Special Day of the Dead event for Mujeres en Cambio
By Roger Hind, Oct 20, 2006

Mujeres en Cambio tea and lecture Thursday, October 26, 2–4pm Casa de la Cuesta Museum and Gallery, Cuesta de San José 32 Entry by ticket only, 120 pesos

Mujeres en Cambio invites you to visit Casa de la Cuesta and help raise funds for our scholarship program. A primary objective of Mujeres en Cambio is to help young, rural Mexican women gain an education and thus foster their self-sufficiency, self-esteem and self-respect. The group also encourages rural women to build businesses as a path to financial independence.

Mujeres en Cambio provides scholarships to more than 130 girls from the ranchos around San Miguel. Scholarships are offered to promising young women recommended by their school principal. Continued receipt of scholarship funds is dependent upon maintaining good grades.

This month we are departing from our luncheon format to take advantage of a generous invitation from Heidi Le Vasseur. Each year Heidi transforms Casa de la Cuesta B&B and art gallery with altars for the Day of the Dead celebration. We have been invited to view the transformation. Heidi will give a talk about the altars and the traditions of the Day of the Dead. Masks used for Day of the Dead ceremonies, related indigenous artwork and other items from her amazing collection will be available for viewing and sale.

Mujeres en Cambio core members will prepare a mouthwatering selection of appetizers, cookies and slices. Coffee and tea will be served.

Jacobo Mendoza, a member of the famous Oxacan weaving family, is donating a small rug for auction at the Mujeres en Cambio tea. Jacobo has been weaving since he was eight years old and will be setting up an exhibition in Casa de la Cuesta, which opens Friday, October 27. Everyone attending the tea will have a sneak preview of Heidi’s new mask museum and Jacobo’s rug exhibit.

Please note that attendance is by prepurchased ticket only and that tickets sell out early. Tickets are 120 pesos and are on sale now at Re/MAX Colonial, Portal Guadalupe 12 (left corner opposite the Parroquia); Casa de Papel, Mesones 57-A (interior of China Palace building); and Solutions Mail Service, Recreo 11.

Our November luncheon will be at Patsy’s Place on Thursday, November 16.

For more information about these events or about Mujeres en Cambio, check our website, www.mujeresencambio.com  or contact Roger Hind at 154-6552 (note that no reservations can be taken). We welcome new members.

Junior voices of San Miguel

For more than a year, XESQ Radio San Miguel, 1280 AM, has broadcast a discussion of books and literature in a program called “Sancho Panza de Cabeza.” The program is supported by the Authors’ Sala and the Biblioteca Pública and airs in Spanish on Tuesday nights at 8pm.

For over a month, the third and fourth graders of Colegio Atabal have been reading a children’s version of Don Quixote, possibly the most important work of Spanish literature ever produced. On October 3, San Miguel radio audiences heard a new voice—the collective voice of Atabal grade schoolers reading from Don Quixote and discussing the work. 

“It’s part of Atabal’s literature project,” explains school director Male Guerra. “We want to encourage not only the children’s love of reading, but their developing senses of self-expression.”

The first and second graders at Colegio Atabal are reading the children’s book El Higo Más Dulce, and the fifth- and sixth-grade class is tackling Greek mythology. A voluntary group of students will discuss what they are reading on XESQ the last Tuesday of each month in this ongoing project.

Working together: pride and prejudice 
By Tania Noriz

Mujeres Trabajando Juntas exhibit & sale Friday, October 27, 11am–7pm Biblioteca Pública Insurgentes 25

San Antonio de la Joya is a community some 37 kilometers from San Miguel on the road to Guanajuato. The families that live there raise beans and corn, and in most cases the men bring in the income. However, 14 enterprising women aged 12 to 50 years help support their families economically. This is the case of Elena, 43, and Diana, her 24-year-old daughter and single mother. A month ago, the two began working with Mujeres Trabajando Juntas, a group of women who work from their homes making handicrafts such as embroidered cushions, flags, framed art and clothing. 

“For us it is very important to be able to work from home so we are able to carry on with our housework and also provide some pesos to the family for schooling our children or for food. This has made us feel very proud.”

The group is coordinated by Ángeles Agreda, who worked to promote the local Family Services Agency (DIF).

“I talk to the women in the communities and ask them what their needs are and what kind of handicraft they want to develop, and I help them to develop their projects and find outlets to sell their products,” said Ángeles.

The group has some funds for purchasing materials, plus savings to buy a sewing machine. “I want this group to grow like the one in the Palmita community in Celaya, where 500 women are self-employed, receive a weekly salary and are planning to export their crafts in the future.”

Currently, Mujeres Trabajando Juntas works on consignment, using descriptions or photos to determine the patterns that customers want on their cushions or flags—anything from likenesses of pets, animals, family and friends to sayings, prayers, and even astrology charts. A new favorite has proved to be the embroidered rendition of grandchildren’s drawings. 

“I like working and doing something for me and my family. This is something that is helping other families, even though some members must face angry fathers or husbands,” said Diana.

