El Dia de los Muertos

Halloween! This is not a Mexican custom, but in recent years, it has really caught on. It may have been Mexican kids who had lived in the US and brought the custom back. Or maybe the gringos down here started it. Whatever, the kids love it. They especially head for the areas where there are lots of foreigners, like here in La Floresta and as Rosendo the gardener told me, Chula Vista, an upscale development surrounding a golf course. One group who came here tonight included Letitia, our maid, with her two children from Chapala!

This is also a big day for firecrackers here in Ajijic. It started at 5 a.m. and has been recurring frequently all day. There is a small statue of the Virgin (there are any number of these in Mexico often associated with some appearance of the Virgin and one or more miracles) that normally resides in the small chapel to the Virgin on the north side of the plaza. That chapel is very old dating to the late 17th C. In October, the statue is taken to the parish church just a block from the plaza, but in a long procession that wanders all around Ajijic. There are special masses every day all month in her honor. The statue is even taken to the church in San Antonio Tlayacapan (the village next to us) for 1 night. Anyway, today, the statue is taken back to the chapel where it will reside until the beginning of October next year. Tonight there is a big fireworks display about 10 p.m. We are too tired (we had the 3 girls, plus visitors from Canada staying next door at Steve and Heather’s came over to see the girls and chat). Also, tomorrow Kate, Jack and Sonia arrive.

Actually, the big Mexican celebration at this time of year is El dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). It really takes place over 2 days--Nov. 1 and 2. It is fascinating for several reasons. It is a pre-Spanish and pre-Christian custom. For a while the Catholic Church tried to suppress it but finally decided to link it to All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1) and try to Christianize it. While Christian elements have been added and mixed in, in essence it is still a pagan custom and very different in sensibility. In the first place, Mexican attitudes to death involve humor and whimsy. It is a time to remember friends and loved ones who have died, but it is not a time of sadness. I’ll describe some aspects of the customs, but there is too much to cover in one post. In general it starts on the Nov. 1 as relatives go to the cemetery to clean up and beautify the graves of family members with flowers, paper streamers, even altars. On some, they may have photos of the loved ones as part of the altar; usually, there are lots of candles. They bring lots of food and drink and in fact celebrate, in some cases all night and into the next day. They sing songs and recite humorous poems. There is no worry about spirits or ghosts. Cemeteries are not scary places for Mexicans.

Everywhere, they build fancy altars, some small, but others very large. In Chapala, there is an entire street where altars cover the entire front yards on both sides of the entire street. They close off the street and different groups build the altars. It is like some places north of border where neighbourhoods used to put up massive Christmas light decorations on the houses. In the paper, it says that in Zapopan (a city that is part of Metro Guadalajara) they are building a huge altar (over 2 tons of flowers) to set a record. Often these public altars honor a person. The one in Ajijic this year is in honor of a man who died recently. A number of years ago, he started a youth orchestra and enabled many young people to play musical instruments. Many musicians who played in his orchestra are giving a free, public concert tomorrow night as part of the Day of the Dead celebrations. In some cases people will make an altar for a friend who is still alive. It is intended as an honor, and not an expression of a desire to see the person dead!

A favorite image here is La Catrina. This is Lady Death; it is a skull and skeleton with dresses. They are very fanciful and artists put them in all kinds of guises. I saw one today in a wedding dress, but often they will be dressed in other costumes, including a sombrero. Again, death is not feared or part of some superstition. For example, they make sugar candies in the shape of a skull and you can have the name of friend written in chocolate on the forehead for a small gift. The ones I saw today were a bit smaller than a fist. Joel, our Spanish instructor, got them for Jim and Carole Cook who are providing their house for our Spanish conversation class.

This very different attitude to death seems to be from the pre-Spanish era. In their cosmology, they did not fear death as they thought a good death would ensure a good afterlife. The indigenous peoples were very warlike. The best death was to die bravely in battle. The next best death was to be sacrificed to the gods! Many indigenous peoples, including the Mayans and Aztecs, made generous use of human sacrifice. Warriors who were captured in battle, hoped to be chosen to be sacrificed as this would undo the dishonor and missed chance for a good death. In fact the Maya played a game thought to be a bit like lacrosse. There are playing fields (like hockey arenas) in many Mayan cities. It is believed that the winners (not the losers) were given the honor of being sacrificed! Thus, this pagan attitude to death seems to underly attitudes in Mexico. While altars often have images of the Virgin or crosses, these Christian elements on the whole are a bit superficial; the Day of the Dead seems deeply rooted in pre-Christian paganism as are the attitudes to death.

