Ingredients:
2 red chipotle chiles
2 tamarindo (light brown) chipotle chiles
1 small ripe tomato
1 cinamon stick
1 pinch of powdered cloves
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1/2 small onion sliced
1 large clove of garlic
salt to taste
Preparation:
Devein chiles and remove seeds
Place all the ingredients except the sugar in a saucepan with a couple of table spoons of water.
Simmer until the tomato skin is loose
Remove the tomato and peel then return it to the saucepan
Add the sugar and blend in well
Place all the ingredients in the blender and liquify until smooth
Bon Apetite!
Ingredientes:
2 chipoltes rojos
2 chipotles tamarindo
1 jitomate chico maduro
1 palo de canela
1 pizca de clavo
1 cucharada de piloncillo oscuro gratinado
1/2 cebolla chica
1 diente de ajo grande
sal al gusto
Preparacion:
Desvene chiles y quite las semillas
Coloque todos los ingredientes excepto el azúcar en una olla con un par de cucharadas de agua.
Cocine a fuego lento hasta que la piel de tomate está suelto
Retire el tomate como la que luego devolverlo a la cacerola
Añadir el azúcar y mezcla bien
Coloque todos los ingredientes en la licuadora y licuar hasta que quede suave
Buen Provecho!
Friday, April 17, 2015
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Sismos y geologia
I have lived through perhaps 40 quakes of varying magnitude since I moved to
Mexico some years ago. Every year, mas o menos in the fall, quakes tremble,, mostly at
night. I have no idea why there seems to be more from September-November nor why it seems there are more at
night. According to the USGS quakes happen any time and in any season. Perhaps I just don't remember "day" quakes very well, although there have been some memorable cockers during the daylight hours. When one is in a car the motion of the auto tends to negate the movement of the earth. Perhaps at night when all is quiet and one is usually in bed,, still,,in a relaxed position, one is more sensitive to movement. The only connection between events on the earth's surface and events far below I have found comes from seismologists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in India. They have found that the earthquake counts go up steadily when the moon comes closer to the Earth (perigee) and also when it is Full Moon. So if there is a season, perhaps perigee is the only one.
In 1985 an 8.1 earthquake shook Mexico City leaving vast destruction and killing thousands. On this day in 1985, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake rocked Mexico City and its surrounding environs at 7:17 AM central time.The quake was felt as far away as Guatemala City, Guatemala and Houston, Texas, over an area of about 319,000 square miles 825,000 square kilometers, but the most intense shaking occurred in Mexico City, Ciudad Guzman and the Pacific Coast towns of Lazaro Cardenas, Ixtapa and La Union, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tenancingo is 100 kms. from Mexico City and in 1985 buildings were dancing, but there was a more severe quake a few years later that tumbled the parochial school. My wife remembers that one when the buildings swayed so much it seemed they would topple over. I don't ever want to experience one of those. One feels out of control even with a small quake yet respectful of this power to move the earth underneath your feet even if it originated hundreds of kilometers away.
We live close to Mexico's trans mexico volcanic belt. Above the Nevado de Toluca is moving east. Below that,, where we are located, is moving west. In 5 million years I will have beachfront on the pacific coast.
The trans Mexican Volcanic belt is a subduction zone that runs across central Mexico. Volcanoes both active and dead protude like pimples across this swath of Mexico. The volcanic activity over millions of years has been responsible for the great height above sea level in central Mexico. The result of this uplift is the best kept climate secret in the world. Tenancingo, for example, is 18 degrees above the equator. It should be infernally hot but the height, 2020 meters above sea level, gives us warm days and cool nights. I can grow bananas, apples, and oranges and many of the plants are similar to the far north.
I have experienced all three types,, Vertical plate motion, horizontal, and both motions at once. The vertical one I call the "rumbling turd quake".
It's like a hard bowel movement that rolls down the intestines like a bowling
ball and blows out with one great vibrating jolt. The second (horizontal) I call the "drunken quake"
because at first one might feel drunk or that one has lost their equilibrium. It sways back and forth
sometimes like a baby's cradle but other times with enough force so
that you lose your balance.
