Puebla’s Tunnels Will Open Soon to Public

From Mexico News Daily, "Five months after the discovery of ancient tunnels beneath the city of Puebla, the centuries-old passageways are being opened as part of the Secretos de Puebla, or Secrets of Puebla, project.

Believed to be as many as 500 years old, the tunnels were originally constructed within the foundations of the city, possibly to provide underground passage between monasteries, or to function as a drainage system.

The tunnels are also rumored to have aided Mexican soldiers in their celebrated fight against French troops, which they won on May 5, 1862.

Located in Puebla’s historical center as well as on the fringe of the area known as Las Fuertes, the tunnels reach seven meters in height and 3.5 meters in width and extend for an estimated total of 10 kilometers in length.

The president of the State School of Civil Engineers, Ricardo Olea Ayala, believes that the tunnels were used as secret passageways between a network of monasteries, including Santo Domingo, San Agustín, La Merced and San Javier.

Sergio Vergara Bermejo, manager of the Historical and Heritage Center of Puebla, remarked that the discovery of Puebla’s tunnel network was the confirmation of a popular urban legend. He said, “We talked of the tunnels of Puebla, but nobody had seen them.”

Specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History will assist in the recovery of the remaining tunnels, but on February 17 the first recovered sections will be opened to the public. Secretos de Puebla will introduce about 2.5 kilometers of uncovered tunnels in addition to its other catalogued historical sites, including the Puente Bubos.

They are calling on visitors to create videos to recount their personal experience with the tunnels, stories of which have been passed down through generations.

Total restoration of the subterranean passageways, whose existence was confirmed last September, is expected to take 10 years.

Sources: El Economista (sp), Puebla Capital (sp), Union Puebla (sp)

Peso Hits New Low of 18.8 Against Dollar

Mexico News Daily | Thursday, January 21, 2016

The Mexican peso dropped to a new record low against the dollar yesterday and did the same again today.

The peso slid to 18.8 to the dollar today after dropping to 18.71 yesterday.

Some banks were selling the U.S. currency for more than 19 pesos today.

The peso has lost nearly 8% in the past three weeks. Last year it dropped by nearly 17% against the dollar.

Finance Secretary Luis Videgaray told El Financiero during an interview today that the peso is “clearly undervalued” and that its decline in value is the result of overreaction by the market.

But when markets calm down, he said, the peso will regain strength.

Ongoing dollar auctions to support the currency will continue, said the Finance Secretary, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, but there will be no further budget cuts.

He said there was “definitely” no risk of a financial crisis.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel

A reviewer on TripAdvisor said, "You could spend an entire day just sitting at the Parroguia and watching. It is like a movie...people walking, people singing, burros with tequila, weddings, classes, dances, food carts, merchants, and oh the bells...the bells. I spent an entire day watching the Christmas tree bring built-it was amazing. AND oh the church. SMA I love you.

Friends of ours, Richard and Jerry, recently visited our city and we captured these images at the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel.

San Miguel de Allende - City of Culture, Cool and Progress

San Miguel de Allende is a city and municipality located in the far eastern part of the state of Guanajuato in central Mexico.

Malcome Harris writes at Huffington Post about his love for San Miguel:

A year ago, if someone had asked me to travel to Mexico for any reason other than a quick holistic trip to Tulum, I would have thought they had lost their ever-loving mind. You see I, like many Americans, had bought into the don't cross the border unless you want to be kidnapped, robbed or murdered rhetoric of the mainstream media as well as uninformed public opinion. It was as if someone had put all the bad news coming out of Mexico on some sort of subliminal, mind-altering loop and it had definitely worked. Then this pass Spring I was hit with one of those life altering and heart shattering experiences - my mother passed away.

Here's more

Zapotec culture under threat in Oaxaca

Mexico News Daily has an article about the Zapotec culture near Oaxaca.

Gutiérrez and loom: preserving the culture.

A weaver in Oaxaca has been selected by a Smithsonian Institution program for an award he hopes will support efforts to preserve Zapotec culture.

Porfirio Gutiérrez of Teotitlán del Valle, a village famous for the artisanal production of textiles, was one of the winning candidates for the 2016 Artist Leadership Program administered by the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).

Gutiérrez and his family are descendants of generations of Zapotec weavers who have made the village synonymous with fine weaving. As many as 70% of the residents of the town, whose population is about 5,000, are engaged in some facet of textile art.

