Visiting Mexico and looking for a unique experience?
Here, we offer travel tips that are designed to help you learn more about the plants and cuisines of Mesoamerica and Mexico. We are also beginning to do research on unique places to find folk arts that have their basis in traditional Mesoamerican and Mexican cultures.
We recently took a trip to an amaranth factory in southern Mexico City with a group called “De Paseo con José Antonio Mendizábal y Edgar Anaya” and it was one of the highlights of the year. During the tour, you learn about the history of amaranth and how it was used traditionally in Mesoamerica, and how it is used in modern Mexico. The tour also includes a visit to archaeological ruins near the factory.
Contact: alebrixe@prodigy.net.mx
Also near the amaranth factory in the community of Milpa Alta is a fledgling ecotourism project called El Centro EcoTuristico La Gran Palapa. Here, you will learn about medicinal and food crops of the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. You can also participate in a Temezcal, or traditional sauna bath. During our visit, we ate delicious blue corn tortillas, caldo de pollo (chicken stew), and pulque (fermented juice from the maguey cactus). Contact: alebrixe@prodigy.net.mx
In October, Mexico celebrates one of its most unique foods, Mole (pronounced "Mol-eh"), a rich sauce that comes in dozens of varieties including green, red, and almond. Mole typically contains around 20 ingredients, with the traditional mole consisting of a spicy sweet mix of chiles, nuts, chocolate, plantains, and lots of herbs and spices. This year, Mexico celebrated its 25th annual Feria del Mole in the rural community of San Pedro Actopan near Mexico City. During our visit, we sampled the traditional mole with turkey, and bean tamales, also typical of this region. To find out more about this festival and many other food related festivals in Mexico , see this site from the Travel Lady.
Looking to learn Spanish in Mexico? Why not combine your language classes with cooking classes? The Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana in Mexico City offers a summer intensive Spanish language course with the option of taking classes on the culinary arts of Mexico. The cooking classes are taught by a master chef and include information on the history of pre-Hispanic culinary traditions in Mesoamerica and how they relate to modern Mexican cuisine.
The Aztecs used an unusual system of gardening called Chinampas, which are “floating” gardens which they constructed throughout the series of lakes that once formed the ancient city of Tenochtitlan. Chinampa is a compound Nauhatl word meaning “upon a reed basket," and refers to the fact that the Aztecs built up the soil upon reeds and stabilized their gardens with various kinds of trees (including a kind of willow tree (ahuejotes)) to create a firm piece of ground upon which to grow their crops. This ancient agricultural system using Chinampas is said to have produced a great abundance of vegetables, fruits and flowers, including corn (maize), squash, chiles, and tomatoes, all typically foods of Mexico and the Valley of Mexico. These typical foods of the Chinampa agricultural system are now widely consumed in Mexico and throughout the world. You can see the remnants of this agricultural system today in the southern part of Mexico City, in the suburb of Xochimilco.
Visit the "Real" Mexico, Ecotourism in Veracruz.We recently took a trip to the Lago de Catemaco in the state of Veracruz, and we'd like to share our experience with you. See this page for the photos of our trip.The Mexican state of Veracruz is known for delicious coffee, fragrant vanilla orchids, exotic archaeological sites, and outstanding beauty. Some areas of Mexico are also exceptionally poor and struggling to stay alive. In the quickly vanishing jungles of the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, a group of “campesinos” (traditional peasant farmers) have formed an innovative and successful ecotourism organization known as the Red de Ecoturismo Comunitario de Los Tuxtlas (RECT) (The Community Ecotourism Network of Los Tuxtlas) as an economic alternative to help their communities. Recognizing the importance of their local natural resources and the natural beauty of the communities, RECT is gaining popularity among Mexican and international tourists. The four communities that currently form the Organization share the visitors and profits from tours that they organize during the high tourist season. You can also visit the communities on your own. The local attractions include ancient petroglyphs, waterfalls, outstanding bird watching, a trip on the Lago de Catemaco, and delicious local foods. RECT also has a website, but you’ll need to speak Spanish to read it. Feel free to contact us if you want to communicate with RECT and set up a visit. See this page for the photos of our trip. Here's a second batch of photos.
Along Mexico’s “Cacao Trail”: Hacienda “La Luz,” Cacao Farm and Chocolate Factory. Hacienda “La Luz” is a rustic farm located about 5 km from the Maya ruins of Comalcalco in the Mexican state of Tabasco. It was acquired in the 1930’s by a German immigrant, Dr. Otto Wolter Hayer. Currently, the property has 26 hectares of cacao and a pastoral ranch house. The cacao produced on the property is used to make homemade chocolate products available for purchase of the same property. There are also 15 hectares of pastureland and over 5 hectares of virgin jungle. Read more about Hacienda La Luz here.
