Chocolate Art and Crafts in Philadelphia

Chocolate Art and Crafts owner Eva Hernández (right) with her sister Perla (left) and Raíces Culturales Co-Founder Yolanda Alcorta

 

One of the gems of the increasingly diverse Latino community in Philadelphia is the crafts store in the Italian Market in South Philadelphia called "Chocolate Art and Crafts." Its owner, Eva Hernández, dedicates herself to using crafts to show positive images of her home country of Mexico. Raíces Culturales Co-Founder Yolanda Alcorta visited the store in 2019 and found in Eva a willing collaborator in Raíces programming. Fortunately, Eva's store survived the pandemic and along with her sister Perla, will also collaborate with Raíces in a program on Sunday, October 24 dedicated to chocolate and its origins, along with the local organization Penn's Village. Check the Raíces website www.raicesculturales.org for details as the date approaches!

Some of the many treasures available at Chocolate Art and Crafts

A Visit to Riviera Maya in Mexico

A scene from Secrets Silversands Riviera Cancun

We couldn't believe our good fortune! My wife and I won three free nights in an all-inclusive at Secrets Silversands Riviera Cancun on the Riviera Maya, in a contest sponsored by the Travel and Adventure Show in Philadelphia in March 2016. We selected November as the time to go, late enough to avoid most of hurricane season and the increased rain, but before the airfares would go up around Thanksgiving.

A few quick facts about the area: Riviera Maya is a more recently developed resort area to the south of Cancun, which stretches to Playa del Carmen and the park X-Caret, and further south to the ruins of Tulum. You would still fly into Cancun International Airport and pay for a shuttle to take you to your hotel. As there is no other significant development in the area aside from the beachfront hotels or the town of Playa del Carmen, the only practical ways to access Cancun or other parts of the region from a Riviera Maya resort are via taxi or a guided tour.

Our having only three nights meant that we decided not to go to Chichén Itzá, Tulum, or any other long guided tour, so as to be able to make the most out of our all-inclusive resort. The staff at Secrets Silversands Riviera Cancun is exceptionally friendly and helpful, and the food nothing short of spectacular.

We realized when we arrived that the temperature of the pool and the sea in general was colder than we had envisioned. It may have been due to the time of year, which featured some cool breezes, or it also could have had to do with the area's latitude. It is farther north in the Caribbean region than Punta Cana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico or the islands of the Lesser Antilles (such as St. Martin). People who have gone to Cancun and Riviera Maya at different times of the year may have had different experiences than ours.

The beach immediately adjacent to the resort was convenient for having drinks delivered to you, and ideal for sunning./We noticed that the water was full of seaweed and not quite as appealing, which led us to look for another beach to visit. Our first thought was a place called Playa Maroma in between our resort and Playa del Carmen. Playa Maroma has beautiful, powdery sand, but the same issues with the water existed, making it more appealing for water sports or swimming with dolphins in a pool next to the beach than simply going into the sea to swim.

We quickly left Playa Maroma and headed via taxi and ferry to Isla Mujeres, where we spent an afternoon. There we found the beach we were looking for: beautiful, with calm waters ideal for floating or swimming, but it wasn't the famed Playa Norte that is talked about so much. The beach we found is a three-block walk from the ferry terminal and is called Playa Centro. I noticed that the beach at Playa Centro was wider than Playa Norte and the water was calmer, at least where I could observe. Playa Norte is good if you book a hotel on that beach and can just take a few steps from your room to go into the water, but for our purposes Playa Centro was ideal.

Playa Centro, one of the beaches on Isla Mujeres

Obviously, if we had had more time we would have explored more of the area, but for a short, relaxing vacation, we were more than satisfied with our experience. Our goal is to return for a longer stay and visit the ruins and other attractions there.

My son David's wedding in Mazatlán, Mexico (2013)

Our family had the unique opportunity of participating in a "destination wedding" in December 2013 when our son David and his wife Wendy, who live in the Philadelphia area, decided to have a Catholic ceremony in Mazatlán, Mexico, a seaside resort to the north of Puerto Vallarta. Wendy is a native of Culiacán, a few hours' drive from Mazatlán. 

