Death in sugar

After a day in Metepec we headed to Toluca where we could check out the market for decoration for Day of the Dead ofrendas, or altars.



All sorts of things in all sorts of materials were on offer, from paper to chocolate to marzipan to sugar paste to nuts and seeds and plastic. Here's a slice of pictures--I see we focused on the sweet stuff:















There was a little skeleton figure for just about any profession: athletes, surgeons, engineers, obstetricians, pole dancers...









This baker sells the traditional holiday loaf for Day of the Dead:



Butchers--we thought the pig head was a bit of of comedy, but saw plenty of them in butchers' stalls in days to come:



In the zocalo, or town square, lots of people were dressed up in costumes, including a bag lady:

Metepec

Our little group, led by Rick Hall, La Clandestina DF, spent most of a day in Metepec, southwest of Mexico City. Rick knows many of Mexico's finest artists personally and they welcomed him and us into their homes and workshops with heartwarming grace--and lunch! In Metepec we visited Tiburcio Soteno and his family, creators of ceramic "trees of life." These sculptures have left any strict tree shape behind them with over-the-top imagination.

I can't find a truly a good image of Tiburcio's work even online, or one that brings forward all there is to discover in the work. You have to be able to lean in and absorb all the details in person, from all sides. Here's one of his simpler creations in the kiln; it's maybe four feet tall, with a Nativity at the bottom and God and the earth above, and legions of angels:



Someone gave similar attention to decorating the chimney of the kiln, and even the walls around it:

In the Soteno shop were all sorts of other pieces. I particularly liked these two chalices, hell and heaven:





Was this a special commission to recreate Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, or a ceramicist just going for it?



This time of year in Mexico, Catrina figures of all sorts are everywhere. In an exhibit in Metepec we liked this fairly traditional one:



And found this one taking the form in a new direction:



More market time in Metepec!



I love the cheek-by-jowlness of all the things on offer:





Chicharron!







We feasted on some green and red chorizos in excellent tacos:



Those are french fries in the middle of this range:



And yes, they go on the tacos, yum!



I think US markets have underestimated the design potential of wheelbarrows for displaying goods:









And back home, this wheelbarrow on would be on its way to the dump, but here it's just on break:



Our group made off with our fair share of bottles from the shop of this liqueur maker. In his workroom, aguardiente flavored with various local herbs runs through these filters, cotton or nylon, I think, that come to look like wool with enough use:





A watchdog kept an eye on us:



A last wave for now to Metepec:

Organic farms in Mexico City?

Organic farm-to-table is making inroads into Mexico City. We spent some time in Xochimilco, an area of the city that was a lake in bygone times. The Aztecs created artificial islands, called chinampas, for farming with the rich mud of the lake bottom. The lake and most of the chinampas, as I understand it, are gone, and most of the remaining canals are used for recreation, but for this day we met with a man named Ricardo who is working to support organic farming there and supply the crops directly to restaurants and people in the city.

Ricardo awaits us on our little boat, Princesita:



These cheerful rafts, propelled by long poles pushed into the mud of the canals, put you in good mood right away. They generally take tourists, Mexicans as much as foreigners, out for a few hours with an onboard meal.














You can even pick up a band from one of the roving band-boats that can come alongside; as the music progresses, more and more musicians come over onto your boat from theirs:



We went ashore at one of the farms Ricardo works with:





The farmer showed how they collect mud from the lake bottom:





They sew seeds in plugs in the freshly amended soil, then transplant to their fields:







The soil is so fertile and the climate so good that they can grow a huge variety and harvest some crops as much as seven times a year. All this inside a city of 9 million people.



Harlan had a bit of fun with his fish-eye lens, too: