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....