The Blessing of a Home - A Religious or Cultural Practice?

The altar in our home on the night of the blessing.

I've written about a few things that Christians in Mexico do, although they officially shouldn't do them.  Today it's kind of the opposite; blessing of homes, an other items, is something very acceptable that Catholics do in Mexico, but, from what I understand, is virtually never done in Anglophone North America.

On February 19, we had our home blessed by Father Patrick of our local church.  It was my wife's idea, since she's the one who grew up Catholic, and who simply assumes that these sorts of things should be done, or at least are a very good idea.  Inevitably I ask her why (I'm generally not big on doing things until I know what they mean,) and spend the next evening on the internet looking for information; some time within the week or month, we'll find someone at the church to ask.

In this case, her answer gave me the basic concept.  We learned some further details from a nun at church, and later the priest when he arrived for the blessing.  I found out that the usual custom is to have a home blessed when a family first moves in, but it is also sometimes done annually or when an addition is put on, or some other change takes place.

One point he made, however, surprised me.  I told him that this was all new to me and I really didn't know how it worked.

"The blessing of homes," he said, "is also fairly new to me."  He is American, and explained that while he was in the U.S., he didn't bless any homes.  After arriving in Playa del Carmen, however, he had been quite busy blessing new homes; in fact, he knew my community and arrived quite easily, since the community is very new (see The Neighborhood I Call Home,) and had been here often for this very purpose.

His comment surprised me, since I saw this as a "Catholic" practice, so I assumed it would be common for Catholics anywhere - I assumed the difference between my wife and me in this case was our religious background, and not our cultural background. I hadn't thought of it as an ethnic practice.

He told me in the U.S. it's just not the thing to do.  Here in Mexico, he explained, people ask for blessing on just about any major item in their life - homes, cars, businesses - or smaller religious items, like icons of Mary or the Saints, crucifixes, or Bibles.  Our Bibles were blessed with the home, as was the cross seen in the picture, and the rosary hanging on it.  We don't have any icons; I explained to the priest that I'm still learning about this concept before "diving in" and he said it was understandable.  I've seen people at the church asking for blessings on a good variety of items.

I commented that it's something that could probably change in the U.S., imagining a shift towards stronger religious traditions; he agreed, but for a reason I hadn't thought of at the moment.

"As more Mexicans move in, American [Catholics] will probably see that they're having their homes blessed, and want to do the same."

I've read before that the Catholic Church in the U.S. is seeing a strong shift towards larger immigrant numbers.  But could it be that the American Catholicism, or even Christianity in general, would be also begin to assimilate practices of Mexican or other immigrants?  Or will the children and grandchildren of the immigrants loose this kind of practice as they become more American and realize that these practices aren't "normal" there?

Personally, I suspect it will be the first; Americans will begin to pick up ideas like this one, and many others, not specifically because of any desire to be like the immigrants, but rather because of growing interest for a deeper-rooted religious culture of their own, triggered or at least helped along by what they see.

I assume Canada isn't too different in terms of the blessings, etc., but it doesn't have nearly as many Mexican immigrants. If any change happened there, it would be triggered by a different source.

Will a change like this happen?  Would be a cultural shift or a religious shift?  Or perhaps a shift of religious culture?  Perhaps a religious shift already happening will prepare for a deeper shift influenced by new cultural values?  Or maybe none of the above, and I'm just imagining everything.  Who knows.

The Morning Edition - What Living in Mexico is REALLY Like

When people are considering living another country, they spend a lot of time looking for the "real story" about what life in at country is like.  For Mexico, like any other country, we find all sorts of extremes flying around, with some people trying to promote as paradise, and others, who like to present themselves as "realistic," telling exaggerated horror stories.  With the first people, you're left wondering what they're trying to sell, or what they've been doing to remove they're mind from reality, with the second, you're left wondering why they're still here if it's so horrible; the truth is that both are falsifying for the pleasure of telling stories and either pleasing people or shocking people (the two are not so dissimilar.)

From my point of view, the plain truth is that once you settle into day to day life, enjoying the simple pleasures that each day brings to you, or hating the mundane routine that you can't escape from (the optimistic vs. pessimistic view of the exact same things,) day to day life is about the same just about where ever you live.

This is not to deny or even diminish the importance of cultural differences, lifestyle and work routines, which are very dependent on where you live.  But the point is that even the richest culture or the most comfortable lifestyle can be swallowed up by boredom and no pleasure to life whatsoever.  On the other hand, the place most devoid of culture and anything remotely interesting in terms of human achievement could be beautiful to the open heart.

My life in Mexico is most defined by the same things that define the lives of people I know in Canada, Mexico City, China, the U.S., etc; I get up, I take my son to school, I do my work, sometimes I cook, I eat, I help clean the house or do the dishes, I write my blog, I help put the kids to bed, I read, etc. I'd guess that well over 90% of my life is taken up by these things.  My friends who don't have kids wouldn't be doing those items, but most of the rest would be similar.

Of course, the places we live and the people near us define the flavor of these routines; but it is our openness to life that shows us the beauty of the place we live and the people we interact with.

I love my routine because it is with my family and friends, and in a place that is pleasant. The strange, interesting and wonderful little discoveries I come across (many of which show up in this blog) add flavor and spice to this.

In this blog, the posts that are most about my life every day here are the ones that are not much different from little things people everywhere would enjoy:

Our New Park
The Neighborhood I Call Home
Our Beautiful Bougainvilleas - Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers

These are like rice (I like rice); they are the base of my daily life.  The other neat little things I have the pleasure of coming across are like the spices and other ingredients added to the rice to add flavor and variety:

Cafe de Olla - One of my Favorites!
Day of the Dead - The Symbols and Traditional Elements


Of course, there are things which aren't pleasant at all, but these are also a part of normal life.

