Omar Álvarez says climbing has taught him four key lessons.
After fulfilling his father’s dying wish to have his ashes scattered on Mexico’s highest peak, Omar Álvarez moved on to an even more challenging mission: scaling the highest mountains on each of the world’s continents with his blind friend.
When his father asked him to take his ashes to the top of the inactive volcano called Citlaltépetl, or Pico de Orizaba, Álvarez – neither a mountaineer nor a high performance athlete – was hopelessly unprepared for the mission.
But determined not to let his father down, he started training and in 2017 – on the first anniversary of his dad’s death – he took his ashes to the peak of the 5,636-meter-high volcano. That experience changed the direction of Álvarez’s life, the newspaper Reforma reported.
Álvarez, now 41, and his friend, Rafa Jaime, subsequently decided to take on the Seven Summits challenge: climbing the highest mountains on each of the world’s seven continents.
And they are already one-seventh of the way to achieving their goal, having scaled the 6,960-meter-high Aconcagua in Argentina in January 2020. In the process, the two men became the first Latin American rope team with a blind member to climb South America’s highest mountain, which is also the highest peak in the world outside Asia.
Alpinists Álvarez, left, and Jaime.
Next up is Denali, North America’s highest peak, located about 400 kilometers north of Anchorage, Alaska.
“This year we’re going to Denali, on June 5,” Álvarez, a business consultant and mentor with an MBA from Anáhuac University, told Reforma. “The project is to climb … the highest mountain on each continent,” he added.
The project is undoubtedly ambitious but Álvarez has come a long way since his father told him of his final request.
He told Reforma that mountain climbing has taught him four key lessons: you must focus on the path, not the summit; the path to the peak is winding; never stop; and never walk alone.
Those lessons are crucial in Álvarez’s Philosophy of the Mountain – a guide/mindset he has developed to help budding entrepreneurs achieve business success. He said he helps people turn their passions in life into ideas for businesses, explaining that he assists entrepreneurs to “scale the mountains of their lives.”
“… I always say to entrepreneurs: find what you love in life, find what you’re good at, find a market that you can really help and find a business model that allows you to monetize [your passion],” Álvarez said.
“That undertaking is the basis of everything. If you ask me what the most important thing is [to achieve success], I would say passion.”
Shrimp only need a few minutes of heat to be cooked through to perfection.
Living in Mazatlán, I tend to take shrimp for granted. There are shrimp cocktails, ceviches and aguachile; omelettes, tacos and burgers; soups, paella and a host of other entrées and appetizers. (Coconut shrimp? Everywhere.)
And it’s affordable: while prices fluctuate a little with the season, the cost of shrimp is usually somewhere between chicken and steak. Mazatlán, you see, is the shrimp capital of the world, with more than 40,000 tonnes of shrimp caught annually.
White, brown and pink shrimp are the most common species in Mexico. Farmed shrimp (camarón de granja) are available year-round and can be a bit less expensive than the more flavorful wild shrimp, caught by big trawlers that go to sea for weeks at a time between October and April.
These boats flash-freeze the shrimp at sea in 4-lb. blocks separated by size. This is the most economical way to buy wild shrimp. Small pangas or other boats that return each day also catch shrimp in season.
Shrimp has a well-deserved reputation as being tricky to buy, prepare and cook. Understanding some basics will help even the seasoned cook navigate these pitfalls.
Like any seafood, freshness is key. Look for shrimp that are firm, not slimy, and without an ammonia-like odor. Avoid shrimp that are falling apart or limp. With shrimp that still has its head on, there should be no black spots on the head or body — these indicate oxidation and that the shrimp are not at their peak freshness. That said, pink shrimp will have bluish spots or coloring near the tail, which is completely fine.
Raw shrimp for sale at the Las Changueras open market in Mazatlán.
Most of the “fresh” shrimp you find in grocery stores, mercados or fish markets is just frozen shrimp that’s been defrosted — you’re better off just buying a bag of frozen shrimp and defrosting them yourself.
