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Books and films for the Mexico City-curious

By
Lydia Carey
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Zócalo Mexico City
Mexico City has long beguiled authors and filmmakers with its ancient history, dynamic street life and sprawling size. (Shutterstock)

There have been hundreds of movies made, books written and songs sung about Mexico’s teeming metropolis. The fact that Mexico City and its population are so hard to encapsulate or singularly categorize is what makes authors and filmmakers continue to work to find ways to express the overwhelming experience of living here. 

There’s always more to discover — that’s what makes the city so fascinating — and so the list that follows is both extremely subjective and also just a fraction of what you need to understand CDMX.

While I’m fully aware that there will be those who cry foul at what’s missing, here are a few things I have read and watched that I think are excellent portrayals of the experience of Mexico City and its inhabitants.

Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico

Author Juan Villoro is a consummate chilango (Mexico City native), and while he has written extensively about his country’s politics, history and football, this book is dedicated to the capital and its particularities, idiosyncrasies and characters.

In Alfred MacAdam’s translation, Villoro takes readers through some of the most infamous elements of the capital – streetside tire shops, inner-city tianguis markets, government bureaucracy —  as well as through memories from an earlier time, like when milkmen were seen as the ultimate seducers of local housewives. 

Horizontal Vertigo by Juan Villoro

This book will make you laugh and shake your head at the wonders of the country’s capital. While I can’t guarantee you’ll understand everything completely if you haven’t lived here, this is an important step on the journey. 

La Capital: A Biography of Mexico City

A sweeping history of the city from before Spanish colonization up to the 1985 earthquake, Jonathan Kendall is nothing if not thorough about the city he once called home. Settling into the 600-plus-page book, even the most studious reader of Mexico City history will be surprised by the detailed compendium of information Kendall put together. 

I urge anyone who plans to live here long-term to get to know some, if not all, of this important history: the presidents, revolutions and social moments that made the capital what it is today, as well as the corruption, the slums and the shimmy and shake below the surface. You’ll find yourself wishing for a modern sequel by the book’s end.

The Savage Detectives

Roberto Bolaño’s meandering tale of the Visceral Realists, a group of bohemian poets, spans several decades. Its nonlinear story is rambling, weird, delightful and surreal in Natasha Wimmer’s translation. The first part of the novel in particular gives readers a picture of life in 1970s Mexico City as its protagonists wander from back alleys to late-night cafés to house parties.

A kind of Latin American beat poet, Bolaño is also writing here about his own time in Mexico City as a young broke poet in the 1960s and ‘70s. The Chilean-born writer haunted the bookshops and cafes of the capital and residents can have fun trying to identify them in the novel, like the famous Café La Habana, which “The Savage Detectives” presents as Café Quito, where all the local intellectuals hang out. 

The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García

Food is an essential part of the Mexico City experience, and while Mexico’s big-name chefs have taken a lot of roads to fame, few were as bumpy and chaotic as that of Eduardo “Lalo” García, Mexico’s newest megastar chef, founder and chef at Mexico City’s acclaimed Máximo Bistrot.

In researching this new biography, author Laura Tillman spent five years sitting in staff meetings, hanging out in Máximo’s kitchen and interviewing García’s family and friends to learn the story of his life. 

Máximo Bistrot in CDMX
Lalo García’s Máximo Bistrot is one of Mexico City’s hottest dining spots. (Máximo Bistrot)

Like many Mexicans, Lalo’s story is one that crosses borders. More than expressing a single man’s journey to fulfill his passion for cooking, “The Migrant Chef” also touches on immigrant labor, life in the restaurant world and, of course, the culinary scene in Mexico City over the last 30 years. 

Battles in the Desert

A classic coming-of-age story set in Roma, now one of the city’s most popular neighborhoods. But it was once just the playground of a young boy and his flights of fancy.  

A novella about a boy who falls in love with his friend’s mother and the subsequent fallout that comes from confessing his love to her one afternoon, the text is threaded through with the memories of its author, José Emilio Pacheco, one of Mexico’s favorite sons and a longtime resident of Roma’s Calle Guanajuato. Katherine Silver’s translation of this classic is a great snapshot of post-WWII Mexico and of a neighborhood that was just beginning to gain its importance in the urban fiber of the capital. 

Los Olvidados (The Young and the Damned)

This is a film that every Mexican has seen and every foreigner should. A time capsule of Mexico City in an indeterminate year in the first half of the 20th century, the story follows a group of poor children living in the capital’s slums and the violence, neglect and poverty they face as part of daily life. 

Los Olvidados still
Still from Los Olvidados which was released in 1950. (Wikimedia Commons)

Probably the most important film of Spanish director Luis Buñuel’s Mexican period, the upper classes of Mexican society were scandalized by its portrayal of the city’s poverty and tried to keep the film from being shown in theaters. Some of the characters and crew even quit in protest over Mexico’s negative portrayal. 

Public opinion shifted once the film started winning international acclaim and awards, but the movie is still considered a harsh, sometimes surreal look at life in 20th-century Mexico. Some famous scenes were filmed in the Roma neighborhood’s La Romita section. 

Amores Perros

This incredibly dark and violent film is replete with the imagery and sounds of the dog-eat-dog capital in a way that is both heartbreaking and captivating. The second film of Gael García Bernal’s career, this movie is partly what made him into one of Mexico’s biggest movie stars; “Amores Perros” was also the directorial debut of the internationally renowned Alejandro González Iñárritu.

