“Masks are wonderfully paradoxical in this way: while they may hide the physical reality, they can show us how a person wants to be seen.” Joanna Scott
This week Ajijic let off enough steam to carry them through the next 40 days of Lent.
Most people outside of Ajijic, Jalisco, have never heard of the town’s tradition of the Sayacas, cross-dressing, flour-throwing masked characters of Carnaval. During six days of parades, they put on 🎭 and dress in women’s clothing, which they stuff with shapely balloons 🎈 🎈 used as an opportunity to cross the established boundaries of both age and sex.
We attended Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras celebrations 🥳 which is the last day of Carnaval, concluding a week of daily parades by all the different guilds. Townspeople let off pent-up steam and go loco. We positioned ourselves at the very beginning due to logistics and time constraints. The parade lasts about two hours as it makes its way through the town’s narrow streets.
What a chaotic, totally disorganized happy place, as floats (flatbed trucks rustically decorated), marchers, bands, and caballeros all tried to line up with no apparent sequence – the lead float had to squeeze by to get to the head of the line. Meanwhile, parade participants hooted and hollered, shook hands, hugged and kissed each other as street vendors peddled their wares ……..the freshly fried buñuelos were crunchy with just the right amount of sugar coating.
But beware – in New Orleans, the floats throws beads … here they pelt you with confetti & flour.
For such a macho culture there was an awful lot of fun drag!
A two-hour drive through an ever-changing landscape brought us to the town of Sayula and to the taller de cuchillería (knife factory) of the Ojeda family, a local institution. The Ojeda family has been making “World Famous” knives for 13 generations. The earliest Ojedas forged shields and lances for the Spanish Army.
I fell in love with their exquisite knives at the Feria de Arte … so much in love that for Christmas I purchased an additional one for our nephew, Jake. It was his favorite gift, face-timing his friends to show it off.
We had scheduled a tour of the rustic workshop and what a learning experience, as we went from the plain steel sheets to the final process. We’d spend some time at each station, not talking to workers, but to artesanos, as I translated to our small group. Everyone spoke proudly of their contributions to the lengthy, handmade process.
An observation – in the US we’d have had to sign disclosure forms, wear protective gear/goggles and basically be in fear…….here we walked through the door and had an educational experience, and no, the shop was not anywhere near OSHA compliant. See the spark flying photo.
They also make leather knife holders and belts, along with the beautiful wood boxes they’re sold in.
At the end of the tour, I asked our guide a family history question. Her response, just ask my grandfather…..yes it’s a total family-run business. We met Señor Jose Ojeda (pictured below), at 92 years old, and still meddling in his family’s affairs. He answered our questions with so much passion and commitment that when he took us back to the factory for a review we could not say no. He’s most passionate about selecting a piece of wood and bone, something that most people would discard and turn into beautiful handles. He pulled up a hunting knife whose handle was a piece of art; no wonder he has international recognition with collectors. Their small output allows for just two annual Ajijic shows, their retail shop, and internet orders. Prices are surprisingly affordable.
King Juan Carlos of Spain has gifted a knife made by Jose Ojeda in 1988 when the artist was invited to Spain for the inauguration at the Fair of Seville.
During our visit to Sayula, we had planned to tour a Cajeta candy factory, but its time conflicted…..but we tasted their famous, sweet wares at their retail shop – the best Mexican cajeta (caramel or Dulce de Leche) ever ~ I wanted to be covered all over with this stuff!
Kept expanding my culinary skills this week: a soup made of jitomate, ancho chili’s and purée of beans…second bowl please. I tried my hand at stuffed chayote – close in consistency to summer squash.
We also attended the town’s 2nd vegan festival (imagine that in Mexico!) … sorry, but cannot give up my eggs and cheese…speaking of cheese … this week I got the tastiest Cotija cheese, similar to Feta inconsistency, but without the salty taste. That’s now two in a row from the Tianguis cheese lady 👍 need to keep tasting her offerings.
