Mexico Cooks!

Day of the Dead 2009 in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán

2009-11-07T10:00:00-06:00

This quirky calavera (skull, in this case about six inches high) is made of white chocolate with applied chocolate decorations dyed in various colors.

Every year, Mexico Cooks! heads for Pátzcuaro to see what's new and eye-catching in the world of alfeñiques (molded sugar trinkets for the Día de los Muertos--Day of the Dead). Skulls, caskets, skeletons, and miniature food are found almost everywhere in Mexico during this season. Some other sugar figures, made of azúcar glass (confectioner's sugar) as well as granulated sugar, are traditional just in Michoacán. This year, white chocolate was the new kid on the block.

More traditional sugar skulls are made in wooden molds, dried, and then hand-decorated. The eyes of these calaveras are sequins; the rest of the decor is stiff colored icing.

The artisan has applied white icing teeth, orange icing eyebrows and nose outline, green sequin eyes, and a blue-and-green patterned topknot.

Each of these one-inch calaveras has a name tag. Pick the skull that matches your best friend, your romantic interest, or a relative. Click on the photo to enlarge it for a better view--then see if you can find your own name!

These six-inch high molded sugar hearts bear sweet sentiments: Para Mi Corazón (For My Sweetheart) and Con Amor (With Love).

You can find more Mexico Cooks! photos and other information related to the Day of the Dead here, here, and here.

Tiny sugar representations of your dearly departed's favorite foods: pan dulce (sweet bread), enchiladas, tacos, and tostadas. These little plates measure about three inches in diameter.

Six-inch-high sugary crosses.

In the open casket, the calaca (skeleton) partakes of his favorite drink. Click on the photo to read the placard on the grave: "De tontos y panzones están llenos los panteones." ('Cemeteries are full of fools and gluttons.')

Laid out on an old painted wood table, this sheet of papel picado (cut tissue paper) depicts a skull and an ofrenda (Day of the Dead personal altar in honor of the deceased).

Former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari in the form of a murcielago (bat). Sin comentario (no comment), but this little candy made Mexico Cooks! laugh out loud.

Traditional sweet sugar gallinas (hens).

Coronas (funeral wreaths) with their motto Descansa en paz (rest in peace).

Sra. Gallina Roja (Mrs. Red Hen), made of azúcar glass (confectioner's sugar) rather than granulated sugar, sits on her nest with her huevos y polluelos (eggs and chicks).

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe)--this time in white chocolate, dyed in multi-colors--watches over all of us, the living and the dead.

Mexico Cooks! will have more Día de los Muertos traditions for you in the weeks to come. The annual holiday is just too big and colorful for just one week's article.

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Black Magic Woman: Lila Downs Bewitches Morelia

2009-10-31T10:00:00-06:00

Lila Downs, Morelia, Michoacán, October 3, 2009. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are copyright Mexico Cooks!.

Lila Downs hypnotized Morelia and absconded with the city's heart a few weekends ago. For a time, we Morelianos forgot about la crisis económica, we forgot about la influenza H1N1, we forgot about the violent problems that have plagued our city for more than a year. We forgot everything except the essence of la Lila, who worked her black magic on all of us and captured our every sensibility with her voodoo moves and bewitching voice. In a jam-packed Morelia theater, for a couple of hours on a Sunday evening, Lila Downs gave us the gift of letting us remember our best selves.

Mexico Cooks! has watched Lila (pronounced LEE-lah) Downs grow as an artist since 2004. We first saw her perform in the patio of the University of Guadalajara's Escuela de Artes Plásticas, and again at the city's Teatro Galerías, then in a marvelous get-the-crowd-dancing open air concert in the Plaza de las Américas in Zapopan, and most recently this September in Guadalajara, where she opened her 2009 Black Magic Woman tour.

The tour, scheduled to run from August through November, started late because, as Lila said, "Me metieron un cuchillo..." ('They stuck a knife in me...'). Just before the tour was due to open in Denver, Lila had a different, unexpected opening: her appendix had to be removed.

A scant month after surgery, still looking a bit physically challenged from the procedure, Lila launched the Black Magic Woman tour at the sold-out Teatro Diana in Guadalajara. But oh boy, two weeks later in Morelia, Lila was back at the top of her form.

Lila Downs and her incredible troupe of musicians took the stage with a bang in Morelia and never let up.

Lila is the daughter of a Oaxacan Mixtec cabaret singer and a father from the United States who taught at the University of Minnesota. Raised in both Oaxaca (in the far southern mountains of Mexico) and Minnesota (in the far northern plains of the USA), Lila grew up conflicted by her roots in two worlds. Viewed as an exotically brown-skinned girl in north, known as the daughter of a gringo in the south, Lila herself barely knew where she fit in.

Photo courtesy Fernando Aceves and Lila Downs.

When her father moved to Southern California, her mother sent teenage Lila to live with him to finish high school. After high school, Lila returned to her mother's home in Oaxaca. While visiting them at their home, Lila's father died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Left alone with her Indian mother, bitter and angry that her father had disappeared from her life, Lila started college in Minnesota but dropped out prior to finishing her education. She stopped singing, although she had sung while growing up and studied voice in college. She drifted with the Grateful Dead, a Deadhead and latter-day hippie.

Pure energy, pure movement, pure voice: Lila Downs captivated everyone in her Morelia audience.

After a two-year mix of intensive psychotherapy and deep personal introspection, Lila returned to the University of Minnesota and finished a degree in voice and anthropology. Consciously or unconsciously, her studies mirrored both of her parents.

When she returned to Oaxaca after college, she finally discovered herself: rooted deeply in Oaxaca, profoundly influenced by the suppression and hardship suffered by Mexico's indigenous peoples, she composed. And she sang, for the first time in several years.

Lila! For a sneak peek at Lila in action, watch and listen to her perform La Cumbia del Mole.

In the mid-1990s, Lila met Paul Cohen, an East Coast saxophonist. They soon joined their lives and their careers to poner las pilas (put on the batteries) for huge success. Paul encourages her to keep exploring Mexico's music traditions: ranchera, bolero, ballads, and more. Lila's next CD, which she hopes will be on the market in 2010, will be a compilation of música ranchera, from the mariachi tradition.

Joy and delight in Lila's music reverberated in every corner of Morelia's Teatro Morelos.

