Covering food and drink across the American South as though it mattered as much as crime and politics (because it does.) It is important to make that clear because you will start to doubt it as you pull off Colbert Bridge Road in the East Aiken neighborhood colloquially known as Little Mexico and ramble down a rutted gravel path past a few homes and garages finally reaching the end of the trail and a cleared area where you can park on grass a group of gents were butchering a cow en plein air in a nearby lot the restaurant is located in a structure that originally could have been a small barn or large utility shed A little illuminated sign at the building’s roofline says “OPEN.” Enter and there in front of you is an improvised kitchen and picnic tables arrayed on a concrete floor More tables are set out on a covered patio This article is included for paying subscribers Help us cover food and drink across the American South as though it mattered as much as crime and politics (because it does.) ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN History Entertainment Science & Nature Sports & Leisure Arts & Literature Geography Asheville Atlanta Nashville West Virginia South Stern About Account settings Account help Subscribe Give The Food Section Pitch The Food Section Privacy Policy. Site Credits Site by Wonderly If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement I went to an exploding hammer festival last week A little-known festival in San Juan de la Vega near the town of Celaya I went with a friend named Todd and a local guy named Natha who had previously met at each other at the festival We hopped into Natha’s car and it took around 30 minutes to get to the village we could already hear some of the explosions going off We walked around town a bit to take some pictures before going to the parade I didn’t expect to see so many explosions there The parade-goers were sprinkling powder (a mixture and gunpowder and sulphur) onto the ground and then smashing a sledgehammer into the gunpowder to cause an explosion The smell of explosion was a bit toxic and not something you want to be breathing in a lot Eventually we stepped away from the parade and headed to the railroad tracks I have to admit it was giving me a bit of anxiety because the explosions were coming from all directions The reason behind this festival is to honor local patron saint He was considered to be the Robin Hood of Mexico (in terms of stealing from the rich and giving in to the poor) bandits honored by using exploding hammer by the railroad tracks in order to stop the train so they could rob it of everything we did stop to observe some explosions on the railroad tracks at this festival that wasn’t where most of the big explosions were happening These were taking place on a field outside of town Everything was in full swing by the time we arrived at the field Others were taping the little packs of explosives to the sledgehammer Willing (and crazy) participants then walked to a certain section of the field to raise the sledgehammer above their head and smash it down onto a metal anvil to create a massive (and dangerous) explosion as you can see by the picture above myself a few other tourists got to try it for ourselves They only attached one or two little packs of explosives to the hammer for us This was a smart idea considering some debris got stuck in my hand (I should have worn gloves) when I smashed a sledgehammer with two explosives long pants although I would bring a long-sleeved shirt next time Most of the people were attaching five or six or seven explosives to their sledgehammers Some we were all the necessary protective equipment Nebrasketball Season Ends in 71-69 Loss to NU | Basketball | Corn Nation The Nebraska Cornhuskers led by as much as 15 points in the first half but the high-performing squad fans watched last week disappeared in a return to old ways in the second half and fell for the third time to the Northwestern Wildcats The Huskers season is officially over with the loss Defense Goes Ice Cold for Nebraska Baseball in Loss to Kansas State | Baseball | Corn Nation “Not mentally tough enough.” was the phrase Head Coach Will Bolt used to describe how his team played Wednesday night in Manhattan In a game that saw a first pitch temperature of 36 degrees Schanaman Wins Big Ten Pitcher of the Week | Basketball | Corn Nation The weekend was the best of the young season for the starting pitching with Shay Schanaman being the best of the bunch He threw a complete game shutout in the 6-0 win vs Northwestern State on Sunday to pick up his first win of 2022 This performance earned Schanaman an award as the Big Ten Pitcher of the week Nebraska Releases the Memorial Stadium Market Survey | Sports | Corn Nation It appears that seat comfort is the number one gripe or concern for Nebraska football fans Regarding current Memorial Stadium conditions that “could be enhanced,” 77% of respondents chose seat comfort It should be noted that respondents could pick up to three options The second highest option was WiFi/Connectivity at 24% Mailbag: Memorial Stadium Survey and Husker Stocks Rising at the Combine | Sports | Hail Varsity The football team is five practices deep in its spring schedule and the Husker baseball team looks to keep the good vibes rolling this afternoon at Kansas State Nebraska Recruiting: Who Just Missed the March Greg’s Guys Cut? | Football | Hail Varsity The latest edition of the Greg’s Guy’s list came out this week We are off and running with the 2023 recruiting class for Nebraska The cycle has started strong for the Huskers That could be about one-third of the traditional signees that the team brings in Casey Thompson Is Finding out What It’s Like to Be a Quarterback at Nebraska | Football | Hail Varsity Learning a new offense is nothing new to the 6-foot-1 Whipple’s offense will be his fourth system he’s had to learn Last year Thompson played in Steve Sarkisian’s offense at Texas he played in the spread offenses of Mike Yurcich and Tom Herman Frost Discusses Spring Season Growth Within the Team | Football | Huskers.com ”There is a ton of energy from the new coaches and players,” Frost said but we have seen exciting things out there we have a good team that wants to be good as I have mentioned before They are alive and working hard to get there and that is the first step in being a good team.” Huskers Head to Hawaii for Queen’s Cup | Volleyball | Huskers.com The Huskers will play two more matches on Friday - against No Guadalajara is a Must-visit for Some of Mexico’s Best Food and Coolest Crafts | Travel | Travel + Leisure