So what is life in Mexico like?  The short answer is, when the new wears off, just about like anywhere else; discovering and enjoying the little beautiful things and intriguing features unique to Mexico, which add some spice to life will depend entirely on how you view life ...

Our New Park

My family in the park (this is the playground side, with fewer trees.)

About 4 or 5 months ago, a new park was opened in our community, just across the main road, a 3 minutes walk from our house.  With the completion of the development, it's also our last park; there are a total of 7, all within walking distance.  These parks represent one of the best features of the planning of our community; no other community anywhere in Playa del Carmen has this concentration of parks.  All of them also have plenty of trees, which are mostly the native trees left in tact, adding necessary shade for the heat of the Caribbean sun. 

Most of the other parks in the city, as well planned and beautiful as they are, have been completely cleared with a few scraggly palms added that do nothing either for shade or for the visual appearance of the park.  (I still can't figure out the obsession with palm trees; in a suitable habitat they grow nicely, but they give little shade, and die as quickly as they grow.  In Mexico City, some idiot city planners have tried to grow palms in Santa Fe, which is naturally a cool hilly climate where pines grow.  The palms grow to about 3 feet tall, and whither up, looking quite sad compared to the majestic pines towering over the hill tops a few kilometers away.)

This new park is also the nicest in the community, providing an ideal balance of trees, walkways, benches and playgrounds.  We're in love with this park and delighted that it's so close to us.

The park closest to our house (about a 2 minute walk away) is about 1/4 of the size.  It was also nice, but was less planned.  Worst of all, though, was the fact that within weeks of its opening it was vandalized.  I could live with graffiti, but the kids who did it also nearly dismantled the playground, disfiguring every part they possibly could.  It's now been put back together, but from the original parts, so it's still deformed and rather shabby looking.  My wife was there when they wrecked part of it, and came home very upset and frustrated, nearly in tears, because they were very rude to her when she tried to convince them to stop.  By the time I arrived they had left.

The worst part about it is that everyone on the street (not our street) knows who it was.  But no one wants to say or do anything for fear of getting on the bad side of the parents of the kids.  I wish parents would pay just a little attention to their kids.  Disinterest and complacency are destructive.

No one has touched the new park yet.  I hope they don't.  After half a year of walking halfway through the community to get to the next park to avoid being reminding of how disappointed, upset and frustrated we were to see our first new park vandalized, we've finally got the best park in the community right across the street.

Moms, dads, kids, teens and dogs all come out every evening to play and relax, and it's really becoming sort of a hub for this part of the community.  We love it.

Right now we feel like we live in the best place in the world!

For 2 other pictures (one before the development), read:
The Neighborhood I Call Home

Saint Death - A Uniquely Mexican (and Strange) Phenomenon

A Saint Death Figure For Sale In a Store

"Saint Death" seems to be a  primarily Mexican phenomenon, although I have recently been informed that there is a "San la Muerte" in Argentina.  The following of "Saint Death" is not tied specifically to any one other Mexican cultural feature, but rather a hodge-podge of several of the most important ones.  Saint Death is a unofficial sub-cult (sub-cult because it seems have many individual followers from various other religions, without being an official part of any of them - although it seems to be trying to emerge as an official religion). Adherents worship Death as cult object, or at least (much more commonly) ask it for favours as a saint.  Saint Death is almost invariably represented by a grim-reaper like statue of just about any size (I've seen key-chains and human-size statues,) but it can also be portrait.  People will ask Saint Death for many things, ranging from money, to a husband, to protection while working the night shift, to success in a crime they're about to commit.

Before saying much else there are some very, very important things to note about the cult of Saint Death:

This is not officially accepted or tolerated by Catholicism.  (Originally I said "in no way Catholic" but some one pointed out that that statement is "tendentious.") The Catholic Church of Mexico has officially condemned the cult as satanism, and teaches that even the least committed adherence is unacceptable. (Out of pure curiosity,  I consulted a Catholic deacon, and confirmed it on the internet.)   This is very confusing since the part that is trying to emerge as an official religion actually has rites which are based on the Catholic liturgy; one group actually calls itself "catholic."  Even more confusing is that many members of the real Catholic Church ignorantly keep Saint Death icons thinking that it is a legitimate saint.  These last two reasons specifically brought the Catholic Church in Mexico to condemn the cult; it doesn't have strong enough presence in the U.S. yet to have brought any official statement from U.S. bishops.

It is definitely not Protestant or any other Christian group.  Most protestants in Mexico will be very quick to condemn this kind of superstition.  For the reasons mentioned above, many think that it's one of Catholicisms many faults.  But here's a dark little secret: my mother-in-law believes that her father, my wife's grandfather, who is a staunch convert to Protestantism  (which is supposed to mean opposition to all of Mexico's superstitions) is hiding a little figure of Saint Death in his bedroom, hoping it will help him discover the gold from the Mexican Revolution he's certain is buried in his land. I'm sure his pastor doesn't know about that one ...

(See Looking for a pot of Gold? Perhaps a heart of Gold? Grandpa Pedro, Part 2)

Saint Death, With Fake U.S. Bills and Canadian Coins

It's predominantly working class.  Like the "curse of the eye" bracelets , this is a superstition with a very strong following in the working class, and seems to cross religious, regional and lifestyle borders withing the working class.  Although, from my experience, it seems to be much more urban than rural.  (So, it could be that my wife's grandfather, living out in the isolated hills, really doesn't know what it is; he says someone gave it to him for good luck.  Although this doesn't justify his hiding it.)  The main altars for Saint Death (yes, there are public altars - they are centered around the statue figures seen above) are located in Mexico City, with the most famous one in the very poor downtown community of Tepito, which is also the city's largest street market, a great place for everything cheap, stolen and illegal.  That one is dressed as a bride. It's the only public altar I've seen, although numerous others exist.