On Saturday night before the Sunday evening concert, Lila graciously received Mexico Cooks! for a little private conversation. We both wanted to talk about Lila's newest project, a musical theater version of Laura Esquivel's book, Like Water for Chocolate. Lila and Paul are writing nearly 20 original songs for the musical, songs that Lila hopes will endure long after the curtain closes on the play. Like Water for Chocolate will have a libretto by Quiara Hudes (In the Heights, running since early 2008 in New York), with creative direction by Jonathan Butterell (most recently, Fiddler on the Roof revival) and music direction by Ted Sperling (most recently, Guys and Dolls and South Pacific revivals). Lila expects the music to preview in concert in 2010 and hopes for an off-Broadway opening soon after that--and then to Broadway!

Book cover, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.

Like Water for Chocolate, published in 1989, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. There are nearly three million copies in print. When Like Water for Chocolate became a movie in 1992, it won all eleven of the Ariel awards (analogous to the Oscars) for that year.

"I'm really excited about this project." Lila drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair. "So many things about this story remind me of life in Oaxaca, even though the book is set in the north of Mexico. Like Water for Chocolate has already had such huge success as a book and a film! It's just made for the musical stage. The work is a tremendous opportunity for us."

Lila grinned when I asked if she likes to cook. "I do! I really do! My recipe for mole is fantastic! I love nopalitos (strips of nopal cactus, often served as a salad), and I love beans." She rolled her eyes and ducked her head. "My husband calls me a real beaner." She laughed. "Seriously, the fragrance of beans cooking, the flavor of the nopal--those are things that say 'home' to me. Those are the things that give me so much nostalgia. That's one of the reasons I love Like Water for Chocolate so much: home, love, and food are all mixed together. But you know that. That's what I believe, and that's what your Mexico Cooks! is all about, too: a Mexico that is home, love, and food."

Lila moves to deep rhythms and moves her audience to intense feelings. "Lila, te estoy queriendo!" shouts a fan. "Y yo a ti..." Lila responds from the stage, blowing a kiss. ('Lila, I am loving you!' 'And I am loving you...')

Lila Downs' life is a complex mix of intellect and feeling, tradition and the modern, of joy and pain, of hard work and well-deserved success. She gives exquisite voice to her deepest self, she offers unusual accessibility to her adoring fans, and she's made it to the top in a very harsh world. If you are ever in a place where Lila will be singing, get a ticket. Whatever the cost, it's worth every penny.

Qué viva Lila! Te estamos quieriendo...(Long live Lila! We are loving you).

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

Rigoberta Menchú y La Ceremonia por La Paz, Morelia, September 15, 2009

2009-10-24T10:00:00-05:00

Actúa por la Paz: Take Action for Peace, on the back of a T-shirt, Morelia, September 15, 2009.

On the night of September 15, 2008--just a bit over a year ago--all of Mexico celebrated its annual re-enactment of the Grito de Dolores (1810 call for independence from Spain). Many of Morelia's citizens, filled with the joy of Fiestas Patrias (Independence Day) festivities, gathered in the two downtown plazas facing the balconies of the Palacio del Gobierno (state capitol building) to await the appearance of Michoacán's governor. Traditionally, the governor waves the Mexican flag, rings a bell, and calls out a string of VIVAs: Viva México! Viva Hidalgo! Viva Morelos! Viva la Corregidora! Viva los Niños Héroes! Viva México!

In Morelia, those historic VIVAs are always followed by glorious patriotic fireworks in front of the Cathedral. At the 2008 celebration, the governor's actions were aborted by a loud explosion: instead of fireworks, the sound was from two live grenades thrown into crowded Plaza Melchor Ocampo. The balance: hundreds injured, eight killed, and scores of lives changed forever. Recovery of confidence has been slow in Morelia; we who live in Morelia lost our innocence that night.

Rigoberta Menchú Tum from Guatemala, 1992 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, moved hearts and minds with her Ceremonia por la Paz (Peace Ceremony) speech on September 15, 2009, in Morelia.

The event didn't look much like a ceremony for peace, but rather resembled a locked-down security risk. Morelia's Centro Histórico, an area that encompasses most of our colonial-era buildings, was cordoned off by Federal, State, and local police. No private vehicles, taxis, or buses were allowed to circulate within a several-square-block area of the Cathedral. Pedestrians who wanted to enter the area passed first through metal detector security arches. Federal police checked all handbags, camera bags, and backpacks for suspicious objects.

Just across the street from Plaza Melchor Ocampo, sharpshooters and special security forces lined the roof of Hotel Los Juaninos. In order to enter the plaza, we had to pass under yet another security arch. Friends who work for the government called out to us to sit with them for the event.

Fausto Vallejo Figueroa, mayor of Morelia, greets supporters at the Ceremonia por la Paz.

Once settled, we looked around at the crowd. Government officials of all ranks, university officials, relatives of the 2008 victims, and a few selected schools were present, but no ordinary Morelia citizens were in the chairs. The press was amply represented. It became apparent that this Ceremonia por la Paz was more a photo opportunity and sound bite for government promotion than it was an event for the common person.

Dra. Silvia Figueroa Zamudio, distinguished rector of the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. Dra. Figueroa, whose term began in 2007 and will end in 2011, is the first woman rector since the university was founded in 1540.

Leonel Godoy Rangel, governor of Michoacán, chats with Rigoberta Menchú prior to her Morelia speech.

In spite of the militaristic aspects of the event, Sra. Menchú exhorted Morelia, "Don't be afraid. Fear turns us into accomplices and prisoners of violence. Today I stand before you to plead for your courage."

Some survivors and relatives of those dead and injured in the September 15, 2008, grenade blasts attended the 2009 commemoration in Plaza Melchor Ocampo.

She begged the relatives of last year's injured and deceased, "Hold out your dead like a flag of struggle for the well-being of all. Forgive the attackers, involve yourselves in the search for liberty."

Children from a few specially selected schools attended the commemorative event.

At the end of the ceremony--where seating was limited to 1000 people and standing room was at the very edge of the plaza, behind a security barricade--Rigoberta Menchú called out once again for peace. "From Morelia, we celebrate peace, life, and dignity. In the struggle for peace, we all have something to give. The amount of material things we can offer isn't important. What is important is our struggle for the common good."

A strong military presence at the event seemed to contradict Rigoberta Menchú's plea for peace.

Morelia's Municipal Tourism Secretary Roberto Monroy noted that the government invited Rigoberta Menchú so that her presence in Morelia could be seen as a message of peace, of cordiality, and a sign that the capital and the state of Michoacán are still standing, working for the development of peace.

Several of Mexico's Federal police helicopters circled and circled the Centro Histórico after the event.

Despite the contradictions between Sra. Menchú's compelling speech and the military actions of the government, the event left Mexico Cooks! with the joy of seeing and hearing a woman struggling tirelessly on behalf of peace. There are so few like her in today's world: committed, valiant, single-minded in the search for peace. Qué viva Rigoberta! Qué viva!

