring his dreams.  It is located many long bus hours and detours from here and below is what I saw before arriving there.

Cristo Rey (Christ the King), at 8,900 feet (2,710 meters)

It overlooks the vast and very productive Bajío (shallows) below

One of the most visited places in Mexico thanks to pilgrims

Fifth stronger version, it stands at about 75 feet (23 meters) tall

Can now withstand 200km (125 miles) per hour winds

The day I went I was unexpectedly ‘part’ of a flow of 6,000+ pilgrims

This one was taking a rest. 

The box on his back either holds a Virgin or

Archangel Michael – the two most venerated saint figures around here

It’s a long hike up to Cristo Rey, especially with weight on your back

It is easy to romanticize experiences while traveling, especially when quickly moving through areas.  Not as much, when living in one place longer term.  Staying in Guanajuato for about six months allowed me to see the good as well as the not so good.  I hope I was able to accurately share that in my earlier posts, giving a better-balanced picture. 

The following four weeks of travel however happened in the blink of an eye so mostly pictures will be describing my meanderings in these new Mexican States.  What most impressed me despite the gorgeous sceneries was the impact of the people I met who made these new discoveries even more precious.  

La Peña de Bernal monolith

One of the top ten (in size) in the world

Without equipment, you can only climb about 2/3 of the way

You can see this impressive monolith from miles around

Many climb it more as a pilgrimage than for the view

Area recognized for great cheeses and wines

Can you see the one climber (middle left of black stains above ledge) with a pink shirt?

Middle right is the path I took – to go as far as I could without equipment

Trail not kept to gringo standards but adequate

Can be seen from any angle in town

Fun paper mâché critters

Colorful and playful

Only walking its entire length 0.75 mile (1.25 km) gives you a feel for it true size.

74 arches, up to 20 meters wide with average height of 23 meters...

Best seen at night, all lit up against a more muted background.

Still in working conditions and used to fill city’s public water fountains
Queretaro

A train can drive through each arch (unknown archive picture)

Legend said it was built to show a man’s unrequited love for a nun

Once the centerpiece of Queretaro, it has been swallowed up by the city

Rich city, with second highest GDP in Mexico after Monterrey

Not as impressive in the daytime

Look up! – Street corner angel playing an instrument

In 1971, Gene Thornton of the NYT called it

‘The prettiest but least exhilarating

small city in the world.  A parasitical town.’ 

I couldn’t agree more.

San Miguel de Allende

Fray (friar) Juan de Miguel statue – the converter

In front of Parish Church of San Miguel Archangel

San Miguel de Allende

Natives in front of Holy Cross Church of Queretaro – the converted

Interesting that they couldn’t enter this very church

Could only attend the smaller one built especially for them across the street

Very old sign stated that “bare-footers couldn’t enter church”

Usually only natives walked bare-feet…

Legend was that in 1697 a friar planted his staff in a meadow

It grew into a tree that produces only thorns in the shape of crosses

Many come here just to get some thorns.  I gave mine to a believer…

He was more interesting than the artwork in the gallery

Super-fancy wedding party

This kid not quite fitting-in

Too many gringos, too much money

Another – yawn – antique store

San Miguel de Allende

Or art gallery – this one with a sense of humor

San Miguel de Allende

Toucan or not toucan

San Miguel de Allende

Not the Wallstreet one… (my name for it)