We were delighted to be able to meet Wendy's extended family and friends and enjoy the surroundings. There was time especially for us men, who were not involved in the planning, to relax at the resort. At that time of year, Mazatlán has a wonderful climate: warm but dry, in contrast to its very hot summers. The water temperature in December is a little cold, but the resort where we stayed, El Cid Marina, had a heated pool. The resort is popular with Americans, Canadians, and Europeans as well, and some retirees call it home at least part of the year, so you will most likely run into English speakers. The beach area is filled with modern hotels, as can be expected, but there are parts of the city that do not look Americanized at all, so you can experience the best of both worlds.

The night before the wedding, Wendy's family invited us to the restaurant "Pedro y Lola" which faces the city's plaza. As it was during Christmas season, the plaza was abuzz with activity and adorned with plenty of lights. Musicians came to our table to play both Latin and American favorites. Mazatlán is well known for its seafood and we had plenty of opportunities to sample it during our stay: a breaded fillet that I ate at Pedro y Lola, shellfish, ceviche, and fish tacos, to name a few. 

Pedro & Lola Restaurant facing the plaza in Mazatlán

After our enjoyable evening, we eagerly anticipated the following day's wedding ceremony. The church where the Catholic ceremony was called San Judas Tadeo (St. Jude Thaddeus) and was a great place to start our day. The church faces a small plaza with plenty of trees. David and Wendy looked great, her family and friends were obviously enthusiastic, and the church had a nice floral arrangement in front of the altar and a large picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the wall to the left of the crucifix.

David and Wendy at their church ceremony

Mexican law requires a civil ceremony in addition to the religious ceremony, so when we went to the Hotel Emporio, the location of both the ceremony and the reception afterwards, we saw that a nice kiosk was set up near the beach for the civil ceremony. At about the same time, there was an outdoor reception on a second-floor patio at another part of the hotel, and I heard the Luis Miguel song "Delirio" playing, which was a perfect complement to the pretty beachside setting. After the ceremony, there were lots of pictures taken on the beach by the photographers hired for the occasion as the sun was beginning to set.

The happy couple poses with their parents

The reception, which was held in a room on the first floor, opened up to a spectacular evening view of the sea while we enjoyed the food and drink, with a mariachi band to start with, followed by a dance band featuring a nice mix of Latin music.

Pictures on the beach

The day after, we were invited to a nearby, picturesque town called El Quelite, a name derived from the Nahuatl language that refers to a class of edible plants common to Mexico. At El Quelite we ate lunch at a popular restaurant called "El Mesón de los Laureanos." The word Mesón refers to a type of restaurant with a traditional look, while Laureano is a family name. After we finished, but before returning to Mazatlán, we were able to stop into the church across the street to view their beautiful Nativity scene.

The Nativity scene in the church at El Quelite

With a little free time, I walked through downtown Mazatlán to see the historic buildings. It was December 31, which happened to be the date that new mayors in Mexico are sworn in. When I arrived at the plaza, a party celebrating the inauguration of the city's new mayor took place. The mayor understandably had bodyguards, but the festivities were open to the public and I had the chance to sip some punch and listen to a band playing for the occasion.

As we were flying out early the next day, our New Year's Eve celebrations were focused on having dinner at the hotel. (There was a New Year's Eve party at the hotel that we could have attended, but we thought it pricey.) For us, it was the perfect way to cap off an experience that remains etched in our memory. I would definitely enjoy going back to Mazatlán if the occasion presented itself.

Learning and re-learning Spanish

It's no secret that, with 21 countries that count Spanish as their official language, there would be differences between these countries regarding which words mean what. Take the Ferris wheel, for example. In Spain the word is "noria," but in Colombia it's called the "rueda de Chicago" (literally, "Chicago wheel") probably because the first Ferris wheel was exhibited in Chicago in 1893 (see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel). By the way, the "noria" in the picture was taken at the April Fair (Feria de Abril) in Seville.

When I first studied Spanish in high school I learned that the word for socks was "calcetines" and the word for women's stockings was "medias," but when I got to Mexico the word "medias" was used for both, as it was in Colombia. I didn't get to Spain until 2006, and while conversing with a Spaniard on the return flight to Philadelphia, I used the word "medias" to mean socks, and he corrected me, bringing back that word "calcetines" that I hadn't heard since high school.

