San Luis Potosi - A Different Kind of Christmas
Trip Start
Dec 27, 2008
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147
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Trip End
Ongoing
San Luis Potosi, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Friday, December 26, 2008
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www.youtube.com/user/travelswithlobo
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Mexico: 23 Destinations to Spend the Winter Months
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San Luis Potosi
No. 4 of 23 Destinations (this is not a ranking)
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San Luis Potosi - A Different Kind of Christmas
Part 1 of 2
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Location: 222 miles or 357 kilometers north-west of Mexico City (6 hour drive)
Population: about 400,000
Altitude: around 6,000 feet
State: San Luis Potosi (same name as city)
Annual average temperatures: maximum 26 - minimal 10.7 degrees centigrade
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Star power is hard to beat and both San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato have star power. The same cannot be said for San Luis Potosi.
San Luis Potosi is a much bigger city than either of San Miguel or Guanajuato. Unlike the previous two cities it is located on a plain and therefore does not have the vistas from above so abundant in the other two.
Nevertheless, as I look at the photos for the first time (March 12, 2009) since they were taken (December 25-26, 2008), I am struck by the beauty of the "Centro historico". As I sit here in Prince George, British Columbia writing this blog, the contrast is startling. Outside it is -25 deg. C with the wind chill and despite the fact that it is the start of March, there is no spring in sight in Northern British Columbia. Meanwhile in my mind, helped along by the photos, I am walking the beautiful streets of the historical center of San Luis Potosi. Now, to ask a redundant question, where would you rather be?
Just to backtrack a bit, upon our arrival in SLP we asked our taxi driver to take us to the "centro historico" to a reasonably priced hotel. In this case it turned out to be the Hotel Concordia located just a block along a pedestrian mall from the "jewel" of SLP - the Plaza de Armas.
Within 15 minutes of our arrival at the hotel and with a minimum of complaint from Barbara because the room was pretty good, we were on our way to explore the downtown.
This after all was Christmas Day and we had spent a good part of it on a bus traveling from Guanajuato to San Luis Potosi, another one of central Mexico's beautiful former silver mining towns.
Speaking of former silver mining towns, I was immediately drawn to the name of San Luis Potosi due to my memories of Potosi, Bolivia. The town in Bolivia is famous for its silver mines that once financed a good part of Spain's wars in Europe and the explorations and expansion of "New Spain". I actually crawled around in the underground labyrinth of tunnels in one of the silver mines. In the claustrophobic conditions it was difficult to imagine how at the time the indigenous people of the area and African slaves could do the backbreaking work to mine the silver many years ago. I do seem to remember something about the workers chewing on cocoa leaves that made the pain of their hard work more bearable. Today cocoa leaves are associated with the production of cocaine.
So that was the connection between Potosi, Bolivia and San Luis Potosi, Mexico - silver. The "San Luis" part of the name I deal with a little later.
We immediately fell under the spell of this charming place. The weather was pleasantly warm and the beautiful Spanish colonial architecture all around the square just put us into a good mood. If there is a focal point on the Plaza de Armas it has to be the "Catedral" as our attention was riveted to its beautiful Mexican baroque facade. It was an enchanting scene with bells ringing, tourists gawking, locals holding hands and just enjoying a Christmas Day walk. It all conspired to put a great big smile on our faces as we strolled around the Plaza de Armas.
What could be more fitting in a town named after France's Louis IV than to meet in the Plaza de Armas a family from France who had come to SLP for a wedding. For a fleeting moment it was beautiful to converse in "the language of Molière" and compare notes about Mexico and France. Both Barbara and I speak French and that created a commonality with the visitors from France. Here we were speaking French in a Spanish speaking country and our conversation for a fleeting moment transcended international boundaries to create a moment of "bonhommerie" unique to travel. Simply put, it was a feel good moment.
One of the most exciting observations we made in the Plaza de Armas was a banner proclaiming the "Fiesta de Luz" - a sound and light show that was taking place nightly during the holiday season in SLP. The amazing part was that it was being presented not only in the Plaza de Armas but also in Plaza del Carmen and Plaza de los Fundadores. This was a unique happening - three beautiful plazas and three spectacular sound and light shows all taking place at the same time.
Now in this blog I did promise to talk about Christmas in Mexico.
By intuition I surmised that Christmas in Mexico is something special based on it being the world's most Catholic country by far. Catholicism is alive and well as church attendance is steady throughout the year and not only just for the holiday season. (Semana Santa around Easter is supposed to be even more intense.)
Mexican Christmas celebrations are described as being like nowhere else on earth. That certainly caught my attention and raised my expectations of what we were about to discover in our search for celebration of Christmas in Mexico.
December 16 is the traditional start of Christmas celebrations. It is on this day that the first of "Las Posadas" wind their way thorough various parts of a village, town or city. They are intended to recreate the difficulties that Mary and Joseph had in finding an inn (Spanish for inn is "posada") in Bethlehem 2009 years ago.
Children participate in this procession under the watchful eye of adults. The procession is led through a neighborhood by youngsters dressed as Joseph and Mary. The idea is that they are on a search for a lodging as they stop at various houses. After several refusals they finally find a receptive house where they are invited to come in. The event must be well choreographed to follow this scenario. That may be followed by various religious readings of the Christmas story and prayers and ultimately it will end with piñatas filled with candies and toys.