On a weekend jaunt to Jalisco’s state capital one writer encounters vibrant food and design scenes propelled by an ambitious new guard putting modern spins on regional staples The Babyn Yar strike follows the burning of a local history and art museum in the town of Ivankiv The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that 25 paintings by Ukrainian folk artist Maria Primachenko were destroyed in the museum’s fire Her special gift and talent captivated Pablo Picasso,” the ministry said on Twitter in honor of her work Travel Advisors Report Mixed Client Reactions on Russia-Ukraine Conflict | Travel | Travel Pulse “Upscale clients will travel with little fear of visiting NATO countries and members of the European Union,” he said we are seeing far more sold-out sailings and tour departures than one might have anticipated Avelo Airlines Are Using Disinfection Robots to Clean Planes | Travel | Travel Pulse The airline announced last week an innovative partnership with Aero HygenX a company that deploys leading-edge autonomous ultraviolet light (UVC) robots to disinfect its aircraft fleet Aero HygenX is the pioneer in autonomous UVC disinfection technology for the transportation industry Buenos Aires: One of the World’s Street Art Capitals | Travel | Travel Pulse the laws surrounding street art are fairly relaxed Artists typically just need permission from the property owners or a building’s residents’ association to paint This has attracted artists from around the world and given local artists great opportunities to showcase their works Voluntourism Is On the Rise—But What Does It Actually Mean to Give Back on Vacation? | Travel | Conde Nast Traveler While naturally there is a place for meaningful aid work the difference between volunteering and ‘voluntouring’ is stark—primarily because volunteering for a short period of time (whether it’s for two days or two weeks) is rarely enough time to do anything beyond boost the traveler’s own sense of purpose The Best Hike in Every National Park | Travel | Conde Nast Traveler All 63 hikes featured here boast the best of the park that houses them with manageable crowds and a range of difficulty levels; these aren’t just the headline trails of each national park but the trails that in-the-know hikers beeline to Hawaii’s Ultimate Form of Gratitude | Travel | BBC We know the Hawaiian lei as a celebratory tradition in the islands the fragrance from the floral garland uplifting a room long after its flowers have wilted may be void of scent – but it is filled with the mana (energy) of past generations Italy’s Rare, Surprisingly Bitter Honey | Travel | BBC born in the mountains of the Italian island of Sardinia Nomadic beekeepers have been setting up beehives in the region to collect this aromatic treat – derived from the white bell-shaped flowers of the wild strawberry tree – for more than 2,000 years Inside Mexico’s Exploding Hammer Festival | Lifestyle | The New Zealand Herald the small town of San Juan de la Vega is rocked by explosions and filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder huge plumes of smoke rise above the church and the ground continually shakes with fierce vibrations This is the Fiesta de los Martillos Explosivos a tradition celebrating the start of Lent and the mysterious local patron saint The Long and Twisted History of Designing Gotham City | Comics | The Ringer Batman and his city are inextricably linked and in developing their Dark Knight movies filmmakers from Tim Burton to Matt Reeves have always paid special attention to how that city looks The Secret World of Competitive Car Audio | Sound | House Grail The best thing about the competitive car audio scene is that it’s wide open to amateurs and a dream can show up to an event and blow away the competition in his class Five Endangered Languages You Can Learn Online | Culture | Matador Network But all hope is not lost for endangered languages Some apps have given them a much-needed boost By creating courses that allow anyone to learn some of those endangered languages from their laptop or phones they are drumming up interest and slowly revitalizing them before they are lost forever The abstentions underscore just how much diplomatic weight Moscow still wields across many of Africa’s more authoritarian governments Endurance: Shackleton’s Lost Ship is Found in the Antarctic | Science | BBC the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was found at the weekend at the bottom of the Weddell Sea The ship was crushed by sea-ice and sank in 1915 forcing Shackleton and his men to make an astonishing escape on foot and in small boats Video of the remains show Endurance to be in remarkable condition Does My Son Know You? | Health | The Ringer The nurse brings you down a long hallway with a bunch of rooms on each side Each is just big enough to fit a chair and a sink They all look the same except for the picture on the wall ← → A boom in small-scale gold mining in Bolivia has raised concerns about pollution from mercury used in the mining process Researchers are citing the health impacts on downstream villages but the government has yet to act to stem the widespread use of the highly toxic chemical even in protected areas recognized by the United Nations for their diversity of wildlife more than 1,000 artisanal mining operations are razing trees and reshaping the land in their search for gold they are also dispersing mercury through the air Their use of mercury has helped propel Bolivia to become the world’s biggest importer of the toxic substance The Minamata Convention is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the effects of mercury considered by the World Health Organization to be one of the top 10 chemicals of greatest public-health concern where industrial dumping of mercury in the 1950s and ’60s led to widespread birth defects and deaths as people consumed tainted fish which came into effect in 2017 and requires countries to develop a national action plan to reduce and eliminate mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining Bolivia has done almost nothing to regulate the import or use of mercury Bolivia has long been criticized by environmental and civil society groups for its lax regulation of the element of which the vast majority is used for gold mining a professor of environmental law at George Washington University who is the UN’s special rapporteur on toxics and human rights urged the Bolivian government to take action against the mercury trade noting that its approach “has generated serious impacts on the human rights of populations affected by mercury contamination Gold has long been considered a safe haven for investors and a hedge against inflation and the increase has driven a surge in mining worth $2.5 billion — double the value in 2020 performed by unionized mining “cooperatives” working both legally and illegally including in the mountains and forests of the Apolobamba which lie north and northeast of the nation’s capital gold occurs at low concentrations in the earth and in riverbeds but miners typically use heavy machinery to excavate huge amounts of material or hoses to suck up sediment from the riverbed then process this gold-bearing soil and water through a sluice system that concentrates the gold The miners then add liquid mercury to a slurry of gold and sand Miners discard the process water and tailings vaporizing the portion that is mercury and leaving behind purer gold Mercury ends up in human bodies through two distinct pathways most of whom work without protective masks This may happen on the site of a mining operation or where gold buyers further refine small nuggets of ore in their shops among people without significant mercury exposure — the level tends to be less than 2 ppm we don’t think there’s any safe level of mercury,” said Professor Niladri Basu an environmental toxicologist at McGill University who was part of the assessment “There are case studies in which people will exhibit mercury in the hair lower than 2 ppm and show some sort of effect.” which found that Esse Ejja women of child-bearing age had an average hair mercury level of 7.58 ppm the Bolivian Center for Documentation and Information took 590 samples from 15 riverside communities in the two principal watersheds of the Bolivian Amazon All five communities along the Beni River had an average mercury level above 2 ppm and two had average levels closer to 7 ppm The researchers took 112 samples from children under the age of 15 in these communities and found an average mercury level of 6.48 ppm all but one community had an average mercury level above 1 ppm Neither study collected data on the health of participants and researchers drew no conclusions about links between poor health outcomes and mercury exposure The levels observed were far lower than those observed in Minamata Bay where hair mercury levels ranged from 191 ppm to 705 ppm researchers noted — and participants reported — symptoms that could be connected to mercury exposure In the wake of coup, gold mining boom is ravaging Myanmar. Read more one of the symptoms is highly sensitive skin and a kind of pink rash on the hands and extremities,” said Oscar Campanini Gonzalez director of the Bolivian Center for Documentation and Information “And we observed this on the skin of various children that were nursing.” If confirmed this would imply exposure to mercury either in utero or through breast milk told Yale Environment 360 that adults in his community started to experience new kinds of health problems as upstream mining intensified “They started feeling pains in their muscles babies and the elderly have blood in their feces.” who 30 years ago led a benchmark study on the effects of methyl mercury exposure in the Faroe Islands where mercury-contaminated pilot whale was an important part of the diet said that the symptoms being reported in Bolivia among adults would not be typical with this level of mercury exposure is the level of exposure stated by these NGOs problematic is to protect fetuses that can be exposed to mercury when mothers consume mercury-contaminated fish Such exposure can have subtle but permanent neurodevelopmental effects “Humans are more vulnerable [to toxic substances] before birth now chief physician at the University of the Faroe Islands the riverside communities want a medical specialist to investigate potential links between mercury exposure and their symptoms They also want more studies performed on fish from their rivers to help them identify which species have lower levels of mercury If people stop consuming mercury altogether but fish consumption is otherwise highly beneficial for these populations “It’s very difficult to weigh the neurological risk that mercury may pose against the neurological benefits of fish consumption,” said Basu Large-scale miners often use cyanide to leach gold from ore but the chemical is also toxic to humans and wildlife which works with miners to improve their environmental practices and other NGOs have worked with 15 mining cooperatives to adopt technologies that prevent mercury pollution by reducing the quantity used and then recycling it miners can concentrate the gold as much as possible before adding mercury then heat their amalgam in a closed system that captures and then reliquefies vaporous mercury for reuse such technologies could reduce mercury loss to near zero and the NGOs are hoping the cooperatives they work with will pass these lessons to others But there are 1,400 mining cooperatives in La Paz often without environmental licenses and sometimes without legal concessions until recently the head of protection at Madidi National Park mostly turns a blind eye to these operations In 2021, after UN rapporteurs submitted a 10-page letter to the Bolivian government citing the lack of regulation of mercury and human rights violations against Indigenous peoples, and suggesting the country was in breach of the Minamata Convention, the government announced it would produce an action plan for mercury use in July 2022 though officials insist it is in the works “We just want some support from the government,” said Oscar Lurici “Maybe they could help people find [alternatives to] fishing Or perhaps help them raise their own fish” on land something the government has supported as a development strategy elsewhere in Bolivia Campanini said further studies could also help communities like the Esse Ejja identify which fish have lower levels of mercury and are safer to eat Why the rush to mine lithium could dry up the high Andes. Read more For now, the Ministry of Health has created a toxicology network which it says has more than 100 doctors monitoring for symptoms of mercury poisoning in areas affected by gold mining The ministry did not respond to a request for an interview “The creation of this network shows some kind of attention on the part of the state,” said Campanini “But it’s certainly not the national action plan required by the Minamata Convention.” Thomas Graham is a freelance journalist based in La Paz, Bolivia. He has reported from Europe, North Africa, and South America for The Guardian, The Economist, and the BBC, among others. More about Thomas Graham → Never miss an article. Subscribe to the E360 Newsletter → SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio police are asking for the public's help to find 14-year-old Juanito Bernal Juanito's case is also featured on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's website "We believe he is with somebody that he knows but he knows he's not supposed to be with and that's our concern with getting him found a spokesperson with the San Antonio Police Department Police say Juanito is believed to have been last seen at Pickwell park along Pickwell Dr "We do believe that he got into a white Ford F-150 We don't know who he was with or why he went there we know that's where he was last seen If you have any information on his case call SAPD's Missing Persons Unit at (210) 207-7660 and you can remain anonymous A UNESCO biosphere reserve off Mexico’s Pacific coast is opening to visitors this summer the Marias Islands – an archipelago of four islands off the coast of the Mexican state of Nayarit – are opening to visitors in July The four islands are made up of the islet of San Juanito which is the largest and the only one that’s inhabited the isolated archipelago has benefitted from a lack of human interference which has promoted its biological diversity The group were declared a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 2010 María Madre was home to Islas Marías Federal Penal Colony which has since been renovated into The Centre for Environmental and Cultural Education The centre aims to promote understanding and the protection of biodiversity in Mexico The entrance to the centre (Riviera Nayarit CVB) Sustainable tourism activities include bird watching and hiking around the islands’ mountains and forests blue mockingbirds and broad-billed hummingbirds as well as migratory species such as the hook-billed kite The islands are also home to the tres Marias Amazon parrot which isn’t found anywhere else in the world visitors can snorkel around the islands’ coral reefs and see mollusks 10 varieties of rays and more than 21 shark species Surfers meanwhile can surf off Hammerhead beach on Maria Cleofas or off San Juanito which has one of Latin America’s longest waves Sign up to our newsletter for free with the Wanderlust Club the term “party hard” is taken to an extreme These festivals are a far cry from family-friendly carnivals and instead embrace dangerous We take a look at five of the world’s more dangerous festivals Many countries have unique pre-Lenten traditions From elegant carnivals dating back to the medieval period to pancake races usually entails a last big hoorah before the solemn reflective period of Lent in the Catholic tradition they take this last hoorah to the next level In the small market town of San Juan de la Vega residents celebrate Shrove Tuesday by honoring their patron saint San Juanito with an incredible demonstration of power San Juanito is considered the Robin Hood of Mexico he stole from rich local landowners to give to the poor Some other sources say that San Juanito also protected the town from pesky outlaws residents established a festival in which they would reenact his victory over evil and corruption the festival evolved into quite a spectacle Participants donned in protective gear would place a mixture of gunpowder and sometimes fertilizer on a hammer and smash it on a concrete beam Ambulances and first aid officials remain on standby for the duration of the festival At Cooper’s Hill near Gloucester in England a large wheel of Double Gloucester cheese causes absolute chaos This steep hill (1:2 gradient) hosts a 600-year-old tradition in which approximately 20 participants race down the 180m slope after a four-kilogram wheel of cheese traveling at over 112kmph It’s hard to finish this downhill battle with cheese unscathed Most competitors experience one of the following injuries: broken bones or pulled muscles as they tumble and roll down the hill this does not stop people from around the world arriving to compete The goal is not to get the cheese but rather to get to the bottom of the hill first because of the number of injuries the cheese itself has caused A reveler joins the traditional cheese rolling races on May 25 Pagans would set wheels of hay on fire and roll them down a hill in a fertility ritual these fiery wheels of hay were replaced with cheese There’s even a Michael Jordan of cheese-rolling Chris Anderson has won the competition 22 times the Onbashira festival takes place every six years Towering tree trunks or pillars from four main shrines (Honmiya symbolizing a period of renewal and rejuvenation Locals cut down around 16 fir trees measuring up to 19m and transport them by riding them down a rugged and uneven mountainside they stay there for a month before locals erect the multi-ton posts at the shrine Yamadashi refers to the felling and riding of the logs and the ride is called Kiotoshi which young men undertake to prove themselves to society putting up four posts at each corner of the shrine Several fatal incidents prompted the festival’s deadly reputation; people have drowned Though the festival’s origins remain a mystery some researchers believe the wooden posts might serve as totem poles or could be linked to the Chinese belief in five earthly elements Tamil Hindus come together on the night of a full moon to pay homage to the goddess Parvati and her son Murugan Parvati gave her son a heavenly weapon (most likely a spear) to defeat his enemy Surapadman Penance and repentance are important themes Hindus must fast and prepare for a painful ritual called kavadi Kavadi includes the mortification of one’s flesh which do not draw as much blood as one would think This ritual tests mental and physical limits If the practitioner endures the ritual with resilience to the pain men undertake this ritual while women carry a pot of milk in a procession to the statue of Murugan Spanish Catholics celebrate the liturgical feast day of Corpus Christi by literally jumping over newborn babies which takes place in the village of Castrillo de Murcia Men dress in red and yellow costumes holding whips and castanets They proceed to jump over newborns under 12 months old who lie on mattresses lined up on the street Each jump symbolizes cleansing the babies of original sin This unconventional baptismal ritual would be many parents’ worst nightmare there have been no injuries since the 17th century the Catholic Church takes a dim view of the festival because of the dangers involved The late Pope Benedict XVI discouraged the practice Kristine De Abreu is a writer at ExplorersWeb Kristine studied at the University