The World Will Not End

According to the Mayan calendar, today, December 21, 2012 is to be the end of the world.  The Mayan calendar is cyclical and one major cycle that started in 3113 B.C. will end today.  There will be a sudden reversal in the earth's magnetic field which will cause the the sun to no longer send its life forces this way, and the result will be the final last age of man.

This morning people in our community of the Raquet Club gathered before dawn to acknowledge the last day of this cycle of the Mayan Calendar.

The couple above are our next door neighbours, with their offering of nuts to represent the earth.

At the critical points of North, East, South and West we paid homage to the important elements of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water.

Mexicans from the nearby village represented Mayans and performed the ritual dances and ceremony.  

With the rising of the sun a new era was welcomed.

  

  

Festival de Virgin de Guadalupe

Beginning Dec 1st and culminating on Dec 12th, Mexicans hold their most important religious celebration in honour of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  Here is the background to this event:

Our Lady of Guadalupe is Mexico’s most popular religious and cultural image and also holds the titles Empress of the Americas and Patroness of the Americas.  Two accounts published in the 1640’s published in Spanish and Nahuatl, tell how during his walk from his home village to Mexico City early in the morning of December 9th, 1531 the peasant, Juan Diego, saw a vision of a young girl 15 or 16 years of age surrounded by light on the slope of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor and from her words Juan Diego recognized her as the Virgin Mary.  Diego told his story to the Spanish bishop, who asked the peasant to return to the Lady and ask for some miraculous sign to prove her claim.  The Virigin told Diego to gather some flowers from the top of the Hill of Tepayac. It was winter and no flowers bloomed but Diego found flowers of every sort, and the Virgin herself arranged them in his peasant cloak. When Diego opened the door in front of the bishop on December 12^th, the flowers fell to the floor, and in their place was the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously imprinted on the fabric.

The entire country of Mexico honours Guadalupe during this time to thank her for the successes of the past and to remind her of their hopes for the future. The celebrations centre around the church, and on each day different groups (businesses, organizations or neighbourhoods) participate in the pilgrimages to pay homage to the Virgin of Guadalupe.  They also shoot off rockets about 5 am each day, sometimes during the day, and then again in the evening.  They are louder than firecrackers, but no lights or colours - just noise!  

All of the towns and villages near us have been decorated with altars to this patron saint.  They are large and small, in front of homes and businesses, in the plazas and along the highway.  However, we have been told that of all the towns along Lake Chapala, San Juan Cosalá (the village closest to our home), celebrates the Virgin of Guadalupe the most.  We had to go see for ourselves - especially after the daily rocket reminders - we wanted to witness the finale.  

The streets of San Juan Cosalá, affectionately called 'The Village' by our community on the hill

Alters to the Virgin of Guadalupe

The parade was the focal point of the evening

But the children dressed in traditional costumes were the best

Following the parade, the crowd gathered at the plaza for more festivities

Moving Mishaps

Every move has its risks - that's why it's important to prepare a clear, detailed list of all items going into those boxes that go into the container, including a description and replacement cost.  In this move we did have a few claims once we had unpacked and inspected all contents.  There were some rub mark on the back of our leather couch and mahogany tables, some broken ceramics, and a few other minor damages - all typical and not unexpected in such a move.  However, the surprise was the disintegration of some of my shoes!  It seems that some of them literally fell apart under the stress of summer heat inside the container on its long voyage.

After finding a couple of pairs where the glue or rubber had fallen apart, I inspected this pair before wearing them to church last Sunday.  I was happy they were in good shape because I really like them.  However, during the meetings I felt them give way under my feet.  How can I explain to the moving company that the replacement cost requires a trip down memory lane in Buenos Aires?  

Quinta Ames

When we lived in Venezuela we were always amazed that the streets weren't organized by a numbering system.  Each house was named and that name displayed out front, usually on a tile plaque.  Our driver, Daniel, would drive up and down the street looking for the house by its name.  It always seemed like such an inefficient system (or non-system) but we got used to it, and when leaving Venezuela we decided to have a tile name plate made to take back to Calgary.  One day I told Daniel that we were trying to decide what to call our house.  He seemed so puzzled that I didn't know our house name and that we used numbers instead.  Then he surprised me even more with the question, "then how do you find your way around?".

Once again I was reminded that life is all a matter of perspective and mine isn't the only one.  Since that time, a "Quinta Ames" tile plaque has proudly displayed the location of each of our homes.  Today Brian hung the sign to indicate that we are officially here.

As we've been meeting many new people here, we've learned that a common practice is to exchange cards with contact information.  It's a nice practice that prevents writing a phone number on the back of a napkin and then throwing it away or losing it.  So here is another indicator of our residency.  

Tropical Fruit Cake

The Christmas cake did turn out and it is surprisingly good.  Little did I realize that finding the fruit wasn't going to be the only challenge though.  My oven is regulated in Celsius not Fahrenheit but thanks to online metric converter tables and oven thermometers that was not too difficult to manage.  The tricky part was lighting the pilot light in the gas oven.  Brian was away, so after following his telephone instructions and having no luck, and not giving up on the pans neatly lined with paper and filled with fruit batter, I finally called my neighbour to help.  On the top of the stove elements there is a glass plate that normally lays down flat when the stove is not in use.  I didn't realize that it also has to be raised up for the oven to work!  Who would have known.

After all of the modifications I've had to make in various countries, I've come to the conclusion that this recipe hardly matters.  Just add whatever fruit you can in whatever form you can find it and cook it until it feels done.  Then enjoy, which I did yesterday when I invited my next door neighbour, Maria Elena, over to see our house, and to taste the results of our trip together to Abastos market in Guadalajara.