Chivas vs. América

On Sunday evening I saw an incredible display of soccer fanaticism, both amazing and ugly.

The Fulbright Comission bought tickets for 20 Fulbrighters to attend the Clasico de Clasico: Chivas (from Guadalajara-2nd largest city) vs. América (from Mexico City-largest city).  The stadium can hold up to 106,000 people and it appeared as though every seat was taken!  We were sitting next to a fenced section of the stadium which was surrounded by police with riot gear on.  This section was for the "fanatics" of the team América.  The section for Chivas was opposite up on the 3rd level, they too were surrounded by police in riot gear.  Other fans for both teams were mixed up in the crowd; best friends, couples, families all wearing different jerseys from both teams.  Good natured teasing and taunting occurred during the entire match.  The 'fanatic' sections had drums that went on during the game, they would break out in the song of their team (sometimes spurred on by the announcer) and the entire crowd would join in, it was deafening and sent chills down my spine.  I had always heard it during games on television but had no idea how cool it really is!

Chivas ended up winning 2-1.

We stood around until the stadium was almost empty because the Fulbright leaders didn't want to lose anyone in the crowd.  We noticed that the 'fanatics' from the losing team, América, were kept in the gated area long after we were walking out.  Apparently this is to keep them from causing any trouble.

Well, Reed and I had to take the train to the bus station and were on the platform waiting for the next train.  I noticed that 4 people wearing Chivas shirts were sitting on the benches waiting for the train as well.  A group of América fans (about 50) came down the stairs and were waiting to pay their fare.  The police (about 10) in riot gear were on the platform and were keeping them on the steps because I think they knew the Chivas fans were there.  Finally they let the América fans through.  Walking by one of the girls, an América fan spit ice on one of the girls' head and some words ensued.  The police ushered the Chivas fans away (towards us) from the América fans.  One large policeman put himself between the groups and was talking to the Chivas fans.  An América woman (who looked drunk) walked up to the group of Chivas fans and started yelling at one of the women.  The policeman put up his arm to keep her away, shifted his body a little and went on talking to the man in the group.  All of a sudden the drunk woman reached over the policeman's arm and punched the other woman in the face. Unfortunately, the policeman didn't see this happen.  The other América fans pulled the drunk woman away.  Reed and I were fortunate to squish ourselves on the next train.  As the train was pulling away, we saw the policeman escorting the Chivas fans to the exit of the platform.

I guess it doesn't matter that your losing team missed three close goals (one from 2 yards in front of the goal), what matters most is that someone is wearing a shirt from the team that won!  :o)

Coming next:  Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Guanajuato and Dolores Hidalgo

Following is a condensed version of what we saw and visited in Guanajuato and Dolores Hildalgo. If you would like to see this slideshow; click on the current slideshow, click on My Photos and click on 'guan'.

*We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in a house owned by Pita that had been in her family for 3 generations.  It was located behind the Teatro Principal.

*Guanajuato has the most colorful houses and buildings we have seen so far.

*The Callejon del Beso (Alley of the Kiss)--the daughter of a rich family fell in love with a common miner.  They were forbidden to see each other so the miner rented a room opposite and the lovers exchanges kisses across the alley.

*Museo de las Momias (Museum of the Mummies)--remains dug up in 1865 to make room for more bodies were preserved by the contents of the soil.  100 mummies are on display, it only takes 5 or 6 years for bodies to become mummified here.  Bodies continue to be exhumed if relatives can't pay $20 for upkeep fees.

*We were able to see bands playing in stadiums, plazas, restaurants, and streets.  There were small and large displays of acts in theaters, plazas and streets.  Living statues would come alive for 10 pesos ($1) and perform or let you take a picture with them.

*The Callejoneadas (Estudiantinas), a group of professional singers and musicians dressed in traditional costumes, begin about 8pm roaming the streets playing music.  A crowd gathers and follows them as they wind through the streets and alleys of the city until the wee hours of the morning.

*Diego Rivera's birth house where he lived until he was six, still has the original furniture and many of Diego's drawings and paintings on display.

*The Alhondiga de Granaditas is the site of the first major victory in Mexico's War of Independence.  It was a fortress for Spanish troops and loyalist leaders.  Miguel Hidalgo led 20,000 rebels in a siege on the fortress.  They weren't having much luck until a young miner, Juan Jose de los Reyes Martinez (aka El Pipila) under orders from Hidalgo, tied a stone slab to his back and thus protected from Spanish bullets, set the large gates ablaze.  The rebels stormed the fortress and took back the Alhondiga from the Spaniards.