To thaw, put frozen shrimp directly into a bowl of cold running water. In a few minutes, they’ll be ready to use. Pat them dry with paper towels before proceeding.
To clean, slit the curved back of the shrimp with a small sharp knife and remove the “vein” (really its digestive tract) and rinse well.
There’s good reason to buy shrimp without heads: Within hours of dying, shrimp heads release enzymes that break down the flesh and turn it mushy. Headless shrimp will keep that elusive “fresh, briny crunch.”
If you buy live shrimp, remove the heads as soon as possible. You do want the shells, though; they contain lots of sweet shrimp-y flavor and yield that trademark reddish tint when grilled or cooked.
As far as cooking, in this case, less is more. Shrimp only need a few minutes of heat to be cooked through; more than that and they turn rubbery. A dry brine (see Coctel de Camarón, below) can also help keep them plump and juicy. Check out these detailed, tested instructions on how to grill shrimp.
A shrimp cocktail is just the thing to cool off with as the summer season approaches.
Aguachile
½ kilo medium shrimp, shells and heads removed
Salt and pepper
2 serrano chiles, seeded and cut into ¼-inch pieces
2 Tbsp. water
4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
3 Tbsp. diced or sliced cucumber
For serving: tostadas and sliced avocado
Split shrimp in half lengthwise, remove veins. Transfer to a plate, sprinkle all over with salt, cover with plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 2.
Using a mortar and pestle, pulverize chiles with pinch of salt. Add water, continue mashing until chiles are tiny bits. (Or blend them with water in a blender.) Add lime juice; season with salt and pepper.
In a bowl, toss shrimp with the chile-lime marinade, onion and cucumber. Adjust seasoning. Serve immediately with tostadas and avocado.
Coctel de Camarón
Starting the shrimp cooking in cold water and poaching them at not more than 170 F after a quick dry-brining produces plump, juicy shrimp.
1¾ lbs. shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. salt, divided
½ tsp. baking soda
6 Tbsp. fresh lime juice, divided, plus more as needed
1 cup diced white onion
¾ cup tomato puree
½ cup ketchup
3 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp. fresh orange juice
1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, seeded and minced
For serving: saltines, diced avocado, hot sauce
In a large bowl, toss shrimp with 1 tsp. salt and the baking soda until evenly coated. Transfer to refrigerator for 15 minutes.
In another bowl, mix 4 Tbsp. lime juice with onion, tomato puree, ketchup, cilantro, orange juice and jalapeño/serrano.
In a saucepan, combine 2 quarts cold water with remaining 2 Tbsp. lime juice and 2 Tbsp. salt. Add shrimp, turn heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes until temperature reaches 170°F and shrimp are just cooked through.
Drain shrimp, rinse under cold running water, drain again. Cut shrimp into ½-inch pieces. Add shrimp to bowl with sauce; stir. Add more lime juice if desired. Top with avocado and serve immediately with crackers and hot sauce. — seriouseats.com
Tabasco is the secret ingredient in these shrimp burgers.
Garlic Shrimp
So easy! Enjoy as an entrée or in tacos.
1 lb. shrimp, cleaned and shelled
5 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
¼ onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
Juice of 2-4 limes
¼ tsp. ground cumin
Salt and pepper
Season shrimp with salt, pepper, cumin. Heat butter and oil in frying pan over medium-low until butter begins to melt; add garlic and onion, sauté 5 minutes.
Add shrimp, cook 5–8 minutes or until just cooked through. Add lime juice and parsley.
Shrimp Burgers
1 lb. shrimp, deveined and cleaned
2 Tbsp. minced scallions
3 Tbsp. diced celery
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley/cilantro
1½ tsp. lemon/lime zest
3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 cup Panko or bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
Salt and pepper
Tabasco
1 Tbsp. coconut or olive oil
Boil shrimp for two minutes. Drain, then pile ice on top until cool enough to handle. Chop into small dice.
