Wilkommen President Wulff!

Ranking 14th in the global economy, Mexico's fortunes are on the rise! This little snippet hasn't gone unnoticed; a steady stream of world leaders have been visiting the country of late. This weekend was the turn of Germany's President Christian Wulff. He was closeted for hours with President Calderón. Then, once the vitally important, but ultimately boring, business stuff was over, it was time for a bit of sight-seeing.


President Wulff arrived in Mexico City on Sunday. He and his glamorous First Lady, Bettina Wulff, wasted no time before taking in some of the country's ancient architectural treasures. They are photographed (above) at Teotihuacan, atop the famous Pyramid of the Moon. This was once the Aztec capital and it is located not far out of its modern counterpart.

The next day, the couple were received by President Calderón at an official welcome party. The two leaders were photographed greeting local children, before the more formal introduction to dignitaries and politicians. They were also taken on a tour of the historic Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City. There was a dinner party given in their honor during the evening.


In a mixture of fun, business networking and photo opportunites, they had a hectic schedule. It included visits to an orphanage; a nutrition research center; downtown Guanajuato; and a whirlwind tour of some of the 1,200 German owned industries based in Mexico. President Wulff also gave a keynote speech at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and met with human rights representatives.

Business confidence is high for Mexico at the moment. The country officially stepped out of the international recession at the end of 2010, while many other nations are still crippled under it. Economic growth topped 5.5% last year and it shows no sign of slowing down. In January, this year, the International Monetary Fund happily approved a $72b credit line for Mexico, as a safety net against European and US/Canadian investors unable to make good on their stakes. Meanwhile, India has elevated Mexico to Most Favored Trade Nation status, in a 10 year bilateral agreement signed just last month.


Germany has already invested a large amount of capital in Mexican businesses, creating around 130,000 jobs in the process. President Wulff, in his speech, stated that Mexico is 'a good friend and an outstanding partner for Germany'. He also urged German private investors to seek their profits here. It was much of the same tone and rhetoric that Britain's Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, used on a similar visit last month.


However, President Wulff had more to say. He is very interested in the technological innovations, in creating green and sustainable energy, which are coming out of Mexico. An agreement has been made, with President Calderón, that Mexico and Germany should work together on anything that would combat climate change, while protecting the environment. Knowledge, research and technology will be shared in a bilateral pact.

President Wulff said, "Renewable energy will be one of the issues of the future, (while) the professional training of apprentices and students will be another area for cooperation in the future, as well as more investment by German companies in Mexico and by Mexican companies in Germany."


All in all, it seems to have been a very successful trip!

The Mummies of Guanajuato

For those who like a taste of the macabre in their travels, then it doesn't get more weird and wonderful than El Museo De Las Momias. The Museum of the Mummies is based in Guanajuato and tourists have been paying to see its exhibits since 1900.

The writer, Ray Bradbury, was so affected by his visit that he wrote the short story, 'The Next in Line', almost as soon as he left. The British singer, Toyah Wilcox, composed 'Mummies' in homage to the site. German movie director, Werner Herzog, took photographs of the exhibits, to use in the opening sequence of 'Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht'. While the 1970s saw a whole spate of films pitting Mexican wrestlers, like Santo, against the Mummies displayed in this museum.



The mummies were naturally formed. No embalming fluids have gone anywhere near them, yet they are real corpses. The chemical composition of the ground beneath the museum prevented their decay. This was a fact which was only discovered by an exploitative quirk of law.

In 1833, an 'Asiatic' cholera epidemic swept through the Americas (and much of the rest of the world). The people of Guanajuato were particularly hard hit, with 3000 dead by the end of the outbreak. Amongst the famous names of the time dying there was Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras, the painter and architect. The epidemic was so swift and virulent, that bodies were quickly interred, without due process of a wake and lengthy funeral. Everyone was so scared that the cholera, that had killed them, would spread even faster and further without prompt action. As a result, many were accidentally buried alive.



