Representatives of civil and government groups meet to discuss the upcoming Mar. 8 march. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
Feminist activists and security officials held apublic meeting in Mexico City on Thursday, with the aim of improving mutual understanding ahead of the International Women’s Day march on Mar. 8.
The discussion was organized by the Ministry of Citizen Security (SSC) and moderated by Geraldina Gonález Vega, president of the Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination in Mexico City (Copred).
International Women’s Day marches in Mexico City last year were peaceful overall, following some violence that broke out in 2020 and 2021. (Twitter)
Participants shared their perspectives on gender violence, sexual harassment and discrimination, with special mention of the additional stigma faced by trans women. They also discussed the role of the police in relation to these issues and how to address gender bias in law enforcement.
The panel also included: Inspector General Lucía Karen Pérez Ortiz, regional director of the Benito Juárez borough; Chief Inspector Itzania Sandibel Otero Manzo, director of the Atenea Women’s Metropolitan Unit; Paula Salcedo, a member of the pro-civil liberties group Article 19; and Eli Romano Zavala, a psychologist and founder of the activist group Unspeakables, which deals with gender violence.
One aim of the discussion was to promote dialogue between policewomen and activists to reduce the risk of violence during the protest. The Women’s Day protest in Mexico City has drawn thousands of participants in recent years, with some violent clashes breaking out in 2020 and 2021.
The 2022 march, however, was more peaceful, with protesters even giving flowers to police. All panelists agreed that this year’s march should aim for the same level of mutual respect.
“On this march the majority of us are women, which is what we want,” said Inspector General Pérez. “What we least want is for someone to be injured.”
“For the SSC the priority in the marches…is to safeguard the integrity of each and every one of the participants,” she added. “That all the women who participate in them, including the policewomen, leave without harm.”
She also spoke of her own experience as a policewoman in a male-dominated profession.
“It is difficult in an institution where the male gender continues to predominate,” she said. “It has cost us work but today [there] are more than 70 women in command positions, showing that we know, [and] that we are capable. That helps us to be empathetic towards protesters.”
Policewomen in attendance at the public discussion held with feminist activists (Andrea Murcia Monsivais / Cuartoscuro.com)
“We also want to shout…we are also feminists,” Chief Inspector Manzo added. “I am a policewoman and a female citizen, that was the most difficult thing at the time, because we didn’t know whether to defend or support, or care, or protect.”
The activists on the panel added their own views on the importance of the march in the context of the inequality, repression and violence faced by women in Mexico.
“All protests are legitimate and respond to a demand for justice,” Salcedo said. “It is essential that police understand that the right to protest and express oneself freely is a fundamental human right. Repression and violence only perpetuate the injustices we are trying to combat.”
“We shouldn’t have to go out and march for our rights,” Romano added. “We are unhappy with the state that is not achieving fair guarantee and respect for those rights.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard, left, shakes hands in New Delhi with India's Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh. The two men signed an agreement for their two countries to collaborate on tech development projects ranging from areas such as electromobility to low-cost vaccine development. (Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter)
Mexico and India have reached an agreement to collaborate on projects across a range of areas, including water management and the production of low-cost vaccines.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard joined Indian Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh in New Delhi Saturday to witness the signing of the agreement between the ministry he heads and India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), Ebrard announced that Mexico and India will collaborate on and jointly finance “binational development and innovation projects in several fields,” including ones related to water, lithium, the aerospace industry, biotechnology and vaccines.
Under the new agreement, the SRE statement added, “both countries will identify priority projects for development, among which are water management, development of electro-mobility and production of vaccines at low cost.”
Electromobility refers to e-vehicles, including automobiles but also other forms of transport such as seagoing vessels such as ships and ferries.
Mexico and India agreed to contribute US $500,000 each to a fund to finance the binational projects.
Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Minister, right, at demonstration of e-vehicle battery swapping at a station for electric motorcycles by the Indian company Sun Mobility. Ebrard discussed with the company the possibility of building such stations in Mexico. (Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter)
Once the fund is established, “various research institutions will be called upon to implement the selected projects,” Ebrard said.
India, like Mexico, is seeking to exploit reserves of lithium, a key component in electric vehicle batteries. The south Asian nation — the world’s fifth largest economy — currently relies on imports of lithium for its manufacturing sector.
The exact nature of Mexico and India’s proposed lithium-related project, or projects, was unclear.
The SRE statement also noted that Ebrard met in Delhi with Rajat Malhan, vice president of Sun Mobility, a company that operates battery swapping stations for riders of electric motorcycles.
Ebrard said that the company would seek Mexican partners in order to establish similar stations in Mexico.
“We had the pleasure of demonstrating our battery swapping solution to @m_ebrard … during his visit to Delhi. It is highly motivating for us to receive such a positive response for our solutions that are “Made in India for the world,” Sun Mobility said on Twitter.
The new Mexican consulate in Mumbai, India. (Foreign Affairs Ministry/Twitter)
Earlier last week, Ebrard met briefly with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while attending the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Delhi. He passed on the “greetings and affection” of the people of Mexico and President López Obrador, the SRE said.
The foreign minister’s trip to India coincided with the opening of a Mexican Consulate in Mumbai, the country’s financial hub.
In a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Kalam Abdul Momen, Ebrard announced that Mexico would open an embassy in Bangladesh in the second half of 2023.
The SRE said that Mexico “is interested in strengthening business and cooperation with Bangladesh, particularly in the pharmaceutical, agroindustry and technological sectors.”
These towering 'castles' are the biggest, highest-profile examples of the pyrotechnics artisan tradition in Tultepec, but others include fireworks-rigged papier mache bulls or Judas figures. All three types are popular throughout Mexico. (Photo: Guillermo Rivera/Turismo Mexiquense)
I have a confession. The first time I heard the oh-so-common sound of bottle rockets going off in Mexico, my first thought was “gunfire.” But, then, I had lived 11 years in Arizona.