(Compare:The Curse of the Eye, and The Morning Edition - Exotic Mexico)

It's not associated with the original Day of the Dead Celebration.  As with Catholicism, followers of Saint Death have integrated traditional elements of Day of the Dead into their rites, and even have a special celebration on Nov. 1, which is the first Day of the Dead.  But from what I understand, the Day of the Dead celebration is in honour of the souls of friends and relatives who have passed away, and does not celebrate "death" as a element in itself.  I think that the Day of the Dead can be celebrated in accordance with Catholic beliefs, but I still have to check both the Catholic and Protestant view of this celebration.  In any case, most people who celebrate don't make any connection to "Saint Death," unless they are already followers.  ( Click here to read more about the Day of the Dead)

Most people who worship or adore Saint Death do so in secret. For this reason, I've seen very few people with their little figures.  I have seen some in buses or taxis.  As noted above, the open following of Saint Death is becoming more common.

A "Natural Store" Selling a Bazaar (but common) Combination of Items

One very strange feature of these figures is that they are sold in "Health Food Stores" - "Tiendas Naturistas."  These stores are not like the vegan hippie shops up in Canada or the U.S.  They don't sell TVP, soy-milk, natural peanut butter or quinoa; in Mexico, quinoa is sold as a candy rather than a health food. Rather they sell a supply of natural remedies (tree barks, leaves, seeds, etc.), along side ingredients for common spiritualism (or "witch craft" if you like,) superstitious objects (like the anti-curse-of-the-eye "deer's eye" bracelets), items for the Day of the Dead (when in season), Catholic icons and images, and Saint Death statues.   This very strange mix also makes the confusions mentioned above difficult to unravel, and strengthens the perceived connection between all of these things in the eye of the common public; thus my emphasis on the lack of a real bilateral connection between Saint Death and anything else found in those stores, except perhaps the superstition items; I don't believe, that most of its adherents even practice any sort of witch craft, although I could be wrong.

This is one of those Mexican things closely tied to superstition, and verging on being its own brand of spiritualism; it probably hits rock-bottom on the list of Mexican cultural features I would actually want to participate in.  Although it would be pretty hard to convince me to put one of those evil-eye bracelets on my child as well, I could see myself buying one of the bracelets just as a specimen to show people (not to use); on the other hand, I don't think I could find a place in all my curiosity for a Saint Death figure, even as a specimen.  It is, however, a very interesting and unique cultural phenomenon.

What I've written here is based primarily my personal experience, and is, for that reason, quite incomplete. For more in-depth and better researched information, see Arturo Vasquez's posts in his blog "Reditus":

http://arturovasquez.wordpress.com/tag/santa-muerte/
http://arturovasquez.wordpress.com/tag/folk-catholicism/

For information about "San La Muerte" in Argentina, read:

http://arturovasquez.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/san-la-muerte/

"The seats on the bus go bump, bump, bump ...."

A bus in Playa del Carmen near where I live.

A favorite activity that my son and I enjoy on the way to school is imagining all the different possible versions of "The wheels on the bus ..."

If you've only ever been on a bus in Canada or the U.S., you'd have no idea of how much fun this can really be.  Our favourite is "The seats on the  bus go bump, bump, bump."  The most fun is trying to sing, as the seats, the whole bus, and the people on it actually go "bump, bump, bump" so much that you have to hold onto something to stay in your seat, or at least avoid ending up on the floor.

In the small mini-buses (like in the picture) the morning and afternoon school rush often leaves us standing up in the middle; usually when there's an adult with a seat, they'll at least give the three-year-old a place to sit, but when everyone else has a 3,4 or 5 year old, or just no body is that thoughtful, we're left standing, him holding onto my leg, and me holding on the rail at the top, not being able to stand up straight because the bus is just too small.  We still sing our song, though.

When my wife was going to fly for the first time (this was after we were married with our first baby, who is now the three-year-old), she was concerned that he wouldn't handle the flight well.  I reassured her that if the baby survived the buses on Mexico City's old roads (where we lived at the time), the take off and landing would hardly be noticeable.  I was right; our baby didn't cry.

I've been on the old buses running through the mountains in Greece, and they're even more fun.  Mexico's old inter-city bus services used to be like that - both my dad, my wife, and many Mexicans I know experienced those buses - but they're now quickly being modernized, with soft, comfortable seats and movies; the old highways that were almost wide enough to avoid oncoming traffic, and really made the bus bump, are being replaced with wide, smooth, modern highways.

In the mean time, many of the city buses still go bump, bump, bump, enough to be fun, and give people with motion sickness a hard time.  Singing helps.

"I want Canada music."

These days, my son loves the idea of Canada. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons.)

Ever since my parents left on airplane to head back to Canada after their last visit, my 3-year-old son has been very intrigued by Canada.  When we get on the bus, sometimes he asks us if the bus is taking us to Canada.  If I say no, he asks if the bus is going to Cancun, where we can get an airplane to Canada.  When we ask where he wants to go in the evening, he says Canada.  A few days ago, he was packing a little bag he has to go to Canada.  (The baby's clothes, diapers, toy cars and a book were the key items.)  He loves to wear a Canada t-shirt he has, and gets excited when he sees others wearing Canada shirts; this is fairly common among Mexicans here in Playa, since it seems fairly common for Canadian tourists to give away Canada paraphernalia to their hotel workers, tour guides, etc.