While its scenes of violence can be hard to stomach, this is also a layered tale of love — and dogs. Instead of slapping a bow on its connected vignettes, the movie’s ending leaves the watcher pondering the extent to which humans will go for love and revenge and how chilangos survive in the sometimes devastating landscape of their hometown. 

Roma

This movie came along in 2018, in the midst of Mexico City’s tourism boom, which has maybe been felt most strongly in the Roma neighborhood. A multi-Oscar winner, “Roma” tells the story of one family and their complicated relationship with a young Indigenous woman who works as their live-in maid. 

Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo with one of the children in her care.
Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo with one of the children in her care. (Archive)

Set in 1970 and 1971, the movie’s urban scenery and the cinematography are a beautiful, sometimes drawn-out picture of life in the city during this tumultuous time. The first modern Mexican blockbuster to feature a young, Indigenous actress (Yalitza Aparicio) as its protagonist, “Roma” made waves in the Mexican film industry that rippled into the international arena, posing questions about how Mexico and its people have historically been represented in movies and how they will be in the future. 

Ciudad Merced

This is a beautiful documentary of la Merced, one of Mexico City’s oldest and most vibrant neighborhoods. For 30 minutes, the viewer is transfixed by the life that overflows the edges of this incredibly layered part of the city. 

With no dialogue, the music is at times ethereal, then lively or dramatic and overlaid with the sounds of the Merced: snake-oil salesmen on loudspeakers, the sizzle of frying meat on the grill, that distinctive metal trill of shop doors opening in the morning. 

This film records la Merced during a single day and reframes the neighborhood away from its stereotypes of danger, dirt and poverty and instead presents its lively and complex reality. If you don’t walk away from this documentary in love with Mexico City, you never will be. 

Crónica de Castas 

A play on words referring to Conquest-era crónicas de Indias narratives (a generic term for the chronicles of the Spanish conquistadors in the New World) and the wordplay on the wildly racist 18th-century Spanish art genre that displayed the caste system of New Spain, “Crónica de Castas” (A Story of Castes) is a wide-lens look at the diverse class and race lines that run through one of Mexico City’s roughest downtown neighborhoods, Tepito. 

If you’re not a Spanish speaker — or if it’s your second language — be prepared to miss some references due to the distinctly chilango accents and a realistic flood of slang and colloquialisms. While there are some cheesy, soap opera-y moments to this television series, it portrays so many things so distinctly chilango — the sport of frontón, diableros and life in a vecindad to name a few — that it’s worth the wade through anything slightly sappy for the Mexico City education you’ll get by watching it. 

Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of Mexico City Streets: La Roma. Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at www.mexicocitystreets.com.

Quintana Roo businesses condemn assaults by taxi drivers

By
MND Staff
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Two taxi drivers were detained last Thursday in Cancún for assaulting what they assumed was a rideshare vehicle carrying foreign tourists (Twitter/Reporte Maya)

Quintana Roo business leaders have urged authorities to take action against continued violence from some taxi drivers after an assault on a private vehicle last week.

“The Caribbean Business Coordinating Council (CCE) expresses its deep concern over this incident which affects the image of our state and the reputation of good taxi drivers who are abiding by the law,” the head of the CCE said in a statement. “For this reason, we ask our authorities to sanction all who were involved.”

Taxi driver protests Uber
Ride-hailing services legally arrived in Quintana Roo in 2018, but taxi drivers say the services have an unfair advantage. (Elizabeth Ruiz/Cuartoscuro)

The suggested sanctions include the cancellation of concessions and licenses to operate a taxi.

To guarantee the safety of tourists and residents, the CCE has also called on authorities to carry out an exhaustive investigation to determine those responsible for the violent attacks. 

Two taxi drivers were arrested in Cancún, Quintana Roo on Thursday for assaulting a van carrying foreign tourists, the latest episode in an ongoing conflict between some taxistas and rideshare services.

Footage posted on social media shows at least two uniformed taxi drivers whacking a Chevy Suburban with poles and other objects. The driver of the van attempted to escape with the vehicle’s tailgate open after the tourists’ luggage had fallen into the street, the video shows. Three women can later be seen retrieving their luggage from the side of the road. 

Tourists were left stranded earlier this year when the state taxi union blocked access to Cancún International Airport in protest. The union condemns these recent episodes of violence, saying that there are more “good taxistas” than there are bad. (Cuartoscuro)

As observed in the footage, one of the women appeared to take refuge in the store of a local business owner who filmed the incident, while the taxi drivers continued to chase the driver of the Suburban down the street until he reached a police officer. 

Local media reported that the Suburban was not hired via a ride-hailing app but through a local limousine service. Past incidents of taxi drivers attacking private vehicles in Cancún were provoked by the assumption that they were driven by people employed by Uber. 

Angélica Frías, head of the Cancún branch of the Employers’ Confederation of Mexico (Coparmex), condemned Thursday’s violent incident and invited those involved in transportation services “to resolve their differences and conflicts through dialogue.” 

“We are putting the international image of our tourist destination at risk,” she emphasized. 

In January, an injunction allowing Uber to operate in the state led to various violent incidents including road blockades, stone throwing and cabbies physically preventing tourists from boarding Uber vehicles.

