Thursday, May 10, 2012

Feliz 10 de Mayo - Dia de las Madres

   Today is a very special day in the hearts of all Mexicans, we remain a matriarchal society even amongst immense "machismo" repression, but still it is taught in most house holds that our mother is the closes to a Saint the closest to holiness, and you must respect her at all times. This is also the cause of the most common insult "chinga tu madre"... 


  All educational institutions in La Manzanilla take turns during this week to hold a Mothers Day Festival, from  Kinder to Secundaria all the children will perform poems, dances, sketches, etc, they have been rehearsing for weeks now. 


  This Friday night the Delegacion is putting on their own Festival de las Madres, it usually consists of a baile and free punch or beer for the Moms as well as a raffle of household products and kitchen appliances . This is a pretty interesting night, most Moms go all out this day and party it up! you can see them all celebrating intensely... hehehe... 


  This edition of our blog is to be dedicated to all the Madres Solteras in our town, some of them very young, some of them with multiple children, some with no education, but all of them with a strong maternal drive and instinct, extraordinary women all of them in deed. 
   In our town maternity is a teaching for the children as well as for the mother, through their unguided experiences they learn different values and cognitive capacities, qualities that they did not know they had; women in our community always step up to the plait whether they have a partner or not! Today lets show them our love and respect. 




Judith Requena Figueroa






Judy is the young single Mom of three beautiful little girls and she
 is responsable for the local daycare "Juguemos a aprender" she 
is also an active members of different social causes in town. 


Martha Martinez 


Martha is the proud owner of her self made business "Loncheria Mi Kasita", 
she serves some of the best tortas in town! After her husband Cesar passed away she started her business converting her then living room in to a small restaurant and grew from there...she was left to care for her three loving children Citlally, Jocelyn and Brian. 


Oralia Valdez


Our dear friend Oralia is a very hard worker and a great Mom to her daughter Ximena, 
she has a degree in Tourism and a specialty in event planing. As a young 
professional she struggles to find consistent work in La Manzanilla. 



Martha Virrueta Garibay


A few of you will recognize Martha as your server at Palapa Joe's, she is our rebel Mom!
Mother to 5 children, bilingual, opinionated and tattooed! Martha is a great friend 
and Mom to her kids, not to mention a hard worker as well! 


Ellie Rodriguez Garcia 


Our friend Ellie is one of La Manzanilla's local girls 
who is now living in California, as a single parent to her daughter 
she shares the same values as her female relatives back home. 



Dania Mercado


Dania is another amazingly strong female and loving Mom who just recently
 had to experience a terrible loss and tragedy for her and her family, 
she is the widow of our good friend Tony; the love of her life, 
they had three gorgeous girls together. 



Aby Ramos Hernandez


New owners of "La Mazanilla Fine Art Gallery" Aby and little Mia 
are a great Mother daughter team! Venturing together in a new business 
and a new house of their own, they have worked very hard 
to get here together...



Liliana Castillo Martinez


Liliana is another very bright young woman who is a single parent to her two children, 
she still manages to keep her son Diego at the top of his class and an honorary student 
every year in our local school. You may also recognize her filling as a secretary 
for the Ejido office.



Adela Cedano


One of our most beloved primaria teachers is "la Maestra Adela", she has been an important figure in our small towns history and she was a brave single Mom to two successful kids, now both college graduates. She is still incredibly mothering to all the small children she teaches at the primaria.







   To all our towns loving Madresitas, las queremos y las admiramos



Mujer, yo hubiera sido tu hijo, por beberte
la leche de los senos como de un manantial,
por mirarte y sentirte a mi lado y tenerte
en la risa de oro y la voz de cristal.
Por sentirte en mis venas como Dios en los ríos
y adorarte en los tristes huesos de polvo y cal,
porque tu ser pasara sin pena al lado mío
y saliera en la estrofa ?limpio de todo mal?.