In a large bowl, mix shrimp with scallions, celery, parsley/cilantro and zest.
Add mayonnaise, bread crumbs and egg. Mix well. Season with salt, pepper and Tabasco to taste.
Form six patties about three inches in diameter. Sauté in oil until both sides are browned.
Drain on paper towels. Serve as patties or on buns with all the fixin’s.
Although noise issues in Mexico City often focus on individual violators, traffic easily exceeds the new limit of 68 decibels.
Earlier this year, the Mexico City Congress approved a reform that changed the capital’s noise regulations and imposed new penalties for violating them.
Here’s what you need to know about the new noise regulations in Mexico’s largest – and loudest – city.
The reform:
On March 23, lawmakers voted unanimously to approve a reform to a section of the capital’s Environmental Law for the Protection of the Earth that deals with noise regulations. The reform slightly increases the permitted noise levels late at night and early in the morning but allows for much larger fines to be imposed on people who violate them.
The reform, put forward by a Morena party lawmaker, took effect in late April after its publication in the Mexico City government’s official gazette.
Permitted noise levels:
Between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., noise of up to 68 decibels is permitted. Between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., the permitted noise level falls to 65 decibels.
How loud is 65 decibels?
According to the news magazine Proceso, the sound of an air conditioning system can reach 65 decibels. It also said that a washing machine can reach 70 decibels and a vacuum cleaner can be as loud as 75.
Also well and truly capable of exceeding 65 decibels are alarm clocks, cars and motorcycles, lawnmowers, hair dryers, a music concert and airplanes.
The penalties:
People found guilty of violating the permitted levels will initially receive a warning from authorities. Repeat offenders face arrest for up to 36 hours – during which time they will be put before a judge – and fines ranging from 1,700 pesos (US $86) to 8.96 million pesos (US $453,000). Fines previously maxed out at just over 3,000 pesos.
Authorities can also temporarily close businesses, construction sites and other locations that have violated noise regulations, and confiscate their assets, such as sound systems or power tools.
Why the tougher penalties?
Teresa Ramos Arreola, head of the Congress’ environment committee, described noise as a public health problem that can cause sleep disorders, stress, anxiety, depression and neurosis, and exacerbate some cardiovascular conditions.
Excessive noise can also cause temporary and permanent hearing loss, headaches, muscle tension and a range of other health conditions. According to the World Health Organization, people should not be exposed to noise levels above 60 decibels without protection for their ears.
There have long been complaints of excessive noise in Mexico City and calls for the introduction of harsher penalties for the people and establishments that create it. Complaints are commonly made by residents of areas of the city with large numbers of restaurants and entertainment venues, such as the neighborhoods of Roma and Condesa and the capital’s historic center.
Noise generated by public works, aircraft, traffic and street vendors is also frequently complained about by residents of Mexico City.
Who could face the penalties?
The managers/owners of construction sites, workshops, industrial facilities such as factories and entertainment venues are among the people most likely to be sanctioned for violating noise regulations. However, the penalties apply to any citizen violating noise restrictions in the capital.
For example, public transit drivers at the wheel of a bus or taxi and people in private cars could be detained and/or fined if their vehicles or sound systems exceed permitted noise levels.
How can I make a noise complaint?
Mexico City’s Environment and Zoning Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for defending the right of citizens to enjoy an environment free of excessive noise. It can be contacted on the extensions 15410, 15420, 15430, 15450, 15440 and 15212 following the phone number 526 507 80.
Banks feeling the impact of the economic crisis created by the Covid-19 pandemic closed 867 branches in the first quarter of the year and saw the dissolution of more than one million credit card contracts, according to the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).
That has increased the risk of financial exclusion with some communities left without a brick and mortar branch, checking the stated aim of financial institutions to reach all municipalities in the country by 2024.
However, the risk of financial exclusion has been offset by the increase in digital banking and an aversion to cash payments, both of which are also side effects of the pandemic.
