Mexico’s happiest citizens live in Hidalgo; Coahuila offers best quality of life

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October 7, 2021

Hidalgo is Mexico’s happiest state, while residents of Coahuila are most likely to be satisfied with their quality of life, a survey indicates.

The firm Arias Consultores polled 15,635 Mexicans via social media in late August, asking them to rate their happiness, quality of life and wellbeing.

When asked to consider all aspects of their lives, almost seven in 10 Hidalgo residents – 69.1% – said they were happy, a higher percentage of residents of any other state. Only 2% of hidalguenses said they were unhappy, while the remaining 28.9% described their state of mind as “neutral.”

The percentage of happy hidalguenses rose 11.7% compared to the previous poll conducted a month earlier but Arias Consultores gave no reason for the spike. However, happiness levels may have dropped in September because parts of the state suffered severe flooding. Results of the firm’s September survey haven’t yet been released.

The second happiest state was Durango, where 64.2% of residents declared themselves happy. Tamaulipas, a state better known for violence than happiness, ranked third, followed by Tlaxcala and Sinaloa. More than 60% of poll respondents from each of those states said they were happy.

Mexico’s least happy state, the poll found, is Nayarit, where just 34.5% of residents are happy. Puebla, Morelos and San Luis Potosí were the only other states where fewer than 40% of respondents said they were happy.

Among all poll respondents, 49.5% said they were happy, 42.7% said their state of mind was neutral and 7.8% said they were unhappy.

Asked to rate their quality of life, 63.1% of Coahuila residents said it was good, a 15.2% increase compared to the previous poll.

The only other states where at least six in 10 residents said their quality of life was good were Durango (61.6%) and Oaxaca (60.4%). Ranking fourth and fifth, respectively, were Tamaulipas and Hidalgo, where just under 59% of respondents said they had good quality of life.

At the bottom of the list was Chiapas – Mexico’s poorest state – where just 29.2% of respondents said quality of life was good. Other states where fewer than 35% of residents said they had a good quality of life were Puebla, México state, Zacatecas and Nayarit.

Across Mexico, 43.9% of respondents said they had a good quality of life, 48.7% said it was regular and 7.4% said it was bad.

Finally, Arias Consultores asked Facebook users to rate their general wellbeing. Querétaro came out on top with 62% of residents saying it was good. Sinaloa ranked second at 59.9% followed by Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Sonora, where more than 55% of residents rated their wellbeing as good.

Just 30.2% of respondents from both Zacatecas and Nayarit described their wellbeing as good, the lowest rates in the country. Puebla had the third worst rate at 33.1% and Guerrero and Morelos ranked fourth and fifth last, respectively, with rates in the mid-30s.

Across Mexico, 44.3% of respondents described their wellbeing as good, 48% said it was regular and 7.7% said it was bad.

Published earlier this year, the United Nations’ World Happiness Report said Mexico was the 46th happiest country in the world, a decline of 23 places compared to the previous report.

Mexico News Daily

6 dead after latest round of flooding in Querétaro

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Rose Egelhoff

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October 7, 2021

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Emergency personnel recover the body of a victim of flooding in Querétaro.

The number of people killed by flooding in Querétaro has risen to six as more bodies continue to be found.

Initial reports indicated four flooding deaths but on Wednesday morning, a fifth body — that of a woman who was swept away by floodwaters — was found in the community of Santa Teresa in Huimilpan. And in the state capital, the body of one of two occupants of a car that fell in a sinkhole was found on Thursday morning.

In total, at least six people were swept away in the flooding in three municipalities, reported the newspaper Milenio.

Floods affected at least 70 neighborhoods in 11 municipalities, causing property damage and putting residents at risk. The greatest impacts were seen in San Juan del Río, Tequisquiapan, Querétaro city, Corregidora and El Marqués.

Residents of La Rueda near the San Juan River reported that the water level rose so fast — reaching homes in just two hours — that they did not have time to save their pets or belongings. In response to the disaster, Governor Mauricio Kuri said that the neighborhood “should never have existed,” given the flood risk.

“It is going badly for more than 3,000 houses; there have been 10 floods in a month,” adding that the state would analyze the possibility of relocating affected citizens.

