El Cafe Quemado

We have just instituted the El Café Quemado Forums, where you ask the questions and we send the answers direct from Real de Catorce! Post your questions and discussions about all things Catorceño at forums.elcafequemado.com

Here are a couple of links-

From NPR.org, an article with the audio broadcast:

“Mexico’s Peyote Endangered by ‘Drug Tourists’…Though peyote — a hallucinogenic cactus — has been used for hundreds of years by Mexican Indians, it only became popular…”
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14064806

From Cox News Services:

“REAL DE CATORCE, Mexico — The fleshy, button-shaped plants barely peek from the desert floor…”
www.coxwashington.com/reporters/content/reporters/stories/2005/10/17/BC_MEXICO_PEYOTE16_COX.html

”The longest documented one-way record for a monarch is 1,870 miles (3,009 km). This butterfly was tagged 18 Sep 1957 in Highland Creek, Ontario, Canada, and recaptured 25 Jan 1958 in Estacion Catorce, San Luis Potosi, Mexico (Urquhart 1960).”

University of Florida Book of Insect Records
ufbir.ifas.ufl.edu/chap35.htm

Though they may be a few years old, the following National Geographic videos are worth a watch:

Real de Catorce: Far from the tourist traps, an inside look at a charming town in rural Mexico.

Peyote: A natural hallucinogen becomes part of a ritual in an area of Mexico.

Today, Wed. March 19, is the vernal equinox. Day and night are not equal, as is commonly believed. The sun’s apparent motion is moving northward, and the vernal equinox is that moment when it crosses the celestial equator. It marks the beginning of the season of spring for the northern hemisphere. It is also a very important date in many religious ceremonies:

“In the Catholic church, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 20, the nominal date of the Spring Equinox. Its ancient linkages to sun and moon worship are obvious… Easter Sunday can fall on any date from March 22 to April 25th. The year-to-year sequence is so complicated that it takes 5.7 million years to repeat.”
www.religioustolerance.org/spequi2.htm

And since that full moon occurs on March 21 this year, Easter will be celebrated this Sunday, March 23, 2008.

The path to Cerro Quemado, with Cerro Grande in the distance.

From the Austin American-Statesman Sunday, December 23, 2007:

Visitors to Real de Catorce flock to the tiny town of ruins for stunning views, a taste of cultural tradition and emerging arts scene.

By Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon
REAL DE CATORCE, SAN LUIS POTOSI — You won’t find any four-star resorts here. Fortunately, they aren’t needed.

The town itself, nestled against a mountainside overlooking the Chihuahuan desert, is a natural host to the steady stream of year-round visitors who fall in love with the sounds, smells and motions of the eclectic, rustic and isolated village…

Looking for Real de Catorce videos? Check out our favorites at youtube.com/user/elcafequemado.

From Casa Sierra Catorce:

THE CIRCUS WAS IN TOWN — 17-27 Feb 2008
and is now in Potrero…

Alex Jaeggi, an architect from Switzerland, is in town working on the new marketplace. You can see his videos of the project at youtube.com/user/alexojaeggi. His professional web site is located at www.ajarch.ch/.