Yesterday morning I asked him what kind of music he wanted to listen to.  His answer:

"I want Canada music!"

The music which best fits that description is Gordon Lightfoot.  Of course, there is lots of great Canadian music of all kinds, but little of it is as Canadian in its essence.  He was very happy with the choice, and kept coming up to ask me, "This is Canada music?"

The only problem was I couldn't get him to say "Canadian music."  Every time I corrected him, he just insisted that it's "Canada music."  Oh well, that will come.  At least he's getting to like my music too; a while back, he always preferred his mom's music.

(See: Gordon Lightfoot for Mexico; A Musical Exchange)

No worries on the Mexican side, though. He proudly identifies himself with both countries, both flags (which appear on his blanket,) and both languages.  The two concepts show up at different times, but currently he has a strong identification with both.

Cold or Alergies? Here's a Good, Semi-Natural Treatment

An Effective, Semi-Natural Cold or Allergy Treatment

For the past  2 months, I've had an ongoing cold or allergies; the funny thing is that since I've moved to Playa del Carmen, a nice sunny, warm beachfront town, both have been noticeably worse than either in central Mexico or in Canada.  And, on top of that, my allergies seem surprisingly similar to a cold.  The very few times I've gone to the doctor, it's always turned out to be allergies, even though EVERYTHING about it feels like a cold.

This morning my 3-year-old son woke me up at 6:30, and I had a runny nose, I was sneezing and had a headache, and I had to blow my nose every 3 minutes.  10 minutes later, the baby was crying and wanted to eat.  (Saturday is my wife's only precious sleep-in day during the whole week, so it's out of the question to take that away from her.)

I felt like closing myself into a dark, quiet room to just forget about the world.  I thought about heading to the drugstore for allergy medicine, but then I decided to try our alternative approach first.  The last time my family came from Canada, my dad had given us a bottle of tea tree oil as a natural treatment for ticks on our dog. (Ticks are very, very common here in the jungle, and all dogs get them if they are not treated.  Most people use a horrible chemical that cannot be used by pregnant or breastfeeding women, or anyone under the age of 19.  The tea tree oil actually works very, very well - better than the chemical.)

A few months ago, reading the natural health booklet that came with it, I realized that it had lots of uses, including treating the common cold. I found it also works for allergies.  So, this morning, this is how I treated my allergies/cold or whatever it is:

• Tea Tree Oil - I heated a pot of water until it was steaming very well, and added 10 drops of tea tree oil.  I place a towel over my head and leaned over the steaming pot inhaling the vapor of the oil.  The relief in my nose was almost instant.
• Hot Tea -  I used Tetley Orange Pekoe tea, but I would normally us an herbal tea - we've run out.  I prepared it while I was heating the water, so I could enjoy it immediately after the tea tree oil.
• Paracetamol - I took one tablet to help with the headache.  The only not natural part of my treatment.  This is still much better than going to the doctor here; most doctors (although most certainly not all) in Mexico tend to way over medicate; I'm highly suspicious an hesitant when it comes to over-medication.  We've found 2 doctors who are very conservative about medicine, and give treatments (which include only small amounts of medicine if any) whic, as we suspected, are usually much more successful.  I also believe in generics, most of the time.  Tylenol costs about 10 times as much, and does the same thing.

I probably could have done without the paracetamol, but on the whole the treatment was successful.  Afterwards, I just felt a little sleepy, but otherwise fine.  The rest of the morning was a very relaxing, comfortable Saturday morning.

To read more about my experience with healthcare and medicine in Mexico, read:

• Interesting Expats Part 2 - The Drunk "Dentist" 
• Childbirth in IMSS - Mexico's Social Insurance Health Care System 
• Mexican Health Care – The Really Cheap Side of Things

What's Wrong With This Sign?

The sign announcing the power outage.

 This is a sign that was posted throughout our neighborhood yesterday.  For anyone who doesn't read Spanish, It says:

Dear Residents:

We are informing you that the electric company will be turning off the power between approximately 1 pm and 2 pm, for the purpose of repairs.  Thank you for your understanding!

What's wrong with this message?  Well, if you're not sure, the following are my complaints:

• It doesn't state which DAY the power will be turned off.
• Electric work is NEVER completed in 1 hr.
• The paper signs were randomly pasted in visible, but completely unprotected areas, like on this electric power box, or on the walls separating the homes from the main road; this morning only one of the 5 we saw were remaining.  This is as much a problem with social responsibility as with the community council's method of communication.  This is a really big problem here; it's really common that people destroy, remove or deface things just to be a nuisance to other people.  They could have put some in stores, etc.

The only sign remaining after less than 24 hours.

At least it's a small improvement. Up until this yesterday, we've never been informed of electric work and the resulting power outages.   So, it's one small step ahead.  Hopefully they put the date on next time.

It must be noted, however, that the date may not have been put on because they themselves were not sure of when they would do the work.  The signs may have been a response to complaints, without any real intentions of solving the problems of lack of communication.

Our Beautiful Bougainvilleas - Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers

As you can see in this picture, we now have a beautiful bougainvillea plant growing in front of our living room window.  Of course, it's going to get much bigger than this.  Our plan is to draw wires between the protection bars on the two windows so it grows up and covers the upper window, providing shade.  This plant has been part of our house since we moved here a year and half ago and has grown marvellously since then.

The flowers grow almost all the time, and the neighbourhood kids love pulling them off and making heart shapes, or flower-covered walkways on the ground.  At first we were going to tell them not to, but then we realized the flowers grow back so quickly that it really doesn't matter.  We've just told them not to break the plant itself, and only pull of the petals.  Yesterday my wife was going to take a picture of the heart they made, but the batteries in the camera were dead.  Another time.