But a multi-year decline in tourism — Teotitlán is just 30 kilometers from the city of Oaxaca, which has been slowly regaining its reputation as a safe place to visit — has been hard on the weavers, who have suffered a severe reduction in income.

Other changes, too, threaten not only the tradition of weaving but the Zapotec culture. “In our town,” says Gutiérrez, “other components of our Zapotec legacy are about to vanish forever.

“My parents speak Zapoteco, my siblings and I speak Zapoteco and Spanish, but our children speak mostly Spanish.” And the same goes for their art.

Gutiérrez’ parents spin, dye and weave, and while he and his siblings have those skills to some degree, most have had to find outside work in other fields in order to survive.

It was his concern over the potential loss of the art form that Gutiérrez approached the National Museum of the American Indian with a project in mind.

“The youth in our village may never know the arts of their ancestors unless they are shown by the remaining masters who are still practicing our ancient techniques,” he says.

So he proposed bringing together experts and interested individuals in the village for a workshop on traditional dyes, whose use has been declining as more weavers opt for the speed and simplicity of the chemical variety.

The NMAI agreed and will fund a four-day training program in which students will learn about the plants from which the dyes come and how to make them.

The museum will also produce a video to follow the dye-making process as well as offer a glimpse of life in Oaxaca.

Gutiérrez sees the program as an important step in sustaining Zapotec culture and a traditional art form. We hope to visit Teotitlán when we visit the area around Christmas time.

Follow Me to the Saturday Organic Market

By Beverly Landfair

He was playing great sax!

Melissa is in the red blouse.

As promised, I bopped up the Ancha and strolled into the Saturday Organic Market and made a bee-line for Buena Vida Bakery.  There is always a line of people waiting to get their goodies.  When it was finally my turn, I requested two cinnamon rolls for Miguel and one very tasty naranja orange doughnut for me.  I gave the owner, Melissa and staff, my regards and bid them adios.  They do a phenomenal business on Saturdays.

Karmine

Then I made my way to Karmine's stand where she sells her home-made pesto and also teaches cooking classes, and cooks at La Finestra restaurant (which we have yet to try)  This pesto is excellent and will sauce pasta for at least seven dinner plates.  As you know, there are a myriad of other uses for Pesto.  My eight oz. container was 60 pesos = $4.00.  She sells other sauces also, which we must try soon.

Derek's Dips

Next is Derek's Dips made this morning.  He uses almonds as his base.  I bought Habanero Dip to take to the party, along with some other goodies, that we are going to this evening. Derek was not there today so I missed taking his picture, but did capture his able assistant letting people sample as many dips with chips as they wanted.  After all, "The proof is in the eating."

I wanted you to get a sense of this good time happening every Saturday at this Market.  Live music, food, great coffee, and vendors selling their organic and very fine products from organic vegetables to jewelry to rugs and everything in-between.  Thanks for joining me!

Cafe area

Learning Curve

By Beverly Landfair

Who knew that you could not buy all your fruits and vegetables in one place?  I go to about 3-4 different and wonderful stores for different fruits or vegetables. In most cases, all is fresh as in just picked.  Another learning curve was figuring out what a "kilo" actually is?  Answer: About two pounds, 2 Lbs, so when I see veggie prices per kilo it is usually an unbelievably great price. 

Limes, huge avocados, grapefruit, watermelon, melons, etc. are sweeter and juicier here.  This is the broccoli capital of Mexico, so I say, "get steaming."  We are saving about 50% of what we paid in Portland for our fruits and vegetables.
For instance, I bought about one pound of Brussel Sprouts from Alex this morning, that's Alex at the top, and he charged me 15 Pesos = $1.00.

I do not pop grapes, berries, cherry tomatoes in my mouth in the above stores because when I get home I wash them in a disinfectant solution for about 10 minutes to rinse all the bad nasties away.  I have not been sick yet.  Some people have gotten deathly ill from eating the above without proper procedures.

Mega, the biggest store in town (think Fred Meyer) has decent fruits and vegetablesm, but I prefer to support the little guy.  I am hooked on jicama and am getting into papaya also.  This is all a colorful new adventure that tastes great!

NEXT UP:  SHOPPING FOR OTHER FOOD ITEMS

Warren Hardy and La Cortesia