Category: Latin America

This Book Wants you to Find Frida the Same Way you Find Waldo

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What better way to celebrate Frida Kahlo’s upcoming birthday than… by making a book to find her as we go about finding Waldo?

Publisher Laurence King is busy promoting Find Frida, a new book by Catherine Ingram (illustrated by Laura Callaghan) which promises to immerse the reader in the colourful world of Frida Kahlo using “twelve intricately drawn scenes, each detailing a key aspect of her life – from her eccentric teenaged years and infatuation with Diego Rivera, to her dynamic arrival as an international artist, her incredible studio and house in Mexico and her deep love of Mexican culture.” All of this for only $17.99 a copy.

I’m not sure she would be thrilled about the idea, but then again, who cares? Communist-loving Frida has proven to be a money-making machine for many non-communist companies that this might also be a hit.

On your mark… Get Set… Find Frida!

Images by: Laura Callaghan

Tired of Boring Rosé? How about a Luchador Cabernet?

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I’m not sure about this

Still stuck at home with plenty of time to try novelty beverages? How about playing Lotería while you sip some local wine?

Using the tagline “This is not your abuela’s wine,” a California winery is peddling what seems to be a Lotería-themed set of wines, including a Luchador Cabernet Sauvignon and a La Diablita Red Blend. Most products use a catchy phrase, reminding us that –despite the pandemic– there are things that will never be cancelled, like playing with fire or… wearing a luchador mask.

I have no idea what they taste like and it seems to me it will not be easy to give them a try, as they’re apparently only available in Northern California. But I must say that when it comes to “Latin-themed wine,” I’m pretty skeptical… But who knows, perhaps any of you out there have tried it and care to comment?

Via: 55 Cartas on Facebook

Mexicans Are Selling a ‘Mystic Candle’ to Fight Off Coronavirus

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The above candle is being sold as a “mystic product” and it promises to protect us from the evils of coronavirus. In fact, according to the owner of this establishment in Tabasco, all you have to do is light it up and move it around your body while you say the special prayer printed on the glass.

I’m going to be honest here: I’m not sure it works, but it’s only $40 pesos (which is like less than $2 USD at today’s exchange) so why not give it a try? Now if I only can get to Tabasco….

Via: xevt.com

Mexico Figures out the Best Way to Enforce Social Distancing

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Should this be the case, I would totally keep way more than the 6 feet required.

In these times of pandemia, we all now know what social distancing (also called “physical distancing,”) means keeping space between yourself and other people outside of your home. To practice social or physical distancing, the CDC recommends to stay at least 6 feet (about two arms’ lenght) from other people and to avoid gathering in groups.

So far so good, but I’d rather follow the guidance of this chicken shop in Mexico, which basically states:

KEEP YOUR DISTANCE AS IF YOUR EX WAS IN LINE WITH THEIR NEW PARTNER

Mexicans: How can anyone not like us?

Photo vía Reddit

Snoop Dogg Drops Banda Single ‘Qué Maldición,’ Because it’s 2020 and Everything’s Weird

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I don’t know what to think, really, but why not?

Snoop Dogg and Banda Ms on Friday released Qué Maldición, a long awaited collaboration between America’s famed pothead and the Sinaloa insanely popular band. It’s by far the weirdest Anglo-Latin collaboration I’ve seen in a long time and I’m not sure I’m 100 percent sold.

Watch & listen at your own peril. I’ll be somewhere still trying to figure out 2020.

Hat tip: The great Mafer

Mexico’s Top Health Official Is Now an Official Piñata, Because Mexico

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Hugo López-Gatell as a piñata? Yes, please, thank you.

It is official: Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, the Mexican deputy health minister in the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19 has been immortalized in a piñata from the famed Piñatería Ramírez in northern Mexico.

The López-Gatell piñata comes with –what else– a mini version of the coronavirus piñata and a sign with a very appropriate message in these times of pandemia: Quédate en casa (Stay home.)

As a Twitter follower wrote the other day: This is “as prestigious as having been inducted into the Mexican historical hall of fame.”

Here’s The Star-Spangled Banner in Spanish Honoring Hispanics Fighting COVID-19

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The Spanish translation of “The Star-Spangled Banner” was done by Clotilde Arias, a native of Peru.

Ever wondered what The Star-Spangled Banner sounds like in Spanish? Well, look no further than El Pendón Estrellado, the “only official Spanish-language translation” of the national anthem allowed to be sung, according to The Smithsonian.

The translation into Spanish of the National Anthem was done by Clotilde Arias, a Peruvian immigrant, during the Roosevelt administration, but is now being repurpused as part of a new campaign to honor Hispanic workers fighting COVID-19 across the United States.

The version you’re about to see is performed by Jeidimar Rijos, the 2019 winner of La Voz competition, and was commissioned by We Are All Human Foundation’s Hispanic Star, a non-for-profit organization that seeks to “raise awareness of the contributions of the Hispanic community to the United States.”

The campaign comes at a time when Hispanics –and other minorities– are being hit particularly hard by the epidemic. Only in New York City, for example, data shows that 34% of fatalities as of April 8 were within the Hispanic community, despite their making up only 29% of the city’s population. Nationwide, says Time magazine, Hispanic and Latinx Americans are also the largest uninsured group.