As should surprise no one, fireworks are an incredibly big business in Mexico. The Mexican government calculates that a staggering 5.87 billion pesosare spent each year in the country on fireworks, just for patron saint days, as it is unthinkable to do without them.
A fireworks artisan climbs the wooden structure that will hold countless fireworks for a castillo. (Photo: Fans of Feria Internacional de la Pirotecnia Tultepec/Facebook)
But unlike in many other countries, few of Mexico’s pyrotechnics shows are highly regimented affairs done only by professionals. Instead, most are made by artisans for individuals and small communities.
Traditional Mexican fireworks are a folk art, on par with others like pottery and textiles. This is reinforced by the construction of castillos (castles). It is one of several culturally important structures in Mexico that get laden with fireworks — but probably the most impressive, both because of size and because of the wide range of creative variations.
A castillo is one or more towers made from wood, onto which a fireworks show is attached. The show centers on wheels placed on the tower(s), which are powered by small rockets affixed to the edges.
Like toritos (little bulls) and Judas effigies, the public can get pretty darn close to the action, but what really sets these castillos apart are the scale.
Quema de Toros Tultepec 2022 🔥Mejores Momentos 🔥
This video from 2022’s pyrotechnics fair at Tultepec shows what it’s like to be up close to the not-so-small toritos (little bull) at the Tultepec fair when they are set off, much to spectators’ delight.
Typically between 8–12 meters tall, castillos cost between 50,000 and 250,000 pesos per tower, meaning that only parishes, municipalities and other large organizations can afford to commission one — and only for important events such as patron saint days and major political holidays.
There are two kinds of castillos. Which is used depends on when they are intended to be used.
Those destined for a nighttime event night are fireworks-heavy, providing both wheel motion and a colorful show. Those intended for the daytime have spinning wheels as well, but the visual is provided by decorative paper and/or whimsical papier mache figures.
Despite their cost, Mexico ranks first in the world in the making of castillos, according to the Instituto Mexiquense de la Pirotecnia (Mexican Pyrotechnics Institute). An average of 51,922 castillos are set off per year — again, just for patron saint days — costing a whopping 2.6 billion pesos, a close second to individual fireworks sales.
México state accounts for over 60% of the country’s fireworks production, but when you talk about fireworks, you talk about the municipality of Tultepec. Located just north of Mexico City proper, Tultepec has produced fireworks (and gunpowder) since the colonial period.
Most of the population is involved in the industry in one way or another, from the making of the fireworks proper to making castillos, toritos, Judases and more.
Castillos, Judases and toritos can share elements of Tuletepec’s intertwined pyrotechnics traditions. This Judas/devil is destined for the top of a tower. (Photo: Alejandro Linares García)
All these are still done by hand in small workshops and factories. Officially regulated by the Secretary of National Defense, there is still a laissez-faire attitude about the constructions of these items that might shock those of us from more regulation-heavy countries.
Do accidents happen? Absolutely, but efforts to completely control production and sales have met with resistance.
Tultepec’s patron saint is John of God, and like other municipalities, his annual feast day on March 8 has been an important opportunity to promote its main economic activity. Such promotion began in the late 19th century, focusing on bulls and religion, but since the National Pyrotechnic Festival (Feria Nacional de Pirotechnia) was established in 1989, the festival has grown and secularized tremendously.
The event now runs over a week, both before and after the saint’s day, but the running of fireworks-laden bulls in honor of the saint is now only one of various attractions, such as concerts, dances, sky lantern releases and various fireworks competitions.
Originally, only Tultepec artisans could compete, but now Mexican and even international fireworks makers can demonstrate their skills in castillos, pyrotechnics displays set to music and more.
Castillo artisans compete in two categories, day and night, on two different days, with teams of a dozen or more working frantically for two weeks to build structures between 25–30 meters tall, loaded with fireworks and various gizmos.
A “Rugrats”-themed papier mache decoration being assembled in Tultepec. (Photo: Alejandro Linares García)
The festival is still organized and controlled locally, but México state provides significant support as fireworks can drop anywhere from 500 million to 1.2 billion pesos into México state’s economy in any given year. The festival is now a major regional tourist attraction.
Decades ago, fairgrounds were established primarily for the castillos, but with crowds reaching 250,000, just about all activities have now been moved over to the area in the Pico de Orizaba/Tlamelaca neighborhood.
Although no longer local, the National Fireworks Festival is still extremely important for Tultepec. Long-ago swallowed up by Mexico City urban sprawl, the municipality struggles to maintain a distinct identity. The attention is also important because, like other Mexican folk art, handcrafted pyrotechnics is in danger of disappearing, thanks to cheaper fireworks imports from China and elsewhere.
The state admits that its technology is at least 50 years behind the rest of the world. But Mexican fireworks and their displays have links to culture and tradition that foreign rockets cannot hope to match.
Castillo pyrotechnics competitors are showing their stuff at the fair this Saturday, as this group of fans of the fair publicized on Facebook. (Photo: Fans of Feria Internacional de la Pirotecnia Tultepec/Facebook)
This year’s festival starts Friday and runs until March 13. If you’re not able to get there, many of the events are televised, and you can also see it on videos available on YouTube and other social media.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico over 20 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.
AMLO covered the Maya Train opening date to Tesla's big announcement to Mexico having "more democracy" than the US in this week's morning press conferences (Gob MX)
On his social media accounts last Saturday, he shared a photo “taken by a [Maya Train] engineer three days ago” that purported to show one of the mythical creatures. In addition to going viral, his (tongue in cheek?) Facebook and Twitter posts spawned countless media reports, including articles by The Associated Press and The New York Times.