The third is the "full monty" because it contains the
other two motions. It is the most dangerous and causes the most damage. There was one about a year ago,,
its epicenter 300 kilometers away. That was a full monty. However most of
the quakes I have experienced have had epicenters far from Tenancingo on the pacific coast.
I originally came from the northeast, a relatively quiet area seismically,, at least in comparison to Mexico. Eighty percent of all quakes occur on the pacific rim of fire, and Mexico's pacific coast is part of that rim. When there is an earthquake in Pinotepo in Oaxaca we feel it here. The appalachians are for the most part tranquil,, their volcanic days a distant memory. The mountains around Tenancingo remind one of a relatively recent volcanic past,, geologically speaking. On the northwestern horizon the dormant volcano, Nevado de Toluca or Xinantecatl is visible and often covered in snow.
Xinantecatl
From the top of Christo Rey in Tenancingo one can see Popocatepetl smoking. }
The geology of Mexico is volcanic and more recent than the northeast. Rocks here look so different from the granite, shale,and sandstones I was used to. If you drive 9 miles west of Tenancingo there are mountains of white-gray limestone that glisten with crystals. The limestone was deposited by ancient sea then volcanically reborn as something "other". A few years ago the town opened a dump on the side of a small mountain in front of Pueblo Nuevo. When they cut deep into the mountain side to gain a flat area black porous lava rock was exposed like that found at Paricutin, the most recent volcano on earth found in the State of Michoacan.
And then there is Paricutin, Hephaestus's sudden outburst. I remember reading its history when I was a little boy just five years after the event. The geology in my zone seemed ancient and predictably stable. I was young and didn't know the geologic nuances under my feet. An earthquake was non-existant. Rocks were usually dark-greenish-gray to black, fine-grained, dense, hard basalt that they broke up for driveways. The most unusual rock I ever found was a piece of coke from the coal burning days that I dug up near the foundation of the house. A decorative brick seemed more unusual than the rocks of the area.
When I read about Paricutin I tried to imagine a volcano spurting out of the ground one day in the backyard then burying our entire town. Paricutin is the youngest volcano of its kind and is also considered one of the new wonders of the world. One day it revealed itself to Dionisio Pulido, who, while working his land heard the earth rumble at his feet, then open up, and begin to spout steam. Gradually a hill grew into mountain with a height of more than 2,808 meters. By the time it achieved that height the eruptions were terrifying, some thought eternal, because the volcano spewed lava for 9 years 11 days and 10 hours, then sputtered, and stopped.
Paricutin at night
During 
After
I was lucky enough to see Paricutin in person a few years back and crawl around the sharp black lava fields and the ruins of the church in the pueblo that doesn't exist anymore called, San Juan Parangaricutiro. One sees the destruction,, the church tower more like a disconnected cruel sculpture, and there is a silence now. Birds sing and the only sizzle is of gorditas on the comal of Doña "Lite", the Purepecha that has one of the puestos nestled in the lava field.
Xinantecatl From the top of Christo Rey in Tenancingo one can see Popocatepetl smoking. }
The geology of Mexico is volcanic and more recent than the northeast. Rocks here look so different from the granite, shale,and sandstones I was used to. If you drive 9 miles west of Tenancingo there are mountains of white-gray limestone that glisten with crystals. The limestone was deposited by ancient sea then volcanically reborn as something "other". A few years ago the town opened a dump on the side of a small mountain in front of Pueblo Nuevo. When they cut deep into the mountain side to gain a flat area black porous lava rock was exposed like that found at Paricutin, the most recent volcano on earth found in the State of Michoacan.
And then there is Paricutin, Hephaestus's sudden outburst. I remember reading its history when I was a little boy just five years after the event. The geology in my zone seemed ancient and predictably stable. I was young and didn't know the geologic nuances under my feet. An earthquake was non-existant. Rocks were usually dark-greenish-gray to black, fine-grained, dense, hard basalt that they broke up for driveways. The most unusual rock I ever found was a piece of coke from the coal burning days that I dug up near the foundation of the house. A decorative brick seemed more unusual than the rocks of the area.