I found that people in Spain were not fond of Anglicized Spanish words or English words mixed in with Spanish. Another Spaniard I met corrected my use of "ok" in a sentence, something that I found common in other places I visited. They would probably cringe if I used the word "lonchar" for "eat lunch" instead of "almorzar", or "checar" or "chequear" to mean to check or review instead of "revisar." However, the Spaniards are not free of English or Anglicized words in their Spanish either. The word for "ticket" can be "boleto" or "tiquete," but in Spain you hear it called "el ticket." While in a restaurant in Seville I found that the waitresses were confused when I asked for "salsa de tomate," which is used in Colombia to mean ketchup, but they understood perfectly when I used the word "ketchup." I thought it was funny because not too long before that, there was a popular song called "Aserejé" sung by a Spanish female singing group called "Las Ketchup"! For more information on "Aserejé" or "The Ketchup Song, " see the article in Wikipedia. 

For tips on languages, see my webpage on language learning.

Philadelphia: Mexican group at the International Village Fair, 1987

An incredible event took place in Philadelphia in July 1987 called the "International Village Fair," which commemorated the 200th anniversary of the US constitution. It took place in the vicinity of Independence Hall, where the National Constitution Center and the Independence Hall Visitor's Center (both of which hadn't been built) now stand. Each day featured performances representing different parts of the world, though there were stands representing the whole world throughout the week, and a commemorative booklet was issued. This event was well-organized, showed evidence of ample funding, and featured a lot of talent brought in from outside the city, such as the Mexican Veracruz trio in the picture. The roof you see in the picture was temporary and came in handy when the rain came down later in the day. I only had one criticism of the event: it came and went without any follow-up activities in what I consider the ongoing task of sharing other cultures.

Visit my webpage on Latinos in the United States.

Mexico: Visit to Popocatepetl, 1979

About midway between Mexico City and Puebla stand the twin volcanoes Ixtaccihuatl and Popocatepetl. Both of them are visible on a clear day looking east from Mexico City. We had an unexpected opportunity to visit that area shortly into our semester in Mexico.

One of our roommates had a car and offered to take us there. We piled into the car and drove due east from the capital. We took an expressway out of the city and then pulled off at a town called Cuautla. We went a little further and stopped at the town of Amecameca. This town was one of the first small Mexican towns I had seen, with its plaza and church, and one thing I liked a lot - slices of fresh coconut for sale. We took some time to walk into the church and look around, and as we were walking out, one boy looked at the other and said in Spanish as we were walking by, "They're gringos," which for some reason made me crack up.

Further along we went up along the winding mountain road until we reached a lodge close to the summit of Popocatepetl, where there were plenty of tourists. What I liked about the area was that you could walk around and find some little piles of snow on the ground. The top of the volcano was so close that it looked like you could take a stroll there, but we saw a group of mountain climbers returning from the summit in their full gear, reminding us that the climb was not as easy as it looked. In any case the view was spectacular.

Visit my webpage on Mexico at http://www.latinandcaribbeantravel.com/mexico.html

Other websites:

Caribbean Folk Arts Network (Caribfolk) - Caribbean cultural network: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caribfolk/

Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas (Latin American Cultural Roots) - a nonprofit organization I founded in 1991 that presents Latin American cultural shows, exhibits, and workshops: http://www.raicesculturales.org/

Raicesnews - Latin cultural events in the Philadelphia area: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/raicesnews

Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, two giants of Mexican cinema

The two biggest icons of Mexican cinema, Pedro Infante (left) and Jorge Negrete (right), have both been dead for 50-plus years. Yet any discussion of Mexican cinema invariably gets into a disagreement regarding the merits of one versus the other. Why is this so?

One reason is that both of these screen stars have left their mark on Mexican popular culture and popularized the image of the charro or Mexican cowboy. It may also have to do with the fact that both died young and while still popular with the public. In fact, for many, Pedro Infante's tragic death in a plane crash in 1957, at the age of 39, signified the end of the golden era of Mexican cinema and the quality of Mexican film overall began to decline from that point on.