As you can see from the second picture, the plant was tiny when bought in August 2010.  I'm  impressed and happy with how it's grown.

To read more about our gardening, read:

• Our Mexican Marigolds - Cempoalxochitl, the Flower of the Dead 
• Our homegrown tomatoes 
• More Gardening - Our Mini Rose Bush 
• My Papaya Tree and Our First Homegrown Papaya

Tepache - A Fermented Pineapple Drink

Tepache, in Tacubaya (from Wikimedia Commons, user Thelmadatter)

Tepache is a traditional fermented pineapple drink popular in some areas of Mexico. As seen in the picture, it is a reddish colour.  It is still fairly sweet, and only mildly fermented - perhaps similar to that of a milder traditional fermented apple ciders.  (Not the Strongbow's sort, but the actual raw apple juice naturally fermented.)

The place where I have had it most often is in a small group of flauta shops in the Tacubaya neighborhood of Mexico City.

Flautas are tortillas, rolled up with a little meat in the middle, fried until crispy and brittle; they are served with lettuce and sauce on top of them, and, in the case of these shops in Tacubaya, with tepache.

Tacubaya is mostly a working class neighbourhood, and it's the end of one of the major subway lines, thus also serving as a major bus and transportation terminal.  On Sunday afternoons, many young adults from villages to the west of Mexico City (approx. 1 hr away) come to Tacubaya, hang out in what's sort of a village square, and enjoy the dining and shopping of this vibrant neighborhood, all of which is really, really cheap (I got a pair of New Balance running shoes there for $40 - originals!)  The neighborhood is in no way pretty or picturesque, but has a charm that only a place that has been given over entirely to practicality of the city and has been "discovered" only by those who need it's cheapness and complete lack of pretentiousness.  It was one of the original Aztec villages that was in alliance with Mexico City (Tenochtitlan) when the Spaniards arrived at the time of the conquest.

So, needless to say, the flauta shops are also really cheap.  If I remember correctly, the flautas are sold 3 for 50 cents, and the tall glass of Tepache seen in the picture is also about 50 cents.  So, with $2, you'll be doing quite well in this place.  (This is why I was surprised when I moved to Playa del Carmen from Mexico City, and realized that here, even with $10, you're better off staying home.  One of the biggest charms of Mexico City is that you can go out with less than a dollar to your name and have a great time.)

Vats of Tepache in Tacubaya (from Wikimedia Commons, user Thelmadatter)

I found tepache once in Playa del Carmen. The fruit and vegetable store where we normally shop (the same one that had those wonderful tamales being sold in front of it, see xxx), sells fresh fruit juices at about 60 cents a glass.  One day they had tepache as one of the choices. Although this doesn't really count as "fresh fruit juice," I was delighted and had a glass.  I've never found it since.  One of these days I'll ask them for it.

If you're in Mexico City, I highly recommend trying tepache.  It's easier to find, and easier to take down than pulque.  I'm sure there are many other places to try great tepache as well.

To read about pulque, another traditional Mexican drink, read:

My Mexico City Experience - Pulque

A note about the pictures: they are not my pictures, but they are from Wikimedia commons (with a shareable license) and the person who took and posted them noted that they are from Tacubaya; I also recognize the place.

The Morning Edition - Exotic Mexico

I was just taking a look at the most popular stories in my blog, and the top 2, outnumbering the 3rd and 4th places by 2-4 times as many visits have to do with items very unique to Mexico's distinct culture:

• The Curse of the Eye - This has been #1, almost doubling #2, and tells about a very, very popular superstition in Mexico, and how to protect children against it.  While supposedly it's the "Catholics" who are more superstitious (in quotation marks, since these beliefs are in now way officially Catholic or approved by that church), recently an Evangelical mother visited me her newborn baby, and I caught a glimpse of deer's eye bracelet on the baby; if the Catholic Church disapproves, Evangelical Churches even more so; I find this paradox hard to wrap my mind around ...

• My Mexico City Experience - Pulque - #2 has also doubled #3 in popularity.  This is a traditional fermented drink, dating back to Aztec times, made from the same plant as Tequila.  Originally it was a sacred drink, and now it belongs to the rural working class.

Another post about the dangers of being caught unawares by a beautiful Mexican WARNING: Mexico is DANGEROUS! Do not come here - unless ... is also very popular, with another one about illegal immigration, Illegal Immigration - An Alternative Approach, being fairly well liked.  The top 5 are rounded off by one completely unrelated to Mexico, about my wife's luck with technology, Have you ever flushed your phone down the toilet?

Judging by the high popularity of the "exotic" theme, and because I really do like these topics, I'm soon going do another post or two on related topics; one will be about "tepache," a fermented pineapple drink, the other will be about "Saint Death" - a saint sub-cult focused on a grim-reaper like figure.

Our Mexican Marigolds - Cempoalxochitl, the Flower of the Dead

The Cempoalxochitl (marigolds) in our garden

These flowers have been growing beautifully in our back flower bed. They are Mexican Marigolds, called Cempoalxochitl (pronounced cem-pa-SU-chil) in Mexico, which is the Aztec name.

The story behind these is more significant than our other gardening endeavours.  At the beginning of November, we celebrated Mexico's Day of the Dead by making traditional alters to the deceased nearest to us.  To read about the altars, and see pictures, read:

Day of the Dead - An Altar for my Grandparents
Remebering Someone Dear to Us

The main flowers used on these altars, as well as in other parts of the decoration are Mexican Marigolds.  After taking down the altars on Nov. 3, we placed the flowers on top of our book shelf to dry.  When my wife's mom arrived at the end of the same month, she found them, and remembered that they grow easily.  So, she removed the seeds and sprinkled them into a flowering pot we had sitting in the back yard.  Within a few days, the plants were sprouting out.

