The Church in Dolores Hidalgo where the Grito was made.(Christiane finally got over her cold, mostly, this weekend, after almost 3 weeks, and she promptly gave it to me. It will be nice to have us both in good shape again at the same time.)
On Saturday (March 11) we headed to Dolores Hildago with Sylvia Perez and her daughter to buy some dishes. Not exactly with, but together. Sylvia wanted to drive her new pick-up in case she bought something big, and there was not room for 4 in the cab, so we drove our car too. We started a little before 10 AM, and waited for Sylvia to fill up at a Pemex (only game in town after the Mexican government expropriated the oil business back from Standard Oil and others in the 1920s.) As she pulled out of the gas station, we immediately were separated in traffic. Panic.
We finally made it out of town on the road to San Miguel de Allende and were stopped by a crew cleaning up from interstate repairs. Got past that, and turned onto the two-lane headed for San Miguel and Dolores Hidalgo, and got behind a truck carrying rebar that was eventually passed by a bicyclist. Got around that halfway to San Miguel, and then had to get around San Miguel by the bypass. We got to Dolores Hidalgo around 11:30 after going through a well-irrigated valley full of rich people’s ranches. It was supposed to take about an hour and a half (70km), and it did, despite the delays (which are taken into the calculations around here).
As we drove into town both sides of the highway became filled with stores showing their ceramic wares. I wanted to buy everything. The colors are incredible (over-used word, but they were). You can get those bath wash-basins you see in Mexican restaurants, water coolers, pots for plants, everything for the bathroom and kitchen, and much besides. Sylvia took us to the cheaper part of town to a factory that made just about everything and had a wide, wide selection of table settings at very reasonable prices. The normal 6 place setting with about 60 pieces (don’t ask) cost around $2600 MX ($260 US) in either talavera (what some US archaeologists call faience or majolica, but which in Mexico has always been called talavera from the town in Spain where it traditionally came to Puebla, Mexico, where most of the Mexican variety is made) or in more modern ware.
I had no idea that someplace other than Puebla made so much of this stuff. The whole town seems to make it and/or also make barro (red clay glazed ware) that is also brightly decorated but with more modern motifs. Years ago a plate cost $25 or more US, and now they are well over that from Puebla. Finally, we could afford talavera on our own table, maybe not from Puebla, but pretty cool, nonetheless. A whole table for $260 US was unbelievable.
Sylvia then took us to an “art” ceramics place with all modern designs and motifs. A 6 place setting here was $4,500MX. We then went to their store down another street past a zillion other stores and factories. This place was loaded with carved furniture that made our rustico stuff look like so much lumber. A hand-carved and painted dining table went for $15,000-$17,000 MX, and chairs for $1,500 MX plus. You would not be embarrassed with this stuff in your penthouse apartment in San Miguel when you invite the rich Mexican neighbors over.
Ultimately, we went back to the first place and bought a partial set of talavera while Sylvia and her daughter went shopping. They were looking for macetas (big clay pots) for plants, as Sylvia and her husband have a landscape supply company and their daughter is does some landscape planning. The landscaping is totally on the side as Sylvia and her husband are full time engineers, and their daughter is an architect for the city.
We could not take any pictures of the pots and furniture since most factory-related places don’t allow it, fearing that someone will steal their ideas. BTW, the first place had about 35 employees with 8 of them painting everything by hand. The “art” place had two painters and less than 10 total employees. Yet the production was prodigious from both.
We then took Sylvia to lunch for tortas (really great little sandwiches on French petits pains) on the main square of town. After lunch, and as we were getting ready to head back, I asked if the church on the plaza was the one where Hidalgo made his “grito” (call) for independence in 1810. It was indeed; and as Sylvia headed back to Querétaro, we did a little sightseeing, a very little bit of sight seeing, as there is really nothing else in town for tourists.
Commemoration Plaque on the Church where the Father of the Country, Father Hidalgo, gave his famous call for Independence
So Dolores Hidalgo, which got the last part of its name in commemoration of the grito by Father Hidalgo, is known for two things, pottery and the grito, which is replicated every year by the President of Mexico on 16 de Septiembre (our street name, BTW, see how everything is connected?). The grito is a combination of the Declaration of Independence and Lexington and Concord for Mexicans, and started a bloody war of independence that lasted over 10 years and in which virtually all of the people who started it like Hidalgo, Morelos, Guerrero, Madero, etc. were caught and executed by the Spanish.
Americans know about the Cinco de Mayo which was a victory over Maximillian later in the century, but except in Puebla where the battle was held, Cinco de Mayo really is not that big a holiday. Oh, and BTW, the town eventually gave part of its name to that famous treaty, Guadalupe Hidalgo, since that is where the treaty was actually signed by those guys from Querétaro, after the Marines reached the “halls of Moctezuma” in Mexico City.
And just when I had thought we were mending our ways on the international scene after WWII, with the institution of foreign aid, the World Bank, the UN, etc. etc., we end up with a president who wants to take us back to the good old days of imperialism. I wonder what imperial George would say if the Mexicans assumed his point of view and claimed their territory back by force of arms, rather than do what they are doing, trying to negotiate a way around the Fence and trying to improve their economy to the point where folks won’t need to go to the US? He certainly couldn’t argue with them that it is their “right” to do so. I bet he would live in San Miguel if he moved down here!
An original water fountain from the Querétaro aquaduct circa 1780s, on 16 de Septiembre, about a half block from our house. Only a few of these are left.
No comments:
Post a Comment