Ángeles explained that there have been cases of women who have been beaten because they work in the group or because they go out with the group to sell their products at handicrafts exhibitions sponsored by the state government. 

“That is something that is occurring, but they are so brave and really want to develop their own and their children’s lives and they continue working. This is why I really want people to know their work, buy their products and recognize their efforts,” said Ángeles.

The group Mujeres Trabajando Juntas is having a special sale in the patios of the Biblioteca Pública on Friday, October 27, from 11am to 7pm. For more information or to make an order, call Ángeles at 154-7589.

Pan-American Road Race weekend speeds ahead
By Carol Sedestrom Ross

Friday, November 3, 5pm La Carrera Panamericana Teatro Santa Ana, Biblioteca Pública, Insurgentes 25 65 pesos

Friday, November 3, 6–8pm 
Art display, Works on race cars by schoolchildren of Jalpa & Palo Colorado
Whitfield Gallery, San Francisco 18


Saturday, November 4 (afternoon)
24 drivers and their vintage race cars arrive in San Miguel


Sunday, November 5
Meet drivers & see race cars, Esplanade, Jardín



San Miguel gets racing fever with a weekend of events November 3 through 5 to celebrate the 2006 Pan-American Road Race. Three days of race-related activities benefit the 3,000 schoolchildren fed daily by local nonprofit organization Feed the Hungry. The weekend closes with an opportunity to see 24 cars up close and meet the drivers.

The Pan-American Road Race weekend begins with a screening of La Carrera Panamericana, a classic among race drivers and fans. David Gilmour and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd documented their participation in the 1991 race with a powerful soundtrack including “Pan Am Shuffle” and “Carrera Slow Blues.”

Following the film, race-inspired artwork by children from elementary schools in Jalpa and Palo Colorado will be displayed at the Whitfield Gallery. The children, who attend schools with Feed the Hungry kitchens, watched a video showing the race cars and drivers and then created drawings and decorated models of cars for the art show.

In the courtyard of the gallery you can see the famous and unique Mexican race car called the LT Special. Built by hand by Juan Lerdo de Tejada in Mexico City in 1954, it is the only car ever built in Mexico to compete in La Carrera. 

Unfortunately, the 1955 race was canceled by the Mexican government for safety reasons. As a result, the sleek LT Special never got to race in La Carrera, although it did race successfully on various road courses for many years. 

In the early 1990s, the car was found by the original owner’s son, Juan Lerdo de Tejada, Jr. The Special was in terrible shape and had to be completely rebuilt. Finally, 43 years after it was supposed to take on the cars of the United States and Europe, the Special got to stretch out and race on the open roads of the Carrera. Unfortunately, during the 1998 race a minor accident kept the car from showing its true potential.

At the same time, Mats Hammarlund and his wife Eva came to Mexico from Sweden to follow the Carrera Panamericana race. The Hammarlunds had read about the race and had seen the movie by Pink Floyd. They had traveled to 50 countries because of their involvement in racing and thought a trip to Mexico would be exciting because they could also see the Carrera.

Before the Carrera started, they met one of the drivers, Juan Lerdo de Tejada, and saw his LT Special. Eva fell in love with the beautiful car and was fascinated with its history. Mats and Eva ended up following the whole race from start to finish. They met Vejio Seppa, the president of Nokia in Mexico. Soon Mats was telling Seppa about a 544 Volvo he was building in Sweden, and Seppa agreed to drive with Mats in the next Carrera.

Mats competed in the Carrera for several years. He was all set to go one year when he found out his copilot was too sick to make the race. So, his wife, Eva, borrowed a helmet and overalls from one of the mechanics and became the copilot, reading the curves from the race book while flying down the road. (The book is about two inches thick and printed on both sides of the paper. It lists every turn, every downslope, upslope and intersection, everything that a driver will encounter on the road except wandering livestock.) Eva was a natural copilot and loved every minute of the grueling race.

Later, Mats was asked by Juan Lerdo de Tejada, Jr., to build another LT Special. He wanted an exact replica of the Special so he would not have to risk wrecking the original car in any other races. In 2003 production of the replica began, and in 2004 Mats and Eva raced it. They won almost every day of the race and ultimately won their class as well. Finally, the Special had shown what a Mexican race car could do. 

So, how did an expert at building race cars and an accomplished racing competitor from Sweden end up living in San Miguel? Mats, known fondly by race drivers in Mexico as “El Vikingo Loco,” and Eva came to San Miguel to visit and fell in love with the city. Although Mats and Eva are not driving in the 2006 Carrera race, three cars Mats built have been entered. They include a Volvo, a recently built Studebaker and, of course, the LT Special. Mats, Eva and their mechanics (who fly in from Sweden) will work hard every day of the Carrera to make sure all three cars are racing at their best, making any repairs that are needed and showing just what those amazing machines can do—all the way to the finish line. 

All events during The Pan-American Road Race weekend benefit the children of Feed the Hungry. For more information about specific events visit www.feedthehungrysma.org  and look for the race car.