The 50 banks operating in Mexico have closed 6% of the points of contact available to customers, and now offer a combined total of 11,912 locations, down from 12,779 in the first quarter of 2020.
Meanwhile, credit card use is down: seven banks — BBVA México, Banorte, Citibanamex, Santander, HSBC, Scotiabank and Inbursa — hold 70% of all credit cards contracts and they ended the first quarter with a total of 27.7 million, down from 28.72 in the same period last year.
The trend away from credit cards is due to a consumer preference for making payments with disposable income and for saving more of what they earn, according to the Association of Mexican Banks (ABM).
Cash payments are another casualty of the pandemic. ATM withdrawals fell by more than two million in the first quarter, while card payments at point of sale terminals increased by more than seven million.
Digital financial tools have profited from the change in consumer habits. Their heightened strength was best reflected in the increase in cell phone transactions during the first three months of the year, which totaled over 52 million, an increase of 26.5% on 2020.
A woman receives a Covid-19 test in Mexico City in January.
New coronavirus cases and Covid-19 deaths have been declining for 19 consecutive weeks, a senior health official said Sunday, but four states recorded an increase in infections in the first two weeks of May compared to the previous fortnight.
Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía said the sustained decrease in cases and deaths was good news but warned citizens not to become complacent and to continue following virus mitigation measures such as social distancing and wearing a face mask.
“… Thanks to the continued implementation of these measures, we’ve been able to have this decrease,” he said.
The national confirmed coronavirus case tally currently stands at 2.38 million while the official Covid-19 death toll is 220,437.
The worst month of the pandemic in Mexico in terms of both new cases and deaths was January but the situation has improved in each subsequent month.
In the first 16 days of May, the Health Ministry reported 37,168 new cases, for a daily average of 2,323. That’s a 34% decline compared to the daily average in April and an 84% drop compared to January.
A total of 3,530 Covid-19 deaths have been reported so far this month for a daily average of 221. That’s a 52% decline compared to reported deaths in April and a 79% drop compared to January, a month in which almost 33,000 fatalities were registered.
Although case numbers have continued to decline at the national level this month, Health Ministry data shows that Baja California, Quintana Roo, Colima and Tamaulipas all recorded more new infections between May 1 and 14 than in the previous two-week period.
New case numbers increased 25.4% in Baja California to 627 from 500 between April 17 and 30. They rose 22.6% in Quintana Roo to 1,478 from 1,205; 20.8% in Colima to 296 from 245; and 12.5% in Tamaulipas to 1,078 from 958.
Quintana Roo currently has the highest hospital occupancy rate for general care beds in the country with 34% of such beds set aside for coronavirus patients taken, according to federal data. Tamaulipas ranks second with an occupancy rate of 18%.
Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquín warned last week that the Caribbean coast state was at high risk of switching to maximum-risk red on the local coronavirus stoplight map due to a recent increase in case numbers.
It is one of just three states that are high-risk orange on the federal stoplight map that is currently in force, the others being Tabasco and Chihuahua. The other 29 states are either medium risk yellow or low-risk green.
A software engineer from Chihuahua was crowned Miss Universe Sunday night at the contest’s 69th pageant in Hollywood, prevailing over contestants from 73 countries.
Andrea Meza, 26, is the third Mexican to win after Mexicali’s Lupita Jones in 1991 and Guadalajara’s Ximena Navarrete in 2010.
Meza graduated from the Autonomous University of Chihuahua in 2017 with a degree in software engineering. She is a tourism ambassador for her home state and a makeup artist in her spare time.
The competition was set to take place last year, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement during the pageant, Meza addressed the topic of modern day beauty standards.
“We live in a society that is increasingly advanced. And just as we have advanced as a society, we also have advanced in terms of stereotypes. Today, beauty does not lie only in how we see ourselves … For me, beauty lies in our spirit, in our soul and in the values which we hold. Never allow anyone to tell you that you are worthless,” she said.
