Falling in love with Mexico!VIVA MEXICO!Estados Unidos Mexicanos

The distance between my birthplace Mlawa, Poland and Cholula, Mexico, where we live now is 13 750 km

or8 544 miles as the crow flies.

The Mexican flag in the background of the Angel of the Independence column in

Mexico City.

There are two possibilities that allow one to fall in love with Mexico: either you have to be very tolerant or you are forced to live there because

you have no other choice.Joanna Kozinska Frybes, Polish Ambassador to Mexico 1997

Charros

Stereotypes Mexico to many

foreigners and tourists means big sombreros, Indians riding donkeys, mariachi music and human sacrifices on top of pyramids practiced centuries ago.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula

The biggest in the world

Morenos Today those

stereotypes also include the notion that Mexicans are drug traffickers and criminals. People of brown skin – Morenos are portrayed as lazy, drinking tequila and sleeping under a cactus.

A joke from an American school:“How did you come to Texas, on a donkey?”

Tequila is en vogue in the world and expensive

Human sacrifices among the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan

20 000 people were sacrificed by the Aztecs annually.

Motives: blood and a heart considered centers of courage; to annihilate prisoners of war, spread fear among the enemies and vassals.

The Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan (25 miles from Mexico City) – the Totonaca state, and then Aztec occupied from 200 BC

to 800 AD. 260 steps lead to the top of the temple for human sacrifices. The interior is made of solid stone blocks. It is the third greatest pyramid in the world after the Great Pyramid of Cholula,

Puebla, Mexico and the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt.

Teotihuacan – the City of Gods

Wealth of landscapes

In Mexico you can find volcanoes, deserts, virgin beaches, indigenous villages, but also colonial towns in the shade of pyramids. Hernan Cortes, 1519, asked to describe the newly conquered land simply crumbled a sheet of blank paper and put it on a table.

Colonial Taxco The silver capital of Mexico

The interior patio in a house in Queretaro

Inspiration for artists Mexican pueblo

Exotic, Mysterious, Unknown

The expression “I’m a Mexican” not always has the same meaning. If you try to look for a “true Mexico”, you’ll never find it.

A girlfriend and a boyfriend - Novios

The Mexican United States• 31 states + the Federal

District• Area: 1,958,200 sq km or

756,065 sq miles• Population 106 million• Capital city Mexico,

population 20 million – the biggest city in the world

• 90% catholic• Patron Saint Our Lady of

Guadalupe since 1531

• St. Prisca Cathedral in Taxco

Virgin of Guadalupe Patron Saint of both Americas

Reyna de Mexico – the Queen of Mexico

La Morenita• Appeared to Indian

Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico City in 1531.

• John Paul II, the Polish Pope elevated Juan Diego to sainthood during his last trip to Mexico in 2002.

• Juan Diego is the first Indian saint on the American continent.

Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, the old one and the new one as seen from

the hill of Tepeyac.

The old basilica 1561 The new basilica 1987

The state of Puebla

It’s said that there are 365 churches in Cholula (population 150 thousand). Some sources list 300 or 165.

Tonantzintla Acatepec

The church of Tonantzintla in the Mexican baroque style

The Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de los Remedios (Church of Our Lady of the Remedies) from 1594 on top of the Great Pyramid of Cholula dedicated to the deity

Quetzalcoatl

The Franciscan Convent of St. Gabriel – a church and a fortress from 1529 built on the ruins of the Quetzalcoatl

shrine in Cholula.

St. Gabriel Convent, a view from the top of the Great Pyramid.

La Capilla Real (The Royal Chapel) from 1549 adjacent to the convent, built to celebrate mass for the Indians.

Altars in farmers’ homes

Saint Mary and next to Her witches’ memorabilia: herbs, seeds, amulets and pictures.

At the Great Pyramid of Cholula, waiting in line to see a bruja – a witch doctor who cures body and soul on the day of the Spring equinox – witchcraft and the catholic

beliefs coexist side by side.

Catemaco in the state of Veracruz is a capital of shamans and witches.

