WE’RE FIRMLY into Lent, but the banners of Mardi Gras still wave wearily in the street outside the Hacienda.
As if to cement the locals’ faith, none other than the Pope himself, the Argentine leftist Francis, arrives next Tuesday at the capital city just down the mountainside.
I’ve never been this close to a Pope, nor do I want to be. He will create traffic jams and other annoyances, but he will be gone on Wednesday, and we’ll settle into our sins again.
But we will enjoy that 4-day puente the Pope’s visit is conferring upon Morelia.
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Ms. Shoes: You, like me, live in an eternal puente (long weekend), so I don’t think it’s gonna make much difference. And the Pope’s sacred motorcade on Tuesday will, like a president’s, cause headaches for many people who do not believe in him — or vote for him.
I’m not normally a fan of hero worship.
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We were supposed to be in Rio for Carnaval this year. Thanks to my unbelievable intuition we had canceled a couple of months ago. Who knew then about the Zika virus epidemic in that region?
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Carole: Who knew indeed? I tend, however, to ignore those health scares that never seen to affect me or anybody I know even remotely.
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Being a mosquito magnet, I tend to be wary of them and their viruses. I do know people who’ve had malaria and dengue, caught while in places we have frequented. Also wary of the assassin bug, another blood sucker. I stepped on one in our lodging accommodations that was full of blood, and not knowing whom whose blood was under my shoe was a little fearsome.
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I like this pope. Of course, I like people who are frugal, humble, and like to a be voice for the marginalized. Do you really think he’s lefty?
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Laurie: Definitely a lefty, more obviously political than any other pope in my lifetime.
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Laurie:
To wit:
http://goo.gl/EedUcR
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Felipe, I’m not Catholic although many of my friends are (we tolerate each other), but if the Pope came through I would definitely go to see the sacred motorcade because I’m a photographer, and I think about the motorcade in Dallas in ’63. Zapruder got a million dollars for that grainy out-of-focus film he shot. You never know. It’s history in the making. At the least I’d get some Pope pics for my devout friends. It’s cheaper than a birthday cake.
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Señor Mystic: So, you’d go, hoping that, well, never mind.
If it weren’t for the mob scenes, and if it were here on the mountaintop instead of down in the state capital, I might go take a peek too. But it’s none of that stuff, so I’ll stay put, nice and quiet-like.
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The taco stands and other food vendors in the Mercado offer Lenten fare during this time, such as potato, nopal or fish tacos. I kind of like the change from greasy chorizos and tripas (innards).
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
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Don Cuevas: Interesting. Did not know that. I probably eat in the mercado once every three years, if that often, and I never eat tripas, which I prefer to translate as guts.
Potato tacos? I used to eat French fry po’ boys in New Orleans. Better than one might expect. Lots of carbs and ketchup.
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Why does the church keep collecting coins for the poor? They have been doing it for years, and yet we have even more poor amongst us.
It seems to me that the problem should have been cured centuries ago.
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Señor Gill: The problem of poor people will never be solved. But you know that. As for why the church collects coins for “the poor,” have you not noticed the royal splendor in which the Pope lives?
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Poor Pope!
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