Hace poco, en el carnaval de Hecelchakán, Campeche, hicieron una representación de lo mismo. El pueblo del sureste se apropió del Tren Maya. Es —como dirían los que hablan “físico”— parte del imaginario colectivo. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/CeHhpQTuxe
AMLO also shared this video of a carnival in Campeche where a representation of the Maya Train was part of the festivities.
Monday
The general director of the state-owned, military-run Maya Train company announced early in the mañanera that the new 1,554-kilometer-long railroad would begin operations on Dec. 1.
Óscar Lozano Águila said the company he heads would take possession of the first train on July 8 and subsequently begin tests to ensure that the railroad – which will link cities and towns in Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas – is ready for service on the slated opening date.
At the top of his presser, AMLO asserted that the rail project is the most important in the world in several respects.
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval at the Monday press conference update on the Maya Train (Gob MX)
“There is nothing anywhere in the world like this project [in terms of] its ecological, touristic, archaeological, cultural and artistic importance,” he said. “We’re talking about the connection of ancient Mayan cities of the great Mesoamerican nation. There is no other region like it in the world.”
In response to his first question of the week, López Obrador said that attendees at Sunday’s demonstrations against the recently-approved electoral reform and in defense of the National Electoral Institute (INE) are opposed to the “transformation of the country” his government is carrying out.
“They want to keep stealing, … they want to keep the majority of Mexicans on the margins, in oblivion,” he said.
The president also said that the majority of “the leaders who organize these marches and those who participate” were part of previous governments.
“They’ve been defenders of electoral frauds, formed part of the corruption in Mexico, belonged to the narco-state that, as has been shown with the García Luna matter, was imposed during two six-year periods of government, that of Vicente Fox and that of Felipe Calderón,” he said.
“When they say ‘don’t touch the INE,’ what they’re thinking is don’t touch corruption, don’t touch privileges, don’t touch the narco state.”
López Obrador later added to his criticism of the Peruvian government led by Dina Boluarte, who succeeded the ousted Pedro Castillo last December.
“We don’t accept the whole farce … [of] the removal of president Pedro Castillo because the will of the people of Peru wasn’t respected, democracy was trampled on and a great injustice was committed by dismissing and jailing him and then establishing an authoritarian, repressive government,” he said.
“… An oligarchy in Peru, national but mainly foreign, is looting the natural resources of Peru – gas, mineral resources – and they need a puppet, … a ruler and a Congress to suit their needs,” López Obrador added.
Abruptly bringing his press conference to a close, the president revealed he had a call scheduled with Elon Musk, CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla.
“I want to be punctual for … what’s it called? A teleconference, yes, and I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.”
Tuesday
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell – a household name in Mexico due to his leadership of the government’s pandemic response – noted that it was three years to the day since the first COVID case was confirmed here.
“Throughout these three years the epidemic has been characterized by a series of waves, or rises and falls in the intensity of transmission,” he said.
The coronavirus czar said that the sixth wave was continuing to recede, but the pace of the descent had slowed in the past four weeks.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell provides a national COVID-19 update (Gob MX)
Continuing the government’s health update, the director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) said that IMSS hospitals would seek to retain the services of 5,600 specialist doctors who recently completed their residencies.
“Starting tomorrow we’re going to … offer them a labor option so that they continue working but with new conditions and new opportunities,” Zoé Robledo said.
He said that the number of IMSS training hospitals had increased from 200 to 400, allowing the public health care provider to train and retain more specialists.
López Obrador later remarked that “the right to health” is guaranteed across Mexico, even in “the most remote communities.”
“… I reaffirm the commitment that this year we will complete a universal, effective and free health system, the Denmark commitment still stands,” he added, referring to an ambitious – and likely unachievable – pledge to have a system comparable to that in the Scandinavian country.
“[Denmark] has a good health system. In Denmark what is known as the welfare state is established and that’s what we want to establish in Mexico. In Denmark, you have a pension when you turn 65, the entire health system is free, education is public and free, students are granted scholarships,” López Obrador said.
“That’s the welfare state; it’s guaranteeing humans protection from the cradle to the grave, that’s the responsibility of the state.”
Keeping his word, AMLO updated reporters on his conversation with Elon Musk.
Tesla, he announced, would build a plant in Monterrey under an agreement that includes “a series of commitments to address the problem of water scarcity” in Nuevo León.
Nuevo León governor Samuel García (right) posted this photo with Tesla CEO Elon Musk the day of the gigafactory announcement (@SamuelGarciaS Twitter)
“I spoke with Elon Musk on two occasions via videoconference, Friday night from Chetumal and yesterday morning. He was very receptive, understanding our concerns and accepting our proposals,” López Obrador said.
“With all respect I say to Mr. [Antony] Blinken of the State Department that there is currently more democracy in Mexico than in the United States,” he said. “… When I say that we have more democracy than them it’s because the people rule here and the oligarchy rules there.”
Wednesday
AMLO opened his third mañanera of the week with an encapsulation of his government’s purpose.
“We’re working to transform Mexico from below and with the people,” he said before handing the reins to fake news prospector Ana Elizabeth García Vilchis.
García, who has been presenting the weekly “Who’s who in the lies of the week” segment since 2021, took aim at a headline in the Reforma newspaper, a favorite punching bag of her boss. The headline – US Congress: AMLO is sabotaging democracy – is not an accurate description of the content of the story, she bemoaned.
“It indicates that the Congress of the United States asserted that the president of Mexico is sabotaging democracy, but that headline is a lie. In reality they’re two members of Congress out of 535 federal lawmakers in the United States. One of those is Bob Menendez, a Democratic Party senator of Cuban origin and a known enemy of leftist governments in Latin America, and [the other is] Republican Party representative Michael McCaul, an avowed anti-Mexican and supporter of the border wall,” García said.