Speaking on Good Morning America on Monday Meza said she first dreamed of taking home the crown when Navarrete triumphed in 2010.
“I used to think that Mexican people were not able to get to these places and to be in these high positions, and after she [Navarrete] won, she changed the mindset that I had,” Meza explained.
However, she said she still had to battle with insecurities to reach the competition. “I didn’t feel capable of doing this. I always thought that I was not pretty enough, that I was not smart enough, and I was afraid of being in front of cameras or microphones, so let’s just say that it was an impossible dream that I had … But I started growing up and I decided that this was the path I needed to take in order to get out of my comfort zone and keep growing,” she said.
She added that she feels a responsibility to represent Mexico and to inspire women. “In order to be … an ambassador of your country, you have to be prepared, and it doesn’t matter the career that you choose. I mean, I’m an engineer, we have doctors, we have administrators, and the amazing thing about Miss Universe is that we have all these well-prepared women,” she said.
While previous polls gave the Morena party a strong lead in the upcoming June 6 elections, new polling suggests that the race is tightening.
The ruling Morena party will lose its exclusive majority in the Chamber of Deputies at the June 6 elections but the coalition it leads will retain control of the lower house of Congress, a new poll indicates.
Morena currently holds 256 of the 500 seats in the lower house but will win only 230 at the upcoming elections, according to the poll conducted by SIMO Consulting for the newspaper El País.
The consulting firm — which last week surveyed 2,000 Mexican adults about their voting intentions and subsequently used a complex mathematical model to estimate the future makeup of the Chamber of Deputies — found that 44% of poll respondents plan to vote for Morena.
The poll found that 5% of respondents intend to vote for the Ecological Green Party of Mexico (PVEM), a Morena ally that was formerly partnered with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). SIMO estimates that the party will win 53 seats in the lower house, 42 more than it currently holds.
Three hundred of the 500 deputies are elected directly. The occupants of the other 200 seats are determined by proportional representation.
Projected seat counts are indicated in the outer arc and current standings underneath. sim consulting
The poll found that 3% of respondents intend to vote for the Labor Party (PT) — another Morena ally. SIMO predicts the party will win 32 seats, a decrease of 14 compared.
If the consulting firm’s predictions come true, the Morena-PVEM-PT alliance will win 315 seats, which would be a strong majority in the lower house but not the two-thirds majority needed to approve constitutional changes.
The figure is 19 fewer than the 334 seats the Morena-led alliance — which also includes the Social Encounter Party (PES) — currently holds. The PES, now known as the Solidary Encounter Party, is predicted to lose all of its 21 seats at the upcoming elections.
SIMO’s poll found that 45% of respondents intend to vote for opposition parties, which are on track to collectively win 185 seats.
The PRI, which suffered a humiliating defeat at the 2018 elections largely as a result of the scandal-plagued presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, will win 19% of the vote and 82 seats in the lower house, according to SIMO, a result that would allow it to supplant the National Action Party (PAN) as the main opposition.
The PRI, which entered into a coalition with the PAN and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) to contest the elections, currently holds just 48 seats.
The conservative PAN will win 18% of the vote and 79 seats, according to SIMO, two more than it currently has.
The leftist PRD — López Obrador’s former party that is now highly critical of the president — will win 3% of the vote and 14 seats, a result would also increase the number of seats the PRD holds by two.
Oraculus also predicts that the ruling party will lose the majority it currently enjoys on its own but anticipates that the Morena-PVEM-PT alliance will win a combined 308 seats.
Another poll indicates that not only will Morena lose its exclusive majority in the Chamber of Deputies but also surrender its control of the house through its alliance.
The Massive Caller poll found 38.7% support for Morena. massive caller
Based on the results of an automated telephone poll conducted last Thursday with 600 people, the polling company Massive Caller predicts that Morena will win just 195 of the 500 seats. The Morena-PVEM-PT alliance will win 242, Massive Caller predicts, meaning that opposition parties — as a result of winning the other 258 seats — would together control the lower house of Congress and have the capacity to scuttle López Obrador’s legislative agenda.