*In Dolores Hidalgo, we were able to visit the Parroquia de Nuestra Senora de Dolores, the church where Miguel Hidalgo issued the famous Grito on September 16, 1810 at 5am in the morning.  This is the famous Grito de Independencia that Mexico celebrates every year on the 16th.

*I thought I would add a picture of classmates and teachers so that you all know that I am actually doing SOME work!  :o)

For pictures, click on this link:  http://picasaweb.google.com/regnor11/Guan#

Coming next:  Chivas vs. America--El Clasico de Clasicos in Mexico!

Queretaro and Guanajuato

We left for Guanajuato early on Thursday morning because we knew it would be a long bus trip and we wanted to arrive in Guanajuato in the early afternoon.  When we arrived in Mexico City at the south station we decided to take a bus to Queretaro, which is very close to Guanajuato, instead of taking a bus to the north station and then a bus to Guanajuato, we thought it would take less time.  Well, if you have been reading my blog you know that things don't always happen the way we think they will!  :o)  

We arrived in Queretaro a half hour after the previous bus left for 

Guanajuato and found out we had a 4 1/2 hour wait until the next bus.  So, we changed our plans and took a taxi into the center of Queretaro for a brief visit.  After a quick lunch at booth surrounding the zocalo, we walked around the city looking at churches and plazas.  We were

 able to see "Los Arcos" the 1.28km aqueduct (pic) with 74 towering arches built between 1726 and 1735 that runs through the center of town.  We also took a tour (given by an impressive 13 year old girl) through the Convento de la Santa Cruz (pic).  The convento (built 1654 - 1815) is famous for a miraculous appearance of Santiago (St. James)  

which led the Otomi (the indiginous people of that area)

to surrender to the conquistadors and Christianity.  Another of the site's miracles includes a tree that supposedly grew from a walking stick being stuck in the ground.  The thorns of the tree form a cross.

We arrived in Guanajuato (pic) about 7:30pm, found our hotel and went out for dinner.  For three weeks in October,  

Guanajuato is host to the Cervantino International Festival.

 "During this period, Guanajuato becomes a living theater and 

museum. The festival features avant-garde artistic performances and exhibitions of fine, classic and modern art. Countries from around the world are represented, with over two thousand national and international artists displaying their works of art. You will find classical music and electronic rhythms, along with folkloric and contemporary dance, as well as plays and multimedia shows."  Literally, everywhere we went there was someone doing something related to the festival, it was fantastic!  

Coming next:  More Guanajuato and a town called Dolores Hildalgo

The legend of mole poblano

My brother Tom sent me this delightful legend of how mole poblano came about.  Thanks, Tom!

Most people associate mole with either with Puebla or Oaxaca , but the origin of mole poblano, the thick, rich, chocolate-tinged sauce made so famous in the colonial mountain city of Puebla, Mexico, is still disputed, and generally involves these two versions of the legend:

The first says that 16^th Century nuns from the Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla de los Angeles, upon learning that the Archbishop was coming for a visit, went into a panic because they had nothing to serve him. The nuns started praying desperately and an angel came to inspire them. They began chopping and grinding and roasting, mixing different types of chiles together with spices, day-old bread, nuts, a little chocolate and approximately 20 other ingredients. This concoction boiled for hours and was reduced to the thick, sweet, rich and fragrant mole sauce we know today. To serve in the mole, they killed the only meat they had, an old turkey, and the strange sauce was poured over it. The archbishop was more than happy with his banquet and the nuns saved face. Little did they know they were creating the Mexican National dish for holidays and feasts, and that today, millions of people worldwide have at least heard of mole poblano.

The other legend states that mole came from pre-hispanic times and that Aztec king, Moctezuma, thinking the conquistadors were gods, served mole to Cortez at a banquet to receive them. This story probably gained credibility because the word mole comes from the Nahuatl word “milli” which means sauce or “concoction”. Another connection could be that chocolate was widely used in pre-columbian mexico, so people jumped to that conclusion.

On the right:  A new slideshow of some scenes from our trip to Puebla and Cholula.