of Leicester in the UK an animal lover and shameless ramen addict Sign up to receive ExplorersWeb content direct to your inbox once a week We have the address for the funeral home & the family on file If you're not happy with your card we'll send a replacement or refund your money Eusebio Cuellar passed away on January 1, 2016. Eusebio is survived by his beloved wife of fourty years Blanca Cuellar. Children Osvaldo Maricela Cuellar, David Marsha Cuellar, Maricela Cuellar and Marilou Augustin Quintero. Grandchildren Alexa,... View Obituary & Service Information The family of Eusebio Cuellar created this Life Tributes page to make it easy to share your memories © 2025 Mission Park Funeral Chapels & Cemeteries Made with love by funeralOne This is Guillermina “Gisha” Zabala an artist and filmmaker from Argentina who makes her home in San Antonio with her Uruguayan husband Enrique Lopetegui, music editor of the San Antonio Current, and their daughter Shanti. You can watch an excerpt of her San Antonio Artist Foundation Award-winning film, F-Watch, here. “I, Me, Light,” Zabala’s video installation at last year’s Luminaria Arts Night was in the top three strongest pieces in all the (HemisFair) land It occupied a central plaza-like space with a mid-century falling-water type fountain in it— she projected three ever-changing video images of various San Antonians drawing words in the air with their fingers The videos projected through the falling water so that the videos were visible from either side In a bewildering atmosphere of competing musical performances and spin art and crowds this piece got throngs of people to stop and be silent which don’t reallygive you the whole experience I first became aware of her work at a video art exhibition at UTSA Satellite Space at the Blue Star complex a few years ago — a great anguished squall of a three-channel video called “State of Disunion” which employed Noh-like performers reacting to a particularly Orwellian Dubya State of the Union address gutsy stuff with a lot of impact and style She captured the visceral fear and spiritual unease gripping the Bush-era nation and made it baldly physical both of this piece and her Luminaria piece which to my mind is a good thing in that both are disorienting and complex and nuanced and ineffable I don’t want to give away everything [in my video art] I want the viewer to bring a lot to it and have an experience that [the viewer] dictates not me explaining it,” which has resulted in “some of the writing about my work can be a little… confused.” She shrugs I don’t want to say it’s not valid.” A still from "State of Disunion" In addition to making some of the most inspired video art I’ve seen in town, Gisha Zabala’s also Media Arts Director at Say Sí a renowned arts education nonprofit for kids It was like hearing somebody’s kids had gotten the Beatles Rock Band and were really digging Revolution No one of Gisha’s students in the media program at Say Sí After she graduates from high school next year she plans to go to film school and become a…well She’s already a documentary filmmaker; her first film is an account of the struggles of Bennie Veliz a young woman referred to as “the poster child of the Dream Act,” a gifted and determined high school valedictorian and graduate of St after being stopped for a minor traffic violation by the notoriously severe police in Helotes in a still from Emileigh Potter's documentary and according to Emileigh “really got me going on making this statement There were technical things I was worried about and I just got hooked on the whole process At first there were times [when I thought] ‘OK if you say so,’ but she really encouraged me to go with the story I wanted to tell …There’s nothing else I want to do I realized that while I was making [The Dreamer] This Fall, The Dreamer won the PBS and Adobe’s Project VoiceScape Project’s “Most Inspiring Documentary” award, and Emileigh and Gisha attended an award ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 15, 2011. The Dreamer aired on POV, and you can watch it here. she and her husband Enrique have been co-directing a documentary called Juanito’s Lab which as explained on the project page on United states Artists “explores the life and art of 22-year-old Juanito Castillo a blind musician proficient in 14 instruments and considered one of the most talented and versatile young accordion players in South Texas.” and he knows it — he’s got all the swagger of any teenage boy” — they started filming when Juanito was 17 — “but it’s like how you say in the States You can watch a fascinating and moving video excerpt from a 2007 interview with Juanito here. swagger-to-eleven short video of Juanito reacting to the news that the doc isn’t 100% funded yet You can help support Juanito’s Lab here Guillermina Zabala and Enrique Lopetégui are just about $1600 short of their $5000 goal Check out all the sites and clips and if you’re moved to You could post a link to this blog post on your Facebook feed Or have it spelled out in skywriting above Houston and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" HAA Cultural Events Calendar San Juanito Escobedo is perhaps the archetype of the quiet unassuming forgotten pueblito located in the middle of nowhere That “nowhere” just happens to be within the bounds of what was once Mexico’s third-largest lake which was drained in 1936 to create great stretches of flat I was surprised indeed to receive the following message from my friend Rick Echeverría have you visited the big distillery in San Juanito don’t miss their tequila-aging cava — it may be the biggest in the world.” I soon learned that the distillery is called Agave Azul and I was kindly invited to tour the place by members of the García family Agave Azul and San Juanito are located 60 kilometers west of Guadalajara Google Maps took my friends and me right there but via a truly adventurous route including dirt roads and back streets that tested the mettle of our four-wheel-drive vehicle But after bouncing over the last pothole of a rut-ridden back alley and there we met José de Jesús García García “Our aim,” Señor García told me,” is to preserve the traditional way of making tequila the historical approach.” He added that many distilleries buy their agaves from others “Just look out the window and you can see hills covered with our agaves azules [blue agaves] García then surprised me by announcing that all those agaves are organic “We fertilize them with compost made from our own waste products So we are returning to the soil what we have taken out of it José García then launched into the story of how this tequilería came into being ” I am the great-grandson of Don Anselmo García I didn’t know him because I was born in 1957 He produced and sold all sorts of artesanías made from tule the reed that used to grow all around the edge of the Laguna de Magdalena “He made petates [sleeping mats] and sopladoras [hand fans for stoves and fireplaces] and curious-looking chinas that served as raincoats in bygone times Don Anselmo would travel all around this area selling his products of tule along with queso enchilado which is so called because the outside of this cheese is literally covered with chile for two reasons: first to make sure flies don’t land on it and second to preserve its correct consistency Don Javier Sauza said to him: ‘Why don’t you plant agaves in your pueblo?’ And it was because of him that agaves were introduced to San Juanito “So my bisabuelo [great-grandfather] brought someone here to show people how to plant and cultivate and harvest agaves when the first of them were ready for harvest they set up what we traditionally call a taberna here and they didn’t call it tequila; they called it aguardiente [firewater] José García told me that friends of the family eventually revived the taberna and even got him involved in the project but he never knew that the distillery had anything to do with his great-grandfather “until one day I ran into my great-uncle and I said: ‘Uncle why don’t we have a little drink?’ And he replied So they got into a truck and headed along a little dirt road in the middle of nowhere Los Reyes is the place where my father used to make a really good aguardiente.” “And that is when I put it all together,” García explained “I understood that this distillery where I was helping out was the very same [one] my great-grandfather had set up years ago That is when I decided to take up what my great-grandfather had been doing and to make it my own we are completing the obra [life’s work] that he began a long following the process whereby the piñas de agave are cooked in a huge stone oven followed by distillation in huge alambiques All these works are built on a hillside to take advantage of gravity with the final product ending up in their cava There it is aged in oak barrels from France and the United States for up to three years spooky passageway right out of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado — is a huge underground room that provides the perfect temperature (10 to 13 C) and conditions for aging over 10% of a barrel of tequila is lost to evaporation every year we went off to the composting facility located five minutes away in front of row after row of composting beds who explained how Agave Azul makes its own fertilizer Most other tequila makers throw away their bagasse and their distillation slops (the top and bottom portions of the fermented must or wort) sheep and rabbit manure and bat guano and spreads the mixture on top of the composting beds where countless California red worms transform it into the very best fertilizer imaginable None of Agave Azul’s waste products are dumped into local rivers The river outside the town of Tequila is badly polluted While many tequilerías are concentrating mainly on volume appear to have a genuine concern for quality you can find something called tequila on the market for US $10 a bottle,” Aldo García told us,” but what is it made of?” He explains further: “Just do the math: to make one liter of tequila you need more or less seven kilos of agaves so the mere cost of the raw material is 210 pesos Just what the biggest distilleries — most of which are no longer owned by Mexicans — are pouring into those liter bottles but if you would like to taste what Agave Azul is producing in San Juanito all available both in Mexico and in the United States The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for 31 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC the small Mexican town of San Juan de la Vega honors its namesake saint with a loud tradition that has come to be known as the Festival of Exploding Hammers The origins of this bombastic festival are shrouded in mystery was aided by San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist) to recover gold stolen by bandits and residents came up with the exploding hammers to loudly commemorate their victory over the outlaws Another story claims that “San Juanito” the patron saint of the town a sort of Mexican Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor and that the today’s celebration is a reenactment of the fight between San Juanito and the local dons the explosive tradition is so popular in San Juan de la Vega that locals will risk life and limb to keep it going On Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) the young boys of San Juan de la Vega head out to a designated place on the edge of town bringing with them pouches of home-made explosives and long-handled sledgehammers The explosives are usually a mixture of potassium chlorate and sodium packed tightly so they can then be affixed to the head of a sledgehammer those brave enough to take part in the celebration will bang their sledgehammers against rail beams causing explosions strong enough to cause serious injuries The Festival of Exploding Hammers used to take place in San Juan de la Vega but years ago authorities finally realized the danger the celebration posed to bystanders and created a special detonation area on the edge of town It’s still very dangerous to those who take part in it And it’s not like police and other local authorities haven’t tried to band the explosions in the past but the people of San Juan de la Vega love their tradition too much “We do this out of devotion,” one local told WSJ reporters. “You have faith in a saint and you must demonstrate that.” The problem with the exploding hammers is that the size of the explosives has increased substantially over the years. If in the beginning we had small, thumb-sized packs that only caused a bang and a bit of smoke, today it’s all about who has the bigger bomb attached to their sledgehammer. The blasts are sometimes strong enough to make the sledgehammers fly out of their owners’ hands on impact, and even cause serious injuries. Hammer wielders regularly get burns on their hands and other parts of their bodies, a few years back a young man got his hand blown up by an explosion, and catching some sort of shrapnel is not uncommon. That said, serious injuries are relatively rare considering that about five tonnes of explosives get detonated every year. Still, with explosives getting larger every year, the chances of