El Cafe Quemado

Local artist Charlie Tomorrow stops by for a chat. His work is exhibited in the Galeria Vega m57 on Calle Zaragoza. Visit their webpage for more pictures and info. vega.m57.googlepages.com/

One of the interesting activities during Semana Santa; a chance to speak with elders of the town, as they told about their lives, and their legends.

Each year the Passion passes through the streets of Real. Here, on his way to our ceremonial Golgotha, Jesús passes the cafe. Photo by Aaron Tabares Rodriguez, who helps out here at the cafe.

Here are links to a few travel articles about Real, and Matehuala, from the MexicoFile.com website:

“The battered Willys jeep lurched up the steep cobblestone grade, inches from the road’s edge. We stared at the 200-foot drop that awaited us should the driver fail to cut the truck’s wheels in time as we doglegged to hug the mountainside…”
www.mexicofile.com/realdecatorceenchantment.htm

Real de Catorce, The Incredible City
www.mexicofile.com/realdecatorcetheincrediblecity.htm

Matehuala and Real de Catorce: The Mexico That Was
www.mexicofile.com/matehualaandrealdecatorce.htm

Matehuala – Not Just a Highway Stop
www.mexicofile.com/matehuala.htm

Cockfights in the Palenque de gallos this Sunday, March 23, 2008. Festivities are to begin in the afternoon, around 3pm.

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.