There was movement in the central part of the monstrance that resembled a beating heart.
Did parishioners of a Catholic Church in Jalisco witness a miracle last week? Many seem to think they did although the church itself is urging caution in reaching conclusions about what they saw.
But one church-goer recorded the event on video and it shows the church’s monstrance, a vessel that contained the consecrated Eucharistic host — the wafer used during communion, palpitating like a beating heart.
The video taken at Nuestra Señora del Rosario church in Zapotlanejo has gone viral on the web, and the incident is being described as a miracle by the church’s priest, the Rev. Carlos Spahn. He said a medical doctor has reviewed the tape and concurred that the palpitations mimicked that of a beating heart.
The Rev. Antonio Gutiérrez Montaño, representative of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, has urged Mexico’s faithful to be cautious, saying there’s been no formal request for an investigation by the archbishop and that in general, the office of the archdiocese is hesitant to believe in such miracles.
Milagro en mexico mientras el padre Carlos Spahn exponía el santísimo la hostia empezó a palpitar. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼💖💖 pic.twitter.com/DkOjnBzgQi
“Through an investigation, an official declaration can be made about whether something naturally inexplicable happened, or something imaginary …. to determine if it is real or not so that people will not be fooled. The best thing to do is to be very cautious, very prudent, and know that the real eucharist, the concrete one, doesn’t require supernatural elements. The celebration of each Mass that we attend as believers is a miracle,” said Gutiérrez.
He also said an investigation would take into account scientific evidence, the testimony of witnesses, and analysis from a doctrinal point of view.
Meanwhile, at the parish of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in the city of Zapopan, also in Jalisco, another possible miracle is awaiting an investigation: parishioners saw a statue of the Virgin Fatima crying blood on May 13.
On the 365 Flavors of the Yucatán section of the official Yucatán Travel website, one mouth-watering dish pops up after another. Margaritas made with henquen liquor, ceviche made with chivitas snails, and Papadzules smothered in salsa and cheese.
It’s all part of a campaign to spread the word about the peninsula’s incredible cuisine, which is a mix of ancient mesoamerican recipes and ingredients with some modern additions and presentation.
One of those 365 flavors and one of the area’s most famous flavors is poc chuc, a preparation generally made with pork but also sometimes with fish. The protein is marinated with bitter oranges, black pepper, and roasted garlic, grilled over a wood fire, then served with beans, tortillas, habanero salsa, grilled onions, and chopped cilantro.
The dish has become especially famous on what some are calling the “Ruta de las Tías” or the Route of the Aunts, in the town of Kaua which sits between the resorts of Cancún and the archaeological site of Chichén Itzá.
In an attempt to convince customers of their authenticity many of the town’s 10 traditional restaurants have named themselves variations on the same theme: La Tía de Kaua (Kaua’s Aunt), La Verdadera Tía de Kaua (Kaua’s Real Aunt), and La Auténtica Tía de Kaua (Kaua’s Authentic Aunt). Many of the “tías” that started these restaurants, local women with a flair for traditional cooking, can still be found behind the comal and in the kitchen. Lineups wind out the door on the weekends, with a wait of up to two hours if you don’t make an advance reservation to eat here.
In 2021, despite COVID restrictions around the world, Chichén Itzá was Mexico’s busiest archaeological site with 1.6 million visitors, giving the surrounding area, including the tiny town of Kaua and the big city Valladolid, a boost at a time when many tourist destinations were still bemoaning a loss of revenue.
Now tourists to the area have yet another reason besides towering ruins and expansive jungle to visit this unique region of Mexico, the area’s one-of-a-kind cuisine found at the restaurants of the many aunts.
The sun sets behind the dolphins sculpture on the Malecón in Mazatlán. deposit photos
Weekend travelers to Mazatlán beware: if you haven’t booked accommodation you might be out of luck for the rest of the summer. The famed tourist destination on the coast of Sinaloa is currently at 100% occupancy, reported Ricardo Velarde Cárdenas, the local official responsible for tourism.