Expressing pride in the Indian traditionsat the Great Pyramid of Cholula

The ritual for Quetzalcoatl and the Aztec King

Mexican historians struggle with the interpretation of the origins of their country and national identity. Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador 1519 and his Indian interpreter and lover Malinche are symbolically recognized as the mother and father of all Mexicans, but the attitude to them is ambiguous.Jose H. Helguera Clemente Orozco

Population today

• 60% Mestizos• 30% Indians belonging to over 50 tribes, each with a

separate language, culture and traditions• 10% white, often the most privileged, richer and holding

positions of power

Felipe Calderonelected President of Mexico in 2006 for a

six year term

Children from San Agustin CalvarioMari Cruz, Lalo and Miriam

Boys from the primary school in San Luis Tehuiloyocan, San Andres Cholula

Graduation ceremony at a primary school in San Luis Tehuiloyocan

Indigenous children from Chiapas

Wanda and Garret, Padrinos (Godparents) of Lupita and Veronica

Cholula means churches and volcanoes

We live 28 miles from the active volcano Popocatepetl.

Watching the sunset

Popocatepetl Iztacchihuatl• Popocatepetl in

Nahuatl, the Smoking Mountain. One of the most dangerous in the world.

• 17,887 ft high, linked to Iztacchihuatl, the Sleeping Woman.

• Its crater has a diameter of 1,968 ft.

• It has became more active since 1994.

Garret on his way to Popo

Popo eruption on December 18, 2000

Iztacchihuatl, the Sleeping Woman. Climbers follow a route leading to the highest point, “her

breast” at 17,342 ft above the sea level.

Jose H. Helguera

Popo and Izta

From our house, we can see four volcanoes: Popo 17, 887 ft active; Izta 17,342 ft dormant; Malinche 14,635 ft extinguished; and the highest Orizaba 18,408 ft above

the sea level active.

We are surrounded by fertile, volcanic ash fields.

El Mercado

Cactus nopal is used to make salad

Cactus trees

Cholula and Quetzalcoatl• Cholula – population

150 thousand, continuously existing as a city for 3000 years, the oldest in the Americas.

• La Gran Piramide de Cholula is the biggest structure in volume ever built by man in the world.

• It’s twice as big as the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

• Seven pyramids one on top of the other.

Quetzalcoatl in the Indian dialect Nahuatl means the Feathered Serpent, one of the most important deities personifying Venus, the god of wind,

sunrise, the patron of science and knowledge. And also Cortes.

La Gran Piramide de Cholulawith the Church of Our Lady of the

Remedies on top

Aztec ritual dances on March 20th, the Spring equinox. The apogee of the Aztec Empire was

in the 13th century AD.

Voladores – the Totonac ritual asking the gods for rain and food abundance

Natural disasters: volcano eruptions and earthquakes. The 6.7 degree earthquake in Puebla on June 15, 1999

Puebla de los Angeles

• 2 million inhabitants• Founded in 1531 by

the Spaniards• Sister City of Lodz,

Poland since 1997• Famous for

talavera, mole poblano (sauce made of chicken soup, chile and chocolate) and sweets Santa Clara

Talavera is a type of majolica earthenware introduced by the Spaniards in 1653.

A living room in a house in Cuernavaca

Travelling across Oaxaca

Puerto Escondido - a paradise on the Pacific coast

Puerto Escondido – a hidden port; population 20 thousand. Until 1950 the only access

possible was from the ocean.

At a wild beach in Puerto EscondidoAbbie and Juliana Garret and Katie

Katie at La Punta – The Point

Garret and Juliana snorkeling in the open Pacific Ocean waters 12 miles from the shore.

Rocks at la Punta at the end of Playa Zicatela

The waves at Zicatela are known throughout the world as the Mexican Pipeline. At least two international

surfing competitions are held there each year.

The sunrise and sunset watched from the same balcony

Dolphins, turtles and whales are frequent visitors at Puerto Escondido.

The National Mexican Turtle Center in Mazunte, about 37 miles south of Puerto Escondido

Our Canadian friend Nathan helping to release 14-day old turtles into the ocean waters

The morning storm came from the ocean.