With reports from Milenio and El Economista

In 11 years, 10,000 unidentified bodies buried in mass graves in Baja California

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MND Staff

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October 7, 2021

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A man's name written in marker on the white cross that adorns a mass grave — A man's name written on the white cross that adorns a mass grave. Even when victims are identified, exhuming the body for separate burial can be prohibitively expensive for families.

More than 10,000 unidentified bodies have been buried in mass graves in Baja California since 2010, official data shows.

Between January 2010 and June of this year, 10,122 unidentified corpses were interred in 13 cemeteries, according to the state government.

More than 1,000 of the mass graves are located in cemetery No. 13 in Tijuana, Baja California’s largest city and Mexico’s most violent. Each is marked with a white, wooden cross.

Authorities have continued to bury unidentified bodies in such graves in recent years despite the practice being outlawed in 2015, the newspaper Milenio reported.

Angélica Ramírez, a member of a collective of family members of missing people, told Milenio that up to 20 bodies are buried in a single grave.

Many of the graves haven’t been completely filled in, meaning that plastic bags containing body parts are visible. Medical refuse such as latex gloves and face masks used by forensic investigators often end up in the graves with the nameless victims of violence.

“For us, this is shocking,” said Ramírez, adding that it is unfortunate that Baja California authorities don’t respect laws designed to protect unidentified victims.

If a body buried in a mass grave is later identified, the victim’s family can hire a gravedigger to exhume the remains. However, the cost – as high as 80,000 pesos (about US $3,900) – is prohibitive for many. The Baja California government doesn’t make any contribution to the cost.

Ramírez said families who can’t afford to pay exhumation costs often approach collectives such as Una Nación Buscándote (One Nation Looking for you) for help.

She said that collective members on one occasion exhumed seven bodies, including the son of a woman who approached the collective.

Many bodies have been buried in mass graves shortly after they were located and before they were identified because there wasn’t enough space to store them in government morgues. In 2019, one morgue in Tijuana was compared to an extermination camp in 1940s Nazi Germany after a photograph that circulated on the messaging service WhatsApp showed a pile of naked and bloody dead bodies on the floor.

In December 2017, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) threatened to shut down the same morgue after it was discovered that it was storing blood, body fluids and other medical waste in its parking lot.

With reports from Milenio

New Franz Mayer exhibition showcases artistic perspectives on the Spanish conquest

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Rose Egelhoff

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October 7, 2021

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Artistic Accounts of the Conquest features 81 pieces.

A new show at the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City invites viewers to reexamine the conquest through the art of the 16th through 18th centuries. The exhibition, “Artistic Accounts of the Conquest,” brings together for the first time a number of important works belonging to the museum and other organizations.

The works show the conquest from various perspectives, including European and New Spanish, according to a museum press release.

The exhibit tracks the fall of the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlán and the subjugation of Mexica lords by the Spanish invaders. Through paintings, sculpture, textiles, furniture, books and more, the show reveals “the political, philosophical and theological imaginaries” of past centuries with respect to the conquest.

The show includes 81 works, 66 of which belong to the Franz Mayer Museum. The remaining 15 belong to the National History Museum, the Museum of the Cultures of Oaxaca and others.

The exhibition, which opened September 29, can be viewed during museum hours Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is 70 pesos, and children under 12 enter for free.

Starting on October 20, the museum will also host an exhibition for the National Design Award, with winners in five categories: products, digital design, experiences and interiors, visual communication and fashion design. The exhibition will present recent trends and explore the theory, practice and technique behind contemporary design.

Mexico News Daily

Foreign tourists must show immigration document to buy a bus ticket

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Rose Egelhoff

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October 7, 2021

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Autobuses de Oriente buses — If you plan to travel by bus in Mexico, you'll have to prove you're legally in the country.

A group of national bus companies now requires that foreign passengers wishing to buy bus tickets show immigration documents in accordance with a request from the National Immigration Institute (INM).

“Based on the request from various state, federal and [INM] authorities and in the face of the extraordinary situation of the flow of migrants currently crossing the country, we would like to inform you that this protocol will be implemented,” Autobuses de Oriente (ADO) wrote on Twitter.

The company apologized for the inconvenience and emphasized that it was complying with a government request. It also recommended that anyone with questions about acceptable documentation contact the INM.

Other companies that will require immigration documents include Autobuses TAP, Enlaces Terrestres Nacionales (ETN) and Grupo Flecha Amarilla, which includes Primera Plus and Coordinados. Some companies specified that they would also require an official form of identification from Mexican customers.