Picasso's Dove of Peace is still a sign hope for the future of Mexico and the world.

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Restaurante Los Comensales, Traditional Morelia Dining

2009-10-17T10:00:00-05:00

The covered dining terraza at Los Comensales borders the restaurant's central garden, beautifully in bloom in rain or sunshine. Indoor dining is also available.

When Mexico Cooks! is looking for a traditional old-style Morelia comida corrida (soup-to-nuts main meal of the day, usually inexpensive), we often head to Restaurante Los Comensales, on Calle Zaragoza in the Centro Histórico. A Morelia tradition since 1980, Los Comensales (the name means 'the diners') satisfies its clients' hunger very well, and in a genteel, old-fashioned way.

A small plate of verduras en escabeche (pickled vegetables) is the first dish to arrive at our table. This little plate holds carrots, cauliflower, green beans, chayote, and onions--along with a bay leaf or two and a sprig of oregano.

The lovely terraza and dining rooms at Los Comensales are filled with memories of days gone by. Photographs of the founders--Señora Aguirre has survived her husband by many years--are scattered on the walls. He was a bullfight aficionado; she was a great home cook, specializing in the broad gamut of Michoacán comida casera (home cooking). In 19th and 20th Century Mexico, French and Spanish cuisine were the sought-after flavors when Mexicans dined out in style. Mexican cooking was considered second-class at best. Nevertheless, Sra. Aguirre and her husband decided to feature typical Michoacán cuisine when they opened Los Comensales in their own home in early 1980.

You'll have a choice between at least two soups-of-the-day. The last time Mexico Cooks! enjoyed comida at Los Comensales, the choices were between caldo tlalpeño made with a touch of chile chipotle (pictured above) and crema de zanahoria (cream of carrot). We've also loved the delicious leek, mushroom, and potato soup and the simple consomé de pollo (chicken consomme).

Los Comensales was the first private home in Morelia to be converted into a restaurant. It immediately became a great success. In 1989, the pair opened a second downtown Morelia restaurant. Las Viandas de San José (The Foods of Saint Joseph), located directly in front of Morelia's Templo San José, was in the same style as Los Comensales: the rich and varied cuisine of the couple's beloved home state, Michoacán.

This tortita de calabacita was a tremendous hit, fresh and delicious in its pool of caldillo (thin tomato sauce). We chose it from the sopas section of the comida corrida menu. Other choices were spaghetti in cream sauce or standard Mexican red rice with diced vegetables.

Mexican sopas are divided into two classes: sopa aguada (wet soup) and sopa seca (dry soup).

Sopa aguada is divided into two further categories: caldos and cremas. Caldos are clear broths, usually with other ingredients like vegetables and meat. Cremas are cream soups; the different possibilities are endless.

Sopa seca includes dishes such as pastas, rice, and vegetable tortitas--like the tortitas de calabacita shown above. These are easy to prepare and absolutely delicious.

Tortitas de Calabacita (Little Zucchini Fritters)
Ingredients
6 small calabacitas (or zucchini), no more than 3" long
6 1/4" thick slices mild white cheese (queso fresco, if possible)
2 eggs, separated
Salt
Flour
Vegetable oil for frying

Slice the calabacitas in half, lengthwise. Place one slice of cheese between the slices of each calabacita. Hold the slices of calabacita and cheese together with toothpicks. Dredge each calabacita with salted flour.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Beat the egg yolks until thick and pale lemon in color. Gently fold the yolks into the whites.

Heat oil in a frying pan until hot but not smoking.

Coat the floured calabacitas in the egg batter and fry until golden brown. Serve bathed with caldillo.

Caldillo (thin tomato sauce)
4 or 5 red-ripe Roma tomatoes
1/2 small white onion
Chicken broth
Oregano
Sea salt to taste

Bring a small pot of water to a full rolling boil. Add the tomatoes and boil till the skins split--just a couple of minutes. Remove tomato peels.

Place the peeled tomatoes and the onion in a blender. Add a very small amount of chicken broth and blend until smooth.

In a frying pan, fry the sauce for about five minutes. Add chicken broth until you have a very thin sauce. Add a sprig of fresh oregano and salt to taste. Cook for another five minutes and remove the oregano. Serves 6 as a side dish.

Carne de res en salsa chipotle (beef in a smoky chile sauce) was Mexico Cooks!' main dish. Others at our table ordered milanesa de pollo (thinly sliced, lightly breaded chicken breast).

Los Comensales also has an a la carte menu, but it hasn't really tempted us. The daily comida corrida offers such a big variety of dishes that we've always chosen our meal from that menu.

Our dessert, Flan napolitano (Naples-style custard with caramel), is firmer than its ordinary cousin. Flan napolitano is made with cream cheese, in addition to the usual milk and eggs.

The last time Mexico Cooks! dined at Los Comensales, our comida corrida was exactly what's pictured here. The total cost for the three of us was $300 pesos; each comida corrida was $60 pesos, plus the addition of our order of a large jarra (pitcher) of naranjada (orangeade, made with freshly squeezed orange juice and sparkling water)--and the tip is included in the cost.

Señora Catalina Aguirre Camacho, the owner of Los Comensales since 1980.

Los Comensales is open for desayuno (breakfast) and comida every day except Wednesday. If you're visiting Morelia, be sure to stop in for a lovely treat. You'll feel as if you're part of Morelia's culinary history.

Restaurante Los Comensales
Calle Ignacio Zaragoza #148
Centro Histórico
Morelia, Michoacán, México

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Pátzcuaro, Michoacán: Pine Needle Garlands the Old-Fashioned Way

2009-10-10T10:00:00-05:00

Basílica dome at twlight, Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud (Our Lady of Health), Pátzcuaro. The setting sun gives the dome its heavenly pink glow.

Just before Mexico's Independence Day holiday, a spur-of-the-moment email ("Show me real Mexican food, show me your part of Mexico!") from a fan inspired a whirlwind Mexico Cooks! morning tour of Morelia's Mercado Independencia and an afternoon visit to Pátzcuaro. Jeffrey Jones, in Mexico City for a business conference, hopped on a bus and arrived in Morelia on Saturday evening. We met at ten o'clock on Sunday morning and were off and running for the day.

Touring Pátzcuaro is second nature to me. I am always overjoyed to show its pleasures to someone who has never experienced them: the entrance to town, lined by huge eucalyptus and cedar trees; two bustling plazas, the daily market, the Museo Regional de Artes Populares, Doña Ofelia's corundas for breakfast, the several glorious 16th Century churches, extraordinary crafts to purchase, nieve de pasta (almond and honey ice cream) under the portales, and Super Pollo Emilio's enchiladas placeras for supper.