“It’s obviously not true that the U.S. Congress has made a statement on the electoral reform in Mexico,” she said.
AMLO at the Wednesday morning press conference. (Cuartoscuro)
Back at the helm of his presser, López Obrador offered his view on a judge’s decision to invalide a warrant for the arrest of former Tamaulipas governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca on organized crime and money laundering charges.
“It’s part of the decadence of the judicial power. It hasn’t been possible to reform this power, which comes from the old regime and is … plagued by corruption,” he said.
“… Unfortunately there is protection for common criminals … and protection for white collar criminals … – they were the favorite sons of the old regime. Hopefully the judicial power reforms itself.”
Asked about Mexican soldiers’ alleged murder of five young and apparently unarmed men including a United States citizen in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, last Sunday, López Obrador said that the government had asked the National Human Rights Commission to conduct an investigation and that military authorities are cooperating so that “if members of the army are responsible, they’re punished.”
The president – who has highlighted that the number of people killed in armed clashes between the military and cartels has declined since he took office – added that his administration is different from those led by former president Felipe Calderón, who launched a militarized “war on drugs” shortly after he took office, and his predecessor Vicente Fox.
“[The strategy] isn’t ‘kill them in the heat of the moment,’ we really respect human rights,” he said.
Among other remarks, López Obrador said that Elon Musk is interested in investing in Mexico beyond the Tesla plant in Nuevo León and revealed that he had invited him to visit.
“I’m thinking about getting him to go to Sonora to see the solar energy plant … and all the potential there is there in copper and lithium,” he said.
“I clarified that lithium has already been nationalized but that doesn’t mean we can’t reach an agreement. Lithium belongs to Mexicans but if you buy the raw material, put it in battery factories in Sonora, give work to sonorenses, to Mexicans, an agreement can be reached.”
Thursday
AMLO boasted early in his presser that the Mexican peso has appreciated just over 10% against the U.S. dollar since he took office in late 2018, outperforming other currencies around the world.
“This hadn’t been seen in half a century,” he said before presenting data that showed that the peso depreciated during comparable periods of the sexenios (six-year periods of government) of his six most recent predecessors.
“If we go further back, it’s 50 years [since the peso appreciated during a sexenio],” López Obrador said.
Continuing an economic update, he declared that foreign investment in Mexico in 2023 will be “exceptional” and noted that the government is “conservatively” forecasting 3% economic growth this year.
“Only in this are we conservatives,” he quipped, using a word he normally reserves for past governments and critics of his administration.
The 69-year-old president later announced that Mexico and other Latin American countries would cooperate on a regional anti-inflation plan. Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Honduras would take part, he indicated.
“We’re going to have … a teleconference for this purpose on April 5 … and later an in-person meeting,” López Obrador said, adding that the governments of the respective countries would immediately start work to “seek exchanges in the export and import of food and other goods with the aim of tackling the high cost of living together.”
“… We’re going to invite producers, distributors, traders, importers, those who sell, those who buy. This has to do with food, getting [good] prices, removing tariffs, barriers that prevent food from being obtained at a good price for the internal market of the countries,” he said.
AMLO in his office (Lopezobrador.org.mx)
During his subsequent Q & A session with reporters, AMLO was asked whether he would ask his successor to re-present the constitutional electoral reform bill that was rejected by Congress late last year.
“I’m not going to give orders or instructions,” retorted López Obrador, who has committed to staying out of politics once his term as president concludes next year.
However, he added that if his “transformation” of Mexico is to continue, and a Morena party president “wants to finish cleaning up corruption in the country, purify public life” and “continue helping” Mexico’s most disadvantaged people, a two-thirds majority in Congress, rather than the simple one Morena and its allies currently have, “is needed” so that modifications to the constitution can be made.
In response to another question, López Obrador said that he had no problem with United States Ambassador Ken Salazar’s remark that protests in Mexico, such as those held across the country last Sunday, should be “celebrated” because they’re “part of a democracy that has an opinion.”
He subsequently reiterated his claim that there is “more democracy” in Mexico than in the United States and asserted that U.S. officials have a “bad habit” and even “an obsession” of intervening in the affairs of other countries.
“It dates back about 200 years, but I hope it will go away, it’s an illness that will go away with time,” López Obrador said.
Friday
AMLO arrived at his presser just after 7:20 a.m. and immediately advised reporters that he would visit no fewer than six states – Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, Jalisco, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes – over the weekend.
“It’s basically supervision of water supply projects for the people – aqueducts, diversion dams – and also evaluation of the progress of [construction] of the branches of the [state-owned] Wellbeing Bank,” he said.
AMLO with Interior Minister Adán Augusto López (Gob MX)
López Obrador and his interior minister, fellow tabasqueño Adán Augusto López Hernández, subsequently spent the majority of the mañanera defending the newly promulgated modifications to five electoral laws.
The “Plan B” electoral reform “has been the target of a series of attacks, of a strategy clearly designed by the opposition based on falsehoods,” López Hernández said.
“… It’s not true that powers are taken away from the National Electoral Institute [INE] or the Electoral Tribunal. On the contrary, powers that local [electoral] councils or local committees had disappear and they’re all concentrated in a single sanctioning procedure that will be regulated by … the National Electoral Institute,” he said.
The interior minister asserted that the electoral reform would put an end to the “golden bureaucracy” at INE by eliminating undue benefits for employees, and claimed that the number of dismissals of INE employees will be much lower than critics of the reform claim.
López Obrador went on the attack when a reporter told him that the Institute for Legal Research at the National Autonomous University had described the electoral reform as a “backward step.”
“When did this institute protest during the neoliberal period? … Was there any protest … when the reforms to private education and health were presented? … Did they protest when the young men from Ayotzinapa disappeared? Did they protest when due to the privatization of social security the appalling [fire] at the ABC daycare center occurred?” he asked.
