Another Year Over and a New One Just Begun

 

San Miguel Christmas 2012

Courtesy of Todd McIntosh Photography

 

I have taken a page from the blogs of Marc, at An Alaskan in Yucatán and Steve, at mexpatriate — in the key of steve and have decided to take a look back over my experiences of the past year. Having moved from Patzcuaro to San Miguel de Allende not long before Christmas last year, 2012 was year of changes and discovery for Todd and I.

After several years in Patzcuaro, we had developed a comfortable lifestyle with lasting friendships and memories. I had become quite involved with the kitchen at “El Sagrario”, which feeds the poor and elderly. Todd and I had also become involved with a large group of girls from the Esperanza Orphanage in Mexico City. We had developed ties.

When we first moved into our house in Manjerrez de Mexiquito we had two households worth of furniture. The rental property, which is considerably smaller than our previous one, was furnished and we already had furnishings for a full house. Although we had a storage locker, the furniture in the house sat stacked half way to the 30 foot ceiling for almost 3 months, until we were able to negotiate the removal of the landlord’s furnishings.

Somewhere along the way we discovered that among the pile of furnishings lived a little gray kitten. His coat has now turned jet black with a little nutrition. For him, it was an ideal cave out of the cold, with 3 square meals a day pilfered from the ever-full dry food dispenser. In the post Finding The Feline I described how this little fellow became a member of our family, which already included 2 cats. After a great deal of scrapping and jockeying for position they have now settled into a (reasonably) happy family unit.

 

Kashmere (with a K)

 

We now have just a tiny walled back yard, and with the weather being so much warmer here than in Patzcuaro , I thought that what little gardening I was likely to do would be a snap. Think again! The post Gardening 101 San Miguel de Allende tells of how shortly after moving somewhere in the vicinity of 50 potted plants and trees, in many trips in a tiny trailer, from Patzcuaro to San Miguel, we had a cold snap in November of 2011 and most of them died.

 

The Resurrection

 

A Day In The Life describes, what I can now look back on, as a hilarious episode in which I was moving cartons of soup from the kitchen to the freezer, that could only have been improved upon by the presence of Lucy and Ethel. However, Another Day In The Life… shows just how much things can change from one day to the next.

 

Wildflowers In Bloom

 

  Finally, I think San Miguel de Allende sums up how the year has brought new opportunities and surprises. We are enjoying life here and are looking forward to whatever 2013 has to offer.

 

Bar at Hank’s Louisiana Cafe

 

Good Morning San Miguel!

 

Happy New Year!

Technology

I was just reading a post by Joanna at Writing From Merida about how we used to send Christmas cards each year, and it sparked a notion of how much our lives have been affected by the rapidly changing technology that surrounds us every day. Don’t mistake me, I am not complaining. I love the fact that no matter where I am, I am able to be in constant contact with the people most important to me.

Last night I chatted with a friend from Vancouver for about an hour and we were using my Vonage line so we aren’t even charged long distance as it is a Vancouver number. The connection was such that she could have been right down the street rather than in another country. My friend is hoping to make a last minute trip to visit us here in San Miguel and as we chatted we both sat in front of our computers checking airline flights and prices.

Obviously this is nothing out of the ordinary, but were my grandmother alive today, I suspect she would disagree. As a young woman my grandmother, Mabel, walked from the Peace River Country to Vancouver, alongside a covered wagon. She carried a rifle under one arm, a baby under the other, and I’ll bet she would have loved to have stepped onto an airplane. This was about 1915. Less that one hundred years ago. (and about a year before the railroad made it to the Peace River Country)







Mabel was a strong women who took things in stride. The matriarch of our family, little phased her, and in her lifetime she watched as electricity became available to everyone, automobiles replaced horses, the Wright brothers put us in the air and man landed on the moon. However, I think even Mabel would have marveled at the leaps and bounds technology has made since her passing.

All of these wondrous inventions have made our lives easier and changed them forever. There is no turning back, not that we would want to, but I think we may have lost something along the way. Prior to the Laptop, iPad and iPhone, kids played outside and used their minds to create games. Without the media they remained kids longer. Adults went for a walk after dinner, chatted about their respective day and speculated about their futures. A date might have included a drive-in restaurant and a porch swing. Dreams somehow, seemed grander. Maybe we’ve become a little jaded.