A close up of a full Cempoalxochitl flower

In January, when I transplanted them to our newly extended flower bed, they still didn't have any flowers.  There is now a total of about 15 - 20.

For a little about the tradition of the flowers and other symbols related with the holidays, read:

Day of the Dead - The Symbols and Traditional Elements

Some more flowers - these ones never opened fully

For more about my gardening, read:

Our homegrown tomatoes
More Gardening - Our Mini Rose Bush


My Papaya Tree and Our First Homegrown Papaya

Have you ever seen a tree like this one?

Notice the woven trunk, which is actually one single trunk!

I've never seen a tree like this one before.  The trunk, as seen in the picture, is a series of "smaller trunks" woven together into the cylindrical shape seen; the really impressive thing is that the points where the "smaller trunks" touch, they are actually fused together sharking the same bark; they've actually grown together and become attached.  So the trunk you see is actually one single trunk, shaped as a hollow cylinder with a woven service.

I've seen some larger trees around here, that seem to have multiple parts of one large trunk, sometimes even with spaces between parts of them, but never anything like this.

This was clearly planned and somehow "convinced" to grow this way.  But I can't image how it is possible. 



If anyone reading this blog knows how this works, please tell me!

We found this tree downtown Playa del Carmen, at the main city bus transfer point. Next time I go by, I might just knock and ask.  I'm very impressed by this strange but beautiful plant.

I uploaded the photo with higher resolution than normal so you can view it with more detail if you like.


If you want to read about my own garden - a very easy to understand, but enjoyable mistake, read:

Our homegrown tomatoes
More Gardening - Our Mini Rose Bush
My Papaya Tree and Our First Homegrown Papaya

The best tamales in Playa del Carmen

Barbequed Tamal - OK, it doesn't look like much, but it's delicious!

Playa del Carmen is generally not the place for tamales.  Although different styles can be found brought from people from all over the country of Mexico (a natural result of the fact that the people who live here come from all over the country), the quality is generally lower than those in the place of origin; they tend to be dryer, lack flavor, and are over-priced. ($1 is average; in most places 50 cents is normal.)

About a week ago, however, my wife and I discovered tamales that are not only by far the best we've had here, but some of the best we've had anywhere in Mexico. (If any chilangos are reading, they are even better than most from Mexico City, as much as you could never dream of the possibility!  I have to admit, though, until trying these, I was part of the "only Mexico City knows how to make real tamales" club.)

The unique part about them is that they are entirely barbequed.  The lady who makes them first barbeques the chicken, then mixes with some other ingredients (including onions and boiled eggs) which are used as the filling in the tamale dough.  She uses banana-leaf wrappers, and they are a flat, square shape (the common practice in the south and east of the country, as well as Guatemala, as opposed to the corn-husk and sausage-like shape predominant in the center of the country.)  I'm not sure if she steams them are not first (the normal cooking form for tamales), but the final stage is to cook them over a wood-fired barbeque.

They are crispy on the outside, and the banana-leaf wrapping is almost burnt off by the end.  The wood flame gives a very unique and rich flavour.  Also common for banana-leaf tamales, a very slightly spicy red sauce is served on top.

The typical kind of tamal from Mexico City, in a bun.

We discovered these tamales outside of our fruit and vegetable store.  When we finished shopping last week, we were waiting for a taxi, and the smell of the tamales beside us was unbearably tempting.  Having had generally negative experiences (with only 2 exceptions) with tamales in Playa del Carmen, we hesitated buying.  Then a regular customer came by and ordered 8.  He told us that they were amazing - he drive halfway across the city to get them (this is only 10 minutes, but for residents of Playa, driving 10 minutes for tamales shows a fairly strong dedication.)  So, we decided to try them, and we were delighted!


They are a little expensive (20 pesos, or about $1.70), but they are large - about the size 2 or 3 of the standard, Mexico City style tamales) and the flavour is amazing!

The lady agreed to let my wife take pictures of her making them.  So, after she does that, I'll post the pictures.  When ever I remember to take our camera vegetable shopping, I'll also take some pictures of her barbeque booth outside the store.

To read more about tamales:

Vitamin T - The Mexican Special

Our homegrown tomatoes

Our accidental tomato plant

A bit less than a year ago, after filling our two flower gardens (front yard and back yard) with less-than-fully decomposed compost, tomatoes were among the first plants to sprout up.  While we pulled up most of the other kinds of plants, I recognized the shape of the tomato leaf (my parents have grown tomatoes in their garden for as long as I can remember) and we decided to keep them out of sheer curiosity.

Another view of the same home-grown tomatoes

As you can see from the pictures, the plants grew very large and produced beautiful red tomatoes.  Since my wife was running a little stationary shop for the local school at the time, kids took most of the ones from the front garden (seen in these pictures) but we enjoyed a few.  The ones from the back garden were smaller and there were fewer of them (although the plants grew quickly along the fence like vines,) but we also enjoyed a few of those.  They were delicious, as sun-ripened fruit always is!

More Gardening - Our Mini Rose Bush

A Beautiful Mini Rose - about 2" in size?

This is one of 2 plants that we grew intentionally from the beginning, our mini rose bush, the currently stand about 20 inches high, and is having it's 3rd or 4th burst of flowers.  It's located directly under the our living room window, with a larger bougainvilleas plant overshadowing it.  One picture shows both plans a bit more than a year ago not long after they were planted.
 