“[They didn’t protest] any of them,” AMLO said before claiming that the institute’s academics are part of the old “regime” of corrupt governments. “When have they protested the [electoral] frauds? Never,” he added.
The president rejected suggestions that the reform would undermine Mexico’s electoral processes and allow the federal government to intervene in them.
“We’re democrats, because we suffered from electoral frauds, we were victims of electoral frauds like millions of Mexicans,” said López Obrador, who claimed he was the rightful winner of the 2006 presidential election.
“Now that we’re in government, it would be a contradiction to act like [former president Vicente] Fox, who became a traitor of democracy,” he said. “… This reform doesn’t affect citizens or democracy at all.”
Maraschino cherries traditionally add a playful touch of color to this classic cake.
Maybe you, like me, love pineapple in any way, shape or form: fresh, sweet and juicy; cooked and caramelized; in sweet or savory dishes… Even just the smell of a ripe piña on the counter or when you cut one is enough to make me smile in anticipation of the delicious treat ahead.
And that’s been one of those little blessings about living in Mexico: the easy availability of fresh tropical fruits. (Don’t even get me started on mangoes!) So it should come as no surprise that Pineapple Upside-Down Cake is high on my list of favorite desserts.
First things first: how to pick a great pineapple?
Pineapples will ripen on the counter, turning from green to golden in a few days or a week, depending on the temperature where you are.
You want one where the golden yellow color is visible “behind” the green, more raised parts of the skin. The picture above shows the difference: unripe and green on the right, ripe and golden on the left. (It drives me crazy watching contestants on “The Great British Bake Off” use bright green, unripe pineapples in their bakes!)
At that ripe stage, it should smell deliciously sweet, and sometimes you’ll be able to easily pull a leaf or two from the top with no resistance, although that’s not always the case. Tip from a pineapple lover: when they’re in season, the Miel (honey) variety — small, roundish and kind of adorable — are incredible.
Without a corer, you need to have patience and finesse — and a really sharp knife — to cut your fresh pineapple into perfect rings. Is it possible? Of course.
My method is to twist and break off the leaves, cut the top and bottom ends off and then cut the whole thing cleanly in half vertically, and in half again, this time horizontally. Next, carefully cut out the cores and then slice into ½-inch half-circles. That’s the best I can do, and it’s just fine.
That said, there are all sorts of ways to place the pineapple on your cake: classic rings, half-circles, triangles, even chunks. Slivered or shredded dried coconut, sliced mango, pecans and — yes, if you must — maraschino cherries can be added too. And then there’s this Apple Upside-Down Cake, for a horse of another color.
You could, of course, use canned pineapple, already cut into perfect rings. And you could also just use a packaged yellow cake mix, mixed and poured on top of the pineapple in the pan. But we’re made of better stuff than that, now, aren’t we? And with fresh pineapples so easy to come by here, there’s really no reason not to make this classic dessert from scratch.
Things to watch out for: Don’t cook the sugar syrup too long, or it will turn into candy. You don’t need to use a food thermometer — just keep an eye on it, use a timer and don’t cook it for more than 2–3 minutes. Do you need to use parchment paper to help the cake come out of the pan? You can, but, personally, I haven’t found it necessary. The buttery syrup on the bottom ensures the cake will release easily — as long as you do it when the cake is still warm.
There are many ways to cut fresh pineapples for this cake: rings, half-circles or chunks will all work fine.
The original recipe calls for using a cast-iron skillet, so use one if you have it. Don’t fret though — it works just as well in a cake pan or a stainless steel skillet. Skillet cakes with fruit, while popular for centuries in Europe and then America, only included pineapple after about 1920, when Dole invented a machine to cut pineapples into perfect rings.
One more note: This cake recipe may seem a bit complicated, but it’s really not — there are just a lot of simple steps. You’re sifting the dry ingredients (remember, airy flour equals a light cake), beating the egg whites till fluffy, whisking the yolks and then combining everything. These extra steps make a memorable cake.
Fresh Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
For the cake:
1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
2 large eggs, yolks separated from whites, at room temperature
8 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
½ cup milk, at room temperature
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
For the topping:
4 Tbsp. butter, cold
¾ cup brown sugar or grated piloncillo, packed
One medium fresh pineapple, cut into rings, half-circles or chunks
Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C). Lightly grease a 9-inch cast-iron skillet or a 9×2-inch square or round cake pan.
Whisk or sieve together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Whisk egg yolks; set aside. Beat whites separately until light and frothy; set aside.
With a mixer, cream butter until soft and smooth. Gradually beat in sugar, then egg yolks, mixing until smooth. Add milk alternately with flour mixture, mixing gently but thoroughly after each addition. Fold in beaten whites, then vanilla. Batter will be thick.
To make the topping, melt butter in the skillet, if using; sprinkle sugar evenly on top. Simmer about 2 minutes until sugar lightens in color and begins to bubble and crystallize. If using a cake pan, melt butter and sugar in a saucepan and then transfer to cake pan.
Remove from heat and gently arrange pineapple on top of hot syrup and pecans or coconut, if using. (Cherries go in after baking.) Spoon batter on top. Bake cake 35–45 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove cake from oven. Using a knife, loosen edges. Let cool 5 minutes, then lay a plate on top of cake and quickly invert. Lift the pan off the cake, scraping any pineapple or brown sugar from the pan onto the cake, if it sticks. If using cherries, place them atop the warm cake, pressing in gently.
Best served immediately while warm. Store at room temperature, well-wrapped, for several days; freeze for longer storage. — Adapted from King Arthur Baking
Christina's family outing to the "ciclovía" every Sunday in Cabo San Lucas. (Christina Whiteley)
To catch up on Christina’s story so far, read Part 1 and Part 2.