Puebla and Cholula

Reed's Fulbright colleague who we had visited in Jilotepec, came to visit us in Cuernavaca.  On Thursday, the three of us headed for Puebla in the truck.  A favorite band of Reed's was suppose to be playing in a bar in Puebla on Friday night.  As it turns out, they cancelled the day before we left, but we went to Puebla anyway.

Puebla (pop. 1.9 mil) is known as the City of Angels, has 70 churches and more then a thousand colonial buildings in the

center alone. (pic) The city is famous for azulejos (painted ceramic tiles).  Our first stop, after our hotel, was at Uriarte Talavera Internacional.  We wanted to take a tour of the oldest (founded 1824) and biggest workshop in Puebla that produces talavera (painted pottery) (pic).  We were fortunate to have a tour given by the owner himself!  The pottery is made 

by hand, dried for 2-3 months, baked twice for 

durability, painted and fired. (pic is from start to finish).

Other things we did in Puebla were visit the

 Tiangis, the Ex-Convento de Santa Rosa/Museo de Arte Popular Poblano, the Barrio del Artista and a street market.

On Saturday we drove to Cholula (pop. 152,000) which is a small town close to Puebla to see the widest pyramid ever built, Piramide Tepanapa.  Now it is overgrown and topped by a church but

still massive and beautiful.(pic)  After a tour of the grounds, we 

walked through a small portion of the 8kms of tunnels under the pyramid which were made by archeologists trying to find the several pyramids that were built on top of each other during many reconstructions.  On the path up to the church, Reed was brave enough to try a fried grasshopper that a man offered to her.  I, however, wasn't so brave!  :o)

After returning to Puebla and having dinner which included the famous Mole Poblano, we sat in the Zocalo with the locals and listened to some of the live music from the surrounding restaurants.

For more pictures, click on this link:  http://picasaweb.google.com/regnor11/DriveToPueblaPueblaCholula#

Coming next:  Guanajuato

Pictures...

For pictures, click on this link:  http://picasaweb.google.com/regnor11/MiVidaEnCuernavaca#

Coming next:  Puebla and Cholula

Cacahuamilpa caverns, karaoke with the locals and Jilotepec

After a wonderful breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice, sopes (small, thick tortillas) covered with red or green salsa and cheese, we hopped in the Toyota Rav4 with Reed's colleague (Santiago) and his family to go to the Grutas (caves) of Cacahuamilpa (pic) .  The caves are connected to form a very long (1 1/2 mile) and high (269 ft.) cave.  It took us about 2 hours to tour the cave with a guide who talked about the many stalagmites and stalactites in the cave. 

On Saturday we were invited for beers at the house of another of Reed's colleagues.  Like many people here, his house has been a work in progress for six years.  It is very difficult to get a loan for purchasing or adding-on to houses so often times people live in houses as they earn enough money to complete them.  We sat on the roof which will eventually be a patio and enjoyed the view of Cuernavaca as a thunderstorm moved in.  Later, his friend called, came to pick us up and took us to his house (also unfinished) for karaoke.  I was forced, or rather...encouraged, to sing a song or two in Spanish.  Of course, I didn't know the song or what I was singing about but I received a round of applause when I was done!  I finally found a CD of English songs (Bee Gees, go figure) and sang a few I knew.  We sang and danced (3 men and 3 women) until the wee hours of the morning and then they took us home.  I think it was 4:30am which 

is the latest I have stayed up for many, many years. 

A Fulbrighter/friend of Reed's lives and teaches in a town called Jilotepec.  On Thursday, we took a bus to Mexico City, a city bus from the south bus station to the north bus station and caught another bus to Jilotepec.  The trip ended up being about 5 hours total but as usual, much to see!  Jilotepec is a small town of about 15,000 residents with an altitude higher than Cuernavaca so it was much colder. On Friday we perused the local Tiangis (a 'must' in any town) which was huge! After making several purchases and taking them back to the house, we returned to the Tiangis to eat lunch at one of the small, temporary

 restaurants that the locals set up each week (pic).  As usual, the food was delicious (fresh and full of flavor) and the family serving us was very

friendly.

On Saturday, another Fulbrighter/friend came to Jilotepec from Mexico City and the four of us went to Tequisquiapan, a town about an hour from Jilotepec.  Tequisquiapan has many brightly colored colonial buildings, a beautiful Zocalo and Catedral.  We spent the day walking through the markets, eating and shopping.

Coming next:  Pictures of interesting things...