I was still oohing and aahing over the town of El Fuerte when the owner of Rio Vista Hotel, Chal Gamez, invited me to join a group bound for a native dance performance by indigenous Mayo Indians. The hotel van jounced along a potholed asphalt road barely wide enough for two vehicles, passing through desolate scrub desert where everything was coated with a thick layer of dun-colored dust. Twenty minutes later we reached the tiny settlement of Capomo, a handful of squat adobe houses in the middle of this vast, desiccated wilderness. We pulled off into a compound in front of one of the houses and sat on simple log benches beneath a canopy constructed of woven twigs.

Chal explained that the Mayo Indians are generally considered to have the purest native blood in Mexico, with most members of the tribe being at least 70% Mayo. Their ancient dances had their origins in animism. The Danza del Venado (Deer Dance), for instance, was performed in a full deerskin outfit with a bow and arrow. However, in 1590 Jesuit missionaries arrived on the scene and began converting the Mayo to Christianity. Rather than prohibiting heathen dances, the crafty Jesuits introduced religion by dance, allowing the natives to intermingle their animistic beliefs with Christian theology. Today these dances are performed at important religious gatherings, such as Semana Santa (Easter week) and the festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Three Mayo males stepped into the enclosure as Chal was completing his explanation and squatted in front of instruments that have not changed for thousands of years. Two of the musicians produced a rhythmic rasping sound by drawing twigs and lengths of notched hardwood over the rounded tops of hollowed-out, halved gourds. A third musician beat a halved gourd floating in a tub of water with a short club, while elders seated on the side played traditional skin covered drums.

The same musical instruments have been used by the Mayo Indians for centuries

Jose Luis Talenius begins the Danza del Venado - the Deer Dance

When the thumping and rasping merged to create a syncopated rhythm, Jose Luis Talenius shook his bright red gourd rattles and began the Danza del Venado. A small deer’s head was cinched to the top of his head by leather throngs and decorated with flowers, the colors of which vary according to the ritual being performed. Every item of his clothing was symbolic: the red scarf Read the rest of this entry »

Eager to discover whether my decision to bypass Los Mochis and instead catch the Copper Canyon train from the colonial city of El Fuerte was a good one, I set out to explore the town. What had seemed a maze-like route between the bus station and Rio Vista Hotel the night before was an easy stroll by day; a quick hike down the hill and one block to the right and I was staring at what has to be the prettiest town square in Mexico.

Town Square

In the center, a filigreed gazebo shaded by tall palms was surrounded by splashing fountains, bronze sculptures, and park benches. Exquisite historic buildings bordered the park on all sides, but my eyes went immediately to the magnificent brick Palacio Municipal. Constructed between 1903 and 1907, the relative youth of the Palacio Municipal does not detract from its majestic appearance. Built in the traditional rectangle style with an open-air interior courtyard, the building occupies an entire city block. Five archways lead through its brick exterior to a sun-splashed inner courtyard with a burbling central fountain. Pink and peach bougainvillas frame two levels of salmon color arches all around, and an historic mural covers the stairwell leading to the second level.

Interior of the El Fuerte's Palacio Municipal

Half of the mural on the stairwell at Palacio Municipal

Second half of the mural on the stairwell at Palacio Municipal

Palacio Municipal at night

Much older but no less beautiful buildings anchor other sides of the square. El Fuerte‘s principal church thrusts its pink and white tower high over a hand-laid stone chapel, while the white arches of Casa de los Portales mirrors the Palacio, directly across the park. Read the rest of this entry »

Jane Addams, photo courtesy of University of Illinois

Jane Addams attracted national attention when, with with her friend Ellen G. Starr, she founded Chicago’s Hull House in 1889. The facility was located on the city’s near west side, in a densely urban neighborhood populated primarily by struggling immigrants. Modeled after the settlement houses in London, the mission of Hull House was to assist immigrants by providing a center for a civic and social life, improve the quality of education, and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago.

Hull House provided kindergarten and day care facilities for the children of working mothers; an employment bureau; an art gallery; libraries; English and citizenship classes; and theater, music and art classes. By virtue of its efforts, the Illinois Legislature enacted protective legislation for women and children, setting the stage for passage of a Federal child labor law in 1916. As her notoriety grew, Addams was appointed to Chicago’s Board of Education, helped to found the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, and led investigations on midwifery, narcotics consumption, milk supplies, and sanitary conditions in Chicago. Yet despite her laudable work, when Addams opposed the country’s entry into World War One, she was branded a traitor by the press and expelled from the Daughters of the American Revolution. Fortunately, history treated Addams with more respect; fourteen years later she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work and pacifist ideals.

Jane Addams Hull House Museum historical landmark

Of the 13 buildings that once comprised the Hull House complex, only the original home and adjacent dining hall escaped the wrecking ball when a six square block area was razed to make way for the Read the rest of this entry »

The young Latina leaned against the door jamb, disinterestedly watching tourists stream past. Her four-inch stilettos, strapless bustier, and leather hotpants suggested the oldest profession on earth, yet she stood in the doorway of a family-owned bodega where Ybor City’s residents gather each day to sip strong espresso, share gossip, and slam dominoes. Unlike Miami Beach, where I was disappointed by the lack of Latin flavor, Ybor City is the real deal: an historic Cuban district in Florida’s Tampa Bay area.

A lady of the night or just waiting for the party to start?

Some years ago I had lunched at Ybor City’s Columbia Restaurant, famous for their  authentic Spanish cuisine. In the light of day, empty storefronts, peeling paint, and wind-blown trash suggested despair and decay. I checked the neighborhood off my list of places to see, never intending to return. But as fate would have it, I was unexpectedly detained in Tampa this past Halloween eve. As the last rays of daylight slowly faded I searched for a hotel along unfamiliar streets and suddenly found myself in Ybor City.

This was not the Ybor City I remembered! Curvy metal trellises decorated with white lights arched over the main street as far as I could see. Vivid neon signs threw reflections into the street and the aroma of strong coffee mingled with rich Cuban cigar smoke. Under cover of darkness, neglect melted away, replaced by pools of golden light spilling from bars and cafes and throbbing Latin beats. Buildings that had once seemed dilapidated suddenly oozed charm.

Ybor City owes its existence to the cigar industry. In 1884, Henry B. Plant completed his railroad to Tampa and was in the process of improving the port facilities at Port Tampa. Realizing that Cuban leaf tobacco, the best in the world, and the finished tobacco products could easily be imported and exported, Vicente Martinez Ybor founded Ybor City as a cigar manufacturing center in 1886. He quickly attracted experienced cigar workers from Spain, Cuba and Italy, establishing Tampa as the “Cigar Capital of the World.”

Ybor City at night is a fun cultural travel destination

Life in those early years revolved around social clubs that were organized to serve specific ethnic groups (L’unione Italiana for Italians, El Circulo Cubano for Cubans, Club Marti-Maceo for Afro-Cubans, among others). Not only did these clubs preserve the cultural heritage from one generation to the next, members could also subscribe Read the rest of this entry »

I have always thought it strange that there are three giant forts located on tiny Key West. What was it about this two mile by four mile island that caused the government to build so many massive fortifications? On this trip, I was determined to find out.

Fort Zachary Taylor

A row of monster canons at Fort Zachary Taylor

Read the rest of this entry »