This young man is concentrating on the machetazo (machete blow) he is about to give to a bundle of pine needles.

Once in a while, Mexico Cooks! is surprised and delighted by a new discovery in long-familiar location. Not only had we never seen this traditional way of making pine garland, we'd never even heard of it. To say that we were absolutely floored is putting it mildly.

One of several men cutting the pine needles to the proper length, this fellow grips a handful to make sure they're straight before he takes off the ends with his machete.

Using huinumo (the Purhépecha word for pine needle), machetes, coarse twine, and a tool made for twisting, a few men worked to create 1000 meters (that's over 3900 feet, for you who are metrically challenged) of pine garland to adorn all four sides of Plaza Don Vasco de Quiroga.

Starting at either end of the twine on the paving stones, men lay out the carefully cut pine needles.

Mexico Cooks! chatted with some Pátzcuaro natives while we all watched this process. All of them were as open-mouthed with awe as I was. Lifelong residents of the area, none of these people had ever seen guirnalda (garland) made from these simple components.

The work isn't difficult, but it has to be done correctly in order to make the garlands. Enlarge the photo to see that the needles are all the same length.

The gentleman supervising the work assured me that no trees were harmed in the collection of these millions of pine needles. "We don't take them all from just a few trees. We're very careful to take some from here, some from there, so that the trees don't miss them at all. The process is ancient, and the trees still thrive."

In just a few minutes, the two men laying the pine needles meet in the middle of the twine.

Next, a man walks from one end of the pine needles to meet another man walking from the other direction. While he walks, the wooden tool (in the right hand of the man in the white hat) spins to fasten the needles between the lower twine and the upper twine.

The same tool--in the hand of the man with the white cap--spins the twine at the other end of the pine needles while the second man walks toward the center.

This man uses a cane for balance as he approaches the mid-point of the garland.

Jeffrey was so taken with the process that he filmed it. He graciously allowed me to publish his video on Mexico Cooks!. Thanks, Jeffrey!

View the video: Pine Needle Garlands

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San Francisco Pichátaro, Michoacán: Pueblo en el Bosque (Town in the Woods)

2009-10-03T10:00:00-05:00

The heart of Pichátaro: Templo de San Francisco de Asís (St. Francis of Assisi Church), decorated for its annual fiestas.

Low-hanging clouds and misty rain accompanied Mexico Cooks! to San Francisco Pichátaro, Michoacán, for a day at the town's 10° Anual Feria del Mueble Rústico y Textil Bordado (10th Rustic Furniture and Embroidered Textile Fair). The event, held every August, has traditionally been an important source of pride and revenue for the town's furniture makers and hand-embroidery specialists. The drizzle stopped as we parked the car near Pichátaro's tiny centro (downtown).

Closeup of the church door, decorated for the annual fiestas as well as for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated annually on August 15.

Since long before the Spanish reached Michoacán in the 1521, San Francisco Pichátaro has depended on pine and oak forests for its livelihood. Today in the central highlands of Michoacán, battles for wood rights and acreage pit town against town and family against family.

Pichátaro is west and slightly north of Pátzcuaro, at the far left of the map inside the purple rectangle. Click on the map (and all photos in any Mexico Cooks! article) to improve your view.

Indigenous foresters fight constantly against illegal tree-cutting, but in recent years the area around Pichátaro has lost approximately 30 thousand thickly wooded hectáreas (approximately 75 thousand acres) per year to tree pirates. Additionally, deforestation and the planting of untold thousands of hectáreas of avocado orchards in the region have further depleted Michoacán's pine and oak forests.

Interior, Templo de San Francisco de Asís, Pichátaro.

Aside from ongoing battles to protect its wood rights, Pichátaro is also hampered by marketing problems. Pichátaro, with a population of fewer than 4,500 indigenous Purhépecha, has not historically been a tourist destination. The town is divided into seven barrios (neighborhoods), each one autonomous in making decisions about its use of natural resources. Unfortunately, some of the townspeople make their living from illegal wood cutting. Naturally there is substantial tension among some of the barrios. Given Pichátaro's multiple wood-related difficulties, we can understand why retail sales of the town's artesanía is left to vendors from other, more tourist-oriented villages.

La pila del bautizo (baptismal font), Templo de San Francisco de Asís, Pichátaro.

In spite of these difficulties, Pichátaro has reached Level Four (of five) in the development of its woodlands. Developmental levels, supervised by Mexico's National Forestry Commission, indicate how far a given community has progressed in the preservation and use of wood products for lumber, furniture, boards, doors, and other items. San Juan Parangaricutiro, Michoacán (farther west and south of Pichátaro), is one of the few communities in the state to reach Level Five.

Veladoras (votive candles), Templo de San Francisco de Asís, Pichátaro.

Pichátaro is striving for its position in Level Five. That level includes everything that Pichátaro has already accomplished in achieving Level Four, plus the creation of a stable marketing plan, principally in regions outside its current sales locations and including marketing in other countries.

Bell tower, Templo de San Francisco de Asís, Pichátaro.

More than three hundred families own and operate woodwork talleres (shops) in the town. Those woodworking shops employ nearly 1000 people and generate approximately 19 million pesos per year in income. Many of the woodworkers are eager to develop a collective mark similar to a trademark, used by all the talleres.

Poster for the 10th Annual Rustic Furniture and Embroidered Textile Fair in Pichátaro.

The collective mark belongs to a legally formed association or society of artisans to distinguish their products from others made by craftspeople who do not belong to the associations. That collective trademark would be a guarantee of quality for all of Pichátaro's clients. The woodworkers also believe that with the trademark, they'll be able to standardize production and earn 30% more for their pieces than they currently do.

One of many hand-carved pieces of pine furniture entered in Pichátaro's 10th annual rustic furniture competition. This gorgeous piece is a sofa, part of a three-piece sala (living room set).

The majority of furniture and other artisan work from Pichátaro is currently sold to middlemen. Craftspeople in Pichátaro barely eke out the cost of materials, while the middlemen often sell at retail prices as much as 200% higher than the wholesale price paid to the artisan. Most of the furniture produced in the town is sold unfinished; some is sold disassembled and other pieces are sold unstained.

This hand-carved pine comedor (dining room set) consists of the table base and four massive chairs.

Table base detail.

At the 2009 all-Michoacán crafts fair in Uruapan: guanengos (traditional cross stitched blouses) from Pichátaro, entered in the textiles competition.