The U.S. issued a travel advisory in January warning that “disputes between these services and local taxi unions have occasionally turned violent, resulting in injuries to U.S. citizens in some instances.”

With reports from The Associated Press and La Jornada Maya

Guerrero businessman and son murdered on Autopista del Sol

By
MND Staff
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Chilpancingo businessman and son
José Guadalupe Fuentes Brito (left) and his 20 year-old son were killed in the attack on the road to Acapulco. Fuentes' wife was severely wounded. (Twitter)

A businessman and his son were killed on Saturday night while driving toward Acapulco on the Autopista del Sol, in the state of Guerrero.

According to reports, José Guadalupe Fuentes Brito and his 20-year-old son, José Manuel Fuentes Calvo, were murdered by armed men, their Toyota Tacoma pickup was stolen and a woman identified as the wife and mother of the deceased was hospitalized with four gunshot wounds.

The crime occurred on a notoriously dangerous stretch of the highway between Cuernavaca and Chilpancingo, the state capital of Guerrero where the businessman and his family resided.

According to media reports, Fuentes Brito, who worked in real estate and also owned a motorcycle shop, had political ties and was a promoter of Marcelo Ebrard in his bid to become the Morena party’s 2024 nominee for president. Fuentes Brito was the uncle of Rubén Fuentes Hernández, coordinator of the Guerrero governor’s office.

Ebrard, who stepped down as foreign minister last month to focus on beating out Morena frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum, expressed his condolences on social media and insisted officials take swift action.

“We demand that the State Prosecutor’s Office intervene immediately and this crime, like all others, be clarified and those responsible brought to justice,” he tweeted.

Marcelo Ebrard and wife
Marcelo Ebrard, seen here with his wife Rosalinda Bueso registering for the Morena party 2024 candidacy, has been touring the country since. Ebrard expressed his condolences on Twitter, and demanded justice for the victims of Saturday’s assault. (Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter)

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador addressed the murders in his Monday morning press conference, saying “there is still not much clarity about the case,” while also noting that a man driving a transport van in the same area  was murdered around the same time.

“It is thought that [the driver] saw something about the [killing] of the man and his son, and that is why they also murdered him,” he said. “It is being investigated.”

Reports put the murders of Fuentes Brito and his son at between 7 and 8 p.m. between the Paso Morelos toll booth and Chilpancingo.

According to journalist Ricardo Castillo, director of Quadratín Guerrero, it is common knowledge that this stretch of road is very dangerous at night. Interviewed on the Fórmula radio network’s “Por La Mañana” show, Castillo said, “After 6, many people do not recommend traveling in this section … There are many entrances and exits from the highway to the communities that are nearby. It becomes very dangerous. There have been many assaults.” 

Castillo did say that a National Guard unit is permanently deployed in the area.

With reports from Milenio, El Universal, El País and RadioFórmula

New plant species discovered in San Miguel de Allende

By
MND Staff
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Charco del Ingenio reserve
The plant was identified by biologist José Viccon in El Charco del Ingenio reserve and botanical garden. (El Charco del Ingenio)

A new plant has been discovered in a popular botanical garden in the foothills of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.

Biologist José Viccon, a professor at Mexico City’s Autonomous Metropolitan University,  made the discovery during a routine walk through El Charco del Ingenio, a 165-acre reserve in the tourist destination.


The diminutive plant growing in the San Miguel nature reserve was apparently overlooked for years.

Perhaps a few of the reserve’s visitors had seen what Viccon did — a dwarf plant from the same family as the pineapple — but only he realized that it was a plant never before identified anywhere in the world. It grows on rocks and requires very little water to survive.

“They have a characteristic grayish-green color and trichomes, those little hairs with which they absorb the little humidity that there is in the environment,” said Viccon, who has spent a lot of time making his discovery official after first spotting it four years ago.

“It is not easy to discover a unique species, and even less so at a site studied in detail for 32 years,” said the researcher, based on UAM’s Xochilmilco campus, just south of Mexico City. “It is a great challenge.”

His discovery has been classified as Viridantha minuscula, although the newspaper El País speculated that regular folks will call it the “Charco bromeliad” because of the site of its discovery.

El Charco del Ingenio
El Charco de Ingenio is a 165-acre nature reserve on the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. (Orchid House Hotels)

El Charco del Ingenio — a semi-desert environment that includes a big cactus collection and other indigenous flora — is an easy drive from the tourist center of San Miguel de Allende, or a 30- to 45-minute uphill walk.

The bromeliad family of flowering plants includes about 3,700 known species. The pineapple is a bromeliad, as are many plants that adorn houses and gardens.

The stem of Viridantha minuscula is between 7 and 8 centimeters (2.75 to 3.15 inches) in diameter, and its green and yellow flowers are relatively large for a plant barely 2 inches tall. The flowers are enclosed in a calyx of pinkish spades (like the plume atop a pineapple). 

While it is not edible, the plant could prove an extraordinary find for bromeliad collectors.

Viccon said the journal Phytotaxa has approved the finding, and noted that there is an agreement among biologists to not name a new species after the discoverer.

Mario Hernández, the Charco del Ingenio’s director, explained how Viccon made his initial discovery, then “had to wait months for it to flower to confirm that this plant had characteristics that were not entirely familiar to him.”

