The Market

We shopped in our local market today, and found the produce and the displays especially pleasing. This must mean we have recovered from this past week when we both experienced Moctezuma's Revenge. For four or five days we merely studied, slept, and tried hard not to think about food. Now we are back at full strength, and plotting our next batch of salsa.
The Mercado Revolucíon is one of dozens of public markets in Morelia. At first we found the arrangement chaotic and shopping difficult, especially in comparison to a suermarket. So many vendors, dozens who carry the same fruits and vegetables; others who offer meat, poultry, dairy products, seafood, but in no easily discernible arrangement. As we’ve become more familiar, we’ve learned that the Mexican public market offers huge attractions, even if efficiency is not one of them.

First and foremost, since vendors vie for buyers under the same roof, they are constantly working to make their offerings stand out, always arranging and rearranging, culling sad produce, and happy to tout their own wares. Advice and information about the items sold is freely offered. If one vendor doesn’t carry cilantro or peas, he will happily send you over to the fellow who has them.

Each vendor is an independent business, and few fail to add odd items to their inventory to boost total sales. Pinatas hang above the produce; baskets and bags and pots and pans line the fronts and tops of stalls. The chaotic activity and brilliant colors make all supermarkets seem sterile.

Idyll in Querétaro

We spent an idyllic weekend in Querétaro, a city slightly larger than Morelia, and about three hours to the northeast. Like Morelia, Querétaro has a remarkable historic city center; different is the fact that Querétaro has many streets closed to traffic, and a greater variety of building styles. We had beautiful, warm days, and the comforts of a first class, hacienda style hotel. The city was festive but mellow, as Saturday was Epiphany, the day of the Tres Reyes (The Three Kings), and the day Mexican children recieve their holiday gifts. Everyone was in family mode, the public squares - particularly beautiful in Querétaro - were full of extended family groups, including children with new toys.

Querétaro is key in much of Mexican history. My favorite event is from mid-ninteenth century. The French and Spanish tried to put the economic squeeze on the young, indebted Mexican nation and, in 1864, sent Maximilian of Hapsburg to be Emperor. It took the Mexicans less than three years to oust the French, and Maximilian was executed in Querétaro, the subject of this painting by Manet. The site of this morbid event is now a beautiful public park, atop the highest point in the city, with a panoramic view that reveals the much larger, much industrialized, city that circles the historic center.

But enough of this more romantic Mexico. Now it is time to buckle down to three more weeks of Spanish study. Here is a photo of the Captain, getting ready for another day of classes.