As the Chamber of Deputies is responsible for approving Mexico’s federal budget, the anti-government forces could also force the government to reformulate its spending plans in the second half of its six-year term.
Massive Caller predicts that the PAN will win 150 seats, which would give it the second-highest number of deputies after Morena. It predicts that 71 seats will go to the PRI, the PRD will win 20 and the MC will take 17.
Although the SIMO/El País poll determined that Morena is on track to lose its own majority, it found that AMLO retains a high approval rating 2 1/2 years into his term. Two-thirds of respondents indicated that they approve of the president’s performance, with 30% saying they very much approve and 36% saying they somewhat approve.
Just under a third of respondents — 29% — said they very much or somewhat disapprove of López Obrador’s performance while the remaining 5% either said they didn’t know or didn’t respond.
The president has maintained a high, albeit declining, approval rating in most polls despite widespread criticism of his government’s management of the coronavirus pandemic, an 8.5% economic slump in 2020 and ongoing high levels of violence.
Many polls have previously suggested that his popularity will translate into a strong showing for Morena at the June 6 elections but the most recent surveys clearly show that the race is tightening.
The SIMO and Oraculus polls indicate that the ruling party will have to depend on its allies to pass legislation, while to approve constitutional reforms – which López Obrador has indicated he is prepared to pursue in order to carry out his “fourth transformation” of Mexico – Morena would have to gain the support of at least some opposition lawmakers, which in Mexico’s polarized political landscape would be an extremely difficult, if not outright impossible, task.
The supermarket chain Chedraui has bought 254 U.S. warehouse stores located across California, Arizona and Nevada.
The US $620-million transaction sees Chedraui, through its U.S. subsidiary Bodega Latina, take over the Smart & Final brand from private equity firm Apollo Global Management, which had acquired the company for around $1.2 billion in 2019.
Smart & Final had revenues of approximately $4.1 billion last year, and has 198 stores under the Smart & Final Extra! banner and 56 Smart & Final stores.
Chedraui opened its first supermarket in 1971 in Xalapa, Veracruz, having been founded as a clothing store 44 years earlier by Lebanese immigrants. It operates more than 200 stores in central and southern Mexico and is the third largest retailer after Walmart and Soriana.
Chedraui first entered the US in 1997 with El Super supermarkets in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and acquired the Fiesta Mart chain in Texas in 2018.
Smart & Final CEO David Herz spoke optimistically about joining Chedraui. “Under the ownership of Grupo Comercial Chedraui and Bodega Latina, Smart & Final will benefit from their guidance given their recognized and established position in the food retail space, while contributing our own best practices and experience. Together we will further accelerate our collective growth,” he said.
Travel YouTubers Ernestas Tyminas and Darina Karpitskaya on Mexico City's zócalo.
Ever dream about dropping everything and becoming a full-time nomad? A young couple has been doing just that since early 2019 and have been documenting their visits to destinations around the world over the past two years on YouTube.
Ernestas Tyminas, 28, and Darina Karpitskaya, 30, the creators of the Dream Team Travels channel, recently passed through Mexico for the first time and made a video about their experiences in Mexico City. It has been viewed over 33,000 times.
The couple, currently in Malta, said they were enchanted with Mexico City’s culture, food, architecture and the kindness of its people.
“We spent one week there, and we don’t think we visited half of what we wanted to,” Tyminas said.
In their splashy, jump-cut video, the couple takes viewers to various tourist sites — riding the boats in Xochimilco; visiting Frida Kahlo’s house, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the zócalo; and sampling mezcal for the first time at the Museum of Tequila and Mezcal. Throughout the video, the couple express an almost wide-eyed appreciation for what they described as the city’s beauty, cosmopolitan setting, its friendliness and culture.
