Good bread is hard to find

This is what started it all

La Tanda on Nueva España

Jaluco cruzeiro no-name bakery  

We went into Cihuatlan to buy Yare's new school uniforms and couldn't go without doing some serious shopping at Bodega. I noticed these sandwiches, they looked very fresh, were loaded and were only 14 pesos. Best part is the bread. Crispy crust, not soft and almost soggy like the typical bolillo.

I started asking around and some said there was a good bakery at the old Barra Casino. Nobody in Barra knew of a Casino let alone an old one, Glen then remembered there used to be a Casino in the strip mall on the road to Barra. I dropped by and nothing there. Someone finally popped up and said there was a good bakery on Nueva España just past the cell tower. There is one there but it's more like 7 blocks past the cell tower on the right. I talked to the guy and tried one of their banana breads. He also said nothing they make is crunchy and much of it frozen. Maybe some day because they have a good selection.

I asked again where the old Casino was on a message board and someone finally said at the Jaluco cruzeiro in that rather run down large building on the corner. So it wasn't in Barra at all but definitely in Jaluco. Stopped there today and they said only open Mon, Wend, and Fri. Someone suggested don't go before 10 because they are still baking, 

El Día Del Niño

Kinder parade around Jaluco

The band they danced to later followed them around Jaluco

A Rodeo dance

Girls waiting for parade with stick horses

A Chilindrina party the next day

El Día Del Niños is tomorrow the 30th but all the schools celebrated early. Jaluco Kinder had their parade Wednesday followed by a Chilindrina party yesterday. I'd never heard of Chilindrina either but I'll let you look it up. It's the name of a popular childrens TV character. The parents made the stick horses the day before and a few made the green and yellow Chilindrina costumes. 

The Secondaria had an all day party yesterday and I haven't seen any pictures of that yet but maybe some will pop up on Facebook. No school  for anybody today.

Sauce llorón

We came back from Melaque via Jaluco because Lorena said there was a tree along the road she liked and hoped to find a young one to plant in her yard. Sadly even the smaller ones were too tough to pull up. She wrote down the name and said I should look it up on the Internet. She only knew it as a "Sauce" and of course that only produced lots of food links. When I added "tree or arbol" up came what I was looking for both in Spanish a English. She pronounced it "sow-say" and Sauce llorón translates to weeping willow. Very interesting little project and I wish I had room for another tree.

Translated from Spanish

The weeping willow is a tree of the family Salicaceae, whose scientific or Latin name is Salix babylonica because at first it was thought that came from Mesopotamia and specifically in the area of Babylon, but later he concluded that their home is in northern China. Today its geographic distribution covers virtually everyone.

The appearance of the willow tree , with branches and leaves hanging to the ground evoking sadness and melancholy , have made ​​this tree a constant source of inspiration for literature. Mentioned by authors such as Gustavo Adolfo Becker at his rhymes, or Shakespeare in Othello, the weeping willow has also inspired countless stories, legends and poetry in all ages.

Jaluco Kinder has a Revolution

The Jaluco Kinder where two of my neighbors attend had their Día de la Revolución celebration a day early. Most of the other schools in the area will have theirs today with marching/parading in the streets. The Kinder stayed on campus. 

We bought Nahima's outfit earlier this week and I didn't want her riding on the back of a bike with her mom so I volunteered to take everybody over and to take pictures. I don't know if the kids had a rehearsal, but it looked like a first time for all of them. Basically like herding cats. 

In the past I've only seen the kids dressed up for war but this included the warriors, the campesinos and the elegantes. My best guess is the elegantes are the Spanish landholders and kind of strange to see them celebrated for the Revolution.

Nahima enjoying herself

Eiker the character and his sister

Kinder Plaza

A mix of culture

Los Elegantes

Making tortillas

Campesinos

Nahima after first day in Kinder

Only mom could take the picture

Last year she lasted a day and a half and made such a fuss the local Kinder said not to bring her back. One of our neighbors is a teacher at the Kinder in Jaluco and she assured us they put up with the ones that don't want to be there. Lorena's bike has a new child seat on the back and they took the back road to Jaluco this morning. No crying or complaining at all this time. She wants to go and all the kids get new backpacks (mochilas) tomorrow. Finally growing up a little.