In addition to woodworking, Pichátaro is well known for its hand-embroidered textiles. Girls learn cross stitch embroidery from the time they are able to hold a needle. They produce aprons, napkins, tablecloths, place mats, coverlets, pillowcases, and the guanengo, the traditional Purhépecha blouse used in Michoacán. Recently Pichátaro's women have begun to create beautifully made heavy woolen jackets. A few of these are sold at the state-run Casa de Artesanía in Morelia.

Begonias on a roof terrace, Pichátaro.

Red doors, yellow wall, Pichátaro.

Well off the beaten tourist track, Pichátaro is a worthy destination. Mexico Cooks! is always happy with a new trip. We walked around town, sampled some out-of-this-world puff pastry empanadas (turnovers) filled with pastry cream, and made it back to the car just as the rain started to pelt down again.

Next time, you come with us.

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Sweet Traditions: Morelia's Mercado de Dulces (Candy Market)

2009-09-26T10:00:00-05:00

Morelia's Mercado de Dulces y Artesanías Valentín Gómez Farías (Candy and Artisans' Market), at the corner of Av. Madero and Calle Rayón, recently celebrated the 41st anniversary of its founding.

Imagine a market packed with nearly 170 booths filled with candy, hand-made toys, and cheerful vendors. Sound like a child's paradise? It certainly is, and an adults' paradise as well. Mexican candy comes in varieties worth drooling over: whole candied fruits, lollipops big enough for two or three days, tiny clay pots and baskets filled with goodies, haystacks of toasted coconut, and hundreds of other treats. There's nothing else quite like the candy made here.

Dulce de leche, also known as jamoncillo, is similar to penuche--vanilla fudge. In Mexico, this candy may be flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, or guava.

Tarugos are made of tamarind paste (with the fiber removed) and are prepared either with sugar (left center) or with chile (right center). The word tarugo means a hunk--as in a hunk of bread, or candy--but it also means blockhead, or stupid, or oaf. Ay tarugo, se te cayó tu tarugo! (Oh you oaf, you dropped your tarugo!)

Frutas cubiertas (crystallized fruits). Clockwise from four o'clock: cactus, sweet potato, whole figs, sliced pineapple, and squash. To prepare these fruits, you peel them, seed them, and then boil them for three to five minutes in a syrup of piloncillo (brown sugar), water, and a few drops of jugo de limón (lemon juice). Remove the fruits and allow them to dry. Once the fruits are thoroughly dry, boil them one by one in the same syrup, until they are crystallized. The preparation process is, as you can imagine, extremely time-consuming.

Ates en cubitos (fruit pastes, in this case formed as small cubes). Ates originated in Morelia. They're made from membrillo, guayaba, perón, (quince, guava, and pear apple) as well as other fruits, including mango and durazno (peach). The fruits are cooked slowly, with plenty of sugar, until the mixture is stiff and can be formed in a mold.

A basket filled with glorias--cajeta (goat or cow's milk cooked with sugar until richly brown and thick), mixed with pecans and individually wrapped.

Fruit liqueurs, rompope (bottled eggnog), chongos zamoranos (a milk and honey-based dessert), and powerful charanda--Michoacán's traditional sugarcane alcohol.

Ollitas de barro (tiny clay pots), each stuffed with sweet tamarind paste mixed with sugar, salt, and chile. One little plastic spoonful and you'll crave more of this sweet, savory, spicy mixture.

The mercado de dulces also sells traditional crafts and clothing. Yunuén Danae Ortiz Medina, seven years old and adorable, tried on several dresses suitable for Mexico's Independence Day holiday. She liked a similar white one better than this black one. "And of course I won't have this shirt on underneath when I wear it!"

Home-made muéganos (half-inch balls of fried masa (dough), candied in piloncillo [brown sugar] syrup). The masa is the same as that prepared for buñuelos, but rolled into balls rather than extended into a flat sheet.

Cocadas (toasted coconut candy) look just like haystacks--two inches high! Cocadas originated in Mexico's coastal states. Prepare them with toasted coconut, condensed milk, and egg, then bake. Better yet, buy them ready to eat at the mercado de dulces.

A little bit of every kind of sweet packs this booth. Paletones (all-day suckers), alfajores (cocadas made of ground white coconut, the tops colored pink), cajeta (caramel candy), borrachitos (similar to gumdrop rolls filled with milk and alcohol), rollos de guayaba (rolls of guava paste, often filled with cajeta), and a dozen other kinds of candies.

Exotic dolls, each about two feet tall and made of painted and bejeweled cardboard, occupy one corner of a candy stand.

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James Metcalf and Ana Pellicer: Copper Artists in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán

2009-09-19T10:00:00-05:00

Two trivets and a large olla de cobre con asa (copper kitchen pot with a handle), all hand-hammered in the French style by James Metcalf, catch the afternoon sun at the Metcalf/Pellicer home in Santa Clara del Cobre.

James Metcalf and Ana Pellicer, both important sculptors, choose not to live in Paris (where James worked early in his life, cheek by jowl with Constantin Brancusi, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, René Magritte, and other seminal modern artists), New York (where both have exhibited their work in stellar galleries and museums), or Mexico City (where Mexico's hippest and most active artist's circle burgeons). Instead, the Metcalf/Pellicer household has built a better mousetrap in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán. The world beats a path to their door in the heart of this tiny community of artisans.

One of Metcalf's small copper pots. Ana Pellicer told me, "We use this one every day, to heat the milk." He created an entire baterie de cuisine (set of cooking pots) for their personal use.

In 1950, James went to Majorca, where he studied ancient Mediterranean metallurgy and created the illustrations for poet Robert Graves' Adam's Rib. In the mid-1960s, James left Paris for Mexico, where he had heard that pre-Hispanic coppersmithing techniques were still in use. Told that what he searched for only existed in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán, he set off to investigate. By the late 1960s, James Metcalf and Ana Pellicer, his former student, were living and working in Santa Clara.

Their early explorations were related to el cazo de Don Vasco, the 16th Century cooking kettle introduced to Santa Clara del Cobre by Don Vasco de Quiroga. The copper cazo, which ranges from stove-top size to immense (large enough to cook an entire cut-into-chunks pig) is still used wherever carnitas or candy are made in Mexico. It's safe to say that all of Mexico's copper cazos come from Santa Clara.

This hammered copper cazo has a diameter at the top of approximately 60 centimeters (two feet).