I am an avid reader and I LOVE my Kindle, but that does not mean I don’t appreciate the warm feeling I get from a comfortable chair in a book lined den. The presence of the books are as important to the whole as the comfortable chair and the fireplace. It’s so easy to send a greeting card over the internet and I know from having received many that the feeling of gratitude for being remembered is the same as if I held it in my hand. But there is still something about that mantle from my past, lined with lights, garlands and Christmas cards……..

December 22, 2012…..and we’re all still here.

 

K’uk’ulkan

 

Well the 13 b'ak'tun, or 5,125 year cycle of the Mayan Calendar has run it’s course. What now? Writings from the Jaguar Priests suggest that we can expect a visit from the Supreme Being (teacher), the Feathered Serpent, K’uk’ulkan, (Quetzacoatl). However, the more modern belief seems to be that rather than a return or reincarnation, that the people themselves will rise in character to take on the attributes of the supreme being. That, in essence, we will undergo a spiritual evolution resulting in a higher plain of consciousness. Wouldn’t that be nice?

 

 

Hunab K’u

 

The later Mayans believed that the Milky Way Galaxy was the generator of life and that "Hunab K'u," was the true creator and “One Giver of Movement and Measure; the Absolute Being”. Hunab K'u gave the Maya the seven power centers of the human body through which they channeled  the energy of the cosmos.

 

Kundalini Awakening

 

Interestingly enough, there is a distinct parallel between the Mayan’s 7 centers of power and Hinduism’s kundalini ("k'ulthanlilni" in Mayan), and the seven chakras, the body’s centers of energy. According to Hindu teaching the serpent-like kundalini, an unconscious or instinctive force, lies coiled in the triangular sacrum bone at the base of the spine and can be “awakened” by yoga and meditation sending energy through the 7 chakras. The Mayan k'ulthanlilni begins in the Earth, moving to the spine and then sends energy to the 7 powers.

The Mayans were very attuned to nature and the cosmos utilizing meditation, yoga and ritual. In the Zuyua language, which actually incorporates birdsong, the word "y'ak" means "language" while the reverse, "k'ay", means "song" and the word for flower, "l'ol" literally means vibration and consciousness.

So many people around the world assumed that because the Mayan’s “Long Count Calendar” has ended that the world must end. The Mayans, it seems, had other ideas. Astronomy professor Maud Worcester Makemson, said in her  1951 translation of the Chilam Balam of Tizimin, that “The completion of a great cycle of thirteen b'ak'tuns (12/21/2012) would indeed be an occasion of the highest expectation.” This does not sound like the end of the world to me. The Mayans aspired to a more cerebral and spiritual existence and this was their expectation at the end of 13 b'ak'tuns, not Armageddon.

Tlalpujahua; Christmas All Year Long

 

Earlier this week I put up the Christmas decorations and decorated the Christmas tree. I love our Mexican Christmas tree, as I have collected ornaments from many different places around Mexico, and putting them on the tree always brings back wonderful memories of our travels around the country.

 

Christmas 2012

 

I have beautiful copper miniatures from Santa Clara del Cobre, tiny ceramic bobbles from the Feria de Artesanias, held each November in Lake Chapala, large hand painted globes from Bucerias, and of course, the fabulous hand woven decorations from Tzintzuntzan. Lovely poinsettia embroidered runners and place mats from the Yucatan grace our dining and living room tables.

 

Happy Memories

 

Although, perhaps the most interesting pieces come from Tlalpujahua, Michoacán. A former mining town, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was one of Mexico’s major producers of gold. Disaster struck in 1937 when a major landslide of mud and debris buried about a third of the town and badly damaged the mine, effectively terminating the town’s main source of income.

 

The Monarchs of Michoacán

 

However, the town survived and in the 1960s, a young resident named Joaquín Muñoz Orta began making adornos navideños, Christmas tree decorations. Today, the company has about 1,000 employees, five plants and fifteen workshops. It is the largest operation of it’s kind in Latin America, and one of the five largest worldwide. About 70% of the town’s economy now comes from Joaquín’s factory and about 150 small workshops that produce beautiful Christmas items all year long. I love a good success story!

 

Tienda Casa de Santa Clause – The Santa Clause Shop

Tlalpujahua

 

Tlalpujahua is a charming town with narrow cobbled streets, red roofed stone houses and colonial architecture. As with so many other colonial towns it played it’s role in the War of Independence, in the form of  Ignacio López Rayón,  who formed an insurgent group after the death of Hidalgo called the Suprema Junta Nacional Americana.