He then “summoned other colleagues to visit” the gardens, and “none of them were completely certain” of what they were seeing. Convinced, Viccon then began his quest to get the little plant certified as a new species.

Such a discovery is not uncommon. With thousands of biologists combing diverse territories all over the planet, and with nature always changing, annual discoveries of new plant species globally number from 1,850 to 18,000, according to various reports.

With reports from El País and Debate

European leader of Los Zetas cartel detained in Madrid

By
MND Staff
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Spanish police in Madrid
Spanish police believe that the removal of the man only identified as "Said" is likely to deal the cartel a serious blow. (Claudina Luna Pale/Twitter)

Spanish authorities have reportedly arrested the European leader of the “Los Zetas” cartel after a joint security operation in the capital, Madrid.

The announcement, made on Monday, said that Spanish police, in association with the Colombian National Police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, had detained a 54-year-old Moroccan national — allegedly identified as “Said” by news service EFE Noticias — who is believed to have been chief of operations for the Mexican organization in Europe. 

Drug seizure video
Footage posted online showed bags of euro notes being discovered by police. (Screen capture)

Alongside a total of five arrests, 400 kilograms of cocaine, 220,000 euros in cash, and a number of important documents and telephones were also seized at the apartment where the raid took place. Video on social media shows officers engaged in the search of a property before discovering significant sums of cash.

“Agents of the National Police, in a combined operation with the National Police of Colombia and the Office of Investigations of the Department of Homeland Security in the United States (HSI), have detained the representatives of the Mexican organization los “Zetas” in Madrid,” the National Police said in a statement.

The operation to capture Said was complex, as he reportedly lived a nomadic life, attending many meetings every day — making him difficult for authorities to trace and difficult to know which figures he met with were relevant to their investigation. Spanish authorities also said that the suspect was highly active in the Netherlands — where the Rotterdam Europort, a key destination for drugs arriving onto the continent, is located.

Los Zetas, once Mexico’s most powerful cartel, are seen as responsible for the rise in extreme violence that has plagued Mexico in recent years. A splinter of the powerful Gulf Cartel, the group now operates in several states across Mexico despite a decline from the peak of their power in the early years of the 2010s.

Los Zetas
At their height, Los Zetas were amongst Mexico’s most powerful cartels. Here, a team of Zeta “sicarios” (hitmen) are seen ambushing a police convoy in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, in 2009. (SSPF/Cuartoscuro)

The arrest of Said is the second such operation against Los Zetas in Spain. In 2016, Juan Manuel Muñoz Luévano — “El Mono Muñoz” — who was believed to be an important European ally of the group, was also detained in Madrid. 

The police also reported that one of those detained was a Colombian citizen known as “El Repetido,” who is a person “well known in the world of drug trafficking.”

Mexico News Daily

Heavy rains and hail to continue in Mexico City

By
MND Staff
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People in the rain
High temperatures and heavy rains will be the norm across much of Mexico on Monday. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)

Don’t be deceived by the heat: rain and hail are forecast for Monday afternoon in Mexico City, according to the National Weather Service (SMN).

While the thermometer might hit 25 degrees Celsius (77 F) by 3 p.m., the sky will turn partly cloudy to cloudy with occasional heavy rains coupled with showers and hail in the north, south and west of Mexico City.

Extreme rains and hail in Mexico City on Saturday led authorities to activate emergency alerts in 16 boroughs. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)

Rain is expected to begin at 6 p.m. and last until after 9 pm. Temperature during this time may drop to 17 C (62.6 F) with northerly winds of 15 to 30 km/h and gusts of 45 km/h. Toluca, México state, will see a minimum temperature of 8 C (46.4 F) and a maximum of 21 C (69.8 F). 

Heavy rains and hail in Mexico City on Saturday led local authorities to activate yellow, orange and red alerts for 16 boroughs. Pedestrians and motorists shared images of the damage caused by the hail in some parts of the city via social media.

Meanwhile, the northern states of Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas will see scorching temperatures of up to 45 C (113 F), while Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Nayarit, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo will see temperatures between 30 C to 35 C (86–95 F).

The annual Mexican monsoon — also known as the North American Monsoon — will also cause heavy rains in northwestern Mexico, while a low-pressure channel in the southeast of the country and humidity from both coasts will cause showers in the Mexican northeast and heavy rains in Mexico’s central areas. Heavy rain is also forecast in the southeast of the country and the Yucatán Peninsula.

The SMN has also forecast the arrival of Tropical Wave 17, which will move over the south and west of the country, causing significant rainfall. (Hilda Ríos/Cuartoscuro)

The SMN has also forecast the formation of Tropical Wave 17, which will move over the south and west, while the south of the coasts of Colima and Michoacán could see the development of a tropical cyclone, which would lead to very heavy rains in Guerrero and in western Mexico.

With reports from El Universal, Excélsior and Reporte Índigo and Excélsior.

Just who is Santa Muerte and why do millions of people follow her?

By
Leigh Thelmadatter
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Believers crowd the streets near the house of Santa Muerte's "Ground Zero" — the shrine built by Enriqueta Romero in Mexico City's Tepito neighborhood. The faithful gather every month for a “mass” in her honor. (Leigh Thelmadatter)

With a scythe, a long robe and piercing stare, this figure looks very much like the Grim Reaper icon we know from film, books and other media. However, this version is more: it’s a religion and a split in how Mexicans see death. 