Via: Time.com

Today in Surreal Mexico: Social Distancing at the Combi Stop

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I had promised myself to stop blogging about coronavirus, mostly because I live in New York City and everything is terrible and I keep having anxiety attacks over the whole thing. But then I’ve been facetiming, skype-ing and zooming a lot lately with family and friends in Mexico who send me the funniest memes, videos and jokes about the pandemia and then I smile again.

However, no meme or joke would ever come close to my country’s daily life struggles as the crisis intensifies, and the Mexican government plays catch up with the rest of the world in setting up guidelines and policies to contain the virus.

Take the above “heroes” on a colectivo stop, keeping a healthy distance in line just to end up all crammed up inside… of course, because Mexico.

Filing this under #SurrealMexico and #SusanaDistancia.

Photo via Reddit México

Baby Tiger Born in Veracruz Named Covid, Because Mexico

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Covid was born March 14 in Córdoba and he’s truly adorbs

Today, in the always popular section “Mexico in the time of coronavirus,” I give you Covid, a baby Bengal tiger born March 14 in a small zoo in Córdoba, Veracruz.

“Covid was born to an 8-year-old tigress that had been in a circus and was nursed back to health after needing an operation for a hip fracture,” zoo owner Gonzalo Rodriguez told Reuters.

So now you know it, my people not only make fun of death and calamities; we embrace them all the way.

Welcome to the world, sweet Covid…

Via: New York Post

Inspired by Mexico, a Chicago Bakery Is Now Making its Own Conchavirus

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They look more like happy frogs, but it’s the intention that counts, right?

Well, that didn’t take long.

Barely a couple of days after this VERY INFLUENTIAL BLOG first reported on the Iztapalapa conchavirus, a small bakery in Chicago is now making their own version.

“We wanted to turn a negative into a positive one by creating my very own conchavirus,” Eddie Vázquez, executive pastry chef and owner at Rosy’s Bakery, told ABC News Chicago.

Fortunately for Mr. Vázquez, Chicagoans are so excited about they’re placing their orders by the dozen, and I still don’t know how they get the courage to go out, but that’s another story…

It’s not a secret that 2020 sucks, but –heck– it has been a good year for conchas.

Quintana Roo’s Police Force Is Ready to Fight Coronavirus … to the Tune of ‘Mariachi Loco’

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The Mexican police force in Quintana Roo (yes, that’s the state where Cancún is located) has come with an awesome PSA to let the community know that the deadly coronavirus is not going to get them.

Watch as police men and women dance to the tune of the Mariachi loco song and simple but catchy lyrics that go sort of like this:

The coronavirus wants to arrive…

The coronavirus wants to arrive….

But it will have to face the cops

I’d like to inform everyone,

That Quintana Roo will not be infected and we’ll do awawy with this virus

OK that sounds boring if you read it, but the actual video is deliciously fun!

Take it away, mariachi loco!

 

 

Mexican Bakery Introduces the Conchavirus, because Mexico

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From Iztapalapa to the world…

Speaking of Mexico and the seriousness of COVID-19, a bakery in Iztapalapa, Mexico has come up with a coronavirus-like sweet bread, which they’re calling –what else?– the conchavirus. According to a very reliable source (i.e. a commenter on my Instagram feed) the genius behind this thing is Panificadora Juanito, a 30-year-old establishment which prides itself of using all natural ingredients.

Oh, did I mention the conchavirus is only $6.50 pesos? That’s… practically USD 25 cents.

Filing under “Mexicans: How can anyone not like us?”

Hat tip: @DatBoopGirl

Tortillas, Toilet Paper and the Importance of the Simple Things

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My local deli recently ran out of toilet paper, but it stocks plenty of these. So, we’re good…

I spent a good part of Tuesday, March 17 looking for toilet paper in my neighborhood –to no avail. Somehow, the coronavirus crisis has turned people in some sort of toilet paper-hoarding zombies, emptying the shelves at supermarkets, bodegas and pharmacies.

The craziness is not limited to New York City or even the US: My brother sent me a photo (below) from a Mexico City supermarket, showing people doing exactly the same thing: Hoarding toilet-paper –except supplies seem to be abundant down there (at least for now.)

What’s with toilet paper?

I tried again one day later and this time my local bodega (PapaSito) proudly advertised that toilet paper was back, so I went in (naturally). Several rolls of toilet paper wrapped individually sat at the top of a very tall counter, one I couldn’t reach, so I asked a fellow Mexican who works there for help. Our conversation went something like this:

–Can you please pass me four of those? –I asked.

-Four? Only four? –said the man almost incredulous. –Why don’t you take more? People are coming in and getting 15-30 rolls at once…

-Because… I’m not deranged? –I replied.

My paisano cracked up upon hearing that, and then noticed I had also bought a few packs of corn tortillas.

–Well, I’d be damned if we were to run out of those! –He said pointing at my packs of Poblanitas.

I walked away thinking he was absolutely right and was happy to get back to my quarantine (not before I stopped for some other basic goods.)