tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15633475543968977592024-03-05T10:08:06.654-06:00Mexico StoriesJoin us as we explore people in Mexico ... what matters to them, their families and their communities and how people change when they move to Mexico.Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-31940910507621821612019-05-18T08:50:00.000-05:002019-05-25T08:09:02.362-05:00Murals: The first Twitter of Mexico?
La Historia de Mexico by Juan O'Gorman
A precursor to our current days of government by tweet may have occurred in Mexico beginning in the 1920s with the murals of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Until recently, I mainly thought these murals were simply large paintings, commissioned by someone with a lot of money.
A Juan O'Gorman mural in the
Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-68066963782397549922019-03-10T12:22:00.001-06:002019-03-10T12:22:40.135-06:00A wall like no other in Tetela del Monte Cuernavaca
Click here to watch video.
In Tetela del Monte, a pueblo in Cuernavaca, there is a small chapel which was built in 1817, named Los Tres Reyes Magos. The chapel houses a famous painting, but for many years and with the destruction of the earthquake, the community lost interest in the chapel and the garden that surrounded it.That changed when John Spencer, a man from England arrived in Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-5427418238957438232019-03-02T08:49:00.000-06:002019-03-02T08:49:19.127-06:00The Gifts of Perdido (Being Lost)
I am on my way to Museo de Textil Oaxaca and it is proving not to be where I thought it was. So, I stop in a shady spot where I can see my phone map to unlost my lostness. I see a flash of bright color and something about imagination and suddenly I’m falling down a rabbit hole.
I wander in and my breath catches as I see joyful, childlike paintings on the walls ...
&Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-66366187635227620602019-02-24T21:36:00.000-06:002019-02-24T21:38:24.724-06:00New Book: Seeker: a Sea Odyssey by Rita Pomade
Available at MiroLand here
Rita Pomade ... It was a name attached to an excellent article on amate, a Mexican folk art. I wanted to use the article so I sent a request for permission to the email listed. Thus began a connection which grows more interesting.
We discovered common friends made when she lived here in Ajijic. She has written a book about her life on a sail boat (an Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-23700746291337484212019-02-13T10:14:00.004-06:002019-02-14T15:22:28.156-06:00Pelicans, giant masks, and a ridiculous story ... just another day on Lake Chapala
As the day winds down in Petatan, a small Michoacán village on the south side of Lake Chapala, most of the people are finishing their daily chore of filleting the day’s catch of tilapia and carp. Fish skins and skeletons are wheeled down to the lake for a waiting audience of thousands of pelicans … or carried down in buckets by children to amuse the visitors who have come to watch this Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-11998212644693268012019-02-13T06:00:00.000-06:002019-02-13T06:00:11.521-06:00Cuernavaca: Baffling and Beautiful, part 2 - Lost!
Cuernavaca
I’m not known for my directional skills. However, once I discovered GPS and Google Maps on my iPhone, I felt like a reasonably competent adult … until I got to Cuernavaca. I’m sure it was me, but, for some reason, most of my time in Cuernavaca, I was LOST!
I’d start off with my destination carefully plugged into my phone and before long I would be in some scary place Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-75018139722505367692019-02-12T07:49:00.001-06:002019-02-12T07:50:54.092-06:00Cuernavaca: Baffling and Beautiful, part 1 - the Arrival
It’s hard to write about Cuernavaca. It feels like writing about someone you know is a nice person but who seems to be a bit down on their luck. You want to write about their brilliance and inner spark but you keep noticing that their shoes are untied and it’s been awhile since they combed their hair.
Cuernavaca, the city of eternal spring, was to be my home for two weeks while I immersed Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-32921934207081010562019-01-23T10:12:00.000-06:002019-01-23T10:18:41.191-06:00The Feast of the Three Kings
Cristina Potters
While I was in Cuernavaca, we celebrated the Feast of the Three Kings. I was
going to write about it , but my new ... and amazing writer ... friend, Cristina Potters at Mexico Cooks! does such an incredible job, I'm just linking you to her article. As a
teaser ... there's a baby Jesus and 40 tamales involved.
Click here for full article.