He and his brothers  were responsible for fortifying the Cerro del Gallo Mountain and holding it until 1813 when royalist troops took Tlatlpujahua and forced the evacuation of Cerro de Gallo. Another supporter of independence, Father Juan Antonio Romero was executed in Tlalpujahua, before Francisco López Rayón took it back in 1815. In 2005, the town was justly awarded the status of  Pueblo Mágico.

 

Municipal Palace, Tlalpujahua

 

Christmas has been a little different since we moved to Mexico but in the last seven years we’ve built new memories and adopted new traditions. The traditional turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce is lovely, but so are tamales, camote and ponche. And don’t get me started on buñuelos !

 

December 2012 photo from our calendar,

A Year In The Life Of Patzcuaro

 

My husband Todd is a very accomplished photographer and I always want to share his work so I have compiled some of the wonderful photos that he’s taken here in Mexico and we found a way to put them on products like calendars, mousepads and cell phone cases. If you are interested just click on the pictures below. I’m sorry, as with most other areas of my life, my timing on this could have been better. If you want a calendar for Christmas, you’d better hurry. LOL

 

Patzcuaro Calendar

A Year in Patzcuaro, Mexico Calendar by Mexico_Memento

 

 

San Miguel Calendar

A Year in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Calendar by Mexico_Memento

Christmas?

It is a beautiful day today and as I puttered in my garden several things occurred to me. The first being, “Oh my gosh it’s December”, a fact that never escaped me when I lived in North Vancouver. The temperature in my little back yard hovers around 23 or 24 degrees centigrade (75-78 F) and although we've not had any rain in quite a while, Todd has worked his magic and the lawn is still lush and green.

As I weeded the pots and plucked dead flower blooms my mind wandered back to December in North Vancouver when I was a child. Long before global warming had raised it’s ugly head, our home on the side of Grouse Mountain was usually snowed in by this time of year. There was a huge tree in the basement, drying out, and each morning I would ask if we could put the tree up today. I’m sure this amused (or irritated) my parents as I knew they never put the tree up before Christmas Eve.

One wall of the living room was picture windows which looked out over Princess Park and the one directly across was brick. The brick wall held a huge corner fireplace and a wood box large enough to play in when it wasn't full. I used to like to sit on the flagstone hearth in front of the roaring fire and look out at the winter wonderland that was my playground at that time of year. The nearest neighbour was a good walk away and the little road in front of the house was not well traveled so the silence of the landscape under a deep blanket of snow was profound.

It is likely that I had been playing in the snow so the hearth was a wonderful spot to sit and drink hot chocolate while warming up with my Irish setter Roxy, who would come in with large snowballs hanging from the feathers on her tail and belly.

Fast forward…..A lazy December afternoon in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. There are cats sunning themselves on the lawn or chasing butterflies among the flower pots on the wall. The bougainvillea seem to be at their peak and the geraniums, calla and cana lilies are striving to compete.

Christmas huh?

Yesterday we went to see the latest James Bond movie which, by the way, I thought was great. The best one made in years, but I digress. The shopping mall was elaborately decorated for the season and Christmas music rang out cheerfully from all the stores.

Winter?

The nights are getting cold now, here in San Miguel, although not so much as last year. Yet. The winter blankets have found their way out of closets and hang, freshly washed, on the line. In the evenings we are snuggling under an electric throw blanket while we watch TV. Still the Christmas spirit is eluding me this year.

Last year 4 friends from Patzcuaro ( and a son from San Francisco ) joined us for our first Christmas dinner here in San Miguel. In Patzcuaro we usually had a full house at Christmas. There were quite a few single people who, for whatever reason, had not gone north for Christmas that joined us at our house.

I imagine that this year will be a little quieter and perhaps that is why I had actually forgotten that Christmas is almost upon us. However, today Todd brought home a big box of Walker’s shortbread from Costco and some door hooks to hang wreaths, so I think it is time to drag out the decorations and put up the tree. That should jump-start my Christmas spirit!

Merry Christmas!

Bistro Los Senderos

 

Today, being a beautiful sunny Sunday, Todd and I decided to do something different. We drove out to Los Senderos ( the trails ) and had brunch at the Bistro there. Surrounded by 300 acres of untouched rolling hills, the view was spectacular. The restaurant is mostly outside but is walled with glass and the lower end is covered, should there be inclement weather. The upper patio area is built around two giant old trees whose limbs spread wide covering the entire area with sun-dappled shade.