Back to regular time

October is going by very quickly. Tomorrow night, we change the clocks back an hour. Mexico is still using the old times for the Savings Time changeover. Mexico did not follow the US (and Canada) when it extended the period for Saving Time. Thus, for a couple of weeks, we shall be an extra hour later than in the areas north of the border.

Surprisingly, we have had a couple of rains recently; we don’t expect it this late in October. The rain a couple of days ago was pretty light. However, late this afternoon, it got dark; we got thunder and lightning, but didn’t expect much rain. However, just as we finished eating, it did rain quite hard for 15 minutes or so. After a pause, we got another heavy rain. Barb did not have the rain gauge out so we don’t know how much it will be, but I would think that it is close to half an inch so far. With several cloudy days, the temperatures have been lower. A couple of mornings the temps have been below 16 degrees (I know, your heart bleeds); however, on sunny days, the temps still get up into the high 20s.

Barb is getting more and more satisfied after testing the irrigation system. This week she set the timer (6 a.m each time as early morning is the best and most efficient time for watering): on Monday, the 2 zones in front of the wall, Wednesday, the 2 zones inside the walls and on Friday the zone for the flower beds. She can adjust the length of time each zone goes depending on how dry things get. This is going to relieve a great deal of time and stress the watering had become.

This past week, Barbara had a flareup of her lupus. She made an appointment to see the rheumatologist in Guadalajara. He has prescribed some new medications to get it under control again. When we were going in for the 6 p.m. appointment, we decided to get some other errands in Guadalajara done, altogether almost 7 hours. Guadalajara is a huge city and it is always a bit hectic going there. However, we managed without any serious difficulties, although coming home, we followed signs directing us to the airport and Chapala and ended up taking a route that we had never taken before. It turned out alright, although it was probably a bit slower as we didn’t get on the cross town freeway that we usually take. Also, it was after sunset; seeing street signs in the daytime is hard enough and almost impossible at night. Thus, we had to follow the signs and hope for the best as we couldn’t see what street we were on!

In another week the snowbirds begin to arrive. Things will get busier; already our calendar for November is getting filled.

October again!

I haven’t had as much to report, at least that is my excuse for not doing a post for a while. The watering system has taken longer than we expected. It is mostly finished now; here is the front of the house in the middle. Jose Luis is coming back to make adjustments to the lawn sprinklers. He finally connected the various zones; when he tested them, he was not happy because the pressure did not stay high enough. We agreed to get a new pump. The gasket on the old one was leaking and I was not sure how long it would last anyway. However, I also discovered that Jose Luis had been pretty anxious about whether or not the system would work properly. He had never done one that had to cover such a large area. Thus, he expressed great relief when it seemed to work. After installing the new pump yesterday afternoon, he was beaming because it is working perfectly. There are 4 zones for the lawn and a fifth for the flower beds. For the latter, he has had his worker, Jorge, embed plastic hose a few inches below the surface all through the beds. Then, he is going to go around and beside each plant, punch a small hole in the hose. It will then leak the water underground around the roots. That is certainly a very efficient use of water for irrigation. The control system allows the different zones to be done separately and can be programed to spray whichever days and times you want. Barb plans to have them spray early in the morning before the sun comes up so that much less water is lost to evaporation. The system will relieve Barb of several hours of very boring work. Here is Barb in her hammock!

We had rain surprise this week. We had had no rain for over 2 weeks and I had concluded that the rainy season had ended. However, Wednesday night we had a thunderstorm (over 0.5 inch of rain). The next day, it was mostly cloudy with short brief showers. Then, it started raining about 6 p.m. and continued all night (another half inch). Even today, although we didn’t get any rain here, in Chapala there was a brief shower. It will be interesting to see if we get any more.