Another reason for the lively discussion is that both stars were good actors, had good singing voices and starred in many successful films. Pedro's immense popularity with the public is something that even Mexican film critics do not completely comprehend, except that the Mexican people identify with him strongly, especially as he came from a working-class background. It's undeniable that Pedro had enormous charisma and an extremely likable screen presence that elevated the quality of any film he starred in. His voice was as smooth as velvet and his popularity with the ladies undeniable. He had a wide range of acting ability and was also a daredevil, having a strong interest in motorcycles and airplanes. In fact he was in two plane crashes years before the third one took his life. One of his frequent co-stars, Blanca Estela Pavon, also died in a plane crash at the tender age of 23.

Jorge Negrete, with his powerful operatic voice, achieved stardom a few years before Infante became popular. His first film, "La Madrina del Diablo" (The Devil's Godmother), was released in 1937, but he really catapulted into the spotlight with his starring role in "Ay Jalisco, No Te Rajes!" (Jalisco, don't back down) in 1941. There were earlier films featuring the Mexican charro, but this one caught fire internationally and was in a large way responsible for the association of Mexican culture with mariachi music. (Though Infante first had starring roles in 1942, his first really successful role was in "Nosotros Los Pobres" or "We the Poor" in 1947.)

Taking advantage of the popularity of both stars, the film "Dos Tipos de Cuidado" ("Two Guys to Watch Out For"), was released in 1952 and is considered the best Mexican charro movie of all time. The director, Ismael Rodriguez, took great care in balancing the singing and acting strengths of both stars and succeeded marvelously. (The above photo is taken from the movie.) The success of the film spearheaded a two-week run of concerts in Mexico featuring both stars. It was an opportunity that was seized at just the right moment, for Negrete, already in declining health due to his hepatitis C infection, would die at the end of 1953. Infante, as a tribute to his friend, rode with the Mexican motorcycle patrol at Negrete's funeral.

See my previous blog entry on Jorge Negrete at http://latin-caribbean-travelblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/mexico-jorge-negrete-el-charro-cantor.html

Other websites:

Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas (Latin American Cultural Roots) - a nonprofit organization I founded in 1991 that presents Latin American cultural shows, exhibits, and workshops: http://www.raicesculturales.org/

Mexico: Pyramids at Teotihuacán, 1979

One of the biggest attractions of a visit to Mexico City is a trip to the pyramids that are located outside of the city at a place known as Teotihuacán. This location was not an Aztec site; the people in this area had abandoned the area centuries before the Spaniards arrived.

This was one of the trips that the school sponsored. As was explained to us, the pyramids, the ballcourts and other buildings in the area had religious significance, and those living in this area were of the priestly class. The two main structures are the Pyramid of the Sun and the Moon. Both are in the distance in the picture, the Pyramid of the Moon being farthest away. The Pyramid of the Sun is larger, though not as steep as the Pyramid of the Moon, and was a favorite spot for tourists and vendors.

I was familiar with the custom of negotiating a price for an item. I was shown a piece carved out of the black stone called obsidian, and as I was halfhearted about buying it, I was more successful in bringing the price down than if I had expressed a lot of interest.

After we were directed around most of the site and I saw that time was short, I practically sprinted to the Pyramid of the Moon to climb it as well before the bus was scheduled to leave.

Visit my webpage on Mexico at http://www.latinandcaribbeantravel.com/mexico.html


Other websites:

Caribbean Folk Arts Network (Caribfolk) - Caribbean cultural network: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caribfolk/

Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas (Latin American Cultural Roots) - a nonprofit organization I founded in 1991 that presents Latin American cultural shows, exhibits, and workshops: http://www.raicesculturales.org/

Raicesnews - Latin cultural events in the Philadelphia area: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/raicesnews

Mexico: On the heels of the Pope in Puebla, 1979

I had just arrived in Mexico City in mid-January 1979, the first time I had left the United States. I had studied Spanish for 5-1/2 years total but could barely speak it. The International Department at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City offered a series of day trips for us foreign students during the semester, and the first one that I recall was to Puebla. Shortly before, I had heard a radio broadcast in Spanish of Pope John Paul II's arrival in Mexico City and all I recall understanding were the words "The Pope" in Spanish: "El Papa....El Papa....El Papa...." and so on.

The school's trip took place roughly around the same time as the Pope's visit. I was taking in everything I saw. The signs for the toll road from Mexico City to Puebla had the words "Cuota" (meaning toll) on them. The road passed close to the twin volcanoes Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl, which were about midway between Mexico City and Puebla. By the time we got to the downtown of Puebla, we noticed that it resembled a typical Mexican town much more than the bustling capital did.

