David Santos Alonso massaged the clay flower pot as stinging smoke skulked from the wooden cooking area. Inside the kitchen, his wife Maria Lydia prepared tortillas on a comal over a brick fogon next to a pot of water. Cocuchas — tall clay jars crafed in the Michoacan town of Cocucho — rose from the concrete floor and opened into sensuous […]
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Saulo Moreno Hernandez is a 71 year old sagacious, self-effacing artist from Tlapujahua, in the state of Michoacan. One of his works is featured in the Americas Gallery of the British Museum in London. One of his early ‘calaveritas’, which are imaginative statues of skeletons depicted as alive and in various poses and garb, was bought by […]
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Martha López Luna gripped a fragment of hummingbird feather with tweezers and placed it delicately on her painting of the Isla de Janitzio rising over the lake. Pondering her arte plumaria — feather art — painting for a moment, she removed a small puff of raw umber feather from a jar and split the piece into tiny […]
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To Part One: Pulque and the people of Mexico If pulque can create such positive results in all of our daily lives, why is it in danger of extinction? What happened to pulque? It appears to be the victim of “classism,” which can be defined as “the systematic oppression of subordinated class groups to advantage and […]
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An endless number of approaches to familiar motifs show themselves throughout the town. A trogon, its cherry red neck gleaming against a body of emerald green, crawls up the side of a picture frame, followed by a chattering monkey. Mickey Mouse, decked out in a blue jacket and red trousers, offers a rose to a […]
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Blue can be compelling as the neon flash of a bird’s wing, or quiet as a cloud, but it is never unnerving, always drawing the viewer to relax and witness its timeless grace. In music, blues are associated with longing, unfortunate choices, and heartbreak. Fortunately, the color blue often alludes to much more positive things […]
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The next time you find yourself in a tropical or subtropical zone, take a closer look at some of the large and lovely foliage. One of the most delightful surprises of any tropical vacation is recognizing familiar faces in new surroundings. When it comes to the familiar “faces” of your houseplants, you may do a […]
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Three beautiful options for your tropical garden in Mexico are the acalypha, anthurium and sago palm. Family: Euphorbiaceae Alternate Names: Beefsteak Plant, Red Hot Cat’s Tail, Fire Dragon Plant, Copper Leaf Use: This is an eye-catching hedge or background plant, including the A. hispida (photograph) and the A. wilkesiana, a tall shrub with variegated leaves related to the poinsettia. The copper leaf […]
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Three beautiful options for your tropical garden in Mexico are the allamanda, tulipan and zamia. Family: Apocynaceae Alternate Names: Golden Trumpet, Bush Allamanda Use: The allamanda is grown as an informal fence in tropical climates, and as a houseplant elsewhere. It is excellent for use in planter boxes, especially when used with other brightly colored flowers for contrast. […]
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Three beautiful options for your tropical garden in Mexico are the triangle palm, yucca and thunbergia. Family: Arecaceae Alternate Names: Neodypsis decari Use: Bold and formal, this fast growing palm makes an excellent accent plant in open space. Its three planed leaf base provides the name, for the leaves emerge from a triangular formation. The leaves are a […]
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