Today, we heard from Elizabeth at Love in Action that the girls would not be able to go out as they were sick or just recovering from colds, fevers etc. We went around to see if they needed anything, especially in the way of medicines. We did get some antibiotic for a couple of the girls. Last week, the girls also tried out the hammock.

Last Sunday afternoon, we went to the Lakeside Little Theater for the first production of the season (we got season tickets this year). It is little as there are only 120 seats, but it is lovely and well equipped. The productions are really quite good in spite of the fact that they are all done by volunteers; most of the actors have had considerable professional stage experience in Canada or the US. In so many areas (music, visual arts, drama, science, academia, etc.), there are really talented and experienced people who have retired here and most, probably because they have always been active people, make use of their talents and experience here. On Thursday night, we went to the final (fifth) season concert of Viva la Musica! It was a jazz quartet from Guadalajara; at least 3 of them, are classical musicians. Jazz is not my cup of tea (I don’t hate it, but don’t feel that I understand very well), but Barbara likes jazz. Starting next month, the Music Appreciation Society begins its season of concerts during the winter. Thus, there are classical music concerts here in Ajijic all year round-- amazing for such a small community. Also, during the winter, Viva la Musica organizes bus trips to Guadalajara concerts and ballet; we have not tried that yet. If one has the energy, there are virtually non stop cultural events available.

In an earlier post (September 13), I mentioned the Viva la Musica 4 day trip to Morelia at the end of November. I thought we were too late and were on the waiting list. Subsequently, 4 tickets became available and I snapped them up. Morelia is about 5-6 hours drive south of Ajijic and about 2,000 feet higher in altitude. Jim Cook, who is in my Spanish conversation class, is a terrific photographer; here are his photos of Morelia on his blog.

The Canadian Club has a big Thanksgiving Dinner at the Neuva Posada Hotel each year. However, I was too slow in getting tickets and they were all sold out. Next year, I shall have to be quicker off the mark. Even without the snowbirds, there are lots of Canadians living here. In fact the American Legion in Chapala also puts on a Canadian Thanksgiving Day dinner each year. We shall probably just have a quiet day at home this year.

Chillies en nogado

Well, the big celebration is over for another year. On Tuesday evening, there was a big rain storm so that I expect that put a damper on some of the earlier festivities; however, it had stopped before the ‘grito’ at 11 p.m. We didn’t go to that as we expected big crowds and we go to bed early. But on Independence Day itself, September 16th, we went to Jardin Retaurante, which is right on the Ajijic Plaza, for dinner. The special dish for Independence Day is called ‘chillies en nogado’; as you can see from the picture, it features red, white and green colours which are the colours of the Mexican flag. Its central feature is stuffed pablano peppers, stuffed tomato, pomegranate seeds and a white sauce. It was very tasty (the pomegranate seeds were zesty) and somewhat, but not overwhelmingly, picante.

After eating, we stayed for while for the festivities in the Plaza. There was a band of young fellows; I wouldn’t say that they were good, but they were enthusiastic. At one point, the young teenage girl who had been chosen queen earlier, went around handing out gladioli to older women sitting around the plaza. A couple of women came and gave Barbara (as well as other ladies) a small boutonniere of white flowers. Everyone was given a bag of confetti and went around throwing confetti at each other and us. You can see that Barb has a lot. Everyone was laughing and very friendly. It was a charming evening and a great custom.


Another step in completing our amenities was achieved when Barb put up her hammock and spent time relaxing in it. There are still a few touchups to finish, but the pergola is done.

Independence Day in Mexico

The Viva la Musica! concert on Thursday was an opera, Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. They used a piano for accompaniment, but otherwise it was a full scale production with a chorus of about 60. The 5 principal singers were all very competent and the soprano had an outstanding voice. She was Hungarian, but is married to the man (also a tenor) who was the conductor. It is amazing what cultural events are available here. Of course, all those in the opera are from Guadalajara, which has a full array of classical and cultural organizations and artists.

This is a big week of festivities in Mexico. Sept. 16th is Independence Day and the culmination. However, there have been events every weekend since the beginning of the month. Yesterday, in Ajijic was the hot air balloon festival (I have a description and some photos in my blog last year in September). This year we took the girls from LIA, but when one of the tissue paper balloons caught fire (as many do), Fatima was frightened and started crying. Dariana then followed suit. Dareli was unworried and took it in stride. However, we left almost immediately. Today, there was a big Mexican rodeo in the bull ring and this evening, the women parade around the plaza in traditional costumes. On Tuesday night at 11 p.m. here in Ajijic and in virtually every town and city in Mexico, mayors and officials reenact the ‘grito’. This was the call by Father Hildago in 1810 to rise up and fight the Spanish for independence. It was mostly Indians who responded. A few months, after some successes, Hildago was captured, tried and executed by the Spanish. However, others took up the cause and eventually independence was achieved in 1820. Hildago and another priest Moreles, who took up the cause and was also captured and executed, were excommunicated by the Catholic Church, but have remained the great heroes of Mexican independence. Just recently, the Catholic Church has been investigating whether or not the excommunications were valid and if they should be reinstated (like Gallileo and a couple of others). Critics here are calling it opportunistic as major bicentennial celebrations are being planned for 2010 (it will also be the centennary of the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910). Anyway, the Church did not want to be left out it seems. After the reenactment of the ‘Grito’ at 11 p.m. on the 15th, there are fireworks and the partying goes on for many hours.

The mention of Moreles brings up another point. Subsequently, one of the oldest colonial cities in Mexico (founded in the late 16th C) was renamed Morelia in his honour. It is the capital of Michoacan, the state directly south of us here in Jalisco. A major part of the city center remains with the outstanding Spanish colonial architecture of the 17th to 19th C intact. It has been declared a World Cultural Heritage site. Viva la Musica! has arranged a 4 day trip to an international classical music festival at the end of November. With Jack and Kate, we thought that we would like to go, but by the time we got a line on someone to housesit with the dogs, the places have been spoken for. Unless there are some cancellations, we won’t be going. However, I shall keep an eye out for other tours going there. Everyone who has been to Morelia is vociferous in raving about it.

Much of the construction of Barb’s pergola is finished. As usual, they build things to last! The main posts are 5 inch square steel beams. They are anchored in concrete blocks over 2 feet square and more than 30 inches deep; then on top over the entire area is a concrete slab 6-8 inches thick with mortar and flagstones another 3 inches on top of that. There is other work of concrete and tiles out about 2 feet under the veranda where the washing machine and water heater are located. We have also decided to have Jose Luis and his men go ahead with installing an irrigation system. Barb needed to spend over 2 hours, 3 times a week just to water the flower beds. She was becoming a slave to the garden. We did get a really good rain (over 1 inch) on Thursday night. It has been a very dry rainy season. The construction phase always has things a bit disrupted, but Jose Luis always ensures that the job is done well and very inexpensive compared to what it would cost north of the border.

Birthdays galore

We have had a busy week at LIA. I mentioned a couple of posts ago about 4 in the same family who had recently arrived. One of them, Fernanda, was coming up for her 8th birthday last Sunday; we had had our 3 girls on Saturday. Elizabeth, the housemother, asked if we could help because Fernanda does not yet have godparents. We agreed to get cake and ice cream, plus a couple of presents. She is a delightful girl and was absolutely thrilled by her party. Then, another girl, named Monsarret but called Monce, is the same age (same house) and had her birthday on Wednesday. She used to have a godparent, but that is no longer the case. We felt that it wouldn’t be fair is she were omitted; thus, we got more cake and ice cream and bought her a pretty little dress at the tianguis. Again we were rewarded because there was another very thrilled little girl. We are suggesting that the godparents’ group make sure that even those kids without godparents have their birthdays celebrated.

Finally, today was the twins’ 4th birthday; September (along with May) seems to have a plethora of birthdays. We had given Alvia money to buy school uniforms for the twins and with the money left over, she was able to get the pretty little dresses you see on the girls. Barb had also bought 2 Mexican dolls (she was determined that she was not going to get Barbie or princess dolls). The twins’ mother and baby brother, who live in Chapala, were there for the party too. As you can see, more cake and ice cream!