With the name of Santa Muerte — which can be translated as “Saint Death” or “Holy Death” — the figure is considered female, not male. Alternate names include The White Girl, La Flaquita (little thin one), and perhaps most interestingly, The Virgin of the Forgotten.

gigantic image of Santa Muerte
A gigantic image of Santa Muerte dominates the Temple of Santa Muerte in Tultitlan, México state. (Angie/Wikimedia Commons)

Religious studies professor R. Andrew Chestnut of Virginia Commonwealth University, author of “Devoted to Death: Sante Muerte, the Skeleton Saint,” published by Oxford University Press, says that Santa Muerte has 12 million followers in Mexico alone, and it’s rapidly gaining followers in the U.S. and in other parts of Latin America. 

Her popularity in Mexico may not seem strange for a country famous for Day of the Dead, but Santa Muerte’s existence is nonetheless controversial. 

“Ground Zero” for Santa Muerte is undoubtedly Mexico City, more specifically the neighborhood of Tepito, the quintessential example of a Mexican rough neighborhood.  

Just over two decades ago, a woman named Enriqueta Romero — better known as Doña Queta — decided to go public with her faith in Santa Muerte and erected a shrine to her outside her house in Tepito, both as a testament and as a place for the faithful to gather.

Enriqueta Romero
Enriqueta Romero, better known as Doña Queta, made what’s believed to be the first public shrine to Santa Muerte, at her home in Mexico City. Today, thousands of faithful congregate monthly at the shrine to celebrate “mass.” (damián quiroga/National University of Colombia-Bógota)

Today, on the first of every month, thousands of the faithful gather on the streets around the house to approach the shrine, often carrying their own Santa Muerte statues in a myriad of colors and sizes and bearing their own accouterments. 

Shrines to Santa Muerte have since proliferated all over Mexico City’s poor neighborhoods, including others in Tepito. Some are notable in their own right, such such as one in the Doctores neighborhood, where Santa Muerte shares space with the “narco-saint” Jesús Malverde. In the conjoining city of Tultitlán, there is a Temple of Santa Muerte with a 22-meter-tall image.

Outside the capital, one of the most interesting Santa Muerte sites is a seemingly out-of-place “church” and museum complex just outside Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, in the town of Santa Ana Chapitiro. It attracts pilgrims from all over Michoacán and beyond.

Santa Muerte seems to have exploded from out of nowhere. Doña Queta claims the faith goes back generations but that worshippers had to keep hidden until about 20 to 30 years ago. Neither its practitioners nor academics agree on its origin or history. 

Believer at Tepito shrine to Santa Muerte
A believer touches the glass of Enriqueta Romero’s Tepito-based shrine, seeking a blessing. (Leigh Thelmadatter)

Most agree that it is a syncretism of Mesoamerican and Catholic beliefs, sometimes with elements from Afro-Caribbean religions. Folk histories attribute it to a healer/witch from the eastern part of Mexico (some say Puebla, others Veracruz) who lived sometime in the 19th or 20th centuries.

Skeletal imagery has played a significant role in Mexico’s culture from the Mesoamerican period to the present, from Mictlantecuhtli (god of the underworld) to San Pascualito Rey (still venerated in Chiapas) to La Catrina. Some academics put the origin of Santa Muerte to Veracruz because of its history of worshiping skeletons. But there is no documentation to prove lineage, only tantalizing similarities. 

However, the modern-day Santa Muerte is nearly an exact replica of the Western personification of death, and her rituals nearly the same as those offered to any “normal” saint — rosaries, pilgrimages, offerings and even the practice of approaching the shrine in Tepito on one’s knees (an act of piety and humility famously associated with the Virgin of Guadalupe). 

Differences are subtle, such as the offerings of cigarettes and alcohol and other indications of the rough life that most believers live.

Biker in Mexico City wearing Santa Muerte jacket
A biker bearing Santa Muerte’s likeness at a motorcycle event in Mexico City. The icon’s strongest appeal is to those who live on the margins of society. (Alejandro Linares Garcia/Wikimedia Commons)

In addition, the religion is rapidly evolving and diversifying with no central canon. Her “patron saint day” can be August 1, August 15 and even December 13.

The trappings of Catholicism involved is one reason why the Vatican repeatedly condemns Santa Muerte, stating in no uncertain terms that it is Satanic and associated with black magic. But most worshipers do not consider their use of Catholic rituals as mockery, nor do they consider the figure as a personification of evil

The other issue is her strong association with (often organized) crime and those who live with violence everyday. Romero acknowledges that many in front of her house are delinquents. 

“I do not involve myself in their lives,” she says. “Are there thieves that pray? Yes, everyone is here, and it is not for me to judge.”  

Shrine to Santa Muerte made by Enriqueta Romero
Believers at Romero’s shrine. (Damián Quiroga/National University of Colombia-Bógota)

She emphasizes that there are good people who believe in her as well as criminals and that they should not be judged by the actions of others. 

But perhaps the greatest challenge of Santa Muerte to the Church is its metaphysics:  Christianity essentially exhorts its followers to eschew the world and focus on a reward to be found after death. Time on earth should be spent on “getting right with God” so that when we die, we can enjoy what life denied us. 