horrific, potentially fatal injuries increases, and many are worried that this competition to cause the loudest bang may soon become the cause of tragedies. “It’s been going wrong for more than a decade now,” a local man said. “Many of these boys don’t even know why they are blowing things up. They don’t have an idea who the saint is.” Every February for centuries, locals in a small town in Mexico have thrown a bombastic festival unlike any other in the world. The souvenirs from attending can be lifelong – and we're not talking some lame story about drinking too much on holiday, but rather scars from real, legitimate, shrapnel wounds. Some call it the "Bomb Hammer Party." This hiccup is what has designated the Feast of San Juan de la Vega among the most dangerous festivals in the world. One need not look much further than recent statistics to understand what showing up to this party could mean, in very tangible terms: 17 onlookers were wounded in minor ways in 2007, while the following year saw a whopping 50 bystanders catching some form of shrapnel from firecracker sledgehammering gone wrong. For what it's worth, with upwards of 400 years of Bomb Hammer Parties under their belt, this is anything but San Juan de la Vega's first explosive hammer rodeo. Police and medics are posted throughout, ready to manage the seemingly inevitable. Tens of thousands of people show up for the annual tradition, so while this is hilariously, undeniably dangerous, the odds of catching a serious flesh wound are actually, statistically, not THAT high. The festival starts around 9:00 and goes until 15:00. There's not much for accommodations in this sleepy little town, so staying in the nearby city of Celaya is easiest. Make sure to bring earplugs, eye protection (sunglasses are fine), and something to cover your mouth. The first two may be common sense, but the third is to block the sulphurous gasses from entering your lungs. It burns, and perhaps is the most unpleasant part of the festival. The tool of choice for the locals is a bandana. A festival where people vie to be bombarded by exploding clusters of fireworks. The venerated body of a 12th century saint is celebrated each year with the 'Race of the Candles.' A Cajun-style Christmas on the river also involves sky-high pyres and explosives. Bring out your dead (saints that have been festooned and bejeweled, so that we can parade them around the town)! The oldest giants in Catalonia are now displayed in a 14th-century Gothic church. Host to the annual Festival of the Snakes. This devil-dancing ceremony now celebrates a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary that appeared to a modern-day Robin Hood in a mineshaft. Celebrate the end of the Great French Wine Blight with a festival of kissing. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. A fan of docuseries and a food lover who is always in search of coexisting with Mother Nature. The Islas Marías are an archipelago of four islands: Cleofas, María Magdalena, San Juanito and María Madre, located about 120 km off the coast of San Blas, Nayarit. As of July 2021, María Madre—the main and most developed island—will open for visitors as part of an inclusive and environmentally responsible program. According to the Ministry of Tourism (SECTUR), the area known as Puerto Balleto will be accessible to national and international visitors traveling as day-trippers, that is, those who do not sleep on the site and stay less than 24 hours, since there are no hotels in the area and camping will not be allowed. Day-trippers may depart for Islas Marías from San Blas, Nayarit; Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco; and Mazatlán, Sinaloa. Travel time will depend on the type of boat and could be between four and six hours. The Secretary of the Navy, in charge of managing the site, informed that the ferries would anchor 870 meters southeast of Puerto Balleto. From there, small tender-type boats will line up alongside to be boarded by visitors bound for the dock. Once on the island, visitors can access various attractions and activities, including visits to the Site Museum, where they will learn about the prison history. There will also be stops in Balleto’s downtown to visit the traditional market, the handicrafts store, the souvenir shop, the Henequen Museum, and the Plaza Benito Juárez. Bike rides are planned for the more adventurous to explore the island on the other side of Puerto Balleto, where the old airport is located. You can also hike to the monumental Christ, which is, as its name suggests, a giant sculpture visible from the sea. The return is through the pier to the ship and from there back to the departure point. The Islas Marías were declared a Natural Protected Area in 2000, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2010. John's physician fondly remembered for his kindness Juanito Bautista arrived in Newfoundland in the 1960s and went on to forge an inspiring legacy in the province Juanito Bautista was a humble but brilliant doctor chose Newfoundland and Labrador as their home and was one of those people that if you didn’t know him in life upon hearing his life story you wish you had after learning what he meant to so many people Subscribe now to access this story and more: Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience John’s credits Juanito with adding years to her late mother’s life — St meant her children could get to know their nan one of metro’s most beloved citizens who was deputy mayor when she died in 2001 Bautista diagnosed Mom with an extremely rare condition He would leave the hospital every evening with a load of textbooks under his arm pre-internet,” Woolridge told SaltWire Network “He was unrelenting in his effort until he discovered what was wrong He was leading a group of physicians that worked together to give Mom an extra decade of life that she wouldn’t have had without his effort He did this after working a long day of taking care of patients.” Woolridge said Bautista had the most gentle and compassionate approach in life and in medicine “The family that they raised is a direct result of their upbringing — hard-working intelligent and caring individuals that have made an impact in the community that they live in He was humble and only did what he felt everyone should do in every part of their life.” he connected with the Bautistas through the provincial Filipino association adding he looked to the example of how the Bautistas raised their family and that he has tried to pay forward the same advice and support to newcomers that he was shown — he was a longtime president of