By David Kestenbaum, San Miguel de Allende

Pottery damsels at an art gallery window

San Miguel de Allende

Near the church where a wedding was taking place

Part of the party?  San Miguel de Allende

Libertad Eagle Head found in all cities that were part of

The Mexican Independence started in Sept 1810 - Atotonilco

The Sanctuary of Atotonilco

‘Place of the hot waters’ dedicated to Jesus of Nazareth

From Dolores Hidalgo, insurgents spent their first night here,

on their way to San Miguel de Allende

Emblem of the Virgin of Guadalupe was taken from here in Sept 1810

It was adapted and carried as the banner of Independence

Ignacio Allende was married here in 1802

Called the Sistine Chapel of Mexico

Very different interior

Continued conservation needed to keep up the artwork

Not an empty space

Images, sculptures, or written words

Called Mexican Folk Baroque

Flemish influence

Murals reflect a syncretism of Catholic religion iconography

Mixed with native religious beliefs

Cuna de la Independencia Nacional

Cradle of National Independence – actual birth place of Mexican Independence

Where the rise against the ‘gachupines’ (Spanish overlords) began

Thanks to Miguel Hidalgo, a well-respected, but unconventional, priest

From where Miguel Hidalgo, champion of the common man

Quickly and passionately proclaimed independence with

El Grito de Dolores (the battle cry) – morning of Sept 16, 1810

Spanish had uncovered his rebellion plans, he had to move fast

Dolores Hidalgo

Essence of the Grito: ‘Death to bad government and to the ‘gachupines’ (Spanish overlords).  Long live our Lady of Guadalupe!  Long live Fernando VII!’  Today, the church bells only ring on the 15^th of September.  Every five years (supposedly), the existing president comes to Dolores Hidalgo to ceremoniously give the battle cry.

Why the 15^th of September instead of the 16^th?  When Porfirio Diaz became president, he changed the date of the celebration of Mexican Independence to September 15^th, to match his own birthday.  So, by celebrating on that day, Mexicans are celebrating the Eve of the actual event.

It was precisely the region’s opulence (rich mines and abundant agriculture) that spotlighted the social inequalities between the Spaniards, the criollos (Mexican born Spaniards), and the mestizos. 

Miguel Hidalgo, 50-year-old white haired theologian practiced an equality not common in his days.  Despite his traditional education for the priesthood, ‘He rejected or questioned many of Catholicism’s most fundamental tenets including the Virgin birth, clerical celibacy, and the existence of hell.’  For him, independence was about land redistribution and equality.  

Famous for their homemade ice cream

Odd flavors from avocado to ceviche, and alfalfa to tequila

Still in wooden buckets surrounded by ice – Dolores Hidalgo

Candied apples on a stick

Main park Dolores Hidalgo

Look at the size of these pork cracklings (chicharrones)!

Fried pig belly fat with a bit of skin – very common food in Mexico

Dolores Hidalgo

Mausoleum honoring the father of modern mariachi

Jose Alfredo Jimenez (aka Mexican Elvis or Bob Dylan – take your pick)

Creator of 1,000+ songs, many still popular today

His song “Un mundo raro” is in the movie Coco

He wrote about love and patriotism

1926-1973 – Dolores Hidalgo

Las Monjas Clarisas (The Claris Nuns) Restaurant, Queretaro

Very quaint old place where I had a delicious brunch

Hard to find places open for breakfast on Sunday mornings in Mexico

Located in a renovated old hacienda – beautiful

Seal of Mexico (one of its many depictions)

Golden eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus eating a rattlesnake

On oak and laurel leaves tied with ribbon of Mexican colors

Founded on an Aztec legend that over the years was transformed to follow European beliefs. 
 Not based on a true eagle nor rattlesnake but it no longer matters.  It is here to stay.

Governor’s Palace, where the Sept 1810 rebellion against Spain was first planned

Queretaro

Miguel Hidalgo used to meet with Queretaro’s mayor, his wife (corregidora), the local captain of the militia and a few other adherents of enlightenment to discuss the latest ideas from France.  A conspiracy was hatched under the guise of literary discussions (tertulias), a popular pastime in the days.  

Which brings us back to Alhondiga de Granaditas

Scene of the ‘victory’, September 28, 1810

‘Naked bodies lay half buried in maize or in money

and everything was spotted with blood.’

Lucas Alamán, Mexican historian

The Alhondiga de Granaditas was the focal point of the first true confrontation in the Mexican Independence movement.  The massive grain storage turn fortress held 600 rich criollos and Spaniards and their 300,000,000 ($15M US) pesos.  They barricaded themselves hoping to survive the onslaught.  Even in this sensible defensive structure, they were no match to 20,000 insurgents.

The group eventually became 80,000 strong, moving towards Mexico City.  It took 11 years to achieve independence. 