But many of Santa Muerte’s followers see themselves trapped in a reality that will not allow them to approach God, especially since the Church requires itself to be an intercessor. So these faithful are “forgotten” by the Church, assured only of death, not of redemption. Instead, they think, it’s best for them to focus on today’s needs and desires because perhaps they can get a small favor here and there, rather than a big reward at the end. 

Santa Muerte votives in Washington D.C. supermarket
Santa Muerte votive in a Washington DC supermarket. Mexico’s faithful have taken their belief where they go, both north to the U.S. and south to other countries in Latin America. (T. Carter Ross)

Santa Muerte is inclusive since Death does not discriminate. She will “hear” petitions for “difficult things” (crime), but she also appeals to police officers, who also deal with crime and violence everyday. She even appeals to some in Mexico’s upper classes, who live with the reality of becoming victims of kidnapping and extortion.

For Tepito, Santa Muerte is not part of the community’s identity, and Romero considers attempts to return faith in her to traditional religion to be “invasive.” 

“The other day, a gringo came to yell at us about the ‘true faith,’” she said, adding something unprintable about how they threw the invader out.

And not all Mexicans are enamored with this “new” relationship with Death — many are still Catholic, or at least see the Church as part of their identity. In 2022, one man in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, went as far as to burn down a Santa Muerte shrine, stating he was acting “under God’s orders.”

But for many believers, Santa Muerte is a comfort in the face of harsh realities of life at the margins of Mexican society — where mainstream religion’s promise of a heavenly reward for good behavior breaks down among a host of contradictions. 

“I do not know where we go after we die,” Romero says. “My faith helps me to survive today. I do believe in God as well as my Flaca. If tomorrow comes, well, it’s another day, and that is a reward.”

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.

Got the superpeso blues? Try these everyday money saving tips

By
Sarah DeVries
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Illustration by Angy Marquez about the superpeso
The U.S. dollar's prolonged nosedive in relation to the Mexican peso has been an unexpected problem for many folks who are used to relying on a strong dollar to meet their budgetary needs in Mexico. (Illustration by Angy Márquez)

If you’re like me, you’ve been observing in dread as the dollar has continued its slow nosedive in relation to the peso. 

Where will it bottom out? Nobody seems to know. Pessimists say there’s no limit, while optimists say that it should be between 18 and 19 again by the end of the year. As far as I’m concerned, it’s anybody’s guess in this weird dimension we’ve been stuck in lately. 

I’m actively trying to adjust my budget and not get my hopes up, but the past several months have been a pretty painful transition for a lot of us. This includes both those workers who earn in dollars who’ve seen 20% of their income seemingly evaporate into thin air, as well as the many families in Mexico who rely on remittances from family members in the U.S. to meet their living expenses.

If only we’d known last year what we know now!

This time last year, I moved to a lovely house with higher rent than what I’d been paying previously. It was a slight stretch financially but still well within the range I could afford. Magically (well, by the magic of exchange rates), my rent is now US $150 more expensive than it was when I moved in, besides the increase tied to inflation that’s baked into the contract.

I also bought a (used) car this year, a goal I’ve had for quite a few years. I don’t regret buying it, but it’s meant that much more in monthly expenses during a year where prices on everything seem to have skyrocketed. Pretty much the day after I bought the car, we dipped below 19 pesos to the dollar (seems like a fantasy now, doesn’t it?), which at the time seemed just terrible.

So, here we are. I wonder to what extent Mexico’s more recently arrived immigrants feel like they’d been told they were getting on a kiddie ride only to find themselves on a scary funhouse roller coaster, the kind that goes upside down.

I moved to Mexico over 20 years ago because I was in love — with the country, yes, and also with my then-boyfriend (who later became my husband and then ex-husband). The increasingly advantageous exchange rate — it was 10 to 1 when I first arrived — and the fact that I was able to hop on the online work wagon were happy accidents of history and circumstance, but not the reason that I chose to call this place my home.

I’m still committed to Mexico. This is my home and will remain so, even if I need to drastically reduce my budget in some unexpected and painful ways. The falling exchange rate feels like a punch to the gut, but, hey, no one ever promised that earning dollars or the dollar-peso exchange rate would forever be advantageous to dollar-owners.

And while I’m missing some major features of a complete upper-middle-class profile, I do, for the most part, and on the surface, live somewhere close to what I consider an upper-middle-class lifestyle. However, that was not always so.

I spent my childhood in a paycheck-to-paycheck family, any financial advantages stemming from more distant family members who would help out when things got too tight (my grandmother paid for my braces and ballet classes, while a childless great uncle who had to foresight to create trust funds for each of his nieces and nephews was the reason I was able to go to college).

I wasn’t particularly prosperous when I showed up to live in Mexico either. It was before online jobs were really a thing, and I worked at an “English institute” full-time, earning about $7,000 pesos a month (which in those days was closer to $700 USD) with no benefits; I remember my boss balking when I said I didn’t think I could give classes one day because I’d lost my voice.

I took the bus, I asked for prices before picking things out at the market and I can count the number of times I went to the movie theater or mall in a year on one hand. Rent for a little apartment was $2,500 pesos, and the rest was spent on bills, food and bus fare.