When I read about Paricutin I tried to imagine a volcano spurting out of the ground one day in the backyard then burying our entire town. Paricutin is the youngest volcano of its kind and is also considered one of the new wonders of the world. One day it revealed itself to Dionisio Pulido, who, while working his land heard the earth rumble at his feet, then open up, and begin to spout steam. Gradually a hill grew into mountain with a height of more than 2,808 meters. By the time it achieved that height the eruptions were terrifying, some thought eternal, because the volcano spewed lava for 9 years 11 days and 10 hours, then sputtered, and stopped.
Paricutin at night During AfterI was lucky enough to see Paricutin in person a few years back and crawl around the sharp black lava fields and the ruins of the church in the pueblo that doesn't exist anymore called, San Juan Parangaricutiro. One sees the destruction,, the church tower more like a disconnected cruel sculpture, and there is a silence now. Birds sing and the only sizzle is of gorditas on the comal of Doña "Lite", the Purepecha that has one of the puestos nestled in the lava field.
The Purepecha lady that sells Gorditas "lite" in the midst of the lava field near paraicutin
Her daughter Suzy
ParicutinIn 1985 an 8.1 earthquake shook Mexico City leaving vast destruction and killing thousands. On this day in 1985, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake rocked Mexico City and its surrounding environs at 7:17 AM central time.The quake was felt as far away as Guatemala City, Guatemala and Houston, Texas, over an area of about 319,000 square miles 825,000 square kilometers, but the most intense shaking occurred in Mexico City, Ciudad Guzman and the Pacific Coast towns of Lazaro Cardenas, Ixtapa and La Union, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tenancingo is 100 kms. from Mexico City and in 1985 buildings were dancing, but there was a more severe quake a few years later that tumbled the parochial school. My wife remembers that one when the buildings swayed so much it seemed they would topple over. I don't ever want to experience one of those. One feels out of control even with a small quake yet respectful of this power to move the earth underneath your feet even if it originated hundreds of kilometers away.
We live close to Mexico's trans mexico volcanic belt. Above the Nevado de Toluca is moving east. Below that,, where we are located, is moving west. In 5 million years I will have beachfront on the pacific coast.
The trans Mexican Volcanic belt is a subduction zone that runs across central Mexico. Volcanoes both active and dead protude like pimples across this swath of Mexico. The volcanic activity over millions of years has been responsible for the great height above sea level in central Mexico. The result of this uplift is the best kept climate secret in the world. Tenancingo, for example, is 18 degrees above the equator. It should be infernally hot but the height, 2020 meters above sea level, gives us warm days and cool nights. I can grow bananas, apples, and oranges and many of the plants are similar to the far north.
As
such, the majority of the Mexican central and northern territories are
located at high altitudes, and the highest elevations are found at the
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt: Pico de Orizaba (5,700 m, 18,701 ft),
Popocatépetl (5,462 m, 17,920 ft) and Iztaccíhuatl (5,286 m, 17,343 ft)
and the Nevado de Toluca (4,577 m, 15,016 ft). - See more at:
http://www.eosnap.com/tag/trans-mexican-volcanic-belt/#sthash.PSXStlzk.dpuf
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Sweet and Sour Chilapa y Dichos y Buhos
I am from the north and sour is a an aquired taste from "up there". I like sour and some mexican salsas feature a sour flavor but fruit in Mexico must be sweet or it is considered "bien agria" Aside from the special status of the sour lime, in Mexico, which by the way is not eaten but "added" , when people eat a piece of fruit that is the slightest bit sour
they wince and resemble chayotes.
Me, I'm just thinking this is soo good, not like the
rutabagas that substituted for papayas in the north. I believe that is one reason why
Coca Cola has an enormous market share here. They have exploited the mexican
love of sweet to make a fortune and meanwhile everyone's teeth are rotting.
I have been thinking about Chilapa, Guerrero lately given all the problems in that state with insecurity. It deserves a mention. A couple of years ago we went to Chilapa to visit a virgin to which my wife
is devoted. It's a Virgin from Germany called the
Virgin of Schoenstatt. This virgin, which I call the snob virgin, is whiter than the Virgin of Guadalupe. You be the judge:
My wife has been praying to this virgin for the last 6 years to help solve some family problems,, which were recently cleared up. It is natural to visit your favorite saint or virgin and give thanks for a favor.