And another Libertad Eagle Head

Like the one in Atotonilco but we are back in Guanajuato

And our four heroes of the Mexican Independence from Spain

Mariano Jiménez (?-1811), Ignacio Allende (1769-1811), Juan Aldama (1769-1811)

Miguel Hidalgo (1753-1811)

The population of Guanajuato went from 55,000 to only 6,000

During the revolution that ended in 1821

‘That being against the clamor of nature to sell men,

The laws of slavery are abolished.’

Miguel Hidalgo

Stairway painted by Jose Chavez Morado 1955-1966

Independence movement headed by Miguel Hidalgo

Workers armed with their working tools

Stairway painted by Jose Chavez Morado 1955-1966

Beginning of conquest and colonial period

Native slaves vs. superior (with horses and armors) Spaniards

Stairway painted by Jose Chavez Morado 1955-1966

Father Hidalgo helping the oppressed 

Space Elephant Monumental

By Salvador Dali, 1904

Inside courtyard of 1640 Convent of the Holy Cross

Turned into a contemporary art museum MACQ

Queretaro

La Marcha (The March), 1961

José Chávez Morado

Los Galeones y el Símbolo, 1959

José Chávez Morado

Not as well known as his twice wife, Frida Kahlo

Diego Rivera was a son of Guanajuato

In his family home, now museum, is this piece

Cabeza Clásica drawn when he was only 11 years old

Cabeza de Mujer sketch drawn when he was 12 years old

He was friend with José Chávez Morado, his wife Olga Costa,

Pablo Picasso and many others

Not usually what I associate with Diego’s art

More famous for his many large political murals

‘My hero was a priest, the brave and incorruptible Miguel Hidalgo,

who had not hesitated to defy the Church in his loyalty to the people and the truth.’

Diego Rivera

The Miner’s Inn, painted upside down

Mineral de La Luz

Church of Mineral de La Luz

Grinding wheel at front, reminder of influential mining history

Very first mine in this area (1548), barely producing today

Presa de Soledad (Loneliness Dam) with remnants of

A hacienda de beneficio (beneficiation = mineral extraction)

For 250 years, this region produced 30% of the world’s silver

Although the country of Mexico is still the top silver producer in the world

Today, this area is not even in the top 10

That honor falls to Zacatecas, Chihuahua and Durango, MX

Poland is the second largest producer of silver

More remnants, grinding wheel

In Otomi, the name for this area was Mo-o-ti

Or Place of Metals

The natives were aware of this resource way before the Spaniards

Mineral de La Luz

Still carving tombstone letters and designs by hand

Crypts, five high and hundreds wide

So many people in these vast cemeteries

Since the good vases just ‘walk away’

They only use old chili pepper cans as vases

Through art and after visiting these various sites I now better understand the scope and the many connections to the history of the Mexican Independence from Spain.  A painful, long, arduous process still having ill effects on many people today. 

And the ‘fight’ continues.  Today, the new President Lopez Obrador (who goes by AMLO in Mexico) is demanding an apology for the conquest from Spain and the Pope.  Although probably only symbolic, it shows a possibly new direction of support towards what has happened to the natives in this country.

He has been ridiculed for doing so:  Peruvian, Literature Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa said Mexico’s president should have sent the letter to himself. He should have asked “Why Mexico, five centuries after its incorporation into the western world and 200 years after independence, still has so many millions of poor, ignorant and exploited Indians.”

Easier to point the finger, harder to look at oneself.  

Untitled and no artist name

Contemporary Tlacolulokos Collective Art

Oaxacalifornia = Los Angeles

Untitled and no artist name

Where God Never Dies

Contemporary Tlacolulokos Collective Art

Oaxacalifornia = Los Angeles

Untitled and no artist name

Don’t touch…

Contemporary Tlacolulokos Collective Art

Oaxacalifornia = Los Angeles

Resurgence of vast indigenous cultural heritage is happening throughout Mexico and in Los Angeles where so many Mexicans live today.  Through their art, they seek reconstruction of their community, affected by constant and sustained assault.  They cover themes of violence, interaction between folklore, tourism, migration, and current social processes.  Good critique of new vs. old identity and traditions.