The city is experiencing a record high number of tourists this summer, with 100% occupancy in hotels and rental properties from Thursday to Sunday from now until mid-August. Monday-to-Wednesday occupancy rates currently stand at 80%.
From the United States alone there were over 2 million visitors to Mexico in the first four months of 2022, many traveling for the first time post-COVID. The local Chamber of Commerce expects 577,000 visitors before the end of the summer holidays in comparison to the 398,253 visitors during the same period last year.
Velarde said tourism will bring an estimated 3.5 billion pesos (US $172 million) flowing into the city this summer, which will be a historic high for a single season. Effects of the massive influx of tourists can be seen in the long lines to get into clubs and restaurants as well as increased demand to visit local sites like El Quelite or La Noria, and take catamaran rides out to the nearby Isla de Piedra.
There are 20,000 rooms available in Mazatlán between hotels, apartments, and Airbnbs. Velarde said that by the end of the season 13 hotels currently under construction will be added to the market to create an additional 11,000 rooms.
“We are at the height of the summer season. The major limiting factor is the number of hotel rooms in Mazatlán, more so than flights, which have actually been very good,” he said.
Increased tourism has been a boon for this seaside destination where the economy largely depends on summer guests. Since COVID began the city has seen successive drops in visitor numbers but there are hopes that this season will see a return to previous numbers.
"We are going to move from the Republican Austerity [Law] to a higher phase, which is that of Franciscan poverty,” President López Obrador said at Wednesday's press conference.
Although one critic called the concept ridiculous and sad, President López Obrador said this week that in order to reduce spending and improve the federal government’s battered financial health, all branches of his government are going to go into a period of “Franciscan poverty.”
“We are going to carry out additional austerity measures,” López Obrador said in his Wednesday morning press conference. “We are going to reduce a lot. There are going to be almost no trips abroad. We are going to ensure that almost all communication is done by telephone and videoconferences. We are going to reduce travel expenses and other measures.”
He said that although there are already austerity measures on the books, they are “not being complied with.” Then he added: “In any case, we are going to move from the Republican Austerity [Law] to a higher phase, which is that of Franciscan poverty.”
Poverty is one of the main tenets of Franciscans, a religious order within the Catholic faith. Saint Francis of Assisi, the founder of the order and one of the most venerated figures in Christianity, spent his life pursuing a “perfect poverty” and was said to be a suitor to “Lady Poverty.”
The planned budget cuts include reducing civil servants’ salaries. On Monday, AMLO had Profeco head Ricardo Sheffield list government officials who earn more than the president.
And now, apparently, so is López Obrador.
In his press conference — during which he assured that he has not bought a new vehicle for federal officials since he has been in office — he detailed some of the additional belt-tightening measures.
Civil servant salaries will be further reduced, and legal reforms will be made to ensure that high-ranking federal officials can’t seek injunctions against a reduced salary, López Obrador said. Nor will the republic acquire any more debt, although the president said he’ll simultaneously make sure that gas and food prices do not rise.
He promised a meeting with his cabinet to hammer out all the X’s and O’s and find additional things to cut. “The formula is simple,” he said. “It is zero corruption and austerity — to make funds available for development and to deliver resources to the most needy people.”
Antipoverty program beneficiaries wait in line. AMLO promised there will be enough money to continue to pay for such programs. File photo
So far, he said, his administration has saved some 2 billion pesos (US $98 million) thanks to austerity measures.
Earlier this week, Ricardo Sheffield, head of the federal consumer protection agency Profeco, presented a list of public servants who, in not complying with the Republican Austerity Law, are receiving a higher monthly salary than López Obrador. “Although our Constitution establishes that no one should earn more than the president, we find [in the government] that this decree is not respected,” he said.
Although López Obrador bragged at the press conference about savings in different areas, he did not address large cost overruns on projects such as the Maya Train, the Felipe Ángeles International Airport and the Dos Bocas refinery.