Every Sunday, my family and I go downtown to the Ciclovía Recreativa to meet up with friends so our kids can ride their bikes together down the main drag here in Cabo San Lucas. They shut down the street from 7am-11am so families can walk, ride bikes, rollerblade, exercise and dance together.
Enjoying Sunday out on the ciclovía (Christina Whitely)
This past weekend my friend Crystal said casually, “isn’t this amazing? Everyone comes here to vacation and we get to live here.” It made me smile ear to ear because every Sunday I feel this way, and reflect on how lucky we are to have “time freedom” with our family, because the older I get the more I realize that the ultimate luxury is having the time to do what we want in life.
It is interesting to see how our values have shifted post-pandemic-, and that lifestyle has become a a greater measure of success over income alone. As we walk down the road, palm trees blowing in the crisp pacific breeze, past the marina lined with fishing boats, luxury cruisers and boat tours, many people stop to greet us and Larry, our miniature Australian shepherd, who’s living his best life in the desert. Our daughter Izzy loves playing with the kids and meeting new friends, regardless of common language. They ride, chase each other and laugh together.
When we came here, we learned a lot about ourselves. We flew down with 7 suitcases (one filled only with educational material and Christmas presents) and lived out of them for 8 months. We learned we could live with so much less. This lesson was magnified when we went home for the summer to clear out our storage unit with all of our worldly possessions. It’s certainly humbling to pack up everything you own into a 8 x 5 ft trailer.
One of my biggest lessons in life, and definitely when moving from Canada to Cabo, has been that your risk is equal to the size of your reward. Most people want a small risk, a small challenge and to reap a BIG reward… but that’s not how it works. We’ve definitely had some challenges with communication and setting up services such as phone, banking, electricity and internet… and there are cultural and linguistic differences, however I can’t help but gush over our lifestyle. In Mexico, we see a culture that truly values family and prioritizes time together. Every day, we are reminded of what matters most in life – discovering other currencies in life beyond money.
Izzy and Larry on the beach (Christina Whiteley)
That leads me to question what our society defines as luxurious and what it means to live a life of luxury. For our family, it’s about working hard towards what you want. It’s not having the biggest house (the most debt) or the nicest cars on the block (consumer debt), it’s about our quality of life. Many people don’t want to be house poor anymore and are feeling the pinch with climbing interest rates, instead they want to be debt free. Look at the tiny house movement!
Many have maxed out credit cards because their daily cost of living has gone through the roof and they are putting essentials such as groceries, gas, phone and electricity on their credit cards just to keep up, and that comes with 20% interest which just compounds the problem. Many parents we talk to don’t want to put their kids in daycare and have them raised by strangers just to break even at the end of the month. They want to work from home so that they can be more present and spend more than dinner and bath time with their kids.
Our generation is starting to shift beliefs, where luxury and privilege should no longer be defined by designer handbags, clothing and expensive shoe purchases, but instead by having time and financial freedom with a focus on health and well-being. Back home, the level of consumerism has become unsustainable because wages have not kept up with the cost of living which means consumers can’t afford to keep up with their spending habits.
I’ve noticed that people aren’t willing to work to the point of burn out anymore and are changing their careers so they can live more in alignment with their belief systems. We see things starting to shift, and people are beginning to value their freedom more than they value the things they can buy. Covid changed that. It gave us a mandatory time out to gain perspective on the lives we were living and the jobs we were using to pay our bills, then allowed us the time and space to rearrange our priorities. Some people worked from home, some people left their jobs and took on completely different careers, but one thing remained consistent, people started to change how they valued money, and what they were willing to give up in exchange for it.
Post-COVID, in this new emerging economy, luxury means something different. Our purpose is emerging at the forefront of our earning. Luxury is no longer just measured in dollars, but it is now measured in lifestyle, freedom, health and community. Too much has changed around us and within us. Adaptability will be key to survival and growth as there is no going back to the lives we lived pre-COVID. I know because I experienced this first hand over the past few years as we transformed our lives. It is hard work, but as I’ve taught my daughter, we can do hard things and to look at life in chapters. This is our family’s chapter in Mexico and we chose to face our hard here because everything seems to be better on the beach.
What’s fascinating is that we’ve found a closer community of neighbors in Cabo San Lucas than we’ve experienced for many years up in Canada, whether we lived downtown in the middle of the city or out on acreage in the rural country.
There is something to be said for those of us that have taken the risk to relocate our families and uproot our lives, to choose a simpler, yet “richer” life, here in Mexico. Once you’ve been through that, you honor that experience in those around you, by bonding together and helping those who are willing to go through what you did, make it happen.
Christina Whiteley, founder of Life Transformed, is a bestselling author, speaker and business strategist who leads the 6 Figure Profit Plan Mastermind and hosts corporate retreats where she resides in Cabo San Lucas. She and her husband Ryan, who is a realtor, live for road trips and weekend adventures with their daughter and their dog, Larry.
The isolation many expats normally feel at first while slowly building up a support network is only compounded when mental health issues arise. But there are ways to find help, even with a language barrier. (Illustration: Angy Márquez)
I’ve got a confession to make: my mental health has not been the greatest lately.
Okay, fine. It’s not really a confession; I didn’t do anything wrong, after all. But I’ll admit that I have felt some sheepishness when it comes to admitting I’ve been majorly depressed over the past several months. After all, what do I have to be depressed about?
I live in my dream home, and I have a great family and relatively few troubles, especially when you think about people who are literally living on the streets or losing everything to war and earthquakes or being reduced to fourth-class citizens by the Taliban or something.
But as my therapist says, it does no good to discredit your feelings and try to punish yourself for not feeling the way you’re “supposed” to. And because guilt is my own go-to emotion, that’s what I’d been doing: feeling ashamed and scolding myself for not being happy when I should be.