When James Metcalf arrived, Santa Clara del Cobre offered no luxury to the artist accustomed to life in Paris, New York, and other cosmopolitan centers. Houses in the town were little more than hovels. There was no indoor plumbing. Although nearly every man in town worked copper as a livelihood, with few exceptions the only items produced in the talleres (workshops) were cazos. All of the cazos were formed with a thin edge which was rolled around an iron wire to finish the piece. Metcalf, using clay pots from the nearby state of Colima as examples of shapes, taught the Santa Clara smiths the design and construction technique of the thick edge.

James Metcalf, extraordinary Renaissance man--elegantly knowledgeable, elegant as well in speech, dress, and manner. His work, sometimes classified as both surrealist and abstract expressionist, is an important force in 20th Century metal sculpture.

A few of the hundreds of tools in James Metcalf's work room. He crafted many of his own tools to accomplish the techniques of particular works. Until Metcalf's arrival, the coppersmiths of Santa Clara del Cobre had never seen the highly polished hammers commonly used in urban metalsmithing.

Metcalf's thick edge copper technique, completely different from the techniques used at the time in Santa Clara, revolutionized Santa Clara's artisanal copper production. The smiths slowly began to produce hollow ware other than cazos, including jugs, kitchenware, and other decorative work.

James Metcalf puts the final touches on his huge sculptural portrait of Mexican president (1934-1940) General. Lázaro Cárdenas Ríos. In 1985, Metcalf donated the sculpture to the town of Santa Clara del Cobre. Photo by Miguel Bracho, courtesy of Artisans of the Future by Jorge Pellicer, SEP, 1996.

Metcalf and the artisan coppersmiths of Santa Clara del Cobre received the commission to create the Pebetero Olímpico (cauldron which holds the Olympic Flame for the duration of the games) for the Olympic Games to be held in Mexico in 1968. The enormous cauldron, adorned with repousée decoration of maíz (corn, representing the life force of Mexico), brought world-wide attention to the traditional artisans of Santa Clara and their work.

Ana Pellicer, August 5, 2009, at home in Santa Clara del Cobre. Exquisitely talented, Ms. Pellicer continues to create beautiful art. "What else can I do? Making art is my life, it's always my salvation."

Ana Pellicer arrived in Santa Clara del Cobre fresh from a privileged life in Mexico City and New York. Santa Clara, a community bound in rigid traditional gender roles and attitudes, did not respond well to her desire to work in copper. Talented, young and beautiful, her life in the small town was frequently difficult. Nevertheless, committed to the philosophy of 'mexicanidad'--the internalization of being Mexican in every aspect of life, including their art--both Pellicer and Metcalf felt deeply obligated to live and work in the Santa Clara community of artisans.

The maquette (small scale model) for La Máquina Enamorada (the Machine In Love), Ana Pellicer's enormous sculpture. The actual sculpture, commissioned by Mexican industrialist Francisco Trouyet, is now part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City. La Máquina Enamorada weighs 250 kilos and measures nearly two meters high by nearly two meters wide and a meter and a half deep.

Over time, Pellicer to some degree gained the trust of the townspeople. In 1975, she and a group of artisan coppersmiths worked together to produce the commissioned piece La Máquina Enamorada (the Machine in Love). Enormous and enormously complex--made from nearly 300 kilos of solid copper ingot--the piece became the largest forged work ever made in Santa Clara and the first artisan-made work accepted by the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City.

La Ulama or La Pelota que Rebota (The Ball that Bounces), by Ana Pellicer. The hammered copper decorative ring represents the cartwheel ruff, a heavily starched collar that was muy de la moda española (very stylish with the Spanish) during the time of the conquest of Nueva España. The black rubber ball represents the Purhépecha fire ball played in the pre-Hispanic game called Ulama. Pellicer collected the resin for the ball in the traditional method, from Michoacán rubber trees. Exhibited in Denver, Colorado, as part of a complex installation, the piece represents ideas that transcend ancient times as traditions and native peoples bounce between cultures.

One of Ana Pellicer's lasting and tremendous accomplishments in Santa Clara has been incorporating women of the community into artisanal copper making. Despite intense opposition from many male artisans, Pellicer taught jewelry-making to some artisans' wives, who began to create jewelry that subsequently has won prizes at the community's annual copper fair.

El Beso (The Kiss), hand-hammered copper, 35X40X15 centimeters, Ana Pellicer, 1995. This hinged sculpture is currently part of the traveling exhibit The Women of Michoacán, Art and Artists. Photo courtesy Fred Derosset.

James Metcalf and Ana Pellicer founded several schools in Santa Clara del Cobre. In 1973, they received the support of the Ministry of Popular Culture and opened La Casa del Artesano. La Casa del Artesano offered artisan training to Santa Clara coppersmiths apart from the traditional training they received as apprentices in local talleres. Later in the 1970s, La Casa del Artesano closed.

Ana Pellicer's double copper plaques, each one smaller than a postcard, with male and female figures.

In 1976, Metcalf and Pellicer began teaching classes in their home. All the while, deep tensions continued to exist, not only within the artisans' community but also between ancient and modern techniques and styles of work, dress, jewelry, and, at its essence, community life.

Metcalf and Pellicer later founded, under the auspices of Mexico's Secretaría de Educación Pública (Secretary of Public Education) what became the most important school for artisans in Santa Clara del Cobre and arguably in all of Mexico: the Adolfo Best Maugard Center for Technical/Industrial Training #166 (Cecati #166). Teaching different techniques of metalsmithing and jewelry making at all levels of production, the school incorporated traditional and European forging methods, taught blacksmithing, casting in both lost wax and sand, machine tools, lathing, enamel work, stone cutting, and electroplating. All of those techniques opened multi-faceted new horizons of artistic and commercial opportunity to Santa Clara artisans.

In 2002, a Michoacán branch of Mexico's teachers' union took over directorship of the school, displacing Metcalf and Pellicer. The move was highly politicized and its consequences spilled over into extreme community tensions and division between the copper artisans and the former directors of the school. Many members of the artisan community continued (and continue until today) to consider Metcalf and Pellicer to be outsiders, even after their more than 35 years' involvement in the life of Santa Clara del Cobre. The pain and stress of this division are still abundantly apparent in both Metcalf and Pellicer's recounting of its incidents.

Sala (living room), Casa Metcalf/Pellicer, August 2009.

The lives and work of James Metcalf and Ana Pellicer are profoundly rooted in both art and artesanía, in both an international community of artists and a local community of artisans. Richly philosophical and deeply reflective, the artists confront their life's mixture of joy and pain in their work. Their story continues to unfold.

