A virtual trip through Mexico

So, today is Mother's Day. Or rather, yesterday was.

I printed out a photo that google maps helped me find as a sort of a Mother's Day card for my mom. I was only guessing, but I was hoping to find something near the place she grew up. I had no idea how close I had really gotten.

This is the picture I printed out, the Cascada Santillan.

At first she though, Oh, that's nice, it looks very much like it could be from where I grew up, but I've never heard of Cascada Santillan. It isn't Salto Cuchilla. (Cuchilla was on the family property and was important to the family history, especially in the Cristero War.) But then I showed her where I got the picture from, and she began to recognize it.

Another view of Cascada Santillan

She even recognized the horse trail that lead to the waterfall in the aerial pictures google has. "Oh, yeah, that road comes out from the center of town, and it goes past La Planta de la Luz. I never under stood why it was called that... it was there even before we got connected to the electric grid." From the way she talked about La Planta de la Luz before, I think some very poor peopled lived there. It was a very sad and desperate place. It looks small on the map though; it's maybe only a couple of buildings. It shows up in her nightmares sometimes.

"It must be were you have to cross the Rio Caliente to get to Santillan; I remember you had to cross above the waterfall to get to Santillan. That must be a new name for it. I wonder if your uncle named it. He always wanted to buy that piece of land; I am sure he bought it. He was always very ambitious. He wanted to be able to walk from," I forget where, "to," I forget where else, "without leaving his property and eventually he did it! It's his son's now."

"You know, the Rio Caliente doesn't get hot until after that waterfall. The hot springs are below. You remember how warm the water was, don't you?"

The Rio Caliente isn't labelled on the map but it is easy enough to follow in aerial images, so I followed it down to where it meets the Rio Verde (also not labelled).

Upper part of the Agua Caliente "The water is so clear, I would recognize it anywhere. See, that is the part that is dammed up and smooth; that has the best stop to wash clothes. I remember that rock! its were you lay your clothes to dry. You had to get up there early in the morning to grab that spot; it was perfect. The story about that part being dammed is that a big rock got wedged between two bigger boulders. You remember bathing in there, don't you?"

I remember feeling like I was being nibbled on.

Hogwarts in Minecraft

Some thing a friend's brother made!

According to his facebook comments it isn't totally faithful to the book. There is an underground garage with a 30' roof served by a freight elevator. Why? Who knows!

More virtual trips in Jalisco, Mexico

So, first San Juan de Los Lagos:

Mom remembered going here when she was very young, especially to visit the cathedral basilica.
Here it is decorated for the Christmas Season. Mom did not remember the victory column and fountain in the foreground, however. The sign says "Do Not Feed the Pigeons" and Keep your Hands out of the Fountain" basically. Here is another shot of the column, and another. The pigeons love the column, it seems.. Also new, I think this is a statue on Pope John Paul II. Mom was melancholy about photos of the inside of the church. She pointed out all the gold decoration, and reminisced about the pilgrimage to Mexico City she went on with a group from the local catholic churches here. There was a lot of gold inside the churches they visited in and around Mexico City but a lot of poverty outside. She claimed that most of what is at San Juan de Los Lagos was gold leaf, though.

The Mexican relationship with the Catholic Church is awkward. Part of it is due to the Church's role during the Spanish Colonial Period, then the mythology surrounding the War for Independence, land grabs by the Church, and then the Revolution and Cristero War. On one hand Mexico is in love with the Virgin of Guadalupe and being Catholic is such a big part of being Mexican, but there is this strong current of suspicion of the Church and almost-athiesm. Not saying that everyone is that way, but its in Mexico's national character. Nevermind what other Christian denominations have to say about the devotion to Mary. The altar at San Juan de Los Lagos is a bit of an extreme example; the center piece is a statue of Mary and the angels at the top seem to be bringing down a crown on her, while Jesus is on a crucifex off to the side. 'Course, there are more extreme examples in Mexico City and Tepeyac, specifically.

Anyhow on to Pátzcuaro.

In the parts of Mexico that Mom grew up in, the big thing to do on El Día de Muertos is to celebrate on the island of Janitzio on the Lake of Pátzcuaro. On that day, there are dances and performances in the big plaza at the top of the hill, though she doesn't remember the huge statue at the center. She probably never bothered to look upwards. Of course, since it was El Día de Muertos, visiting the island's cemetery is a thing. This is the picture that helped mom confirm I was looking at the right island; she remembered walking though the gate with the bell. She also remembered that there was food and bottles of booze decorating the graves, all mostly from the favorite meals of the deceased person. But she also remembers it was raining hard that day, so getting down to the cemetery was difficult. The roads are all cobblestone, but she says walking around was like wading in a river; she remembers that she was afraid she would get swept out int the lake. It kind of explains why she never looked up and noticed the statue of José Morelos. Anyway the only way to get on and of the island were chalupas, seen here used by a local fisher, but now it safer looking boats are used.

Thanks random internet people for geotagging your photos!