So what are you supposed to do when you’re psychologically suffering in a different culture and country than your own and aren’t sure how to get help for yourself or don’t have the strength to do it?
This isn’t the first time I’ve been depressed. After my daughter was born nine years ago, I had what I can now identify as major postpartum depression. During that time, I felt lost and didn’t get psychological help, nor did anyone else try to get psychological help for me.
Motherhood is probably one of the most loaded statuses there is here in Mexico, culturally speaking, and I felt constantly judged for not living up to the Mexican mother ideal; whether I actually was or not, I can’t be sure.
It didn’t help that my new baby never slept and cried as if she were being murdered much of the time. When I was pregnant, I thought we’d be best buddies, but once born, it seemed as if she hated me: “You’re doing everything wrong!” she seemed to be howling.
She was diagnosed with “colic,” which is what they say is wrong with babies when they’re extremely unhappy for no apparent medical reason. Theories that perhaps she was unhappy because I myself was stressed only made me feel worse and more stressed and guilt-ridden than I already was.
I stayed depressed for a very long time: at least five years, until I finally found my current therapist (more on that in a moment). During that time, I would just sort of shrug and tell myself that being a grown-up in the world was depressing and it was just how life was — oh well.
Everyone’s experience is different. I think most of us can admit, though, that being a foreigner — especially if you’re newly arrived — can be very isolating. Building a community can take time, and even when you do, sometimes there are cultural differences that just keep you cordoned off. And in the meantime, life just keeps happening; there’s no getting off the merry-go-round.
After the death of my mother and some major crises with my now ex-husband, I finally found Grisel, my therapist. She is lovely. She is wise. She is The Best. I’d write her a mushy platonic love letter, but that would be weird.
Getting myself to therapy in the first place was too long a road. Part of this was because I felt that my Mexican family would roll their eyes at it: yet another clear sign of my inherent weakness and not-enoughness — which was surely the depression speaking, but hadn’t I begged for marriage counseling, only to be brushed off time and again?
I also knew people who gave therapy, and I was extremely not impressed with them. “That’s the kind of person that’s going to help me? Ha, no thank you.” I was a snob toward people who had basically just done an undergraduate degree in psychology and then slapped a “therapist” sign on their front door; and there were a lot of them.
And besides, could someone from such a different culture even understand what I was going through? Surely they’d just tell me all the ways in which I was so obviously being ridiculous (again, the depression talking).
Finally, an acquaintance recommended Grisel to me, and I decided to make an appointment. She helped get me through what has been, up until now, the most difficult phase of my life, and now she’s helping me again.
She made sure, then and now, that I received a psychiatric evaluation. The first time I was told, “You can try antidepressants; you’re a candidate.” I did, and they helped, and then I stopped taking them, and I was still fine.
This last time that I went to see her, a few years later, she sent me to the psychiatrist for another evaluation, and he promptly diagnosed me with severe depression and insisted this time that I take antidepressants (many of which, by the way, can be bought at the pharmacy in Mexico without a prescription; I’m not recommending that anyone self-prescribe, but if you’re already taking something and need to find it here, in many cases, you can do so without too much trouble).
I’ve been taking them again, and along with therapy, they’ve been helping. Slowly but surely, I’m crawling out of this hole that I’d unwittingly fallen back into (I wrote a more detailed blog about it here).
When I think about how much I needlessly suffered when help was right there, I feel sad for Past Sarah. But getting help even in one’s own culture isn’t easy, let alone a different one.
If you’re like me and live in a place where not too many people speak English, then your choice of a local therapist will be greatly reduced if you want to have it in your own language. I feel comfortable enough with Spanish that it isn’t a problem for me (Grisel doesn’t speak English), but I can imagine how daunting it must be for someone who doesn’t feel they can fully express themselves in Spanish when the stakes are so high.
For those who live in places where there are more English speakers, finding a local therapist might not be quite as hard. Getting a good recommendation can do wonders, and I can attest to the fact that a therapist from a culture different than your own can still help tremendously.
If a local option is impossible, there are good online choices as well. But whatever you do, don’t just suffer, punishing yourself for not being “happy enough” in what you thought would be a life-changing (only in a good way) location.
We might be able to change our physical locations, but controlling our minds is a much bigger challenge than we usually think it should be. Remember, the same grace and understanding that we extend to other people must be extended to ourselves as well. Even if you’re in paradise.
So if you or someone you know is suffering, don’t be afraid to look for help. It’s out there, I promise.
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com
Data on the Taam ja' blue hole in Chetmual Bay, Quintana Roo, which has been determined to be nearly the largest blue hole in the world, only surpassed by the 301-meter-deep Sansha Yongle Blue Hole in the South China Sea.
A blue hole in Chetumal Bay, Quintana Roo, has been determined to be the second deepest known blue hole in the world.
First things first – what is a blue hole?
The Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize. (Depositphotos)
“… A blue hole can be an oasis in an otherwise barren seafloor. Blue holes are diverse biological communities full of marine life, including corals, sponges, mollusks, sea turtles, sharks and more,” the office says on its website.
The world’s deepest known blue hole is the almost 301-meter-deep Sansha Yongle Blue Hole, also known as Dragon Hole, located near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
The Taam ja’ Blue Hole (TJBH), as the blue hole in Chetumal Bay has been named, is more than 274 meters below sea level, making it the second deepest known blue hole in the world, according to Mexican scientists who studied it.
This map shows the dimensions of the blue hole in Chetumal Bay (Carrillo et. al in Estuaries Coasts journal)
Six researchers from the Colegio de la Frontera Sur (College of the Southern Border), or Ecosur, recently published a paper about the blue hole in the Frontiers in Marine Science journal.