 

Bistro, Center Patio

 

In the back, roofed but walled with glass, is the bar which overlooks the garden. The whole restaurant area is surrounded by beautiful cactus gardens but this particular one is of the organic vegetable variety.

 

Bar in Bistro Los Senderos

 

I thought the food was wonderful, all obviously very fresh, as so much of it came from the garden right outside the restaurant. Everything is organic and what they don’t grow themselves is purchased from the same organic growers that supply the Saturday organic market at the Rosewood. Saturday Morning in San Miguel

I had an omelet stuffed with mushrooms, asparagus and brightly coloured bell peppers, topped with some mozzarella cheese and a little white daisy. All of this was couched on a bed of crisp lettuce, rainbow chard, thinly sliced rings of red onion and finely shredded carrot. A really beautiful presentation. Todd’s Eggs Florentine were also beautiful, sitting atop a bed of baby spinach, cooked so lightly as to still be bright green. This came with large slices of grilled vegetables, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary.

 

Eggs Florentine

 

Right after our food arrived the chef came to our table with another poached egg bathed in hollandaise and told us that one of Todd’s eggs had broken a little and she was afraid it might be a little overdone. Gotta like that! He said everything was perfect, but needless to say, did not turn down the proffered egg. Todd was so pleased when he saw the grilled vegetables that he ate half of them before it occurred to him to take a picture though.

 

Bistro Garden

 

The 300 acres of Los Senderos, as  the name infers, is riddled with trails. You can walk, borrow a bicycle or take a tour by horseback. The website says that even your dog is welcome, definitely true, as I noticed someone had brought their German Shepard to lunch. The equestrian area looked very nice and they even offer riding lessons. Although the horseback option is a little pricy, I will definitely do that when I get the okay from the doctor to ride again.

 

Waiting For A Trail Ride

 

Cactus Gardens Near The Restaurant

 

 

There are a lot of options here for your day in the wilderness. You can arrange a package which includes a guided tour on horseback and then a gourmet lunch at the Bistro, or they will pack you a picnic that you can take along with you or just eat at one of the patio areas around the restaurant.

 

Nice Spots For A Picnic Lunch

 

 

The weather was really perfect today, hot with a nice cool breeze, and I would have loved to have been able to do a little exploring in all that natural mountain desert. Today, however, I had to be satisfied with a walk among the gardens, which I enjoyed immensely. Every time I venture out I discover another reason why San Miguel is such a great place to live!

A Little Niggle of Fear

El Buen Fin ad from Liverpool

3 Months Interest Free!

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Rocío and she told me that this weekend was “El Buen Fin”, Mexico’s version of Black Friday in the USA. I said that I had never heard of this and she told me that this was only the second year that the sale has been in existence. “The times they are a’changin.” As I dropped Rocío off at her home I felt an odd little niggle of fear.

This morning I was reading a post by Joanna, a fellow blogger who writes Writing From Merida, and she too was talking about El Buen Fin in the Yucatán. As Joanna spoke of the throngs of humanity, credit cards at ready, in the big box stores in Merida, I again felt that little niggle of fear.

It seems to me that up until a few years ago most Mexicans had not incurred much personal debt. I admit that I have spent more time in small towns than big cities but now, even in these areas I am seeing a disquieting trend towards the use of credit. The first thing you see upon entering most stores are signs offering free interest for a given amount of time. Next you will be greeted by a smiling face flogging a credit card for that particular retail outlet.

I was gratified to hear that my friend Rocío feels much the way I do about this growing trend. She was shocked when her cousin purchased a new car and entered into a seven year term to pay it off. I told her that this was pretty much standard operating procedure in the USA and Canada, but she was quite vehement in her opinion that this was a very bad thing. She had not even been aware that such agreements existed, which again led me to believe that the average smaller town Mexican has not, until recently, become entangled in the web of debt.







It used to annoy me when the Christmas decorations started to appear too early in Vancouver. Sometimes we would even see them before Halloween. I guess I just wasn’t ready to think about Christmas yet. This year they began to surface in Costco and Wal-Mart in Querétaro and Celaya in early September. I am uncomfortable with the retail industry’s push on the Mexican people to spend spend spend. Perhaps I am over sensitive as I am a refugee of that industry, but again, I feel that little niggle of fear.

I hope that the majority of Mexicans still feel, as Rocío does, that personal debt is a frightening thing to be avoided at all costs. Sadly however, I suspect that I am hoping in vain. I love Mexico and this growing trend toward a broad use of credit worries me a little. I even see credit cards being used in the grocery stores. I would hate to see Mexico go down the same financial road that brought the USA to it’s knees.