Colors copied from nature

Huipiles – gaily colored, fancifully embroidered women’s ponchos

Spring and fall in CholulaJacaranda Bugambilia

In our garden we grow orange, lemon and pomegranate trees.

Ripe pomegranates St. Luis Church is full of live flowers

Afterglow over Puebla

Sunsets in Cholula

A quiet evening at Puerto Escondido

Huejotzingo Carnival – one of the spectacles commemorating the battle of Cinco de Mayo, 1862 in Puebla with the Mexicans winning against the French

and Moorish armies.

Shooting, fireworks, smoke and noise

Palm Sunday in San Agustin Calvario Cholula

Semana Santa – Holy Week the most elaborate religious festivities staged as

street theater with people’s participation

Good Friday in San Rafael Cholula

Holy Week in Taxco

• The procession of hooded, self-flagellating penitents, chained at the ankles and carrying huge wooden crosses and bundles of penetrating thorny branches weighing 100 lb.

Women sinners

Taxco The Silver Capital of Mexico

• One of Mexico’s most picturesque towns. Silverwork has long been a vital part of Taxco’s economy, thanks in large part to the American silversmith William Spratling.

Taxco clinging to the mountain

Day of the Dead

We all know her face. In Mexico she’s called Catrina – Lady; la Flaca – the Skinny One; la Huesuda – the Bony

One; La Pelona – the Baldy One. DEATH

Stores are full of Day of the Dead souvenirs.

Fields in October

• Fields are orange from marigolds which are used to decorate graves and altars for the dead;

• Marigold – cempazuchitl in Nahuatl• The Flower of Death – la Flor de Muerte

Catholic and Indian pagan traditions combined

In San Francisco Cuapa with the family of Fermin

Tochimani

Day of the Dead is one of the most important celebrations, hard to understand by foreigners.

Cemeteries are full of people, flowers, food and music waiting for the arrival of the souls.

The cemetery in Cuapa Cholula

The Ofrenda is a decorated area that displays offerings to deceased souls. This one in Cuapa is more elaborate because it is dedicated to the

recently departed head of the household.

Altars on All Saints Day in Puebla

November 1st – Vigil of the Little Angels, a day devoted to the memory of deceased children.

Christmas - celebrating Posada

• From December 16 - 24, Mexicans celebrate Posada, which means an inn.• St. Mary and Joseph wander from one house to another looking for shelter

before Christ is born.• The hosts welcome them with parties, children play with pinatas symbolizing

Satan.

PINATAS

Christmas or Navidad

A manger in the courtyard in Cuernavaca. Mexicans don’t have a custom of sharing wafers on Christmas

Eve as they do in Poland, but they also set up mangers and sing carols.

Poles in Mexico• The Mexican Polonia

is small – about 1500 – 2000 people, mostly with higher education, who came in the seventies.

• They also include refugees from World War II who settled in Santa Rosa, Guanajuato in 1942, and their descendants.

• Polish musicians from Xalapa

Polish Mexican Krakowiak dancers from Guanajuato

Slawomir Mrozeka Polish writer lived at Rancho Epiphany near Puebla in the years

1990 - 1996

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo1886 – 1957 1907 - 1954

Diego

Frida

Frida contracted polio at age six; had a congenital disease spina bifida; in 1925 suffered serious injuries in the bus accident after which she underwent 35

operations. She was in constant pain. Painted mostly self-portraits.

Salma Hayek as Frida

The Monarch Butterfly Mariposa MonarcaThe Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve located mostly in the state of Michoacan, created to protect the butterflies’ wintering habitat. The butterlies spend the summer in Canada and

the United States and in late August begin flying back to Mexico over 2500 miles.

The Aztec Calendar, or the Stone of the Sun, excavated in the Zocalo, Mexico City, on December 17, 1790. It measures 12 ft in diameter, 4 ft in thickness and weighs

24 tons, on display at Museo de Antropologia in Mexico City.

Universidad de las Americas – Puebla is located at ex- Hacienda Sta Catarina Martir in Cholula.

!Muchas gracias! Thank you very much!