Back to school again

Preparatoria Regional de Cihuatlán

The school bus driving starts up again tomorrow with a different route. Euriel starts Prepa which is about half way between us and Melaque. This week it will be only Euri but next week Yari starts Secondaria in Melaque. The schedule is more complicated since Yari stats at 1 PM and Euri at 2. Will probably drop him off early and let him wait. Then to really complicate things Nahima starts Kindergarten in Jaluco in the morning. Lorena thinks she can take Nahima on the back of her bike using the back roads but she lacks a seat. Vamos a ver. 

In the Stix Broadband

Living in the Stix has some drawbacks ... probably more in Mexico than the US or Canada. Living as close to Melaque as we do you would think a landline telephone would be considered a necessity and a safety issue. But no .... Telmex only goes where it can make money. It wasn't long ago in some areas where they did have service you had to wait for a phone line or people would sell their service (how I don't know). Even with the phone lines you need the extra hardware for Internet so no time soon here.

In the void someone in Jaluco started a service of line of sight broadband and that was gong to be an option for me for awhile. A store owner on the Plaza knew who ran the service but thought I should not join because shared bandwidth would affect her service. One neighbor who had the service just moved to Melaque and the mechanic took down his pole because it made a perfect lightning rod and it fried his computer. So I guess the store owner will have all the bandwidth because I'm sticking with my CEL modem.

In the Stix Broadband

Fixed wireless repeaters

Similar to receivers used here

It's mango time again

We're surrounded by mango orchards and lots of people working in them. Many tractors pulling trailers over to the packing houses in Jaluco. A few large trucks sitting around waiting to be filled before they take off for another part of Mexico. They pick them very green for transport so there are not a lot of ripe ones around yet. The mango below is on the tree next door and I could pick it but it's not ready. Our gancho (mango picker) broke and I was going to buy a new one but the trees next door don't have much fruit this year.

Next door from my roof

Mangoes going by from my roof

Not mango related but I picked it yesterday and it's very sweet

Pineapple

Handling Crocs here s fairly common

This big boy was in the Jaluco Canal near houses and kids playing

Putting him in the La Manzanilla lagoon

Below is a capture close to the beach where tourists pass

Crocodylus acutus or Pancho the Croc is 3.83 meters and was in a body of water where there is a high traffic of people,Tourists were scared as they should be but they were still getting too close. It was re-located as a preventive measure. Armando Rubio and Biol. Luis Angel Tello along with enthusiastic people of Ejido La Manzanilla performed operation. La Manzanilla works in S.O.S. Program DGVS crocodile conservation, care, rehabilitation, rescue, environmental education and conflict prevention in the Crocodile Lagoon.

Spay and Neuter clinic in Jaluco

Pro Animal Melaque does it again this time with a Spay and Neuter clinic in Jaluco.  One of our neighbors dogs on Saturday and this one was way overdue by the size of her tits .... and not that old either.  Lorena's cat on Sunday along with a small sick puppy the neighbors wanted checked for free.

Sadly the vets said nothing they could do and needed a real Vet. Took the dog and girls to Mi Mascota in Barra who was open until 2 on Sunday.   The dog had been loosing liquid from both ends and needed to be re-hydrated but it was too much a shock for his system.  We got a call a few hours later the dog had died so we let the Vet dispose of the body.

Municipal office near the highway

Christine seated running the show with people waiting

The Score

Antigua Hacienda de Jaluco

I mentioned the old map with the Hacienda de Jaluco from the previous post to neighbors and they said, "Oh, you mean Pamplona". Searching Pamplona and Jaluco shows it's a common name in the area. The Paty Ramirez web site says that Hacienda Pamplona was expropriated in 1938 to create the Jaluco Ejido. With references to Antigua Hacienda de Melaque and others it seems the grand Jaluco Hacienda was subdivided over time. Some search articles show up on Diario Oficial de la Federación web site and require an account to view ... and I was surprised I could create an account.

So the interesting part came when neighbors told me the old Hacienda building still exists and stories of ghosts and buried gold. Some families have found gold in the past, some got rich and others died from the curse. If walking around at night and see a "lumbre" (glow) there should be gold buried there but only the person that sees the lumbre may dig for it. These stories were not told in jest so I assume they are believed to a certain degree along with the pleasure of the tale.

We dropped by the old Hacienda site on the outskirts of Jaluco after the school run yesterday afternoon. If it wasn't pointed out you would never know it was there. Except for a few very small brick structures there is nothing left of the house except part of one wall. The part supported by the tree may be original but the rest looks to be redone.  Still part of history for some.