This gruesome detail was only made apparent in the decades after the great epidemic of 1833. Local magistrates placed a tax on the dead, payable by the living. If the families and friends could not, or would not, produce their annual fees, then the their departed lost the right to rest in the municipal graveyard. The law came into being in 1865, a generation after the epidemic. It should be noted that whole families were wiped out in 1833. For the poor particularly, there were many unwilling to pay for strangers and distant relatives. Therefore, it was mostly the cholera victims who were dug up. 2% of them were mummies.

They were of both sexes and all ages. The youngest was a mere fetus, killed inside the womb of his choleric mother, and perfectly preserved. Many still had clothing clad around them, without any sign that the fabric was fading. Disturbingly, some had faces caught in the act of screaming, but this was an illusion. Death relaxed their muscles and so the jaw sagged.

Others, like Ignacia Aguilar, held no doubt that they had been alive in their coffin. She had been buried on her back, with her arms crossed over her chest. The records showed that she had a history of catalepsy; a condition which can make the sufferer appear dead.

When Ignacia was uncovered, she was face down with her back bucked, as if trying to lift the lid to the end. Her hands were clasped together, as if she had been praying. Her mouth was biting down on one arm, with traces of blood about her teeth. Her back, arm and forehead were all scratched.

News spread fast. The skeletal remains could be stashed away until someone was willing to pay for their reburial; but the mummies were harder to store. They ended up propped in a large tomb on the site. People wished to see them. So many people, in fact, that the cemetery's workers saw the chance for a quick buck here. They began charging for a peep into the tomb.



108 mummies were taken from the cemetery, including a prominent doctor, Remigio Leroy. These days, it's illegal to disinter more bodies, but those already out have been given their own museum. Their exhibition is undertaken more sensitively; while the mummies themselves are often the subject of academic studies. Scientists, especially those in the field of forensics, have used them to advantage their knowledge of decomposition; while humanities students write theses on the reactions of the living to the dead.

To learn more, please visit the museum's website: El Museo De Las Momias de Guanajuato. In the meantime, here is that particularly horror-laden opening from 'Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht'.

Los Insurgentes: The Beginning

It had been an unsettling night. It was made worse when Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez (La Corregidora) managed to get her news to the leaders. The Querétaro and Guanajuato areas were too dangerous to linger in. Their group had been discovered.

Los Insurgentes had been betrayed by a cleric. He had told the viceroy's office all about their plans to overthrow their European overlords. The viceroy knew about the planned insurrection, for which the rebels were currently trying to secure arms.

Josefa warned that there were house searches to find the rebel leaders. Several homes had already been entered. Guns had been found. People had been arrested. The cells were becoming full all over the district.

Josefa's house had already been raided, but her husband, Miguel Domínguez (himself a sympathizer, but also in the employment of the viceroy and in charge of the search) had locked her in an upstairs bedroom. It placed her out of harm's reach, but it also meant that she shouldn't be able to meet with the others and exchange information.

But Josefa Ortiz was more resourceful than that. She'd managed to alert Ignacio Pérez, the town's mayor, who lived next door. Pérez leapt onto a horse (with Josefa apparently stamping on her floorboards to cover the noise he made outside) and rode like the clappers through San Miguel to the town of Dolores. The news was out.

This was the Viceroyalty of Nueva España (New Spain), in September, 1810. The country covered all of modern-day Mexico, but also the south-western quarter of today's USA. They were all governed from Spain.


Click for larger image from Wikipedia

But Spain had troubles of its own over in Europe. The French had invaded, during the Peninsula Wars, and Napoleon was the de facto ruler of the homeland. The Spanish were fighting back, street by street in some cases, but their own administration had collapsed into factions and chaos. It wasn't to be fully over there for another four years, when, though successful in reclaiming their country, the Spanish economy has never recovered.

Meanwhile, in Nueva España, people were horrified by the fact that Napoleon had placed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, onto the Spanish throne. Napoleonic policies rushed through the country and these were not at all welcome.