"The most Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-40030366401917023412018-12-22T09:08:00.001-06:002018-12-22T09:08:59.363-06:00Jerry Brown: Lake Chapala's Video Man
Jerry and Lori Brown
Moving to a new country, or even contemplating such a move, is somewhat like being hit with a tsunami of doubt and questions. Everything is different, and sometimes seems overwhelming. There’s a saying here at Lakeside that everything you want is here, it’s just a matter of finding it. That “finding” can be fun … or completely frustrating.
There’s a micro industry hereJoyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-28501919423123416372018-12-14T10:11:00.000-06:002019-01-02T08:02:26.793-06:00Robina Nicol: homo artistican and maestra
"Love blooms in the garden" by Robina Nicol
by Joyce Wycoff
There are two types of artists: the ones born with paint brushes in hand and a waiting line of astonished adults ready to heap praises on their work … and the rest of us.
I’m not complaining. It’s just a fact that no one was any more surprised than I when I became a writer and an artist. There is a growing legion of us grateful Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-58005168164338256372018-11-23T15:42:00.000-06:002018-11-23T15:42:02.340-06:00 Balancing Act and being inspired by a pioneer of digital art
Balancing Act
This year, I fell in love with Zacatecas and four of its museums. After Mexico City, Zacatecas is often mentioned as the city in Mexico with the most museums. I don't know about the most, but every one I've visited has had a powerful emotional impact on me.
My favorite is Museo de Arte Abstracto Manuel Felguérez, one of the few Latin American museums dedicated to Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-42849654114144819532018-11-14T10:15:00.000-06:002018-11-14T10:16:10.046-06:00A Village in the Sun ... a time warp on Lake Chapala
by Joyce Wycoff
I have just developed a severe case of writer envy.
Occasionally, you find a book that doesn’t tell you a story, but rather, gently lures you into a story, making you part of it until you see every color and detail, smell the pungent earth, know the cadence and quirks of each character, feel the air change with each season, experience the daily rhythms of life as if Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-73572710511796944782018-11-03T10:01:00.000-06:002018-11-03T10:17:04.290-06:00Ajijic's "Wall of Skulls" deserves to be a designated landmark
Muro de Los Muertos by Efren Gonzalez
Last night, I met a couple who were taking photos of a specific area of the Wall of Skulls. They told me the skulls were in honor of his mom and dad. There were hundreds of people gathered for the annual lighting of the candles. Young men were hanging off the roof to light the top ones; a young boy was clinging to a ladder lighting some of the middle Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-36833668697792284752018-10-31T21:23:00.004-06:002024-01-11T16:03:22.693-06:00Patamban: Fiesta de Cristo Rey
A glimpse of the Fiesta de Cristo Rey
It was a stunning, flower-filled trip in all ways. Wild flowers were everywhere and we could have added days to our trip if we had stopped at every field of vibrant color. However, we were on a mission to get to Patamban for the Fiesta de Cristo Rey, the day when Christ was embraced as the son of God.
Patamban Fiesta
Patamban Circle
We were lucky Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-75326494630143588772018-10-30T09:58:00.000-06:002018-10-30T09:58:06.626-06:00Day of the Dead #12: Beauty, grace, and an unexpected hollowness This post was written in 2017. I've made a few additions as I continue to learn from this amazing country and its peoples.
"If nothing saves us from death, at least love saves us from life."
I am beginning to think I might possibly know why I’m here in Mexico.
Looking
through U.S. eyes, there are many things that fall short here. It is
not a place designed by a rational person, Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-52921224427423799262018-10-29T09:44:00.000-06:002018-10-29T09:44:00.188-06:00Day of the Dead #11: Creating an Altar - do it your way
My in progress altar.
Día de los Muertos is an ancient
ceremony for honoring the dead. Over the centuries and the dispersal
across villages, states and countries, it has been shaped by local
customs. What I have found in my short time here in Mexico is incredible
diversity around this holiday, from a stunningly beautiful but quietly
reverent atmosphere to a noisy, carnival-like Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-30350751817630143342018-10-28T06:00:00.000-06:002018-10-28T06:36:49.695-06:00Day of the Dead #10: Choosing the ancestors for your altar
Ancestors 2017
The first question, of course, "Which ancestors?"
Not long ago, on a shamanic retreat, I asked about the definition of
“ancestors." While the common answer runs along the line of those from
whom we are genetically descended, the shaman’s answer offered a more
complicated path.