Grandma in the neighbors family is 86 and she used to work as a "servant" in the Hacienda.   Huge parties were held on the grounds for workers. Very few houses anywhere in the area back in the 1940's and beyond.  I hear grandma has some interesting stories to tell and likes to tell them.

From near the road

From around back

The one remaining wall

Supported by the tree

Hacienda Jaluco

I go round and round on the Internet trying to follow leads of just about anything of interest.   The latest is trying to follow up on some very old history of this area.   It's not surprising I found nothing because finding good info from the 40's or 50's for this area is difficult to impossible.  Probably doesn't help that my Spanish is not the best but I do know searching with Spanish works better than English for things like this.

The below map was posted on a Manzanillo/Colima section of Facebook.  It's reportedly from the 1900-1920 era which would be pre-revolution.   It's of interest to Colima because it gives credence to their age old claim to "La Culebra" which includes Isla de Navidad and Playa Los Coco's.   

What interests me is that big section across the top marked Hacienda de Jaluco which includes all of Melaque, Barra de Navidad, Jaluco and probably back to the mountains.   Also interesting how Laguna del Tule winds it's way over to the current canal in west Melaque.   

Well I'm taking a break from this bit of history but if anyone else has a clue ... please leave a comment.

Cotton in Mexico

And no I don't mean Steve Cotton ... he's only here sometimes

This was going to be a general nature post about what I ran into today including a Humming Bird (colibrí or chuparrosa locally) sipping my banana flowers. Maybe tomorrow.

Anyway, Euriel had asthma problems last night, probably brought on by these low 60's temperatures at night, so we took him to the Centro de Salud in Jaluco. While there Lori noticed what looked a cotton plant except this was 10 feet tall. Having never seen a cotton plant except driving by cotton fields in the south I had my doubts. When I got home I checked the Internet and sure enough, it was. I cut and pasted a few bits of info I found on Cotton, Mexico and it's history.  Always something interesting around the corner. 

The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico

G. hirsutum

The oldest evidence of Gossypium hirsutum in Mesoamerica comes from the Tehuacan valley and has been dated between 3400 and 2300 BC. In different caves of the area, archaeologists affiliated to the project of Richard MacNeish found remains of fully domesticated examples of this cotton. The Tehuacán Valley lies in southern Mexico in the state of Puebla near the region where maize (corn) was first domesticated 7,000 years ago.

Recent studies have allowed the comparison of bolls and cotton seeds from excavation in Guila Naquitz Cave, Oaxaca, with living examples of wild and cultivated G. hirsutum punctatum, showing that they might come from the same species, originally domesticated in the Yucatan Peninsula.

In different eras and among different Mesoamerican cultures, cotton was a highly demanded good and a precious exchange item. Maya and Aztec merchants traded cotton with other luxury items, and nobles adorned themselves with preciously woven and colored mantles.

Jaluco Cocodrilo moved to La Manzanilla

This one was found in the upper canals of Laguna del Tules which reach into Jaluco and out of concern for children it was moved by Proteccion Civil to the Cocodrilo sanctuary in La Manzanilla. We do see Cocodrilos along the road to Pinal Villa during the rainy season in the mini-lagoons that form there but usually much smaller and younger.

Foto by David Dagoli

The new entance to Manzanillo Airport - ZLO

The new entrance to the Manzanillo Airport (ZLO) is moving right along - and it's huge. Actually the first clover-leaf (4-way) intersection I've seen in Mexico that looks designed from scratch.

The rumor is that will become part of the new coastal highway that will bypass Melaque, Barra, Jaluco and a number of smaller towns north. The big rumor is that a new bridge will be built as an extension of this clover-leaf and bypass Cihuatlan closer to the coast. That would be a large improvment but a long project.

Quinceanera

This was my second Quinceanera and we got the invitation a few hours before the party. I don't know if that was an after thought or if they were still unsure they could capture the pig that was rumored to be running around the neighborhood early in the morning. The feast included many parts of pig and each way it's cooked has a different name.

A Quinceanera is the turning of age of a 15 year old girl and the celebration can be pretty elaborate - but this was simple. I had only met her parents so buying two blouses sized medium was not going to fit a large girl - I told them I'd help exchange later. The last Quinceanera the girl went to the dentist to get her 3 front teeth fixed.

The house was in the country beyond Jaluco and I was really surprised by the number of mosquitoes and 'no-see-ums'. The bugs finally chased us back to Melaque about sunset