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Essence, Evolution, and Independence: Restaurante LU, Hotel Best Western Turotel Casino, Morelia, Michoacán

2009-09-12T10:00:00-05:00

You'll find the Hotel Best Western Turotel Casino at Portal Hidalgo #35 on Avenida Madero in Morelia. The hotel is in the very heart of Morelia's Centro Histórico, just across the street from the Cathedral, Plaza Melchor Ocampo, and the Plaza de Armas. Restaurante LU is on the ground floor of the hotel, with seating indoors as well as outside under the portales (arches).

A few weeks ago Mexico Cooks! received an email from colleague and friend Lucero Soto Arriaga, executive chef at Restaurante LU. "Can you come for comida (Mexico's main meal of the day) at the restaurant on Friday ? I have a big surprise for you!" Could we resist a visit with Lucero, a surprise, or a meal at LU? Of course not!

Mexico Cooks! has dined at the Hotel Casino over the course of many years. The food was always just adequate, and the service was always friendly but lackadaisical. About two years ago, I noticed a radical change in both the menu and in the quality of what was on my plate. I was puzzled. The Hotel Casino restaurant was one of those places where Mexico Cooks! took visiting firemen who wanted to have something to eat while they enjoyed views of Morelia's enchanting Cathedral and main plazas, but I would never have said the restaurant had much of a special touch. Something had definitely changed and Mexico Cooks! wanted to know why.

Lucero Soto Arriaga, the extraordinarily talented young executive chef at Restaurante LU.

The answer turned out to be executive chef Lucero Soto Arriaga's passionate commitment to the traditional regional food of Michoacán and to its essence as well as its evolution. She started her executive chef's career at the hotel in 2004. After three years settling into the job and letting the employees become accustomed to her style of working, Lucero was ready to make big changes in the operation of the restaurant. Her work in the restaurant is a treasured legacy from the former mayora (older woman who holds a kitchen's secrets) at the hotel and from her two childhood nanas (cherished nannies), both of whom were excellent cooks. "But I didn't inherit my passion for the kitchen from my mother," Lucero said with a rueful smile. "When she tries to cook, my mother burns water!"

Guinea pigs! Which of the two is Mexico Cooks!?

The big surprise for our Friday comida was a new menu that Restaurante LU will offer in honor of Mexico's bicentennial year, just over the horizon in 2010. Mexico Cooks! was happily a conejo de la india (guinea pig) for the menú bicentenario. Chef Lucero asked for our feedback about the extensive new tasting menu, a series of dishes in small portions which she created for Mexico's 200th birthday celebration.

Chef Lucero has developed a new take on the margarita. Our coctel de bienvenida (welcome cocktail) is a delicious mix of tamarindo (tamarind paste)and charanda (high-proof sugar cane alcohol similar to rum, a specialty of Michoacán). A mixture of fine salt and spicy ground chile del árbol rims the glass.

Lucero calls our botana (appetizer) Salmón a Mi Estilo (Salmon My Way). The smoked salmon carpaccio has an incredible list of ingredients: smoked salmon, of course, plus avocado, chile negro, a squeeze of limón, a sweet and sour marinade, and a touch of chocolate. The golden 'lid' is a chicharrón de queso cotija, which adds both crunch and a savory finish to the appetizer.

Traditional tamalitos de harina (small wheat flour tamales) from the region around Lake Pátzcuaro, served in place of bread, arrived with butter, smoky, deep-flavored salsa, and limón. Cooked al vapor (steamed), these tamalitos are reminiscent of Chinese steamed bread in both texture and flavor.

Next up were foods representing the three pre-Hispanic cooking methods: hervido (boiled), al vapor (steamed), and atápakua (stewed), plus a tiny brazier filled with salsa tzirita.

In the centuries prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the land that would eventually become Mexico counted on three basic methods of cooking: boiling, steaming, and stewing. Corn was the staple ingredient, the source of all life, and had been cultivated in the new world for well over 4,000 years prior to the Spanish conquest.

In addition to corn, the Spanish discovered that indigenous peoples of New Spain ate a widely varied diet: beans, squash, wild vegetables including cactus, quelites and hongos (mushrooms), tomatoes, various seeds, nuts, and chiles, along with hunted or captured animals, birds, fish and amphibians, and insects.

Chef Lucero planned the menú bicentenario to reflect cooking styles and ingredients that have evolved in the New World over the course of time, starting with the pre-Hispanic kitchen. Pictured in the photo above, starting at four o'clock are: tacos of atápakua made with squash flowers, peanuts, and honey; a miniature corunda (typical regional tamal from Michoacán); rescoldo de hongos (mushrooms wrapped in a corn husk and cooked in the embers of the brazier) at eleven o'clock); and in the center, a tiny olla (clay pot) filled with churipo, a meat, chile, and vegetable soup native to Michoacán. On the side of the plate is a miniature brazier filled with salsa tzirita, made with roasted chile seeds, tomate verde (tomatillos), and a hint of mint.

The Spanish colonial era brought us, clockwise from four o'clock, tostadas de patita (pigs feet tostada), pollo en cuñete (chicken cooked in a covered clay pot), and salmón en escabeche dulce (salmon in sweet and sour pickling sauce), served on a tiny tostada topped with a dehydrated orange slice and shredded locally-grown chile chilaca.

Chile güero en nogada (stuffed 'blond' chile in nut sauce) and enchiladas placeras morelianas (plaza-style enchiladas from Morelia) flank dried nopal cactus strips--with the eagle perched on top. The dish symbolizes Mexico's green, white, and red flag, proudly flown since independence in 1821.

The era of Mexico's fight for independence (1810-1820) brought the creation of dishes designed to show off not only the intense flavor combinations of indigenous and Spanish cuisines, but also highlighted the green, white, and red of the Mexican flag. The meal most associated with the weeks closest to Independence Day (September 16) is chiles en nogada (stuffed chiles poblanos in creamy walnut sauce, left side of the plate). Chef Lucero prepared this traditional dish using the small chile güero (blond chile) rather than the much larger chile poblano. The list of ingredients for the chile's filling is long and complicated: chopped beef, quince, pear, Asian pear, apple, peach, sugared, dried pineapple, sugared, dried cactus, plums, raisins, almonds, and macadamia nuts, plus spices and herbs. The roasted and stuffed chile is surrounded by its traditional walnut sauce (made from in-season fresh walnuts) and pomegranate seeds.

On the right side of the same plate is a small serving of enchiladas placeras estilo moreliano (plaza-style enchiladas as prepared in Morelia). The three enchiladitas (little enchiladas) are no more than three inches long. Dipped in sauce and rolled, they're topped with carrots, potatoes, a sprinkle of finely grated cheese, and a wee wheel of chile jalapeño en escabeche (pickled chile jalapeño).