The entire bush - notice new buds, and fallen Bougainvilleas pedals

The recent flowers have been booming the most beautifully, and a greater number of them are showing up.

The rose can faintly be seen on the lower right, above the rocks

My Papaya Tree and Our First Homegrown Papaya

Our Papaya Trees

Have you ever grown your own fruit or vegetables?  We don't do it with any serious commitment, and it started mostly by accident.  We have a compost in our small back yard.  First some of the seeds from the fruit we buy spilled out of the container (not many) and others were carried off by ants (there are thousands of ants around here.)  Later more fruit and vegetables sprouted up from our less-than-completely decomposed compost when we spread it out through our newly created garden.

The first result of this accidental process was a papaya tree.  At first I thought it was just a big weed; weeds around here get HUGE.  But I hesitated to pull it up, because I had seen a similar plant in a neighbour's front yard, which seemed to be there on purpose. So I asked the neighbor, and he told me it was papaya.  So, of course, I let it go.

Our first ripe papaya - today!

That was about a year ago, and now we have to little trees (about as tall as me) growing side by side.  The smallest one was the first to grow fruit, but most of the little papayas kept falling off, very tiny and green.  Finally, about a week ago, a larger one fell off, and we left it in the sun to ripen.

By "larger" I mean 6 inches - hardly the right size for a papaya.  It's ripe now, and tomorrow morning we're going to try it.  We're excited!  This will be our second home-grown food; although the tomato plants showed up later, they produced fruit much quicker (last summer) - they were delicious!

Green papayas still on the tree

About 10 more papayas are currently growing and are already longer than this one, although they are thinner; hopefully this means they will fill out and become full-sized papayas.

I'll pictures and posts of our other plants over the next few days, both accidental (tomato, pineapple, avocado, beans and Mexican Marigolds - the famous Cempoalxochitl, pronounced "CEM-pa-su-chil"or flower of the dead) and planned growth (Bougainvilleas, and miniature roses.)

A papaya flower

A Poor Canadian Living in Rich Mexico - Part 2 - The Stats

Wealth Distribution - two scenes from Mexico City

Of course, the idea that Mexico is financially richer than Canada is absurd; I acknowledged that in my last post!  But it's not just my imagination that Mexico has a lot of very well-to-do people.

Comparing some of the stats from the two countries will help show the bigger picture.

These are taken from the CIA World Factbook, a great source of statistical info for just about any country:




                                                                         Mexico                    Canada
Population:                                                 110,000,000             31,000,000
Gross Domestic Product:                         $1.56 trillion            $1.3 trillion
GDP per capita:                                          $13,800                     $39,600

Average household income:                    $10,000                   $26,000
                                                                    (these last two are from Wikipedia - it's all in US dollars)

So, while both countries are "trillion dollar class" economies - a status shared by only 14 countries - and Mexico actually has a larger economy than Canada, the fact that Mexico shares that wealth between more than 3 times as many people makes it pretty clear where average wealth is higher.

But there's one little detail the CIA World Factbook points out:

While in Mexico "per capita income is roughly one-third that of the US, income distribution remains highly unequal."

 In Canada, on the other hand, this is less of a problem.

The World Factbook backs this claim with it's "Distribution of family income - Gini index" ranking Canada (32) much better than Mexico (46) (A lower number means better family wealth distribution; the "best" country has a score of 22; the U.S. is only slightly better than Mexico at 42.)

While Mexico has very low unemployment it has big problems with underemployment - people who have jobs, but don't get paid enough for that job.  Putting all this together means, while Mexico has one of the world's best economies (being in the trillion dollar class is really impressive!) there are really rich people who have most of this money, and there are really poor people who see little of it; the idea will come as no surprise to most Mexicans, who complain about this often.

What they forget, though, is that this same fact means that many Mexicans have a good deal more wealth than many Canadians.  By visual impression, I would think there are more really rich people in Mexico than in Canada. But Forbes' list of country by number of billionaires suggests the opposite; Canada has 24 billionaires, while Mexico has 9.  Canada also has considerably more millionaires.  Maybe the Mexican wealthy just like to show it off a bit more.

These same stats also means that a "poor" Canadian really doesn't compare in any way whatsoever to a poor Mexican; but in this case it's Canadians who need to be reminded of this fact, not Mexicans.

Canada tends to be a very middle class country, while Mexico's middle class seems to be smaller than it should be.  One of my friends from Mexico City pointed out that the middle class of the city's southern area is a very small community that tends to be fairly closely connected; this is surprising from a city with almost the same population as Canada.

Canada hasn't accomplished this through socialism; in fact, the Heritage Society ranked Canada #6 worldwide, in its "Index of Economic Freedom World Rankings" - and I don't believe socialism figures very positively into this ranking. I'm definitely not bragging, here, just an analysis.

(Completely contrary to popular beliefs and absurd blanket statements from both sides of the political spectrum in the Canada and perhaps the U.S., Canada actually has more capitalist economic freedom than the U.S. which ranks #9.  It's very strange, for that reason, that left-leaning Canadians like see the country as more socialist, and right-leaning Canadians as well as right-leaning detractors of  Canada from the U.S. like to complain about Canada's "socialism," which seems to be a fabrication of political image.)

Back to Mexico, though, some people are saying that the country's middle class is growing.  I don't enough about economy to say how this would be best done, but I just hope it's true.

The first part of this post was about  my personal experience living in Mexico with very little money - and the difficulties in convincing people of that fact:

A Poor Canadian Living in Rich Mexico

A Poor Canadian Living in Rich Mexico

We're not all as rich as we "look."

