Becoming-Beginning (Back to Mexico City)
March 15, 2022
To paraphrase: “Invariably as we go through our lives we will sit and reflect on our personal history/experiences seeking to understand them, and in the case of pain…often attempt to redefine the understanding of what took place so that we can reconcile with our souls. But, most often, this is a fruitless effort…What we can do though is place ourselves in new circumstances with new experiences that will dilute the intensity of the past, and allow for the new beginnings to fulfill our lives….”
(Reference to come)
What Frida Kahlo leads us to understand as ‘the process of becoming’ 😊
I had such an amazing time in Ciudad de Mexico last time! Now, I am back again….Landing in the evening…. Views such as this always inspire such an amazing feeling. Knowing that even though I have been here before, there is so much more….the history, the sights, the food, the stories of the people…beginnings….things to support ‘becoming’…
It is a bit late….heading to the abode quickly to try and make sure food is available. While the neighborhood is quiet, people are still on the move….and while searching…this place caught my eye. Jazz/nice music playing…attractive photos…kind of place that makes you walk over to it just to see what is going on. And, behold…the city of street food. Often you will see a person with a regular table set out on the sidewalk, table cloth, seasonings, cooking, people talking, family….now this woman works three (3) corners on different nights and has been doing this for 40 years. I can’t even imagine!! But, you see so many displays of a powerful work ethic here. While I wouldn’t say the food would of made an Anthony Bourdain episode, it made mine 🙂 starving was the situation, sated was the outcome ❤
This time the neighborhood is Zona Rosa adjacent to La Condesa 🙂 A beautiful terrace, very quiet, quaint, just absolutely lovely…especially at night…always interesting how quiet this part of the city is…regardless to this being the largest city in Norteamerica. Area is full of amazing street food, restaurants, parks, very clean, nice people….I love it!! And, right across the street people gather at the local bicycle shop for breakfast and a cafe….admittedly, I’m not necessarily craving tortilla chips in the morning, but when in Mexico…be a Mexicano….the experience was worth it!! ❤
As mentioned, I am revisiting my first trip to CDMX to feed ‘the becoming’…. a new beginning…. First stop this morning…Coyoacan….La Casa Azul – Museo de Frida Kahlo! This is a place to which I will continue to return.
After getting a taste of Kahlo, walking the Coyoacan, and always always taking advantage of a fresh cut coconut (water and meat)….DELICIOUS!! Off to the local mercado…the freshness, the colors, the variety of items….walking through this just brings out the life…sigh….
Taking it all in, and heading back out for more becoming…. It really is interesting how there is such an emphasis on ‘FRESH’ here. I mean it doesn’t take much to find fresh squeezed orange juice…at a stand, in a market, in a coffee shop….you can definitely tell the difference….this one contained the peel….which was a bit much….but, all the same…I will take it…feel me? 🙂
On the way to revisit something that I really LOVE now….a cooking class with an actual chef (mexicano)….so off to Supermercado Juarez to learn about picking ingredients….
I can’t say enough about the pleasure of having an actual professionally trained Mexican Chef take you to the market, teach you how to pick the items, and then spend the afternoon teaching you how to cook. As they say, “if it isn’t fresh, then it isn’t Mexican” ❤
Making homemade salsa, mole chicken, sweet tamale, squash flower tortillas, Atole (chocolate drink)….this is one of my favorite parts of the trip each time….while I love to cook, not always easy to imagine something this delicious didn’t require an act of God for my part…and always interesting the people who come together…and the stories you learn about life…
This is a place where you can just walk, eat, learn, absorb, and feed your vision on how life can be – the becoming. It can make you wonder about the veracity of our decisions when we allow our world view to be so small. Of course traveling doesn’t guarantee a certain world view, but there is value in at least attempting to have a better understanding of people and the world we live in…
Fountains and Squares Everywhere!!! Coffee Bean Tree, Puppies 🙂 Food, Food, and more Food – Street Food!!!! If nothing else…get a good pair of walking shoes….and…COME EAT!! ❤
Mexico City is full of things to do! In fact, I now know that once I’ve been here several more times…I will still know only a small amount…and I am most pleased about that….I’ve got excellent walking shoes 🙂
Now on to a place a saved specifically for this trip!! Bosque de Chapultepec y Castillo de Chapultepec!! Now without going into a full write-up. This place is absolutely amazing….with the right tour guide…you walk away with a lot of Mexican history that goes through the ages, and are full of fascinating views….again, most humbling that we can be so absent of our history….and yes…all of this comes together.
Former residence of heads of state, immaculate gardens, architecture, views of the city, the ambiance….plan on spending a few hours here…and, it is worth getting the tour guide….so you get the stories of what you are experiencing…
The statues, fountains, the work of artisans….I’ve not done many of these types of tours….castles as such…but, the history that went along with the experience…from what I’ve read previously and then the explanations of the guide made this experience much much more than I had initially expected when first planning on coming here…each one of these pictures has a story and a significant meaning associated with it…captivating…you leave this place feeling much more aware of what takes place in the world and inside yourself….