Sampling and surveying of the TJBH, located northeast of the city of Chetumal, “were conducted in September 2021 by scuba, echosounders, CDT [conductivity, temperature and depth] profilers, and the collection of water samples,” the scientists said in the paper, published Feb. 23 under the title “First insights into an exceptionally deep blue hole in the Western Caribbean: the Taam ja’ Blue Hole.”
The study, carried out in conjunction with a local fisherman, “revealed a previously unknown maximum water depth … of 274.4 meters below sea level,” they wrote.
According to the paper, the TJBH has “a nearly circular shape at its surface,” which encompasses an area of 13,690 square meters, and steep sides with slopes of more than 80 degrees that “form a large conic structure covered by biofilms, sediments, limestone, and gypsum ledges.”
Its mouth is about five meters below sea level, the researchers said, noting that the temperature and salinity of water “change significantly” at the entrance.
The formation of the blue hole was “likely associated with glacio-eustatic changes in the Yucatán Caribbean coast,” the paper said, referring to sea level changes associated with the uptake or release of water from glaciers.
It also said that the location of the Taam ja’ Blue Hole – whose name means “deep water” in Mayan” – near the coasts of both Mexico and Belize “would inevitably imply an increase of local and foreign visitors, the development of economic activities, and very probably of environmental pressure.”
The Great Blue Hole, located off the coast of Belize, is a popular diving destination.
The Ecosur researchers said that “regulatory measures” might be needed to protect the TJBH, although they noted that it is within a state-managed manatee reserve.
The National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) noted in a statement that the TJBH is the first blue hole to be identified in an estuarine system.
It said that the blue hole is of “great relevance for scientific marine research” as it “represents a window to obtain information about how the environment and climate were thousands of years ago.”
Such information could aid “the understanding of environmental and geological processes, the connectivity of aquifers and the origin of water from these hydrogeological systems,” Conacyt said.
Amazon Web Services is quickly expanding its presence in Mexico, even providing data services to the National Electoral Institute. But Querétaro is the company's first Local Zone.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing services arm of e-commerce giant Amazon, announced the opening of their new “local zone” in the state of Querétaro on Wednesday. It is their first in Mexico.
“We are very excited to launch the new local zone in Querétaro, México. This goes in line with our long-term commitment to Mexico and Latin America,” said Andrés Tahta, general director for the public sector of AWS Latin America to EFE news agency in an interview.
AWS local zones – existing and announced – in the Western Hemisphere. (AWS)
The new Local Zone, which AWS said in September of last year would open in the first quarter of 2023, will mainly offer database services that will reduce latency for AWS customers in the region. Tahta stressed that the local zone will seek new ventures and will open the door to applications in the public and private sectors to offer more services to the general population.
For instance, AWS has been an ally for platforms such as Netflix and Mercado Libre. In the banking and financial industry, it has helped institutions like Banco Itaú and the Brazilian fintech company Nubank. It has also aided cell phone operators such as Verizon.
In Mexico’s public sector, AWS has collaborated with the National Electoral Institute (INE) and provided support in the 2018 electoral process. Its applications have also improved vehicle procedures in Michoacán after cloud services were integrated to expedite the renewal of license plates for more than three million cars in 113 municipal centers. With AWS, the time to process a license plate went down from four hours to twenty minutes, according to a report in Forbes México.
According to Tahta, only 10% of the applications that could do so take advantage of cloud services globally. In Latin America, that percentage is merely 5%.“What we want to do is accelerate cloud adoption and migration for the benefit of our customers,” he said.
To reach its goals worldwide, AWS says it seeks to train 29 million people with digital skills by 2025. So far, they’ve trained 1.2 million, including 300,000 Mexicans.
The AWS cloud currently covers thirty-two local areas – including Mexico — of which seventeen are in the United States. Amazon plans to incorporate twenty-one additional local zones in eighteen countries that include Australia, Germany, Greece, Norway, and Portugal.
In Latin America, AWS has local zones in the cities of Buenos Aires, Argentina Santiago, Chile Lima, Peru Bogotá, Colombia and Río de Janeiro, Brazil.
Some reasons for the peso's strength include high interest rates, large volumes of remittances and falling inflation. (Rmcarvalho/Istock)
The Mexican peso appreciated on Friday to its strongest position against the U.S dollar in over five years, with one greenback buying just under 18 pesos at the close of trading.
Bank of México (Banxico) data shows that one dollar was worth 17.97 pesos when North American markets closed, its weakest level against the Mexican currency since September 2017. The value of the dollar dipped to a slightly lower 17.95 pesos earlier in the day.
Data shows that the peso appreciated 0.86% against the dollar on Friday and 2.33% this week. It has gained 7.88% in value against the U.S. currency this year, making it the best performing major currency in the world in 2023.
As a result, one U.S. dollar now buys 1.54 fewer pesos than it did at the start of the year.
Citing analysts, the newspaper El Economista reported that a weakening of the dollar, strong inflows of remittances and expectations of higher foreign investment in Mexico — including from electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla — benefited the peso this week.
Positive economic data out of China increased appetite for risk assets and thus weakened the U.S. dollar, according to Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Banco Base.
Jacobo Rodríguez, director of economic analysis at Black Wallstreet Capital, said that greater demand for pesos due to an increase in exports and remittances as well as tourist spending was benefiting the currency.
However, one of the “most significant” factors helping the peso are high interest rates in Mexico, he said. The central bank lifted its key rate to a record high of 11% last month as it continues to battle high inflation.
“The fact that we have higher interest rates than other nations causes investors to seek … investment [opportunities] here in Mexico,” Rodríguez said.
Banxico Governor Victoria Rodríguez noted Wednesday that core inflation – 8.38% in the first half of February – still hasn’t fallen much, raising expectations that the central bank will continue to lift rates. Its next monetary policy meeting is on March 30.