The announcement followed a request by President López Obrador, who asked transportation companies not to serve migrants.

“We are asking them to help us … We are talking about Mexico’s national transportation companies, the companies make it their business to move migrants,” the president said.

With reports from Reforma and LatinUs

Former Ayotzinapa suspect says feds offered 4mn pesos for false testimony

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MND Staff

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October 7, 2021

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Felipe Rodríguez Salgado, an alleged gang leader, was acquitted of involvement in the Ayotziniapa case in 2018.

A high-ranking federal security official offered a suspect in the case of the 43 students who disappeared in Guerrero seven years ago 4 million pesos to give false testimony to support the previous federal government’s so-called “historical truth,” the latter claims.

Felipe Rodríguez Salgado, an alleged leader of the Guerreros Unidos crime gang who was acquitted of involvement in the Ayotziniapa case in 2018, told journalist Anabel Hernánedez that Tomás Zerón, former head of the now-defunct Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC), visited him in the Altiplano federal prison to try to bribe him.

He spoke to Hernández, a well known investigative reporter who writes about drug trafficking and organized crime, in January 2019 but the contents of the telephone interview weren’t published until Thursday.

Rodríguez, also known as “El Cepillo,” said Zerón visited him twice in February 2015. During the first visit, the then AIC chief – who the government is trying to have extradited from Israel to face torture and tampering with evidence charges – offered him 4 million pesos (US $194,000 at today’s exchange rate) to incriminate former Iguala mayor José Luis Abarca and three other Guerreros Unidos leaders: Mario Casarrubias Salgado, Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado and Gildardo López Astudillo.

According to the previous government’s official version of events – the so-called historical truth – Abarca, who remains in prison awaiting trial, colluded with Guerreros Unidos leaders to abduct, murder and incinerate the bodies of the Ayotzinapa students, who disappeared on September 26, 2014.

Tómas Zerón, former head of the now-defunct Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC), will face charges of torture and tampering with evidence if he is successfully extradited from Israel. — Tómas Zerón, former head of the now-defunct Criminal Investigation Agency, will face charges of torture and tampering with evidence if he is successfully extradited from Israel.

The previous government said the students, traveling on a bus they commandeered to go to a protest in Mexico City, were intercepted by corrupt municipal police who handed them over to members of the Guerreros Unidos who subsequently killed them, burned their bodies in a dump in the municipality of Cocula and disposed of their remains in a nearby river.

Rodríguez told Hernández that he rejected the offer from Zerón, who subsequently told him to think it over. He said the then security official offered to assist him with his legal process if he agreed to cooperate, telling him he would arrange lawyers for him.

“I told him no because I didn’t have anything to say because I had been tortured. Everything I … [confessed to] was part of that. So he said to me, ‘Think about it and I’ll come back in five days.’ And he left.”

Rodríguez is one of scores of Ayotzinapa suspects who were released from prison after it was determined they were tortured, including in the presence of Zerón.

The judge who freed him after almost four years’ imprisonment ruled that without the confessions obtained through torture, authorities had insufficient evidence to prove he was a Guerreros Unidos leader and involved in the students’ disappearance.

The former suspect, who was 25 at the time the students disappeared, told Hernández that Zerón returned to the Altiplano prison eight days after the initial visit. He arrived at the México state prison by helicopter and was accompanied by an army officer and his mother. Zerón’s goal, Rodríguez said, was to get his mother to convince him to accept the 4-million-peso agreement.

But “El Cepillo” once again refused to cooperate. “… I said no because I had no reason to accuse people I don’t know,” he said.

Rodríguez said he told his mother not to pay any attention to people she doesn’t know. “Go home and stop doing this,” he said he told her.

In response to his refusal to cooperate, Rodríguez said Zerón warned him he would be killed if he spoke about the 4-million-peso offer. In his interview with Hernández, published Thursday in the newspaper Milenio, the former suspect denied any involvement in the students’ disappearance.

He said that Zerón, who along with former attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam is considered a key architect of the historical truth, was the only official who tried to persuade him to incriminate the former Iguala mayor and the alleged Guerreros Unidos leaders.

Rodríguez also said he met on one occasion with the lawyers for the missing students’ families, whom he told how sorry he was about what happened to the 43 young men. He said he also told them that he wanted the truth about what happened to come out so that his name would be definitively cleared.

Just over seven years after the students disappeared, no one has been convicted of the students’ disappearance and presumed murder and the current federal government has not divulged its own version of events despite launching a new investigation almost three years ago and rejecting its predecessor’s historical truth. The remains of just three students have been found and formally identified.

The federal Interior Ministry released a document last week that included a transcript of a text conversation between Gildardo López and a deputy chief of the Iguala municipal police that partially supports the previous government’s conclusion as it indicates that at least 38 students were handed over to the Guerreros Unidos by corrupt police.

The army has long been accused of involvement in the case but a document recently released by the federal Attorney General’s Office containing testimony from soldiers was so heavily redacted that it was illegible.

With reports from Milenio

COVID roundup: 7,697 new cases reported on Wednesday

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MND Staff

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October 7, 2021

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Mexico’s accumulated coronavirus case tally increased by 7,697 on Wednesday to just under 3.7 million, while the official COVID-19 death toll rose by 713 to 280,607.

There are 47,944 estimated active cases, a 0.8% increase compared to Tuesday.

Mexico City easily has the highest accumulated case tally among the 32 states, having recorded more than 952,000 since the start of the pandemic. México state ranks second with more than 365,000.

No other states have registered more than 200,000 confirmed cases but eight have tallies above 100,000. They are Nuevo León, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Tabasco, Puebla, Veracruz, Sonora and San Luis Potosí.

Mexico City also has the highest death toll with 51,293 fatalities linked to COVID-19. México state has recorded almost 32,000 COVID-19 deaths, while Jalisco has the third highest death toll with over 16,000 fatalities.

On a per capita basis, Tabasco has the highest number of active cases with about 120 per 100,000 people. Colima and Mexico City rank second and third, respectively, with about 90 each.

In other COVID-19 news:

• There are 5,996 hospitalized COVID patients across Mexico, according to federal data. General care COVID wards are at 70% capacity or higher in 119 hospitals, while 52 have occupancy rates of that level or higher for beds with ventilators.

• Cases are on the rise in Oaxaca and COVID wards in five hospitals are at capacity, state Health Minister Juan Carlos Márquez Heine said Wednesday. The southern state, currently low risk green on the coronavirus stoplight map, reported 325 new cases and 11 deaths on Wednesday. Most new infections were detected in Oaxaca city but there are active cases across 113 municipalities, Márquez said.

• More than 104.5 million vaccine doses have been administered after almost 721,000 shots were given Tuesday. More than 65 million Mexican adults have received at least one shot while more than 45 million are fully vaccinated.

• Three offices within the federal Health Ministry have been shut due to coronavirus outbreaks. Those closed include the offices of Health Minister Jorge Alcocer and Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell. The latter, the government’s coronavirus czar, had his own bout with COVID earlier this year.

Located within Health Ministry headquarters in the Mexico City neighborhood of Juárez, the offices will remain closed until at least October 18.

With reports from Reforma and Milenio

Ancient mangrove forest found hidden in heart of Yucatán Peninsula

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MND Staff

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October 6, 2021

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mangrove in Tabasco — Aquatic life takes refuge in the roots of a 125,000 year-old red mangrove forest found in Tabasco by US and Mexican researchers. Octavio Aburto/UC San Diego

An ancient mangrove forest hidden in rainforest in the heart of the Yucatán Peninsula is the focus of a new study by researchers from Mexico and the United States.

Located 170 kilometers from the ocean on the banks of the San Pedro Martir River in the municipality of Balancán, Tabasco, the ecosystem is unusual because mangroves are usually found along tropical and subtropical coastlines.

“Combining multiple lines of evidence, we demonstrate that this extant forest is a relict from a past, warmer world when relative sea levels were 6 to 9 meters higher than at the present,” the researchers said in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

A relict is a remnant of a formerly widespread species that persists in an isolated area.

“Our finding highlights the extensive landscape impacts of past climate change on the world’s coastline and opens opportunities to better understand future scenarios of relative sea-level rise,” said the researchers, who work at the University of California in the United States, the Juárez Autonomous University of Tabasco and Pronatura Noroeste, a conservation organization in Ensenada, Baja California.

Red mangroves on the banks of the San Pedro Martir River in Tabasco.