All this means that I’ve got plenty of experience pinching a peso and see myself increasingly needing to return to those habits. In the hopes they might help you, too, here are some tips for coping:

  1. Use cash, or at least transfer the money you’re planning to spend to a Mexican bank account. Things are priced in pesos here, and many accounts from the U.S. and/or card readers at the grocery store take a cut when you pay with a foreign card. It’s usually small, but hey — every peso counts these days.
  2. Pay attention at ATMs. If you take out pesos from a US account, there are some that will ask you, “Hey, can we charge you 6% more for your pesos, please?” Many people think they must agree in order to get their cash, but that’s actually not true. If you choose “decline conversion,” they’ll give you your money anyway.
  3. If you enjoy buying in bulk at places like Costco, make sure you’re actually getting a good deal. I mostly use it for boxes of milk and dog food, but, especially for things like frozen food, it can be quite a bit more expensive, as can the grocery store; you can expect U.S. prices there. I went shopping the other day and could swear that every little item in there was priced between 50 and 100 pesos! 50 is the new 20, I guess.
  4. For fresh food, a local market and even the tiendita (neighborhood store) is usually your best bet. They’ll also often have things like ham, bacon, and cheese that you can buy by the gram. You can also know right then how much you’re spending, as you’ll usually need to ask about the prices. The market can also be a good place for a quick meal or snack that’s not too pricey!
  5. Shop around, even at the Oxxos and Fastis: eggs everywhere seem to be at least 80 pesos a carton, but they’re 60 at the Fasti down the street from me. Unlike convenience stores in the U.S. the prices in Mexican corner shops don’t tend to be as inflated.
  6. Think about switching to an electric shower. Since moving into a house with one, we’ve hardly used any gas, even though we have a clothes dryer. Now I know: nothing sucks up more gas than the boiler! If you have no choice, keep only the pilot on, but don’t keep the heat up. And if you’re really brave, you can just keep it totally off and light it when you want to take a shower.
  7. For goods that come in plastic containers (like detergent and other cleaning chemicals), there are often places that sell it by the liter. You can take your empty plastic container and buy it that way, which is almost always a much cheaper option. Plus, you get to use your plastic containers a few times before just throwing them away.

When will this roller coaster ride end? We do not know. But for now, it seems safest to assume that it won’t, as well as to remember that, although inflation is decreasing, it doesn’t mean that prices will go down. (There’s inflation, and then there’s people and companies taking advantage of everyone saying there’s inflation.)

Good luck out there, all! If you’ve got any more tips, feel free to share them on the various platforms available!

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com.

Is the peso about to peak? A perspective from our CEO

By
Travis Bembenek
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The peso has appreciated nearly 15% against the dollar so far this year. (Depositphotos)

Whether you love it, or are feeling the pain of it, it’s hard to ignore the impact of such a dramatic strengthening of the Mexican peso versus the US dollar.

On Friday, the peso strengthened to 16.62, an almost 8-year high. Year-to-date, the peso has strengthened nearly 15%, and is now almost 25% stronger than levels hit just 18 months ago. Yesterday’s further appreciation was partly due to cooling U.S. inflation, likely indicating that the Federal Reserve might be done with interest rate hikes.

I wrote previously about the factors that could slow down the superpeso. When might the peso begin to weaken?

There might be a clue in – of all places – Chile. Chile’s central bank lowered its interest rates by 100 basis points (1.0%) on Friday. A cut of 100 basis points is a very big one (the Federal Reserve tends to move in 25 basis point increments).

This was the first decrease in years, was larger than expected, and a unanimous decision.  The move follows a recent cut by Uruguay earlier in the month and leads analysts to believe that this is the start of Latin American countries – which were even more aggressive than the United States in increasing interest rates – to start cutting them.

Mexico increased its rates in the current economic cycle by a whopping 700 basis points (7%) to a current level of 11.25%, before recently pausing. Given that the country’s headline inflation rate has been coming in consistently lower – the most recent reported level was near 4.79% – Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) might be ready to take action to lower these rates. Stay tuned on Aug. 10, when they will hold their next meeting, as this might signal the peak of the peso’s rise against the US dollar.

Monetary policy and exchange rates are not a perfect science, and rarely easy to predict, but the lowering of interest rates in Mexico could begin to slow the peso’s appreciation.

Of course, currency moves depend on many other factors like the relative levels and trends of both interest rates and inflation of other countries, but a reduction in Mexican interest rates could be a game changer. However, the overall trends of nearshoring and economic strength in Mexico will likely keep the peso from a significant weakening.

Don’t judge a mamey by its cover: luscious fruit lies within

By
Janet Blaser
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Mamey fruit
Its brown, leathery skin loses the mamey points for presentation, but a ripe one is a little slice of heaven. (Suriel Ramzal/Shutterstock)

With its rough, brown skin and odd, elongated football-like shape, the mamey’s external appearance belies the luscious fruit within. 

The sweet flesh inside is a brilliant deep coral-orange, with a taste that some describe as somewhere in the middle of a cantaloupe, an apricot and a papaya, while others compare it to a baked sweet potato or pumpkin pie. Mamey’s texture is smooth and creamy, like a ripe avocado, and despite its large size and the shiny black pit in the middle, it is classified as a berry.

mamey fruit being sold in Mexico
When they’re in season, ripe, delicious mamey fruits for sale are a pretty common sight along highways and byways. (Meutia Chaerani-Indiradi Soemardjan/Wikimedia Commons)

When in season, you’ll find mamey (pronounced mah-MAY) not only in supermarkets but also in vendor markets and, in some areas, sold by the roadside. Just like mangoes, the trees grow big and live a long time, producing an abundance of fruit for more than 20 years. A mature tree can yield up to a half ton of fruit over a long growing season that lasts from January to July. 