Early on in my life in Cuernavaca, my wife was working taking pictures at events at a little event-garden (kind of like an event hall, but completely outside, something that only works a couple of months in Canada.)  The owner of the place ran it as a small business where he did everything pretty much; all the event services were contracted out, but maintenance, promotion, etc. he and his wife did.

One day when the business had been growing nicely, he decided to buy a new place.  The new one was pretty much a house with a really big yard and a pool; personally, I liked the first place better, since it has a lot of trees and was picturesque in a truly rustic way, but the second place was "nicer" by just about all standards but my own.

One day we were chatting about it:

"It's not much of a place," he observed.  "I know up there in Canada you're used to much more.  But I'm just a poor Mexican, I can't afford much."

"Well, I'm from a pretty humble background," I explained. "I'm sure it's beautiful."

"The thing is, I had to go into it with an investment partner," he went on.  "I could only afford 4 million pesos.  The other guy put up the rest.  It's nothing much compared to what people spend up there."

4 million pesos would have been about $450,000 CDN at the time (slightly less US)!  I didn't really know what to say to that.  I had never lived in a house worth that much, and I don't believe that any of my friends' parents' houses were worth that much.  The average home in Canada last year was worth about $350,000.  I know a lot of people have homes that are worth more, but since this is the average, that means there are plenty whose homes are worth less than that - just about everyone I know, I guess.  This was also before Canada's post-recession housing boom - even before the recession, in fact - so the average values would have been less than that, which was a record high.

This property he bought was worth more, since the $450,000 was just his part - there was also the other investor.

At this point I had just begun teaching part time, and was earning about $700 dollars per month, and my wife was earning another $300, plus what we got from the photography (I helped take the pictures to be developed and sell them to the guests; I even took pictures now and then!)  A home worth $450,000 was well beyond anything I could imagine at the moment.  Yet this guy was sure that the amount would have seemed trivial to me.

I just nodded my head, and told him I was sure he made a good choice; business was good.

I know that this was for business, but what shocked me was the idea that $450,000 was a negligible amount of money!  I know well-to-do people, but I think any of them would consider that amount an amount to treat with care.  This guy was certainly treating them with care - he was kind of "betting the farm" in this new undertaking - but he was sure that that kind of money was nothing for me, since I was Canadian; all Canadians are filthy rich, after all. (I don't know what he thought my motivation was for working with my wife as a photographer on my weekend evenings.)

It seems to me that many Mexicans, like this friend of ours, regardless of how much money they make, will assume that all foreigners are richer than they are.

During a slightly earlier time in Cuernavaca, when my income and funds were even tighter, a man selling chicken in the market got really angry with me because I asked him for 15 pesos of chicken; when he gave me 20 pesos worth, I told him I only had 15 pesos, and he would have to give me less.  This was the absolute truth.  I really only had 15 pesos.  I had a bit more cash at home, but that had been carefully rationed for transportation and other needs.  In my pocket I didn't have another cent - not even a Mexican cent!  My wife and I were going to walk home.

"What's 5 pesos to you!" he shouted.  "It's less than half a dollar.  Stingy gringos!"  Some people will joke around like this, but this guy wasn't joking.  He was fuming mad.  He finally chopped off half a leg, and gave me my 15 pesos worth of chicken, cursing under his breath as we walked away with our chicken, cent-less.

Most of the time these kinds of encounters aren't so aggressive; taxi drivers here regularly try to tell me their price in dollars (elevated.)  I always politely say, "Sorry, I only earn Mexican pesitos.  What's that in pesos?"  (in Spanish, of course.) That usually gets me laugh and a better price.

While in general Canada is definitely richer than Mexico, there are plenty of Mexicans who are richer than plenty of Canadians.  Getting many Mexicans to believe that is virtually impossible, though.

Tomorrow, or some time down the road, I'll share some stats about Canada and Mexico from the CIA World Factbook (a great source for statistical information, free online) and tell you what I think they mean.

To read more about those of us who live in Mexico, and either by necessity or choice are living the "real thing", read:

What is an "Expat"?

The Beauty of not Knowing the Time

Starting in the late afternoon, I had 3 different appointments today.  After each one ended, I went to the place of the next one, and waited for it to begin.  Not once during the entire evening was I aware of the exact time; I could guess the approximate time by the setting sun and the beginning of each appointment; since Mexicans aren't very punctual, the second point counts for little.

I didn't have a watch on, and I had left my cell phone with my wife.  (She lost hers, and we're still waiting to buy a new one; see Have you ever flushed your phone down the toilet? )

Nor at any given point was it necessary to ask the time or even try to guess.  I only found out the time when I arrived home and realized it was a full hour earlier than I guessed just before entering the door.

I did hurry home; but that was because I was tired and I wanted to see my family; I knew they would all be sound asleep, but I still wanted to see them. There was no pressure from the numbers on a clock.

At one point, on the bus home, I became aware of my lack of knowledge of the time, and the lack of need for  it.  I felt in awe.  It wasn't so much not knowing the time that was beautiful, but more not needing to know the time, and for briefly, not even being aware that you don't know the time or don't need to.

It's like being in a place where there is no electricity - and I don't mean turning the lights off;  I mean no electric current or power source anywhere nearby, above the ground or under it.  Electricity has a light humming, even when all your own lights and appliances are off.  It's impossible to identify that humming when you live in it.  Then one day you arrive to a place where there is no electricity, and the unidentifiable lack of that unaudible humming first haunts you like you are in a strange fantasy world, then overwhelms you with its beauty.  That is true silence.


I felt that way about the time today.  It's the lack of it's ever-present existence in your mind that makes it wonderful.

---


"Heaven is a place where everything that is not music is silence." - George MacDonald (I believe I got the quotation from C.S. Lewis)