Via their study, which integrates genetic, geological and vegetation data with sea-level modeling, the researchers concluded that the San Pedro mangrove forest was established in its current location in Tabasco during the last interglacial period about 125,000 years ago, when sea levels were high enough to flood the Tabasco lowlands. It remained there in isolation even as oceans receded during the last glaciation.

“The most amazing part of this study is that we were able to examine a mangrove ecosystem that has been trapped in time for more than 100,000 years,” said Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, a University of California marine ecologist and one of the co-authors.

“There is certainly more to discover about how the many species in this ecosystem adapted throughout different environmental conditions over the past 100,000 years. Studying these past adaptations will be very important for us to better understand future conditions in a changing climate.”

Carlos Burelo, a botanist at the Juárez Autonomous University and a native of Tabasco, brought the mangrove forest to the other researchers’ attention in 2016.

“I used to fish here and play on these mangroves as a kid, but we never knew precisely how they got there,” he said. “That was the driving question that brought the team together.”

Felipe Zapata, one of two University of California ecologists who led the genetic work to estimate the origin and age of the mangroves, described the study’s findings as “extraordinary.”

“Not only are the red mangroves here with their origins printed in their DNA, but the whole coastal lagoon ecosystem of the last interglacial has found refuge here,” he said.

The researchers said they hope their findings convince the Tabasco and federal governments of the need to protect the ancient ecosystem.

“The story of Pleistocene glacial cycles is written in the DNA of its plants waiting for scientists to decipher it, but more importantly, the San Pedro mangroves are warning us about the dramatic impact that climate change could have on the coastal plains of the Gulf of Mexico if we do not take urgent action to stop the emission of greenhouse gases,” they said.

Mexico News Daily

World’s 50 best restaurants include 2 in Mexico City

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MND Staff

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October 6, 2021

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Enrique Olvera, founder and chef of Pujol restaurant, which took ninth place on the 2021 list of The World's 50 Best Restaurants. Facebook

Two Mexico City restaurants appear on the 2021 list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Pujol ranks ninth, three places higher than in 2019, while Quintonil took 27th place, down three spots compared to two years ago.

A list wasn’t published last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Located in the capital’s upscale Polanco neighborhood, Pujol captures “the spirit of Mexico” on a plate, according to the judges of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, which are widely accepted as the Oscars of gastronomy.

Founded by chef Enrique Olvera in 2000, the restaurant offers “a varied seven-course tasting menu that packs an incredible punch,” the awards website said.

Quintonil chef Jorge Vallejo worked at both Pujol and the No. 1 restaurant on the 2021 list, Noma in Copenhagen.

“While the selection changes seasonally, the signature Mole Madre, Mole Nuevo – two concentric rings of the traditional Mexican preparation, one of which is aged for 2,500 days – is a stable feature, alongside a steamy dish of baby corn with chicatana ant mayonnaise,“ it said.

The website also notes that Pujol moved in 2017 and is now located in “a chic setting” with a “sleek interior … lit by gorgeous natural light that floods through the windows.”

Pujol said on Instagram that it was “happy to be part of The World’s 50 Best, along with an incredible group of restaurants.”

“We thank our community: producers, suppliers, our kitchen and dining room team, our customers and our friends,” it added.

Another restaurant founded by Olvera, Cosme in New York City, ranks 22nd on the 2021 list.

Five spots below Cosme is Quintonil, also located in Polanco. The restaurant offers “a taste of pure Mexico from a talented young chef,” according to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants website.

Quintonil restaurant — The World’s 50 Best Restaurants website praised Quintonil for offering “a taste of pure Mexico.” Quintonil

That chef is Jorge Vallejo, who previously worked at Pujol as well as René Redzepi’s Noma in Copenhagen, which took first place on this year’s list.

Quintonil, the awards website notes, “is the name of a green Mexican herb which features in some of the dishes and cocktails and pretty much sums up this restaurant: fresh, authentic and brimming with flavor.”

“… Although there’s an à la carte option, those with time should pick the tasting menu for the true Quintonil experience. From braised oxtail in black recado with almond purée and red onion to Atocpan-style mole with organic vegetables and sourdough bread, there’s a taste of many of the things that make Mexican cuisine so unique,” it said.

The website also notes that much of the restaurant’s produce comes from a nearby garden. “… Vallejo and his team keep their carbon footprint so low that many of their ingredients travel just 30 meters from origin to plate,” it said.