The blind folded children are invited to take turns whacking at a suspended piñata till one of the children manages to break it and spill its bounty to the great pleasure of all. This process is carried on in various neighborhoods in the days leading up to Christmas.
It was truly a moment of joy when we got wrapped up in our first posada in Angangeou. While we were content watching as spectators, we were grabbed by the crowd and invited to don the blindfolds and take our turn swinging with a bat at the piñata. Both of us were unsuccessful to break the piñata. That was for the better since it is preferable that that pleasure should be left to a child.
Our next and last exposure to a posada was in Tequisquiapan where we also followed along in a posada procession.
In neither of our two experiences did the posada procession knock on anyone's door etc. but it was still a pleasure to observe for the first or second time.
So yes, the posada is an integral part of a Mexican Christmas but it is basically an event for children and gawking tourists like Barbara and I.
On Noche Buena (December 24) multitudes of people go to mass. We observed this in Guanajato where the churches and cathedral were filled for several masses on the same evening including the mid-night mass. After mid-night mass apparently a big family dinner takes place.
Our intent on Christmas Eve in Guanajuato was to go to a mass. Considering how every church was filled to overflowing we opted to "pass on the mass" and head for a Christmas Eve supper in a restaurant located on the Jardin de la Union.
The setting was superb and our meal was excellent.
Afterwards we walked about the "centro historico" and were amazed at the number of people who were out and about. Considering how this was supposed to be prime family time there seemed to be an awful lot of people no longer adhering to that tradition.
That was Christmas Eve ..... now for Christmas Day.
As I mentioned on Christmas Day we spent a good part of the day on the bus from Guanajuato to San Luis Potosi.
Our sightseeing on our first day took us well into the night as we did not arrive in San Luis Potosi till about 17:00. By the time we realized it was time to find a restaurant they all seemed to have closed or perhaps never opened due to it being Christmas Day.
We finally found a restaurant open along Avenida Constitucion - a main downtown thoroughfare. Their Christmas Day menu was a choice of:
Sabroso Pozole
Enchilladas Potosinas
Flautas
Alambre de Res
Alambre de Pastor
and a Combinado
Since we were not that hungry (it seemed we were never hungry in Mexico, but that is another story) and it was late, we opted for the "sabroso pozole". Our first choice for a light meal would have been tortilla soup with a side order of guacamole but that was not an option. We therefore opted for the "sabroso pozolo" which is ----. I have to put a "period" because we did not know what "pozole" was other than some type of soup. Except for the enchiladas we didn't know what the rest of the menu was either. The problem with having a Spanish dictionary is exactly that - it is Spanish as in "Spain". When it comes to menu items, Mexico of course has its own cuisine that has little similarity with the cuisine of Spain.
Therefore it was somewhat of a surprise on Christmas Day as the "sabroso pozole" was put down in front of us. The "sabroso" means 'tasty". That is a good start.
Let's try a spoonful. Yikes, tasty! - no way.
This is a Christmas Dinner I shall remember for a long time but for all the wrong reasons.
I have subsequently learned that pozole is a soup or stew made from corn, pork or other meats, chili pepper, cabbage, lettuce, oregano, cilantro, radish etc.
It was the "other meat" that must have derailed this soup for me because there were some strange little bits floating around in that stew. Little bits that looked a lot like they came from internal organs, like stomach lining or intestine slices that are so abundantly sold in the local markets. Biting on these pieces produced a decidedly unsatisfying crunching sound that tended to induce a reflux reaction, which is not conducive to Christmas Dinner or any other dinner for that matter.
Barbara soldiered on to the bitter end but I could not finish my bowl. This left me munching on the ubiquitous tortillas.
Like I said it was a totally unsatisfying Christmas Dinner that I will never forget.
Just another word on Mexico being "one of the world's great places to spend Christmas" - that cord was never struck with me.
What was missing in my books was Christmas lighting. Yes, the Zocalo in Mexico City had all of that in spades but walking the rest of the "centro historico" in Mexico City there was little in the way of Christmas lighting both on the streets and in the stores. That repeated itself in all the places we visited during the Christmas and New Year's season. Realistically speaking the lack of Christmas lighting could be a cultural thing or it could be based on the steep cost of electricity in Mexico.
That was my impression, which a few "posadas" could not wipe away.
So how was our Christmas Day a year ago?
After a few clicks I came upon the following blog from Hawaii.
"Christmas Day 2007: Hilo to South Point"
A year ago on Christmas Day we made a beautiful drive on Big Island, also known as the Island of Hawaii. Our drive took us from Hilo, on the east coast, to South Point and then to Kailua -Kona, on the west coast. South Point, by the way, is the southernmost point of the United States. That would place it about on the same latitude as Mexico City.
Have a look at the photos:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lobo/excursions/1198592520/tpod.html
Some websites for San Luis Potosi:
http://www.world66.com/northamerica/mexico/sanluispotosi
http://www.advantagemexico.com/san_luis_potosi/
http://www.ifisica.uaslp.mx/~jurgen/meeting_ckm/san_luis_potosi.html
http://www.indiana.edu/~iuhpfl/san_luis_potosi.htm
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Comments/questions: travelswithlobo@yahoo.com
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Coming Soon:
San Luis Potosi - A Look Beyond the Centro Historico