Tomorrow, we go back again because there is a special 15th birthday party for Cenia. In Mexico, the 15th birthday for girls is a special, coming of age celebration, kind of like bat mitzvah for Jewish girls. Her godparents are organizing and paying for this, but wanted as many godparents as possible to come. I don’t know about the kids, but in spite of how good it is, we are getting our fill of cake and ice cream! Actually, we are restricting birthday parties to just the kids in the house of the one with the birthday, not everyone in LIA; that works so much better. In spite of hearing it so many times in the last week, we still have not learned the words to the Mexican birthday song; we must get a copy and learn it.

For months, Barbara has been yearning to get a hammock, but where to put it to find shade all year? The problem is the sun. It is south from September to April, but then goes to the north for the summer. Every place we thought of would be in the afternoon sun for at least part of the year. However, in the back corner on the west wall, we have a very big bougainvillea. Barb had persuaded Rosendo not to prune it since we arrived; if you prune very much you don’t get flowers because they grow only on new growth. Anyway, it is thick and bushy and by the early afternoon, the area underneath is in shade all year. Barb’s solution is to build a pergola to hold up the bougainvillea and provide support for the hammock. We contacted Jose Luis, our contractor, who gave us estimates for about 4 projects; we can spread them out as we have funds available. The first project is the pergola; Barb had been unwilling to wait any longer and bought her hammock in August. The men are to start work on Monday morning. They are also going to replace the grass under the pergola with flagstones in cement; the grass is not doing well in the shade anyway.

Economic downturn in Mexico

I am overdue for a comment on the effects of the economic downturn on Mexico and Mexicans. Mexico seemed to feel the effects of the downturn a little more slowly than north of the border, but the effects are now being felt more and more severely. With NAFTA, Mexico is now a major participant in the continental automobile industry; the drop in the demand for autos means that there are layoffs here too. A second factor is that because of the lopsided and sensationalist news coverage of both the war against the drug cartels and the H1N1 flu outbreak, tourism is way down. Of course those of us who live here know how exaggerated the coverage is. Most Americans who live here say that they feel safer here than they did at home. Thus, we continue to provide some jobs and money in the economy, but large numbers of Mexicans depend upon tourism for jobs and income. Thirdly, because of the economic downturn in the US, many Mexican migrants there are unemployed and unable to send nearly as much money as they were doing. Tens of thousands of families need that to meet their living costs.

Finally, although the government has promised public works to stimulate the economy as so many other governments are doing, the federal government is facing sharply declining revenues. While both the state and municipal governments raise some revenues on their own, both levels receive half or more of their total income from the federal government. Of and on since the end of World War 2, the federal government, which owns the petroleum monopoly, Pemex, has relied on oil and gas for much of its income. This has been both a blessing and a curse. When prices were high and the money was rolling in, frequently the governments of the time frittered and wasted a great deal. Some of the currency and economic crises of the past occurred when the prices fell. Ever since its nationalization in the late 1930s, Pemex has been a sacred cow and public opinion has opposed letting foreign oil companies have any significant participation in the industry. The oil workers union has tended also to protect and expand jobs and in doing so have inhibited technological innovation. The problem is that because of government demands to get as much revenue as possible and union obstruction, reinvestment has been far too low. There has not been much in the way of new finds (Mexico is really lagging in exploring the possibilities of deep water oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico for example). Production in the old fields is declining drastically. At the rate of current decline, it may not be too long before Mexico has nothing to export. Mexico does not have enough refineries (they need to deal with heavier grades of crude) to provide for domestic production, but must import some refined products. There is much more that could be said about the oil industry here, but for my comment the main point is that federal government revenues are declining, even with relatively strong oil prices. This is getting passed down the line to the lower government levels. The latter, on being informed that they are not going to get as much money as they had expected, are now cutting large numbers of jobs.

The loss of jobs is coming on top of the fact that average wages have not kept up with rising prices in the last 5 years (about half the rate). Thus, families were having a tough go even before the economic downturn. On top of this, many of the main agricultural areas in Mexico have been hit this summer with the worst drought in over 40 years. In some places the corn crop has been practically wiped out. Some predictions are that the price of tortillas may double because of higher corn prices. In short large numbers of Mexican families are facing a ‘perfect storm’ economically.