Reflections on Traveling in Mexico

The final post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa with some photos from that trip.-kl

On our way home from Mexico, a few reflections:

• Once again, we were astonished by the beautiful and sophisticated crafts produced, in very humble and remote places, by hard-working artisans. Chiripa is glad to help these artisans carry on their ancient tradition, and earn a decent living for their families.


• Our experience of Mexico is very different from the sensational images we see in the media. We felt very safe, welcome and comfortable, and saw no evidence of violence or pandemic flu. Mexico is a big country, far older than the U.S. It has a deep cultural tradition and is populated with beautiful, warm, hard-working and courteous people. They have a strong religious and family tradition, and work hard to provide a good life for their families.


• Mexico has probably the largest indigenous population in the Americas (when Columbus discovered the “new” world in 1492, Mexico City was already bigger than any city in Europe). That fact continues to shape Mexican society, and makes Mexico a very special place.


• You can still see older people wearing traditional costumes, especially in rural areas. But when the older generation is gone, you will likely see mostly baseball caps, T-shirts and jeans produced in China and Indonesia.


• Once in a while (but still rarely), you will now see a man or woman in shorts. Middle- and upper-class people are talking on cell phones and staring at text messages (just as here), and a few of them are smoking (but nothing like here). Obesity is rare (unlike here). Despite a declining birthrate, you still see lots of babies (unlike here).


• Artisans are worried about the economy and the future. Many struggle to make a living, and traditions are at risk of being lost. Industrialization and cheap imports continue to replace traditional local crafts. Without viable and appreciative markets, traditional hand-made crafts and know-how will eventually cease to exist. --JM, August 19, 2009

ENART, Tlaquepaque

A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl

A jolly taxi driver drove us from our downtown hotel back out to Tlaquepaque, and took the opportunity to practice his English on us. He quit school at an early age to herd cattle, and has never been to the U.S. (although he dreams of vacationing in Florida or Hawaii). But he is serious about learning English, and practices whenever he can.

We spent the day at the ENART craft show, which includes exhibitors from all over Mexico. We don’t buy much there, but sometimes we get new ideas about what is available and where. This year, for example, we found some really cool purses made from (believe it or not) recycled newspapers and magazines. A non-profit charity produces and sells the purses.

At ENART, we were also delighted to encounter Carlos Pedro Hernandez and his wife. We visited their home in a remote Michoacán village 2 years, and enjoyed a delicious lunch of soup and fresh homemade tortillas.

At that time, we watched as Carlos worked clay by hand to make spectacular lead-free “pineapple” ceramics like the one pictured here.

We bought some smaller pieces, as we did 2 years ago, and look forward to displaying them at Chiripa. You will be amazed! -JM, August 18, 2009

Tlaquepaque

A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl

We visited Tina’s shop in Tlaquepaque, a suburb of Guadalajara, where you can find many crafts for sale. Tina and her husband operate a small workshop that produces wonderful hand-blown glassware. But Tina laments that business is slow – so slow that they had to close down the workshop and lay off workers (at least until Chiripa showed up!). It was a familiar story among the artisans that we visited.


We ordered a nice selection of glass items that will get the workshop going again, at least for a little while. The glass creations are all made from recycled glass, and they are all lead-free. They have that special hand-blown shape and feel that will add an artisan touch to your home and table.

Some of the sizes available at Chiripa. Other colors: cobalt blue, aqua, red.

We also checked in on our good friends at D’Casa Ceramics, near Tlaquepaque. This family business operates in a little workshop on a residential street, but produces beautiful, high-temperature, Talavera ceramic ware that is durable and lead-free.


The proprietor, Enrique Castro, had many years of experience as a supervising engineer with large ceramics firms before starting his own business with his wife Gloria Saucedo. He takes a lot of pride in his work, and you can trust him to provide the very highest quality product. --JM, August 17, 2009

"Rosy" is the name of this pattern. It's one of Chiripa's "Best Sellers."