Día de los Muertos: Past and Present

Well, the celebrations have all wound down and life has returned to normal. Of course there are still vestiges of the famous “Day of the Dead” celebrations to be seen around town, and in the cemeteries. All in all it was a very different experience for me this year. Having spent the last few years in Patzcuaro, Michoacán, where people come from all over the world to see the Day of the Dead celebrations, I was a little surprised by the rather low-key preparations being made for the big day here in San Miguel.

Certainly the ubiquitous cempasúchil, marigolds, and the rich burgundy coloured coxcomb were in evidence on every street corner in the days leading up to the celebrations. Catrinas, skeletal figurines in lavish outfits, abounded and papel picado, paper banners with designs cut out in shapes of skeletons, coffins, birds and flowers, hung above altars in most stores and homes. The mercados, markets, teemed with sugar skulls and candy animals.

Cavities Waiting To Happen

I think the difference was in the manner in which these objects and events shaped the holiday here. I know that sounds a little obscure, but there is a subtle difference between the San Miguel holiday preparations and those of Patzcuaro, that is hard to explain. In Patzcuaro as Day of the Dead nears, there is a palpable excitement in the town. There is not a vacant hotel room to be found, every restaurant is hopping, the tianguis, a huge market where people from all over Michoacán come to sell their arts and crafts, is in full swing and the plazas throng with visitors, locals and vendors.

Cempasúchil and Coxcomb, Patzcuaro

On November first, “All Saints Day”, the children who have died are mourned. On that day people who have lost children go to the cemetery to celebrate that short life and commune with the spirit of their lost child. At midnight it becomes “Day of the Dead” and the lost adults are mourned. The cemeteries fill with families and well-wishers and the spirits of lost loved ones are evoked using the smell of the cempasúchil , candles, incense, pictures and favorite belongings, food and drink of the spirits, in life.

Of course there is sadness associated with this, but also happy memories and warm feelings shared by the whole family. In some places in Patzcuaro, such as the island of Janitzio, these congregations can become quite the party.

Cemetery in Patzcuaro

Here in San Miguel the mood was entirely more sedate. I have now come to realize that simply because the people here observe the holiday in a more subdued manner, it does not mean that it is less important to them. In San Miguel the cemeteries close at sunset.  On November first those who have lost children come to the grave sites during the day and on November second, those who have lost adults attend the cemeteries. They come early in the morning and some will spend the day there. These visits here seem a little more quiet and intimate.

I was lucky enough, on November first, to be invited to a restaurant for a very different type of Day of the Dead celebration. One room was set aside for an ofrenda, an altar or offering, and we all brought pictures, candles, candy and marigolds for decoration. We had a wonderful lunch with many of the dishes prepared containing the cempasúchil petals. I had a pumpkin and marigold soup that was absolutely fabulous!

Our Altar in Restaurante El Muro

After lunch we all went to the altar and shared our stories about the pictures of our loved ones, in Spanish, of course. Some were very recent and sad, while others were happy remembrances. It was a lovely way for a group of strangers to share a special day.

Mi Papa

The picture above was my ofrenda to my father, who passed away just before I left Vancouver. However, not everything that day was so somber, as the following pictures will attest.

El Catrin

Enjoying Corn Cake with Rompope

Rompope is sort of like eggnog, but much better!

There were also some other fun events happening for Day of the Dead, like the Desfile de las Catrinas, Parade of the Catrinas. For this one day on November first, the Catrina comes to life. It began at the Rosewood Hotel, and after the costumes and makeup the Catrinas paraded through town to the Plaza Principal where they threw candy to the kids waiting there, and were then judged for best costume.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Catrina, she is a skeletal icon associated with Day of the Dead, and seen everywhere in Mexico. Below is a picture of one of my Catrinas, carved by Enedina Castillo in Tocuaro, and painted by me.







This year we had the first, and possibly the first annual, La Calaca Festival de Arte Y Cultura, The Calaca  ( '”The Skull” ) Festival of Arts and Culture. This went on from November first through fourth and offered a number of great events, including 2 concerts of Andrea Brooks playing the Earth Harp, free in the main plaza.

When all was said and done, Day of the Dead was a very different yet equally enjoyable event this year in San Miguel.