Chef Lucero's sense of humor is apparent in the center of the plate: shreds of dehydrated nopal cactus, topped with a mix of chile with minced caramelized pepitas (pumpkin seeds). "It symbolizes the eagle on the nopal--the shield on the Mexican flag," she explained with a grin. We weren't quite convinced about the effect of the symbolism, but we loved the mix of flavors.

Restaurante LU served this traditional but very updated dessert: ate de guayaba con queso (guava paste with cheese). Its tremendously delicious combination of flavors was the perfect end to our comida.

When we were almost-but-not-quite stuffed, our waiter presented the special dessert del tiempo actual (today's era) for the menú bicenentario. Lucero's dessert recipe for the classic combination of ate de guayaba (guava paste) with cheese is based on traditional flavors and textures, but lifted to a level only possible given today's high-tech kitchens. Mexico Cooks! wouldn't dream of giving away the multiple delicious surprises literally at every level of this concoction, but will say only: don't miss it. At once sweet and savory, it's a standout.

We Mexico Cooks! guinea pigs were completely enthralled with the new menú bicentenario at Restaurante LU. As we talked about culinary philosophy and related ideas after our meal, Chef Lucero was adamant that the first ingredient in her gastronomic repertoire is respect: respect for the essence and tradition of the foods she prepares, respect for the knowledge and experience of those who have come before her, and respect for the ingredients that she uses to create meals that are at once firmly based in regional products and completely cocina del autor--her own creations. There isn't another restaurant in Morelia where we've found a more exacting, exciting, and innovative kitchen. Pair those attributes with Chef Lucero's devotion to local and regional cuisine and you'll call Restaurante LU what Mexico Cooks! calls it: very simply, the best restaurant in the city.

Felices Fiestas Patrias 2009! Qué viva México!

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Los Cantantes del Lago on Tour with Mexico Cooks! (Part Two: Guanajuato)

2009-09-05T10:00:00-05:00

La Parroquia (Church of St. Michael the Archangel), San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. This church is one of the most-photographed in Mexico. Originally built in the late 1600s, the church facade was rebuilt close to the turn of the 20th Century. The architect, Zeferino Gutiérrez, had no formal training and patterned the church facade and towers after picture postcards of European cathedrals.

Entrance to Hotel Posada La Aldea, San Miguel de Allende. Los Cantantes del Lago stayed here during their time in town.

Exploring some of Mexico's historic sites was one of Los Cantantes' primary purposes in visiting the region around San Miguel de Allende. Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato--just half an hour from San Miguel--is known as la Cuna de Independencia, the cradle of independence. Standing on the steps of the historic church, Mexico Cooks! gave Los Cantantes a short history of Mexico's struggle for freedom from Spain.

Templo de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Church of Our Lady of Sorrows), Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato. Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla gave the Grito de Dolores (Cry from Dolores)--the call for independence from Spanish colonization--to his followers during the night of September 15, 1810.

Mexico is preparing for its 2010 Bicentennial. This digital counter, positioned on the steps of the church where Hidalgo first gave the call for Mexico's freedom from Spanish rule, marks 428 days, eight hours, fifty minutes, and eleven seconds and counting, until the start of the bicentennial.

It wouldn't have been a trip to Dolores Hidalgo without stopping to shop for talavera, the colorful local pottery specialty. Los Cantantes surprised the fine workshop Arte San Gabriel with the large amount of talavera they bought and loaded onto the bus to take home.

The Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno (Sanctuary of Jesus the Nazarene), Atotonilco, Guanajuato, was built in the 18th Century.

Los Cantantes del Lago scheduled two concerts in Guanajuato. Mexico Cooks! arranged for the first of the two, to be sung outdoors at the Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno to celebrate the beginning of the church's fiestas patronales, scheduled for the third weekend in July. As Padre Fernando Manríquez, the pastor of the Santuario, told me, "This concert is the perfect botana (appetizer) for the fiestas!"

Los Cantantes sang in the atrium of the Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno.

The crowd attending the concert in Atotonilco was composed for the most part of people making a spiritual retreat at the church.

These women were completely enthralled by the singing. One elderly woman (not pictured) listened to parts of the concert with happy tears running down her cheeks.

The members of Los Cantantes del Lago were as profoundly touched as the audience was by the concert at the Santuario. It was impossible not to draw the comparison between the formal, elegantly dressed audiences that usually attend Los Cantantes concerts and this audience, many of whom had undoubtedly never heard a live concert of this type. One of the Cantantes said to me, "Here we are, out in the middle of nowhere, dressed in our tuxedos and fancy gowns, singing for people who appear to be so poor. What must they think?" We agreed that it honored the audience that this marvelous chorus, dressed to the nines, came to sing for them.

As an encore, Los Cantantes sang the Mexican standard, Cielito Lindo. The entire audience sang along in Spanish to the song's chorus--you already know it:

                            Ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores!
                            Porque cantando se alegran, cielito lindo, los corazones.
                            Oh, oh, oh, oh, sing and don't cry!
                            Because, little heaven, singing makes our hearts joyful.

How true the words are, and never brought closer to home than in this intensely emotional concert. In Atotonilco, glorious music made all of our hearts overflow with joy.

No one wanted the concert to end. As soon as the last encore was sung, the crowd surged forward to thank Maestro Timothy Welch and Los Cantantes del Lago for their visit to Atotonilco.

Los Cantantes del Lago sang the final concert of the Central Mexico Tour at the Teatro Ángela Peralta in San Miguel de Allende. A benefit for the Centro Infantil San Pablo, a program for needy Mexican children, the concert was a tremendous success.

Final concert at the Teatro Ángela Peralta, San Miguel de Allende.

As the surprise finale to the evening, Maestro Tim auctioned off the only copy he had left of Los Cantantes del Lago's newest recording of Christmas music. The audience held its breath while the bidding went higher--and higher--and higher! Hammered down at over 2500 pesos, all the proceeds from the auction of that one CD went to the Centro Infantil San Pablo. Later in the evening, another audience member matched that bid as his personal donation to the school.

Filled with the memories of its warm reception wherever it sang during eleven days' travel through two states and countless towns, all done in two huge buses filled with singers, equipment, baggage, and new artisan purchases, Los Cantantes del Lago took to the road from San Miguel de Allende for the return home to Ajijic, Jalisco.

All photos courtesy of Robert Kelly. Robert, the designated photographer for Los Cantantes del Lago, has posted many additional photos of the 2009 Central Mexico Tour in these files:

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