Bussing to Guadelara

A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl

This morning, as we headed toward the bus terminal, workers were sweeping the streets with long brooms made of bundled twigs and fronds, and people were stretching and taking their morning exercise laps around the Plaza Quiroga.

The bus terminals in Mexico are amazing. Buses are constantly coming and going in a precise and intricate dance. They simultaneously carry thousands of people to hundreds of different destinations. The barkers call out the names in a flat nasal twang: “Morelia, Morelia!” “Uruapan!” “Zitacuaro!” It is an enormously efficient transportation system, from which we could learn much.

Sadly, if you take a first-class bus, you must endure the movies. These are often loud and violent U.S. products, and by the end of an otherwise pleasant and restful trip they can leave you exhausted. These movies, far more than any diplomatic communications, shape the world’s image of the United States. The overall impression is that of a violent, corrupt and degenerate society.


Despite the movie torture en route, we completed the 5-hour trip from Patzcuaro to Guadalajara, via Morelia. You couldn’t describe Guadalajara as quaint or picturesque, although its downtown features magnificent colonial architecture. It is a big, hard-working, blue-collar place. It has plenty of rough edges, but it is not mean. A sincere young taxi driver told us that Mexico City was choked with pollution, traffic, poverty and crime (“todo malo”), but that Guadalajara was much better (“you don’t get robbed here”).



On Sunday afternoon, families and couples are out walking in the downtown (unlike many U.S. cities, which are ghost towns on weekends). Children, in their underwear, are laughing and playing in the fountains. The splashing water and cool mist offer relief from the afternoon heat. --JM August 16, 2009

Patzcuaro

A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl

This morning, there was a religious ceremony at the colonial basilica in Patzcuaro. Families lined up in front of the church over an hour ahead of time.


Girls were dressed in their finest white dresses, and boys were dressed in white shirts and sometimes ill-fitting suits.


At the proper moment, the families began filing in to the beautifully decorated church interior. Their songs echoed from the 400-year-old walls.

We watched part of the ceremony, then browsed for local crafts in the surrounding market. We made another visit to the craft market in Tzintzuntzan and, in the evening, we bought a good supply of the colorful hand-woven tablecloths, napkins and placemats for which Patzcuaro is famous. (A small selection is available online.)

Here, as everywhere else in Mexico, people love to eat at all hours of the day.


There are big steaming vats of “exquisite” menudo (tripe soup); pozole; carnitas; roast corn with cheese, lime and salsa; sizzling roasted onions and savory peppers; corn meal corundas; cups of fruit with salsa; simmering tamales; and hand-made tortillas fried on big comales over wood coals.

Downtown, under the arcade, you can get a cerveza, a cup of delicious local ice cream, or a frozen fruit bar (made from local fruits that you have never heard of).


In the late evening, you might want to sit on the balcony of the Primer Piso Restaurant, overlooking the square, and enjoy the delicious seasonal special of Chiles en Nogada (stuffed pepper in cream sauce).--JM August 15, 2009

Barro Sin Plomo and Tzintzuntzan, Michoacan, Mx

A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl

We knocked on the wooden door, not far from the center of Patzcuaro. After a pause, the door opened and we were warmly welcomed by our friends at Echery Pottery. Echery works with Barro Sin Plomo (“Clay Without Lead”), a non-profit charity that promotes lead-free pottery methods in rural communities. The effort is important for the health of artisans and their families – especially children – as well as for consumers.


Chiripa was an early supporter of this lead-free effort. But lead-free producers face competitive challenges, especially because cheaper lead-containing ceramics are still finding their way across the border for food use (often by immigrant populations) in the United States.

Our friends took us to several villages, and down dirt lanes, to the homes of participating lead-free producers. You would be amazed at the beauty that skilled artisans create in these humble and unexpected places (you can glimpse some of their work at Chiripa).