My mind is foggy regarding the sequence of events, but among them were visiting Puebla's cathedral (pictured on the right) and its magnificent golden interior, eating at an outdoor cafe, observing the activity in the public square, walking down a few side streets, and seeing a blind man who was by the street playing guitar and hoping to get some coins from the bystanders.

See my webpage on Mexico at http://www.latinandcaribbeantravel.com/mexico.html

Mexico: Jorge Negrete, "El Charro Cantor"

Mexico had a "Golden Age" of cinema that reached its highest expression in the 40s and the 50s. One of the best-known of its stars was Jorge Negrete, who epitomized the image of the "charro cantor," or Mexican singing cowboy, and was the first mariachi star to achieve lasting international fame. He had a voice that could be categorized as a tenor who could sing with depth and power, or a baritone who could reach high notes and still retain a rich vocal quality. His life came to an untimely end in 1953 at the age of 42, when he succumbed to liver disease, which started with a hepatitis C infection in New York years earlier and eventually resurfaced.

There are plenty of blogs and websites that relate information about Negrete, so I won't try to repeat what is shared there, but there are a lot of anecdotes about his life that aren't necessarily written down anywhere, or if they are, they're not in the most obvious places. Of course, a lot of the information is written in Spanish and not translated, so some of what I write will be things that I don't believe are translated anywhere. In between my blogs of travels I'll add some information about Negrete and other actors/singers of that era, and hint at what value they have for those interested in Latin America and its culture.

The photo is from a website in Spanish not only about Negrete, but also about his daughter Diana and grandsons Rafael and Lorenzo, all of whom sing and through their song promote his legacy while at the same time pursue their own creative paths. When they sing together, they are known as "La Dinastia Negrete" (The Negrete Dynasty). The website is http://www.geocities.com/homenaje_jorgenegrete/ and has links to similar sites (a few are inactive), including an excellent site on Mexican cinema, http://cinemexicano.mty.itesm.mx.

If you search on Jorge Negrete on YouTube, you can find several posts with his songs and/or interesting footage.

Mexico: Vacation caused by an earthquake, 1979

My very first trip overseas was to Mexico City in 1979 in my junior year in college. I was into the semester for two months and one morning at 5:15 I was awakened with a sense that the room was rocking back and forth. We all went to the doorway, which is supposedly the safest place to be during the earthquake. The building rocked for about 30 seconds and then stopped. There was no major damage to the house but the electricity went out. About 15 minutes later some of our classmates stopped by our house and told us that something had happened to the university. We walked there with them and saw that much of the university's buildings had collapsed. Luckily, there were no casualties.

The immediate result was that there were no classes for a week, and as there was no electricity and later no running water in the house, we decided that the best plan was to leave the city and take advantage of the time off. We took a bus to Acapulco (a six-hour ride) and spent three days there. One of our Mexican roommates was from Acapulco and his father owned a small guest house near the beach. They gave us a 60% discount on our rooms! They also had a nice pool, and I remember being really amused because there was a TV on near the pool and they were showing the TV show "Fantasy Island" with Ricardo Montalban's voice dubbed in Spanish!

Our next stop was up the coast to Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa. Both of these destinations have enclosed bays and great swimming. I haven't been back, so I imagine that these sites look completely different now (Ixtapa at the time was only a strip of hotels). One event in particular still jumps out at me. While walking down one of the streets in Zihuatanejo, we saw two American tourists, a mother and her son (about 10 years old at the time?) trying to hire a taxi. The kid said to his mother that the taxi was supposed to have two drivers (why I have absolutely no idea), and the mother then said to the taxi driver, "Dos drivers." It makes me laugh not only because the woman expected the driver to understand what she meant, but also because on my next trip overseas, this time to Bogota, Colombia in 1980, we were told never to go into a taxi with two people in it, that it most likely had an extra person in it to rob the unwary passenger.



During the overnight bus trip back to Mexico City, I woke up to see the two volcanoes, Ixtaccihuatl and Popocatepetl, as the sun was coming up. There were clouds that looked like spirals and because of the sunrise the sky was red, pink and a host of other colors. It looked like a scene from some remote Shangri-La paradise. It was a shame I didn't have a camera because it was one of the most incredible sights I've ever seen.