A Small Gamble Pays Off

 From the log kept by JM on the August 2010 Chiripa buying trip to Mexico.

August 26. Late afternoon found us in the dusty little bus depot in the town of Dolores Hidalgo, the cradle of the Mexican Independence movement. We had walked the town hunting for Talavera-style ceramics, for which Dolores is famous. We ended up at the bus depot after a short respite on the zocalo, where we watched the people and sampled the ice cream.

We always use public transportation (buses and taxis) to get around Mexico. We are big fans of the Mexican bus system, from which the U.S. could learn much. The bus system is cheap, safe and efficient, and serves a huge number of people of all income classes. We go to the bus depot without reservations and, within minutes, we are on a bus traveling to our chosen destination – near or far. The long distance buses are roomy and comfortable. The only negative is the bad U.S. movies played en route.

An hour later, the bus from Dolores dropped us at the depot in San Miguel de Allende. We asked a taxi driver to take us out into the countryside, to Rancho Cienguieta, where our friend Felix lives and operates a tin workshop with his extended family. We hadn’t been able to contact Felix by phone, so we took a chance on a taxi.

Happily, the gamble paid off. The taxi driver, somewhat bewildered, dropped us on the rural back road near Felix’s home. We walked down the lane, and were happy to catch Felix at home (he was just getting ready to leave). He was equally happy to see us. With the family looking on, we ordered some of Felix’s ever-popular star luminaries, then caught a ride with the family back to town. 

They dropped us at the market, where they were shopping for the week’s supplies, and we strolled the steep cobbled streets back to the hotel. 

Hunting for Papel Machado

From the log kept by JM on the August, 2010 Chiripa buying trip to Mexico.

AUGUST 25.  From Patzcuaro, we took the long bus ride to San Miguel de Allende, via Morelia and Celaya. The on-board U.S. movies were loud and bad, as is customary. They always help to make the trip seem much longer.

This afternoon, in San Miguel de Allende, we visited the workshop of our good friend Ricardo, who makes fine tin and ceramic mirrors for Chiripa. We asked about other crafts in San Miguel, and Ricardo offered to take us to a workshop that makes papel machado (paper mache). You probably made paper mache figures in elementary school, but in Mexico this humble craft has been raised to a community art form. In Mexican parades, you will often see huge papel machado puppets that dance ahead of the marching band. They have a blank, weird look, but somehow seem to be running the show....

Ricardo picked us up at 8 PM, as planned. Minutes later, we picked up his older brother Rosalío, who operates a fine artisan craft store in San Miguel (Casa Artesanal San Migueliense). When he was still a boy, Ricardo followed Rosalío to San Miguel after their father died. Ricardo credits Rosalío with teaching him the tinmaker’s craft, but adds (smiling): “Now I am better than he is.”

Darkness fell as we bumped our way through a maze of cobbled streets at the far end of town. We stopped in front of a closed doorway that did not look promising. But moments later we were inside, confronted by a wild assortment of paper maché figures, including giant clowns, oversized chickens, masks, skeletons on sticks, and a colorful assortment of peppers, fruits and vegetables. 

We enjoyed our visit with workshop owners Juan José and María Eugenia, who showed us the techniques they use. In short order, we had purchased a big boxload of their creations for Chiripa.

The next day, we took a long hike to another part of town in search of a second papel machado workshop, called Papel Maché Originales. After a fair number of wrong turns, we finally found the workshop on a dusty side-street. A handful of workers were busy forming, drying and painting a mad variety of papel machado figures.  

When we rummaged through the inventory, looking for good pieces to buy, we were startled to find Bucky Badger stools and paper mache badgers that looked like Bucky’s cousins. The shop owner told us that he once had an order from some “personas de queso” (cheese people) in Wisconsin, but then he never heard from them again....
It was hot on our way back, so we stopped at a little corner store and bought a frozen, chocolate-covered banana to share. It was cold and delicious....