Some government officials said the president’s announcement was verification that the nation’s finances are in dire straits, that there are no additional sources of revenue that can be tapped and that Mexico’s financial future is teetering in the wake of a global economic crisis.
The Mexican legislature’s budget commission secretary Hector Saúl Tellez said Wednesday that money has been wasted on the president’s “pharaonic works” and on social programs “that have not generated better conditions for the population.”
Héctor Saúl Téllez, a member of the lower house of Congress and the Legislature’s budget commission secretary, said federal revenues are “not good” and if they are to be used “for the whims of the president,” public resources will have to be squeezed even further.
“The announcement that there will be a shift to ‘Franciscan poverty’ is very worrying at a time when we continue to experience budget shortages, where there continues to be a lack of resources for health [and] education,” said Congressman Salomón Chertorivski.
He said that if the government carries out this type of plan, it needs to consider how to finance other needs in coming years, such as the payment of pensions. And he also said it’s “foolishness” for the government to continue subsidizing the price of gasoline at a cost of more than 300 billion pesos (US $14.8 billion).
“Saying that there are still more cuts to come is a shame, especially with the lack of growth, with the lack of recovery that we have had after the bad decisions throughout the pandemic,” he added. “The resources are simply not enough.”
AMLO did not address his administration’s cost overruns on projects like the Maya Train, currently under construction. Government of Mexico
He also dismissed “Franciscan poverty” as merely a “flirtatious phrase” being invoked by the president, and called the concept ridiculous and sad. Likewise, Téllez charged AMLO with making a frivolous and populist statement, and he condemned López Obrador’s government for covertly spending 100 billion pesos (US $4.9 billion) on who knows what.
“What there has been is an embezzlement in budget revenues,” he said. “There has never been austerity … Money has been wasted in the president’s pharaonic works and on social programs that have been a waste because they have not generated better conditions for the population.”
The federal cabinet was to meet Thursday to discuss the new measures.
More than 92,000 olive ridley turtles have arrived on beaches of Oaxaca in recent days.
The Mexican Turtle Center, which operates under the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conamp), confirmed the arrival of the turtles at La Escobilla beach located in the municipality of Santa María Tonameca, between Puerto Escondido and Huatulco.
The massive arrival of the female turtle marks the official start of the nesting season for the olive ridley sea turtle in the Mexican Pacific.
Marine turtle experts expect that the one and a half million arrivals reported last year will be exceeded.
The arrivals, or arribadas in Spanish, bring thousands of turtles on the beach to lay their eggs in sand nests. During this period, millions of eggs are deposited, which federal and state authorities and civil society will protect daily from the looting for sale on the black market.
The arrivals are long awaited by residents, environmentalists and tourism service providers. La Escobilla beach has come to be considered a sanctuary, as it is one of the few places in the world that attracts thousands of nesting female turtles.
The number of turtles coming out to nest this year is expected to be higher than in the 2020-2021 season.
The area in which the Park of the Jaguar is located.
The federal government officially registered the creation of a 2,258-hectare nature reserve in the northeastern part of the municipality of Tulum in Quintana Roo on Tuesday.
The Park of the Jaguar, whose development plan was announced last December, is part of an attempt by the national government to curb the urban expansion and development taking place near the city of Tulum. New development and population centers will now be forbidden within the park’s boundaries as well as any activities that contaminate the area or disrupt, divert, or contaminate water sources there.
Mexico’s newest natural protected area is home to 928 species, many of them endemic, and some in danger of extinction. One of those, the jaguar, is the park’s namesake. While the states that make up the Yucatán peninsula have the highest concentrations of jaguar populations in Mexico, the species is still in danger of extinction from loss of habitat.
In an attempt to safeguard the plants and animals in the park, the new decree makes it illegal to introduce genetically modified organisms or invasive species, and forbids the extraction of plants, animals, or the area’s soil or ground cover. Any destruction of habitat can now be punished and future mining or extraction activities within the protected area are forbidden.