However, without a doubt, traveling here is not complete without time in The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven (Spanish: Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de la Santísima Virgen María a los cielos)….Located adjacent to the center of the Aztec empire…
To read about a place…study it….and then go to see it….well, for me it is very fulfilling…and even though I have been doing this for much of my life….it always humbles me and reminds me that I don’t know a damn thing about nothing…but, it also is illustrative about how many of us have very uninformed opinions. This last picture on the above right…the catholic cross, a snake at the base, and skulls….hmmmm…..there is a story there…..sooooo good 🙂
While I post pictures, there is a much more fulfilling dynamic taking place…as none of these are more significant to me than the human story. Where do our lives come from…and what can we do to grow and bloom responsibly. While this obviously doesn’t resonate with some of us, it is my thing! And, a requirement in my Tribe!!! People…People…why…what….and after all the superficialities of life are dealt with….what is left?
LOVE and how we treat each other…including our own selves!! Even if it takes time to get there!!
And a little something special for you…as we say…those who know won’t say, and for those who don’t know…well… 🙂
Well, to paraphrase a line from ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ which some people hate – but so what!! A person asks god….bless me with winning the lotto…and god said, ‘well you have to buy a ticket first’. Well…I got a bunch of damn tickets – new beginnings of becoming…peace!! 🙂
Dias de Los Muertos – Mexico!!
November 11, 2021
“Para todas las personas que se nos han ido”
“For all the people who have left us…”
For quite some time I have been curious about Dias de los Muertos. Like many people, my own life has also experienced some significant loss coinciding with COVID. Soo..in some ways it is quite fitting that now is the time I am exploring this cultural dynamic. Such an interesting cultural shift…how the dead are included. And within this cultural dynamic are certainly some major shits that can be incorporated into our own lives.
Forthrightly and honestly, the size of Mexico City had slipped my mind! Around 22 million people…and more than NYC…yes, I was asleep on this gem!! While the Day of the Dead is recognized within Latin America, its strongest affiliation is in Mexico!! I am not trying to summarize the entire significance in this post…but, only to place a few highlights.
Historically, it is said that Dias de los Muertos is essentially a Latin custom that came about from a mix of Aztec rituals and the Spanish conquistadors (Catholicism). Since there were hundreds of tribes in Mexico during this time, I’ll also assume they made a contribution as well!
More importantly, this cultural custom focuses on reducing the intense sadness/mourning that can come with death of a loved one and replacing it with festivities…I didn’t walk the entire parade route but imagine this stretched for a little under 9 mile…and, I walked a good part of it…the entire way was mostly shoulder to shoulder….
Obviously the parade isn’t the only aspect of these festivities, and the main focus is to include death as a natural part of life…of being a human being. To the degree that it is a way of including our loved ones in the day. Many people, such as myself, had the mask painted on half their face – indicating that both death and life are an equal component to the same thing….always with us. As Maria Popova, the Marginalian, writes perhaps, ‘death is not the assailant of life but the ultimate consecration of its lucky possibility…’…
Sure we’ve read the statement that grief is love with no place to go…as in loving someone or something…that is no longer present in your life in a form that allows you to express your feelings toward them or it…consequently, in consideration of people…they could be physically alive or dead. Often times…these people/things remain alive in our mind one way or another…yet these days provide a cultural means to identify and honor it in a healthy way regardless to the physical state of them or the means by which their presence changed…
Well traveled, I am!! Student of culture and life around the globe, Indeed!! An expert on Latin Culture, I am NOT!! However, with what I have experienced, I do love the emphasis on family. How it is included in so many aspects of the culture…families dressing together, made up together…so many babies on shoulders… and to have so many people together…it wasn’t a drunken festive party…it was unimaginably clean and wholesome…especially considering the number of people attending…
Obviously, some take these days very seriously!! 🙂 Love seeing the kids in the trees, on roof tops…screaming when certain characters came walking by… With the way people intermingled and talked, it was obvious the interactions weren’t just for blood family…there was definitely a feeling that people were treating each other a certain way…family that you choose…definitely a cultural item that needs to be transferred to some other places we know of…
And of course what is a festival/parade without food…particularly since Mexico is world renowned for its street food, more on that later 🙂 For awhile I lost focus on the other things and just absorbed the cooking that was going on!! Can I say righteous…and let’s put it right here… even the dead have bread….’delicioso pan de muerto’!!! Much Love!!
Outside of the parade, one of the most common parts of this custom is to honor the dead by setting up an ‘ofrenda’…an altar. Generally, they have set up flowers, candles, food, drinks, photos, and personal mementos of the person. The home I visited, picture bottom left, even had cigarettes and something to sip for the loved one 🙂 You will also usually see lots and lots of orange flowers that we call Marigolds, but out of respect…they call them ‘zempasuchitl’ (an Aztec word)… You will often see them around the city with the ‘ofrendas’. But, also inside of homes sprinkled on steps and stairs leading to the ‘ofrenda’…I was told that it serves as a conduit to bring loved ones, the dead, into this world…and invitation to come celebrate…
There is no way to capture the significance of this day nor the feelings I am having by being here in one post. This is only an attempt to share a little piece of culture, some lessons learned, and a few tidbits of my own life (between the lines)….
It is no coincidence that this pilgrimage took place simultaneously with other events in my life these past 2 years. As sometimes the dead are a catalyst for the living…and the living are a catalyst for the dead…indeed the relation continues…even if in our own mind…
And to borrow a piece from my home culture, as O’shea Jackson – Ice Cube – said, ‘today was a good day…’….
Fact is: The Dead never really leave us…”Rather they are alive, but we perceive not…” 2:154…
with that noted…
“Para todas las personas que se nos han ido“
Love…
Malik Watkins's Bloglines 