Loosely, the term could refer to all the beings who have lived on Earth
before us, Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-73589975904519726512018-10-26T07:31:00.000-05:002018-10-27T09:25:04.000-05:00Day of the Dead #9: Food for living and dead
Romerillo, 2014
Like most holidays, Day of the Dead is
food-oriented. It actually has two purposes though: 1) traditional foods
and favorites for the living; 2) favorites of the ancestors. One of my
first experiences of seeing people cater to the dead was at the
Romerillo Cemetery, just outside San Cristóbal de las Casas for the Day
of the Dead ceremony in 2014.
Families Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-30209676190402365832018-10-25T07:19:00.000-05:002018-10-25T07:19:54.927-05:00Day of the Dead #8: Ajijic Wall of the Dead for the Living
Muro de Los Muertos by Efren Gonzalez (detail)
In Ajijic, on the wall of a school that faces the San Andres church,
there is a giant mural of skulls, what my friend and fellow blogger,
Susa Silvermarie calls "a wall of the dead for the living." (Click here to read her post about the wall and the poem she wrote about it.)
Popular, local artist Efren Gonzalez created Muro de Los Muertos asJoyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-9573770748940825382018-10-22T18:59:00.000-05:002018-10-22T20:03:49.230-05:00Day of the Dead #7: More about the experience of death in Guanajuato
"Guanajuato Afternoon: by Joyce Wycoff
Four years ago, I took an excursion to Guanajuato from San Miguel de Allende. It was a lovely day of touring a city so close in geography, yet so different from San Miguel in energy and culture. It wasn’t Day of the Dead, but I had a close encounter with death … fortunately, not my own.Guanajuato (GTO) is a college town and feels young and Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-72443207823654741222018-10-20T22:16:00.003-05:002018-10-20T22:16:40.947-05:00The other side of the lake and 5 tips for finding magic when traveling
I live in Ajijic, one of the villages stringing the northern shore of Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico. This side of the lake is closer to Guadalajara, the airport, and all the commercial aspects of life. I have lived here for about a year and a half, looking at the other side of the lake but knowing almost nothing about it. Friends have mentioned driving around the lake but the commonJoyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-858139427837781642018-10-18T09:00:00.000-05:002018-10-18T09:00:07.740-05:00Day of the Dead #6: The Legend of the Cempasúchil Flower
Frida in Cempasúchils
One of the most important symbols of the Day of the Dead ceremony is the abundance of brilliant orange flowers ... cempasúchil or marigolds.The color and smell are intended to guide the path of the ancestors to their altars. The fragility of flowers is also a symbol of life.
On my journey to find out more about this ceremony, I met Lorena at La Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-40217032495517347622018-10-17T09:00:00.000-05:002018-10-21T18:10:05.157-05:00Day of the Dead #5: 4 quick overview videosFour short videos about Day of the Dead. People throughout the world
have different customs for honoring their dead. In Spanish-speaking
countries, the primary celebration is Dia de los Muertos, celebrated
November 1st and 2nd.
The first, of course, is the "Coco" trailer. The movie is going to be re-released ... don't miss it. You will understand the true meaning of the celebration and Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-40365451860017456142018-10-16T07:27:00.000-05:002018-10-16T07:33:10.120-05:00Day of the Dead #4: Ancestor Reclamation Project
A few summers ago
New Mexico morning
found me on a remarkable piece of land in northern New Mexico. Fields of wildflowers blanketed the labyrinth where I walked every morning and dramatic displays of clouds and thunder lit up every afternoon, sometimes with rain, sometimes just with cool winds.
I was with a group of seekers working with a shaman when the conversation turned to honoring Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563347554396897759.post-30975501698014691952018-10-15T12:08:00.001-05:002018-10-15T12:08:33.943-05:00Day of the Dead #3: Three Deaths
Ofelia Esparza, an “altarista” featured on an intercultural video series, “Craft in America: Border Episode”
says each of us dies three times: once when we die physically, once
when we are buried and will never be seen on the face of the earth
again, and once when we are forgotten. It is that third death that is
the hardest and is the primary reason behind the Day of the Dead
ceremonies.
Joyce Wycoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03742084748092724299noreply@blogger.com2