Saturday Morning in San Miguel

 

Todd and I headed out early today and had a picture perfect Saturday morning. We started at the monthly Alma sale, sort of a gigantic garage sale with the proceeds going to charity. I guess we should have been even earlier as it was so packed that I decided not to try to navigate the crowds with my walker, and we went off in search of breakfast.

There is a relatively new restaurant in town called Restaurante de Sueños, restaurant of dreams, which is conveniently located almost across the street from the Saturday Organic Market, one of our next stops. This was our first visit to this restaurant, which we found nicely decorated with some great Spanish guitar music playing in the background. They have a menu just for coffees, that made me very happy, as I am not much of a morning person and a little caffeine helps to jumpstart the day.

I followed my café con leche, espresso with steamed milk, with one of the best Eggs Benedicts that I have ever had. We were so impressed with our breakfasts that we asked to see a lunch and dinner menu. All of the entrees are named after jazz musicians, and include such delights as Thai chicken salad with peanut sauce, shrimp mousse, salmon with shallot cream sauce and raspberry chipotle meatballs. If any of these offerings are half as good as my breakfast was, I may eat my way through the entire menu.

 

Restaurante de Sueños

 

After breakfast we walked a few doors down to Natura, a sort of health food store that has organic fruits, vegetables and an assortment of items not readily available elsewhere. I bought a package of nopal (cactus), linseed and sesame tostadas, a crispy tortilla usually eaten topped with beans, meat, lettuce, cheese and salsa.

There are also a couple of refrigerators and freezers filled with organic soups, sauces, dips, that are made on the premises, and free range chicken, among other things. A back room is filled with baking supplies rarely seen here in México. There are numerous flours, such as dark rye, spelt, oat, buckwheat, and even some that are gluten free. I even saw oat and buckwheat groats! They also carry some grain cereals that you won’t find in Soriana or WalMart, as well as some natural skincare products.

 

Natura

 

Our next stop was the Organic Market, held every Saturday in the lovely grounds of the Artesana Rosewood. First, though, we had to stop to let the circus pass.

 

Just Passing Through…

 

 

You could also have breakfast or lunch at the Organic Market, if you were feeling so inclined, as there is always something wonderful cooking at the hot food tables.

 

Hand Made Organic Tortillas and Gorditas

 

First I had a nice chat with the young lady manning the plants and herbs table. My herbs have not been healthy lately and she gave me some much needed advise. After a trip to Home Depot to purchase some better potting soil, I will buy more herb plants from her next week and try again.

 

 

Next I bought mandarin oranges. The first of the season! Then right next to the oranges I spied something very odd. It looked like one of the round zucchinis that you see here, but it was covered in hard spines! When I asked the lady selling the vegetables what it was, she told me it was a cucumber. I must have looked skeptical because she cut one open for me and gave me a slice to taste. Sure enough, it was a cucumber, although it had a more yellow colour than usual and it tasted slightly fruity. It was great and I bought a few of them.

 

It’s a cucumber, honest

 

Then I was off to the cheese section where I treated myself to a small piece of a cheese that tastes quite a bit like sharp cheddar, but has a vein of port wine running all the way through.

 

 

Across from the cheeses we found French quiche. I know it’s French because the lady who makes it is from Paris. She also makes fabulous fruit tarts.There is jewelry, wool crafts and woven baskets, although I’m not really sure where those fit into the organic theme, but they are lovely.

 

Skincare and Medicinal Products Made From Cactus

 

The honey here is marvelous, and of course it is preservative-free. They also sell bee pollen and a number of other bee-related products. There are hair and skincare products made from a cactus, a number of products created with lavender and a natural skincare line for anti-aging that even has mosquito repellent. You can find a number of scrumptious baked goods and one group of bakers sells incredible artisanal breads.

 

 

One local company crafts fruit juices, preserves and liqueurs, while yet another sells fish that they will deliver to your home seven days a week. If you need something to go with your fish, there is fresh asparagus, wonderful mixed greens, tiny potatoes, giant fennel bulbs and purple carrots. Then on your way out you can stop and pick up organic coffee beans, grown in Chiapas or Oaxaca and roasted in San Miguel, to finish off your meal.

 

 

After the market we stopped at a tiny clock shop in Colonia Mexiquito, where Todd was having his watch band adjusted. We had a pleasant visit with the charming elderly shop keeper and his daughter, stopped to visit a friend in Colonia San Antonio, who had just returned from Zacatecas and then home for a quiet afternoon in the garden.

Life is good!