Travel YouTubers Ernestas Tyminas and Darina Karpitskaya on the street near Plaza Garibaldi.
“Mexico City was very beautiful and a unique destination,” Tyminas said. “We were impressed by the architecture, the size of the city and how much there is to do! The people were also kind in Mexico City and tried to chat with us.”
A highlight for them was Frida Kahlo’s house, where they loved getting to see the artifacts of her life there with her husband, Diego Rivera. What surprised them about the city, Tyminas said, was the number of police on the streets.
“It was a lot more than anywhere else I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Unlike many such travel videos, they also showed glimpses of the poverty.
“We know that it may be controversial, and locals may not like that, but we try to just show what we see,” he said.
Mexico City is just one of 21 countries the couple has visited. They began traveling in the summer of 2019 after meeting by chance in Beijing.
Mexico City Travel Guide 2022: Things To Do in Mexico City
The YouTubers’ travel video of Mexico City.
Tyminas, then a marketing manager for the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper, was on vacation in Southeast Asia while Karpitskaya, a native of Ukraine and a flight attendant for the Emirates airlines at the time, was on a layover in the city.
The two got to talking and hit it off so well that they kept in touch, and Karpitskaya eventually joined Tyminas on the rest of his vacation. The life-changing experience inspired Tyminas to quit his job and move back to Europe. (He is originally from Lithuania.) Karpitskaya kept her job but began traveling with Tyminas whenever possible.
“We traveled through Europe together as well as the Middle East, and then the pandemic hit,” he said.
Tyminas was visiting his grandmother in Lithuania when Europe began to lock itself down. Meanwhile, Karpitskaya found herself trapped in Dubai, where she was still based due to her job, when the nation banned entry to foreigners. The couple was separated for three months in 2020 until Dubai opened up flights into the country again and Tyminas booked the first flight he could catch.
Karpitskaya, on extended unpaid leave from Emirates, decided to quit her job, and the couple’s full-time adventure began.
“In August, Croatia opened its borders, and we decided to head there,” Tyminas said. “From there, we realized we could drive into the European Union, and thus our nonstop traveling together continued.”
Tyminas and Karpitskaya in Xochimilco.
The pandemic influenced their decision to begin filming their journeys and posting the videos on YouTube.
“When we came to Croatia during the pandemic, we realized that no one was traveling, and we decided to share our trips and all the beautiful destinations we were able to explore,” Tyminas said. “A lot of travel vloggers were at home or making vans to explore their own countries, and we felt like people were not getting to see beautiful travel videos to help them with their wanderlust.”
Their travels haven’t stopped since. Travel in the Covid-19 era has been a challenge, he admits, and they have often had to choose where to travel next based on what was open to nonessential travel and where the spirit took them. They check every week online to see which countries are open to travelers and always wear masks and use hand sanitizer wherever they go, Tyminas said.
Tyminas said they will keep on traveling full-time for another couple of years.
“We would like to have a home base,” he said. “Maybe in a year or two, we will find this perfect destination to call home.”
Cup of gourmet hot chocolate from Jangala: Cacao y Selva cafe in 'San Cris.' courtesy of Jangala: Cacao y Selva
It’s a far cry from what 88-year-old expat and artist Helen Bickham remembers about visiting San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, in the 1960s: back then, she found an isolated town, a village even, somewhat hostile to outsiders.
Five decades later, “San Cris” is not only a lot bigger, its streets are filled with shops, foreigners and cafes to rival anything in Europe or the United States.
But to say that the influx of tourists and expats has created a culture of drinking good coffee and chocolate in San Cristóbal would not be accurate. They have had a definite effect, but what is found today is based on what has been accomplished here long before the Zapatista Revolution put Chiapas into the world’s consciousness.
Let’s start with chocolate: in beverage form, it had an important place in Mesoamerican cultures long before the arrival of the Spanish. After the colonial era began, the Spanish eagerly sipped the frothy hot liquid as well.