The new park is indicated in dark green.
Instead, officials hope to take advantage of the park as a source of sustainable tourism, and using for studying the ecosystem for scientific and educational purposes, and to measure future environmental impacts on local flora and fauna. Officials will now begin the process of building a boundary wall that will surround the new park.
Flights on the two routes will begin in late August with a promotional price of 799 pesos (US $39). deposit photos
Yucatán Peninsula travelers will soon have more options for connecting flights in the area, thanks to two new routes to be offered by the Mexican airline Aeromar.
The first route, connecting Mérida and Chetumal, will operate six times a week starting August 21. Another flight between Mérida and Cozumel will be offered four times a week starting August 22.
Tickets for both routes are now on sale, starting at the promotional rate of 799 pesos (US $39). Aeromar is also offering a new international route between Mérida and Havana, Cuba, starting at 2,835 pesos (US $139).
Aeromar continues to require the use of face masks for both domestic and international flights.
At a press conference on Tuesday, caretakers of the monarch butterfly sanctuary near El Rosario, Michoacán, told the press that the monarchs are not endangered.
The joint owners of the El Rosario communal lands in Michoacán, who are charged with protecting the habitat of the millions of monarch butterflies that overwinter each year next to their land, say that the monarch is not in danger of extinction; it’s their route that’s in danger, they say.
“[The monarchs] are present in 24 countries,” said the treasurer of the ejido’s governing body, Humberto García Miranda. “What is at risk is the migratory route, which is the responsibility of the farmers.”
Ejido is the Spanish word for a communally owned land parcel.
On July 21, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature placed the migratory North American monarch butterfly on its Red List of threatened species and classified them as endangered. The IUCN is a network of private, public, and nonprofit groups that work for nature conservation around the world.
The Red List, created in 1964, is a way to categorize the danger of extinction for various species and shed light on the reasons for their endangerment — in this case, climate change, loss of habitat due to urbanization and commercial agriculture, pesticide use and invasive species.
But residents of El Rosario, who are paid by the government to protect the monarchs’ overwintering ground, refute that claim. Instead, they insist that problems threatening the butterflies exist along the insects’ migratory routes in the United States and Canada, a factor that was included in the announcement from IUCN. However, IUCN did also mention in that press release that legal and illegal logging has already destroyed “substantial areas” of the butterflies’ winter shelter in Mexico and California.
During a press conference on Tuesday, García said that “the species would never go extinct because females lay between 400 and 500 eggs, of which 80% survive, with only 20% being part of the food chain.”
While females do generally lay between 300 and 700 eggs in their lifetime, scientists generally agree that only between 5% and 10% of eggs survive to adulthood.
The El Rosario stewards called on the Mexican government to denounce their northern neighbors for bad practices that they feel have led to declining monarch numbers. They also blame external factors outside of the Michoacán forests that are beyond their control.
García said that he and 50 other owners work to care for the forest “day and night” but did also mention problems like cutworm infestations in the trees where the monarchs overwinter.
He added that the monarchs could change their migratory path in the next 10 or 15 years.
Jalisco authorities on Tuesday presented evidence that suggested that a woman who died from severe burns last week wasn’t attacked by others but rather set herself on fire.
However, Attorney General Luis Joaquín Méndez Ruíz stressed that there was no concrete proof that Luz Raquel Padilla was responsible for inflicting upon herself the severe burns she suffered to 90% of her body.
At a press conference, Méndez presented video footage that showed that Padilla bought two 500-milliliter bottles of medicinal alcohol and a cigarette lighter on the same day she sustained burns to 90% of her body. She died in hospital on July 19, three days after her body was badly burned.
Méndez said that authorities had no evidence that a man who allegedly threatened to burn Padilla alive was in a Zapopan park when the victim was set alight. He noted that the man himself, as well as his mother and sister, have denied that he was there.