Cómo sabría amarte, mujer, cómo sabría
amarte, amarte como nadie supo jamás!
Morir y todavía
amarte más.
Y todavía
amarte más
y más.


Pablo Neruda








Special thanks to Miriam Figueroa, Guadalupe Lopez and Lin Magali Loza!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Happy 5 de Mayo! - Dia de la Batalla de Puebla

   Happy Dia de la Batalla de Puebla! As it is known in all of Mexico's civic calenders, this holiday is mainly celebrated in the school classrooms and in the areas around the city of Puebla. It always seems a bit confusing on exactly what is celebrated today to some foreigners, maybe it has to do with the fact that in the  U.S.A. it is marked as a major Mexican festivity; it is in fact an important date but some people think it's Mexican Independence Day which is on September 16th.

   La Batalla de Puebla was the battle won against the French Empire who came to invade Mexico with ten thousand men of what was considered the finest army in the world, they were received by the General Iganacio Zaragoza and four thousand men who were malnourished, not formally trained and inexperienced. This battle is famous because against all odds the strategy and strong will of the Mexican soldiers allowed them to repel such an eminent threat to our then President Benito Juarez and our nations independence, needles to say the French did manage to over come the government with internal support and for a brief time Mexico had a French emperor, Maximiliano and his wife Carlota.

  So not much happens in La Manzanilla for 5 Mayo, the children in the elementary school make a special edition of the school bulletin board dedicated to the heroes that managed to resist the French troops.

 


La Batalla


   Our friend Oralia has shared her recipe for making Mole Poblano, what a great dish to celebrate the bravery of our brothers from Puebla! 



Receta para hacer Mole de Pollo Poblano por Oralia Valdez.

2 kilos of chicken with skin in pieces (boiled with a bay leave and salt)
2 spoon fulls of toasted sesame seeds 
salt and black pepper 
9 Mulsato chile
7 Pasilla chiles 
6 Ancho chiles
1 cup and 9 spoon fulls of vegetable oil
4 to 5 tomatillos pealed and cooked until softened
5 cloves 
20 gr. of black pepper
1 small cinnamon stick (about 4 cm.)
1 tea spoon of toasted chile seeds
8 spoon fulls of toasted sesame seeds 
4 garlic heads
3 spoon fulls of raisins 
1/4 of a cup of toasted pumpkin seeds
2 corn tortillas cut in to pieces
3 pieces of french bred or roll cut in to small slices (about 3 cm.)
6 to 7 cups of chicken stock 
50 gr. of Mexican chocolate

Mix ingredients and bring to a boil, pour the sauce over the chicken pieces as you serve them, accompanied usually with rice and tortillas.




Holly Mole!



Special thanks to Oralia Valdez and the people from Puebla! 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Feliz Dia del Trabajo

   This holiday is dedicated to all the hard working class in the world and in Mexico it is celebrated by not working at all and taking time off to either celebrate, relax or protest.

   It was in 1917 that the Mexican constitution made it the law that all workers complete an 8 hr long shift,  had one day off for every six days of work, get paid a fair salary, have the right to form unions and syndicates, the right to participate in the companies utilities and the right to medical benefits.


In our town 1 de Mayo is usually celebrated by albañiles and construction workers at the work site prior to the date or after, the employer provides refreshments and food for the workers who are allowed to leave for home early (I can almost safely say that not much work gets done this day either...). Carnitas, tortillas, salsa, Coca-cola, cerveza, music, and a decorated cross to put up on the unfinished building are required!

   The cross is to conmemorate el Dia de la Cruz, which is May 3rd, this days has been chosen by the  albañiles to celebrate their craft and they place a cross on their building to bless and protect their structure.




 "la cruz" presente en la obra




llegenle muchachos! 


      Don't forget to show all hard working people of La Manzanilla your apreciation for this day, it is also a very important  national holiday so we usually get a good amount of people on the beach for this weekend... 


Feliz dia del Trabajo

and

Special thanks to Paul Zuñiga!