the Filipino association “Newfoundland is just like the Philippines — very clannish the couple had left the Philippines and headed to Milwaukee on a foreign graduate exchange visitors’ program where he began treating tuberculosis patients at the sanatorium They were the second Filipino family in the province but returned to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1968 and Juanito became clinical director of “The San,” as the facility on Topsail Road was nicknamed Juanito treated the variety of TB infections — lung were dominated by frequent moves and an exahusting life of rigorous on-call duty for Juanito Michael shared insights into his father’s life The modest home was the first they’d owned Hours were more regular for Juanito at The San He sat the family down and asked them if they wanted to return to the U.S Even though they’d loved the last place they’d lived — Rome with just one child born in Newfoundland — the eldest two were born in the U.S — they all became Canadian citizens in 1975 The path to Juanito and Aida’s new life had been all about creating better opportunities for the next generations Juanito had started a practice in his hometown in the Philippines because America was the land of opportunity,” Michael said had witnessed atrocities during the Japanese occupation of 1942-45 Although they didn’t speak often about those times one story Juanito told Michael was about a Japanese fighter plane shooting into a field as the community was on the move Another story the Bautistas related to family: “They would bayonet a baby throw a baby up in the air and catch it on their bayonet,” Michael said “They would pick someone who was not co-operative or who was a spy or whatever and they would just behead them.” The joy when the Americans rolled through was also recalled “My mom would tell the story about how they would yell at the Americans and the American soldiers would throw chocolate bars to them,” he said Aida also played American song favourites like “Chattanooga Choo Choo” and “In the Mood” on piano for the soliders in her family’s cafe The love the Bautitstas had for each other was evident in his devotion to Aida as she battled cerebrovascular dementia slow decline of both her physical and cognitive capacity and shortly after her death he went back to their home “When she started to have difficulty with self-care brushing and flossing her teeth twice a day and helping to feed and dress her,” said their granddaughter “I am thankful for the kind and loving presence and the prominent role both my grandparents played in my life while they were still alive I strive to be as loving and dedicated to family as they were … Our grandparents went to every school concert Juanito brought individually labelled snack containers for his grandchildren when driving them to school and activities as well as for any friends who regularly drove with them He always wanted his grandchildren to text him when they were leaving and arriving anywhere and sent them weather reports for wherever they were living so they would dress for the conditions “He always had birthday cards — he never forgot anything,” said Lesley Michael and his family had lunch with him on Saturdays but often they would enjoy Filipino dishes gleaned from Aida’s handwritten recipes that Michael and his grandchildren learned to cook He was blunt if it was too salty or overcooked but he also appreciated when it was perfect you have it just right,” Juanito would say Michael’s parents and in-laws traditionally gathered at his house for Sunday dinner but with Aida gone and Juanito no longer able to attend “You know you hit the jackpot when you get a text saying thank you for the very nice supper,’” Michael said Michael got to work with his father while on rotation on his unit at St Clare’s — the man who had taught him how to ride a bike and bat a ball also taught the medical student how to tie a surgical knot listen to chests and perform an examination “It wasn’t really until I was on service with him for a month that I saw what he did Seeing him in action was everything that his patients and staff said about him,” Michael said Juanito also could remember everyone’s name Juanito treated patients with ailments caused by working at the original fluorspar mine in St as well as Wabush miners with Labrador lung — pneumoconiosis attributed to mixed dust such as silica He also went out to speak to patients in the evenings through groups like the Better Breathing Club.\ Juanito’s empathy for the job carried on to the next generation “He understood what (on) call was like,” Lesley … I knew he had back pain every day and dizziness a pharmacist at Central Health in Grand Falls-Windsor “I’d stay with him when I would visit him in St “He made us all feel loved and cared for,” said granddaughter Jennifer it would probably be his kind smile,” said Kathryn from finding inconsistencies in airline bookings to knowing the arrow at the light from Allandale Road in St he compared that to the time she had left and responded Juanito was always interested in what other’s days were like He wasn’t prone to rattling off life lessons “He showed he cared with all these acts of love and kindness,” said Lesley Perhaps one of the most profound ways he randomly touched a life was that of his interaction with a man he never actually met Telegram carrier Chris Higdon left a condolence card for the family in which he described how much he treasured delivering the daily newspaper to Juanito When Higdon picked up Juanito’s area on his route around Easter time like “good morning” and “stay safe” written on the plastic weather wrappers encasing the newspaper got reply notes left on the door “It only took two and a half seconds to write out a note As Higdon took his daughter with him on the route he started leaving “dad jokes” and Juanito kept asking for more When a neighbour told Higdon that Juanito had died he was heartbroken and sought out his obituary “I had no idea he was a doctor,” Higdon said “Learning some of the things (he achieved) “He was a humble man who was just sort of well-liked by everyone,” his son John said Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page The British Virgin Islands is an explorer's dream with more than 60 isles and cays to discover Expert-backed tips and a step-by-step breakdown to ward off these pests We tried it: Filtrete Smart Tower and the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde HP09 transmission or republication strictly prohibited This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. 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