Any hypothesis that Padilla set herself alight is inconsistent with testimony from witnesses cited in media reports last week. They said that four men and one woman doused Padilla with a flammable liquid before setting her on fire. A Zapopan municipal police report also said that Padilla had had a discussion with four people who allegedly attacked her in the park.
For his part, Méndez said that authorities hadn’t identified anyone directly involved in a “possible attack” on the now-deceased victim.
However, the man who allegedly threatened Padilla – a neighbor who is believed to have scrawled messages such as “I’m going to burn you alive” and “I’m going to kill you, Luz” inside common areas of their apartment building – is currently in custody in connection with an alleged previous attack on the victim.
Sergio Ismael I. is alleged to have physically and verbally assaulted Padilla on May 5, after which the latter obtained a restraining order against him. The attack supposedly occurred after Padilla poured a bucket of water over the man’s dog.
According to #YoCuidoMéxico, a caregivers’ advocacy organization, Padilla received constant death threats from neighbors because her young son, who is autistic, made noises during his “moments of crisis” that annoyed them. It said last week that Padilla, who belonged to #YoCuidoMéxico, previously survived an attack in which her chest was doused with bleach.
A judge ruled Tuesday that Sergio I. must stand trial for the alleged assault in May and remanded him in preventative custody. A complaint against him for threats was dismissed by the same judge.
Méndez said that the state will continue to investigate until it has certainty about what happened to Padilla. He emphasized he wasn’t making any conclusion based on the evidence that the victim bought two bottles of alcohol from a pharmacy and a lighter from a liquor store, both of which are located close to the park where Padilla sustained her injuries.
“The intention isn’t ever to re-victimize or criminalize anybody, neither Luz Raquel nor the person who is detained, who has rights too,” Méndez said.
The attorney general noted that the mother and father of Sergio I. had both filed complaints against Padilla for her alleged aggressive behavior toward them. The mother told authorities that she and members of her family were victims of threats made on social media.
According to Méndez, she provided police with her own security camera footage that apparently showed Padilla setting paper on fire outside her apartment door. Footage also shows Padilla changing the angle of a security camera in her building to conceal an interior wall on which the threats against her later appeared. The implication is that she – rather than Sergio I. – was responsible for scrawling the threats.
Padilla’s death came almost three weeks after an attack on a Morelos woman who was set on fire, allegedly by a family member, on July 1. Margarita Ceceña Martínez died in a Mexico City hospital on Sunday.
The soup known as sopa tarasca has long been considered a very hearty food in Michoacán. V&V Supremo
Despite its millennia-old history and important culture, Michoacán still does not get the attention from visitors it deserves.
But it is every bit as rich as Oaxaca and preserves much of its indigenous heritage. What generally holds the state back is its reputation for narcos, but if your first visit sticks with places like Pátzcuaro and Morelia, you will be fine.
And its food alone makes it worth the trip.
In 2010, UNESCO recognized Mexican cuisine as part of the world’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The recognition is for the cuisines of the entire country, but its decision is strongly based on the oldest regional traditions; UNESCO mentioned Michoacán’s cuisine by name.
Uruapan-style aporreadillo with green salsa, a popular breakfast dish here. Alejandro Linares García/Creative Commons
This state’s gastronomy is still heavily based on the main staples of Mesoamerica: corn, beans and chile peppers.
Food is still cooked in traditional ways, using tools such as metates andmolcajetes, both a traditional type of mortar and pestle, as well as clay pots and comals (a thin, smooth metal griddle) and wooden spoons. But there are a number of unique aspects.
For millennia, the state’s diet included fish from its numerous lakes, rivers and shoreline, which is why Michoacán means “place of fish” in the Náhuatl language. Cooks here also make frequent use of aromatic herbs like spearmint, avocado leaves and nutrite (Satureja macrostema Bentn), the leaf of a bush herb that grows up to three meters tall.
There has been little, if any, effort to bring Michoacán’s traditional cuisine into the 21st century, either in homes or restaurants. That does not mean that Michoacán’s food is the same as that of before the conquest.