Later, we stopped at the town of Tzintzuntzan, capital of the pre-Columbian Tarascan Empire. The ancient ruins above the town command a beautiful view of the lake and surrounding mountains.


The stone ramparts were built with carefully fitted stones, without mortar. On the road below the ruins, there are workshops that carry on the stonework tradition – producing “cantera” stone carvings (garden ornaments and other statuary).


If you can’t get to Tzintzuntzan yourself, you can see some fine examples at Chiripa. --JM August 14, 2009

Patzcuaro and Santa Clara del Cobre

A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl

We were up again at dawn – this time for a 5-hour bus ride from San Miguel to Patzcuaro in the cool wooded highlands of Michoacán. We love many places in Mexico, but Patzcuaro is a special favorite.

We always stay at Los Escudos, a comfortable and economical hotel on the beautiful Plaza Quiroga – one of the oldest and finest public spaces in the Americas. We also like to eat breakfast at the nearby Mansión Iturbe Hotel (another venerable hotel located in a former colonial mansion). It offers lots of hot coffee, wonderful fresh fruit, local specialties like “corundas,” and an accompanying assortment of pastries including old-fashioned “rosettes” like your aunt or grandmother used to make.


Today, we stopped at our hotel just long enough to check in. Then we walked to the intersection near the edge of the downtown, where we caught the bus for the copper village of Santa Clara del Cobre. Six pesos (less than 50 cents at today’s exchange rate) will take you the 15 miles or so to Santa Clara.

The annual Copper Fair is in full swing in Santa Clara. The plaza in front of the church is festooned with bright paper banners (“papel picado” like you see in Chiripa). A hundred colorfully-dressed dancers (some armed with little bows and arrows) ward off a scary array of costumed evil spirits -- all to the oompah sound of a brass band.

At the local Copper Museum, there is a stunning display of hand-hammered copper. These are works of the highest art – easily qualified for display in the world’s best museums. But they are all produced right here in Santa Clara, by artisans who devote months of labor to each piece. The artisans are competing against their friends and neighbors, and the rivalry is fierce. A first-place award is a great honor.

Most of the displayed works were far out of our price range, but we bought a number of other fine pieces from the Castro Hernandez family, which captured 2 of 5 prestigious first-place awards at this year’s show. You will soon be able to find these elegant pieces at Chiripa, at very reasonable prices.


We returned to Santa Clara the next morning. But today the Copper Fair was interrupted by rain. Not just the usual gentle mist – but a fearful deluge. At this altitude (Santa Clara sits at over 7,000 feet), the lightening and thunder make your hair stand on end. The rain hammered down, and torrents of water poured down the cobbled streets like mountain rivers. A woman swept at the tide rising over the curb, trying to keep it out of her shop.


Fortunately, the curbs are high, and many sidewalks are sheltered by deep overhanging roofs. For the most part, the people just took the deluge in stride.


To all appearances, Mexico is the same beautiful place as ever. But there are some storms raging, and some dark currents flowing beneath the surface. The state of Michoacán faces serious economic difficulties, and young men have emigrated in droves. Some of those who remain have been drawn into gangs and drug violence. We felt completely safe, and saw no evidence of the violence portrayed in the news media. But it is on the minds of many people here.

Over coffee, one business owner confided to us that she is careful about what she says at parties, because “you never know for sure who is involved in what.” Neither she nor her family have ever received any threats, but she hears rumors of extortion and “protection money” schemes. Even legitimate business success can cause resentment in hard-pressed communities. And in today’s climate, businesses are forced to lay off workers who have no safety net. Job losses are making everything worse.


Back in Patzcuaro, another deluge hit in the late afternoon. Waterfalls leaped from the overhanging roofs, slid down big banana leaves in interior courtyards, and splashed on the stone pavement. But melancholy Patzcuaro, with its 400-year-old adobe walls and red tile roofs, has endured many storms. It just hunkers down and waits. -JM August 12 and 13, 2009