The restaurant also acknowledged its inclusion on the list and thanked its customers, suppliers, friends and “the Quintonil family.”

“Amid such difficult times due to the pandemic, it’s because of you that we are on this renowned list again,” it said on Instagram.

Two other Mexican restaurants appear on an extended list of the world’s 100 best restaurants. Mexico City’s Sud 777 ranks 56th while Guadalajara’s Alcalde took 68th spot.

Geranium, also located in the Danish capital, was judged the world’s second-best restaurant after Noma. Asador Extebarri in the Basque country of Spain, Central in Lima and Disfrutar in Barcelona round out the top five.

With reports from Reforma

Creating guided art tours in a Puebla town is a ‘learn as you go’ experience

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Leigh Thelmadatter

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October 6, 2021

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Mosaics workshop in Zacatlán, Puebla — The writer "in the zone" during the Zacatlán, Puebla, mosaics workshop tour she organized.

If you follow my column, you know that I have developed quite an interest in recycled mosaic art. I used to be a quilter back in the day, but the eyes don’t let me do that anymore. Arranging tile “scraps” satisfies the same urge to upcycle the worthless into the beautiful.

Oddly enough, despite tile being ubiquitous in Mexican construction, as an artistic medium it is almost entirely unknown. (To be fair, Diego Rivera and some other artists have worked with it in the past.)

Today, there are several artists working with broken tile pieces, a technique called trencadís. I have found three community-based programs in different parts of Mexico that only now know of each other’s existence. They all engage locals in designing, breaking and placing tiles onto walls, benches, fountains and more.

But despite all the tile and pottery odds and ends that exist and the creativity that seems to surround us here in Mexico, trencadís is a niche that has not been adequately exploited.

In two of the locations that have programs — Zacatlán, Puebla, and Puerto Vallarta — the murals have become something of a tourist attraction. This may seem more obvious in a place like PV, but Zacatlán also attracts many weekenders, offering a cool mountain respite from urban life, complete with a gorgeous ravine and various small waterfalls.

So I thought to myself, is there a niche tour here for people interested in learning about such art in such a beautiful place? Would foreigners living in Mexico City be interested in it, especially with linguistic support?

Well, there is one way to find out: I spoke to Maricarmen Olvera, the head of Casa de Vitramuralista (the organization now behind community mural-making in Zacatlán) about doing a type of “dry-run,” bringing several of my friends up to Zacatlán, taking advantage of their five-hour workshop, murals in progress and the beautiful town.

Three friends decided to go with me last weekend. The goal was not to gauge economic viability but rather to figure out what such participants would want and not want. The idea was three days:

Friday was for touring the town and the murals with an emphasis on how the community’s artwork has evolved over more than seven years. Saturday was for the five-hour workshop on basic trencadís skills, culminating in a small item that the participant could take home. On Sunday, we worked on selected sections of murals to leave our mark permanently on the town.

What did I learn? Number one, it rains a lot in Zacatlán at this time of year, so a minimum of two pairs of shoes are necessary. We got caught in the rain at the tail end of viewing murals, and one participant had wet shoes for the rest of the weekend.

More importantly, I realized that doing both the workshop and a significant amount of work on walls is too much for those only curious about the murals and how they are made. The workshop was pretty intense, but people were happy with what they made.

On Sunday, most were happy to break and put a few tiles up, but then got bored. I, on the other hand, got “into the zone” and filled in a good chunk of space. Others decided they were hungry and took off for several hours.

Everyone loved the town and loved the getaway from the city. All were impressed with what Olvera and the people of Zacatlán have accomplished. It did not necessarily mean they wanted to get into this artistic activity.

My thought at this time is to cut the general tour to Zacatlán to two days, showing the murals and doing the general workshop. If there is interest, we can offer a trip focusing on one or more murals in progress.

I should also admit that I hope to recruit people for a similar project I am starting in Mexico City. I can’t imagine a city with more “junk” to salvage than here — and more space and interest in muralism by many average people.

We could also offer the really basic course, sending people interested in more advanced skills to Zacatlán. It will take us years to catch up with them (if we ever do).

If you are interested in any of these projects, you can contact MariCarmen Olvera for Zacatlán, in the north of Puebla; Marissa Martínez in San Luis Potosí; Natasha Moraga in Puerto Vallarta; or Leigh Thelmadatter (me) at [email protected] for the start-up here in Mexico City.

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.