Corundas are something like Michoacán’s take on the tamal. Alejandro Linares García/Creative Commons
The Spanish did introduce a number of foodstuffs here, in particular pork and cheese. If you have had cotija cheese, you have had Michoacán’s version of parmesan.
The state’s food does vary by region, but that of the heart of the former Purépecha (Tarascan) Empire takes center stage.
That area is centered on Lake Pátzcuaro, the cultural and tourist center of the state today.
So what should you sample first? There are five must-trys for absolute beginners.
Carnitas are almost always chopped fine on a wood block before being served, usually in tacos. Gastronomia Mexicana/Creative Commons
Any preparation with charal fish — this name covers a number of freshwater species under 12 centimeters in length, dried whole after being caught. Michoacán still produces over 50% of all charal sold in the country. It can be eaten in a variety of ways: in its dried state as a crunchy snack or reconstituted to be fried in tacos or cooked in salsas. My recommendation for a first try is as a snack or taco. Close your eyes if need be to avoid seeing the critters’ faces, but it is worth it.
Carnitas might well be Michoacán’s gift to the rest of Mexico; it certainly is to Mexico City’s street food vendors. Invented in the town of Quiroga, it is hog parts (choose maciza if you want simple meat) that have been cooked for hours in large vats of both liquid and fat, a cross between braising and confit. The liquid is water traditionally flavored with orange juice, but cola and even milk can be used. The most traditional carnitas are cooked in copper vats, said to give a particular flavor to the meat, but good luck finding such vats outside the state.
Michoacán’s tamales. I will likely get in trouble for categorizing these as “tamales.” However, both of the following are corn dough wrapped in some other part of the corn plant, then steamed — a very, very old cooking method in Mesoamerica. Corundasare the most common of the two, instantly recognizable by their small size and triangular shape, which comes from wrapping the corn dough with leaves from the corn stalk. They are not filled but rather covered with toppings such as salsa, stewed meat, beans, vegetables, cream or cheese. Ucheposare made with fresh corn and can be either sweet or savory. The sweet version mixes milk and sugar into the dough, topped with condensed milk and fruit preserves when served. The savory version is topped with cheese or pork along with red or green salsa.
Sopa tarasca is a hearty soup/stew which mixes chicken meat and broth with beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, epazote and pasilla chile pepper. It is topped with tortilla strips, bits of avocado and sour cream.
Aporreado/aporreadillo is scrambled eggs mixed with shredded beef, sometimes pork. If you like northern machaca with your morning eggs, you will like this. Unlike its northern cousin, this version can often have tomatoes and other items mixed in, as well as salsa on top.
By no means are these five suggestions exhaustive of what the state has to offer, but they make a good place to start. If you come across any of these dishes below during your visit, by all means, consider trying them and let me know what you thought.
Churipo is a beef stew with red chile peppers and vegetables, a Uruapan specialty.
Olla podrida is a stew made with pork, chicken or beef cooked with various vegetables and the fermented alcoholic beverage pulque (or sometimes brandy).
Morisqueta is rice mixed with refried beans and covered in salsa. Sometimes it is served with pork.
Pozole batido is a red pozole variation made with pork or sometimes beef.
Caldo michi is a soup made with squash, onions, tomatoes, cabbage and catfish, the latter being a species recently introduced for fish farming.
Atapakua is a green chile pepper sauce that can be put on just about any meat or seafood.
And what should you wash all this delicious food down with? Like other places in central Mexico, Michoacán does produce pulque and mezcal, although theirs are not particularly well-known. The most traditional drink is charanda, an alcoholic beverage made from sugar cane.
A large platter of coated and fried charals ready for a taco, salsa or just in a cup to be eaten with the fingers. Alejandro Linares García/Creative Commons
By the way, the flavor, depending on where you are, can vary quite a bit, so even though it’s made with sugar cane, don’t necessarily expect “rum.”
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.