There is a great story that says that in 1625, the bishop of San Cristóbal, Bernardino de Salazar, was poisoned by some upper-class ladies because he tried to stop them from serving and drinking chocolate in church during Mass. True? Who knows? But a good story to show how hooked the Spanish got.
View of Real de Guadalupe, the main tourist corridor in San Cristóbal. Alejandro Linares García
Coffee would later replace hot chocolate even in Chiapas for the vast majority of adults. When Kiki Suárez started her La Galería cafe in 1979, she says, chocolate was not that popular. But it has since reemerged.
Most cafes in San Cristóbal serve at least one version of the drink. Although Oaxaca is better known for hot chocolate, San Cristóbal’s selections and preparation are more varied and, in my opinion, superior.
Oaxaca chocolate is invariably mixed with large quantities of sugar. In San Cristóbal, chocolate comes with varying levels of it, from something similar to that of Oaxaca (50% sugar) to preparations that are 80% and even 100% cacao.
Pro tip: if there is sediment at the bottom of your chocolate cup, you had the real deal, not Nestlé’s fake Abuelita, so don’t let that turn you off.
There are businesses in the city that focus solely on preparing and selling local and regional chocolate. They range from traditional artisanal preparations such as those available from Otoch Chukwá, which claims to be the first modern chocolatería in San Cristóbal, to completely modern operations such as Jangala: Cacao y Selva (formerly Alkymia), using up-to-date scientific methods in cultivation and processing as part of the global bean-to-bar movement.
Both businesses have branched into the creation of gourmet eating chocolate, a market that has been ignored by most Mexican chocolate producers. One reason for this is that cacao beans are traditionally coarsely ground in Mexico because of its history as a drink and the use of stone mortars called metates. Fine grinds for candy were developed in Europe. Despite having introduced the world to chocolate, Mexico cannot compete with Asia or Africa for the mass production of the bean. Its future lies in specialty niche markets, says Julio Salazar of Jangala.
Coffee at La Frontera cafe in San Cristóbal. Wikimedia Commons
Coffee is neither native to the region nor has the long history in Mexico that chocolate has. But in the early 20th century, the Mexican government introduced and encouraged coffee cultivation in Chiapas and other parts of Mexico to give people living in certain impoverished areas a cash crop. Its popularity with growers was not just because it brings in money. Growers and other locals found they liked the caffeine jolt like the rest of the world.
Until recently, much of the preparation of coffee followed that of chocolate, with beans roasted on the same comales used for tortillas and ground in the same metates and molcajetes (mortar and pestles) used for corn and salsas, says David Benjamin Briones of Black Dragon Coffee Center in the city. The resulting brew, he says, was not very good as roasting was at best uneven.
Kiki Suárez agrees. The main reason she opened La Galería (Today named Kikimundo/Santa Nagual) was that she missed the quality coffee and cakes she enjoyed in her native Germany.
It is now a given that those in San Cristóbal have access to good quality, affordable chocolate and coffee. Expats may not come to live in the city because of coffee and chocolate, but most find it an added bonus.
The growth of the city, tourism and an expat community has meant an explosion in cafes in San Cristóbal. Briones says that once locals tasted coffee prepared with better techniques and equipment, they demanded quality as well.
The city now hosts cafes not only in the downtown tourist corridor but in other neighborhoods where they serve both coffee and chocolate.
Demonstration of making fine eating chocolate into bars at Jangala: Cacao y Selva in San Cristóbal.
Cafes in San Cristóbal do have a number of things in common: almost all are interested in the local ecosystems and populations, and many are also supportive of the arts. Many of these businesses are owned by people from outside Chiapas, including more than a few foreigners. Perhaps this is because, as Briones says. “Chiapas’ profile as a coffee producer is much higher than it used to be, even from 10 years ago.”
There is a strong belief here that both Chiapas chocolate and coffee are world-class and will get their due.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