Insurgency groups quickly formed, under the cover of literary discussion meetings. Those attending drank hot chocolate, ate pastries and talked about politics. Slowly, and exchanging information from group to group, a consensus was reached. No-one really wanted to cut ties with Spain. They wanted to be ruled by the deposed Spanish king, Ferdinand VII, not Joseph Bonaparte. But, perhaps, not as a colony. As an independent country within a commonwealth.

It was to one of these groups that Pérez rode that day, taking with him the intelligence gained by Josefa Ortiz. He arrived on the night of September 15th and quickly explained the situation to the Catholic priest, Padre Miguel Hidalgo.

Hidalgo was one of those rebel leaders being sought. Hidalgo had been the one to draft all of those December Insurrection plans. He'd gone further than most in his ideas. He'd talked about a Congress, with representatives from each province in Nueva España, to govern an independent country.

He knew with absolute certainty that he was going to be arrested and that he would probably be executed. So did those around him. Ignacio Allende was there. He had been prominent in the December plans, as one of the two men who were going to lead it as generals. Mariano Abasolo was also there. Born and bred in Dolores, he'd been in Los Insurgentes since its inception. Both of them urged Hidalgo to flee. They should all get out of there; hide, regroup, re-assess the situation. Padre Miguel Hidalgo said no.

Hidalgo called upon his brother, Mauricio Hidalgo. He ordered him, alongside Allende and Abasolo, to form groups of armed men. They were to visit the sheriff's office and secure the release of those who had already been arrested. The three men set out into the night and they managed to free 80 people. The padre, meanwhile, was preparing his mass.

Just before midnight, Hidalgo walked to his church, in the center of Dolores, and rang the church bells. With whispers passing like wildfire through the area, over 300 people answered the call. There were so many that they couldn't all fit into the church. Hidalgo made ready to address them all from its steps.



By now, Allende was back from his tour of the cells. He stood up beside Hidalgo, giving his support for what he knew was about to come. On the other side of the padre was Juan Aldama. He was the other man who had been intended to lead the December insurrection. When news of the betrayal had reached him, in his San Miguel home, he'd ridden full pelt to join his colleagues in Dolores. He was here now and his presense too signalled his support for what the padre was about to say.

We have no text for what he precisely told the assembled masses, as Hidalgo didn't write it down. But folk memory, from those who heard it, has survived the centuries, passed down as oral history from mouth to mouth. It was not a mass in the end, but an impassioned call to arms. It beseeched those present to support the cause for an independent Mexico, in the name of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It condemned a bad government. It called for death to the 'gachupines' (native Spaniards in Nueva España). The part which has become 'El Grito' (the shout), repeated through the centuries, was '¡Mexicanos, viva México!'


In Mexican, but 8.44-10.16, then 10.40-end show El Grito de Dolores

It worked only too well. Armed with mostly clubs, slings, axes, knives and machetes, the crowds swarmed behind Hidalgo, Allende and Aldama. They were embarking on an epic journey into Guanajuato, with the intention of bringing down the governors there. From there, the plan was to march on Mexico City itself.

Where to Visit:

* Palace of the Corregidora, Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro. This was the home of Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez. It was the place where Los Insurgentes originally met and it was here that the plans for the December insurrection were made. It is also where she was locked in her bedroom, but managed to get the message out via Pérez.

* Mausoleum of the Corregidora, Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro. This is the last resting place of Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez.

* San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, where Pérez rode to first warn the rebels. It was San Miguel de Grande in those days, but was renamed in honor of Ignacio Allende, who was one of its residents. This was also the home town of Juan Aldama.

* Dolores Hidalgo Church, Dolores Hidalgo Cuna de la Independencia Nacional (or Dolores Hidalgo to the locals), Guanajuato. This was once the parish church of Padre Miguel Hidalgo. His statue is outside.

* Anywhere in Mexico, at midnight on September 15th. This is when El Grito (the shout) goes up in every city, town and village center. Naturally, the one to really witness is that given from the steps of Dolores Hidalgo Church.