Formally called Mamey sapote or simply zapote in some parts of Mexico, this exotic fruit is widely grown for consumption at home as well as for export. Southern states like Veracruz, Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tabasco, as well as Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Guerrero, produce many varieties of sapotes (from the Nahuatl tzapotl), all with different colors and distinct flavors. 

Traditional recipes and folk remedies abound: mamey is known for its antiparasitic and antibacterial qualities, as well as for having high levels of iron, fiber, antioxidants and beta-carotene, which contribute to healthy skin and digestion and improved blood circulation. And since mamey is about 80% water, it’s also low in calories.

The simplest way to eat mamey, of course, is just cut up. Its bright-orange color adds pizzazz to everything, whether in a fruit salad, blended into a smoothie or agua fresca or made into ice cream, flan or pudding. Ostensibly, mamey can be cut up and cooked like French fries, but I can’t vouch for that idea.

In some states, the mamey sapote seed, or pixtle, is used in traditional recipes, including the Oaxacan drink tejate and Tabasco’s sour atole. In Oaxaca, after the seeds are toasted and ground, the powder is added to hot chocolate to make it froth more. 

A word of caution: Raw mamey sapote seeds contain cyanide, which is poisonous. Before using them in recipes, they need to be cooked and treated. Do not attempt this on your own! 

When selecting mamey, look for unblemished fruit that gives gently when squeezed lightly, like a ripe peach or avocado. If they need to ripen, wrap the fruit in brown paper and leave out on your kitchen counter until it’s tender to the touch. 

To prepare, slice the skin from top to bottom in four places and peel off. Slice the fruit away from the pit inside. Discard the pits and any white membrane under the skin, then slice the fruit as desired. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to cut mamey in half, discard the pit and scoop out the bright orange flesh with a spoon.

Mamey Frozen Mousse

  • 3 cups of mamey pulp 
  • ¼ cup evaporated milk
  • 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream

In a blender or stand mixer, process mamey with the evaporated milk, condensed milk and vanilla; set aside. Whip the cream until doubled in volume. Gently fold the mamey mixture into whipped cream until incorporated. Transfer to a bowl and freeze for 8 hours, stirring from time to time to distribute the frozen parts. When firm and frozen, serve in bowls or cones. 

Mamey popsicles
Agua de mamey is a great choice for making refreshing popsicles! (Studio2gdl/Shutterstock)

Agua de Mamey

This can also be used to make bolis or popsicles.

  • 1 cup of cubed mamey
  • 2 Tbsp. honey/agave syrup
  • Juice of 4 small limones or to taste
  • 6 cups water
  • Ice

Blend the fruit with a little of the water, lime juice and honey/agave syrup. Return to the pitcher with the rest of the water; mix well. Serve in glasses with ice.

Bolis de Mamey

  • 1½ cups mamey pulp
  • 1 liter regular milk
  • 1 ½ cans sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 ½ cups media crema
  • 1 Tbsp. vanilla 

Process mamey pulp in a blender until pureed. In a large bowl, whisk both milks, media crema, vanilla and mamey pulp until well incorporated. Pour into small plastic bags (or popsicle molds); twist and tie the bag at the top to close. Freeze at least eight hours or overnight.

mamey horchata
La Capital restaurant in Mexico City shows how a simple mamey horchata can be made into a special occasion! (La Capital/Facebook)

Mamey Horchata

  • 2 cups washed white rice
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 3 cans evaporated milk
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 cups mamey pulp
  • 1 Tbsp. vanilla 

Bring water to a boil. Add cinnamon stick, vanilla and rice; turn heat to low, cover tightly and cook until the rice is done, about 20–25 minutes. (There will still be water in the pan but the rice will be tender.) Stir and let cool for 15 minutes. Discard cinnamon stick.

In a blender or food processor, pour rice and cooking water. Blend on high until smooth, working in batches if necessary. Strain into a large pitcher and add the condensed milk, evaporated milk and one more cup of room-temperature water. 

In a blender, process the mamey and then strain through a wire-mesh strainer. Discard solids. Add mamey juice to the rice water mixture and stir well.  Serve chilled over ice. 

Flan de Mamey

  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • 4 cups mamey pulp
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 2 egg yolks

Heat the sugar with the water in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar melts, turns golden brown and caramelizes a little. Pour this caramel into a mold or individual glass flan cups.

Mamey flan
It only takes a few steps to produce a delicious homemade mamey flan. (Nestle)

Blend the mamey with the condensed milk, eggs and egg yolks until thoroughly combined. Pour into mold or cups and cover with aluminum foil. 

Fill a lasagna-size pan with boiling water to about an inch from the top; place cups or mold into pan. Cook at 350F (180C) for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Carefully remove from pan, chill at least three hours, unmold and serve.

Janet Blaser is the author of the best-selling book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, featured on CNBC and MarketWatch. She has lived in Mexico since 2006. You can find her on Facebook.

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