Our trip took place on a sunday so we
also took advantage of the extended market-tianguis for which Chilapa is famous. They make a
million things from palm, corn husks, and ixtle, which is the fiber of a cactus.
Hats, baskets, placemats, animals, virgins, angels, nativity scenes. The market sells fruits and vegetables and even live aphids to
grind into a salsa. The selection is not as vast as Tenancingo but their lamb barbecue is equisite and a delicious pozole de frijole is quite unusual.
My wife has been praying to this virgin for the last 6 years to help solve some family problems,, which were recently cleared up. It is natural to visit your favorite saint or virgin and give thanks for a favor.
Our trip took place on a sunday so we
also took advantage of the extended market-tianguis for which Chilapa is famous. They make a
million things from palm, corn husks, and ixtle, which is the fiber of a cactus.
Hats, baskets, placemats, animals, virgins, angels, nativity scenes. The market sells fruits and vegetables and even live aphids to
grind into a salsa. The selection is not as vast as Tenancingo but their lamb barbecue is equisite and a delicious pozole de frijole is quite unusual.
We wound our way up the moon scape road to the small chapel. The day was very hot and the dusty road and hard looking banks along it were white the dirt chalky in color. The landscape is mottled with short spiney acacias and extremely spiney nopales, an indication that this is a dry zone. The small chapel is set among one type of those spiney acacia trees laden with a type of huaje that is sweet to the taste. At the small chapel for the virgin there were some people
selling "antojos" (mexican food whims). I bought a peeled fresh cucumber
sprinkled with chile piquin and salt. The day was hot,, and that
cucumber tasted so very delicious. I "relished" the flavor eating it slowly and allowing the freshness to cool my throat.
Chilapa Market:
In Mexico superstitions and folk wisdoms are woven into conversations. Some seem strange to me. The damage done by drinking cold water one is often mentioned here. I love cold water and I don't believe it has hurt me at all. They say mezcal which is a cactus based hard liquor (49 proof) is natural and good for you, but cold water damages. They also say exposing yourself to sudden changes in temperature bring on sickness. Perhaps,,, I drink una copa de mezcal almost every day, and I am rarely sick. I defy the cold air rule though, as I exit the bedroom in the morning in a light shirt when the temperature drops to 45 degrees and less while people here are all bundled in sweaters and coughing up phlegm. I am not pooh poohing folk wisdom for there is truth to be found in these folk medicines.Others just seem illogical. I just heard of one today, that drinking diluted clorox is a cure for arthritis. It's just that,,, like religion,, folk wisdom has picked up alot of baggage over the years and doesn't always wash. Do you believe garlic protects from vampires? They say there are no vampires in Italian Legends,, perhaps all the Italians reek of garlic. Does that mean that vampires really exist? For some reason I love the folk tales that are oft repeated. They are a connection to another time called B.C. (Before Cellphones) that is, and mass ignorance on another greater scale,, that comes with the infection of consumerism. There is one myth about the Tecolote. A tecolote is the aztec word for any owl. I saw something the other night at about 2:00 in the morning. The sky was clear without a lot of moon and I saw this bird passing with an enormous wingspan,, like a black ghost against an azure sky. I was reminded of those pictures of pteradactyls. It seemed to fly stiffly like I imagined a pteradactyl might. By the next morning I thought I must have been dreaming so I kept it to myself. Then last saturday, during a conversation, I mentioned it to the mother of little Sara, named Juana. Sara is a three year old who is a handful. When she was insupportable I recounted the story of the bird I saw the night before and that it comes to take away bad children. The eyes of Sara enlarged and she shut up. Juana asked me if it was a tecolote. At that time I didn't know what a tecolote was so I asked. She began to explain and after some charades we established that a tecolote was an owl. Tecolote, however, in Latin America means any owl. The one I saw was not some tiny screech owl but something much larger. I started to investigate and found that the largest owl in Mexico is the Great Horned Owl. I have seen them in up north,, yet the bird I saw in the night sky seemed even bigger than the Great Horned owls I had seen up north. The largest owl in the world is The Great Gray Owl but it doesn't get below Northern California. Maybe the owl I saw was chubby and oversized from eating the fat of all those bad little girls.
The Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) or Tecolote (sometimes called lechuzo here) has special significance in Mesoamerican cultures, and because it is nocturnal it is considered by indigenous cultures to be related to the underworld. Furthermore it is attributed to have the power to charm people, and see what was hidden because of its ability to see in the dark. They also thought it was a bird of ill omen, predicting the future, and it was a messenger from the underworld. In Mexico there is a popular saying: "When the owl sings, the Indian dies." Another saying is "When the owl sings to you death is near." Among some indigenous peoples the popular belief is that when an owl sings near a house, a family member must scold him and ask him to leave with a prayer to avoid someone's death. In popular culture and folklore in most of the Mexican territory, it is believed that witches, through nahualismo have the ability to transform into owls overnight to "ensure the dream of the witch's victims". Ironically, and I didn't know this fact when I was trying to scare Sara, that these owls are believed to turn into witches and kidnap children.
In Mexico superstitions and folk wisdoms are woven into conversations. Some seem strange to me. The damage done by drinking cold water one is often mentioned here. I love cold water and I don't believe it has hurt me at all. They say mezcal which is a cactus based hard liquor (49 proof) is natural and good for you, but cold water damages. They also say exposing yourself to sudden changes in temperature bring on sickness. Perhaps,,, I drink una copa de mezcal almost every day, and I am rarely sick. I defy the cold air rule though, as I exit the bedroom in the morning in a light shirt when the temperature drops to 45 degrees and less while people here are all bundled in sweaters and coughing up phlegm. I am not pooh poohing folk wisdom for there is truth to be found in these folk medicines.Others just seem illogical. I just heard of one today, that drinking diluted clorox is a cure for arthritis. It's just that,,, like religion,, folk wisdom has picked up alot of baggage over the years and doesn't always wash. Do you believe garlic protects from vampires? They say there are no vampires in Italian Legends,, perhaps all the Italians reek of garlic. Does that mean that vampires really exist? For some reason I love the folk tales that are oft repeated. They are a connection to another time called B.C. (Before Cellphones) that is, and mass ignorance on another greater scale,, that comes with the infection of consumerism. There is one myth about the Tecolote. A tecolote is the aztec word for any owl. I saw something the other night at about 2:00 in the morning. The sky was clear without a lot of moon and I saw this bird passing with an enormous wingspan,, like a black ghost against an azure sky. I was reminded of those pictures of pteradactyls. It seemed to fly stiffly like I imagined a pteradactyl might. By the next morning I thought I must have been dreaming so I kept it to myself. Then last saturday, during a conversation, I mentioned it to the mother of little Sara, named Juana. Sara is a three year old who is a handful. When she was insupportable I recounted the story of the bird I saw the night before and that it comes to take away bad children. The eyes of Sara enlarged and she shut up. Juana asked me if it was a tecolote. At that time I didn't know what a tecolote was so I asked. She began to explain and after some charades we established that a tecolote was an owl. Tecolote, however, in Latin America means any owl. The one I saw was not some tiny screech owl but something much larger. I started to investigate and found that the largest owl in Mexico is the Great Horned Owl. I have seen them in up north,, yet the bird I saw in the night sky seemed even bigger than the Great Horned owls I had seen up north. The largest owl in the world is The Great Gray Owl but it doesn't get below Northern California. Maybe the owl I saw was chubby and oversized from eating the fat of all those bad little girls.
The Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) or Tecolote (sometimes called lechuzo here) has special significance in Mesoamerican cultures, and because it is nocturnal it is considered by indigenous cultures to be related to the underworld. Furthermore it is attributed to have the power to charm people, and see what was hidden because of its ability to see in the dark. They also thought it was a bird of ill omen, predicting the future, and it was a messenger from the underworld. In Mexico there is a popular saying: "When the owl sings, the Indian dies." Another saying is "When the owl sings to you death is near." Among some indigenous peoples the popular belief is that when an owl sings near a house, a family member must scold him and ask him to leave with a prayer to avoid someone's death. In popular culture and folklore in most of the Mexican territory, it is believed that witches, through nahualismo have the ability to transform into owls overnight to "ensure the dream of the witch's victims". Ironically, and I didn't know this fact when I was trying to scare Sara, that these owls are believed to turn into witches and kidnap children.
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