Ahuehuete

Detail

Taxodium mucronatum, also known as Montezuma Cypress, Sabino, or Ahuehuete is a species of Taxodium native to much of Mexico (south to the highlands of southern Mexico), and also the Rio Grande Valley in southernmost Texas, USA as well as Huehuetenango Department in Guatemala. Ahuehuete is derived from the Nahuatl name for the tree, āhuēhuētl, which means "upright drum in water" or "old man of the water."

Ahuehuete became the national tree of Mexico in 1910. The tree is sacred to the native peoples of Mexico, and is featured in the Zapotec creation myth. To the Aztecs, the combined shade of an āhuēhuētl and a pōchōtl (Ceiba pentandra) metaphorically represented a ruler's authority. According to legend, Hernán Cortés wept under an ahuehuete in Popotla after suffering defeat during the Battle of La Noche Triste.

Ahuehuetes are frequently cultivated in Mexican parks and gardens. The wood is used to make house beams and furniture. The Aztecs used its resin to treat gout, ulcers, skin diseases, wounds, and toothaches. A decoction made from the bark was used as a diuretic and an emmenagogue. Pitch derived from the wood was used as a cure for bronchitis The leaves acted as a relaxant and could help reduce itching. (Wiki)
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Balloons

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El Mastuerzo

"El Mastuerzo" playing at CLETA in Casa del Lago (House on The Lake) in Chapultepec Park.

Francisco Barrios aka "El Mastuerzo" is a Mexican musician, composer, record producer, actor and drummer of the band Botellita de Jeréz. El Mastuerzo is an active composer of rolas and founder of the artist collective Kloakas Komunikantes. It participates with his work supporting social movements. Actually are in filmation of Plan B, a film of the story of Botellita de Jeréz.

Francisco Barrios, mejor conocido como "El Mastuerzo", miembro activo durante los 14 años de existencia de la banda Botellita de Jerez (1983-1997), en un acto de malabarismo quirúrgico pone al descubierto un extraño apéndice inflamado y purulento: prohibido (disco compacto y caset) que lejos de ser un estorbo al cuerpo creativo que lo ve parir, en su momento se reveló como una necesidad de expresión individual pero paralela a ese "caldo de cultivo" llamado Botellita de Jerez.

La promiscuidad que da origen a las extrañas perversiones de El Mastuerzo se remontan no sólo a las vivencias botellescas, sino a anteriores experiencias creativas con el grupo Los Nakos, colectivo artístico multidisciplinario cuyo trabajo se centra en la canción política a través de formas paródicas siempre permeadas de recursos teatrales. Los Nakos surge como brigada cultural del Consejo Nacional de Huelga durante el movimiento estudiantil de 1968; El Mastuerzo se integra a esta banda desde el año de 1976 llevando a cabo distintas realizaciones discográficas y participando en muy diversas giras, festivales y encuentros de canción y teatro en Europa, USA, Cuba, Centro América y, por supuesto, a lo largo y ancho de la República Mexicana hasta 1984.[Wiki and Trovadictos]

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Fight Against Cold

Happy and Warm Weekend!
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Chapultepec Castle

Fountain with a sculpture of the symbol of Chapultepec, "The Grasshopper"
In the background, statues dedicated to the boy soldiers, along a walkway at the top of Chapultepec Castle.
Chapultepec (Chapoltepēc, "at the grasshopper's hill" in the Nahuatl language; cf. Mexican Spanish Chapulín [Grasshopper]) is a large hill on the outskirts of central Mexico City. It has been a special place for Mexicans throughout Mexican history, and it was on this hill that the Aztecs made a temporary home after arriving from northern Mexico in the 1200s.
The Niños Héroes (in English: Boy Heroes), also known as the Heroic Cadets or Boy Soldiers, were six teenage military cadets who died defending Mexico at Mexico City's Chapultepec Castle (then serving as the Mexican army's military academy) from invading U.S. forces in the 13 September 1847 Battle of Chapultepec.
Their commanders, General Nicolás Bravo and General José Mariano Monterde, had ordered them to fall back from Chapultepec but the cadets did not; instead, they resisted the invaders until they were killed, with accounts maintaining that the last survivor leapt from Chapultepec Castle wrapped in the Mexican flag to prevent it from being taken by the enemy. [Wiki]
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