Caray, Caray!

PaulaH, I haven't thanked you yet for posting these in such a timely way. Gracias, gracias. I am enjoying this so much. And the comments are gratifyingly snark-free (not that snark & beanies aren't required elsewhere).

I see that cultural racism has finally lifted its ugly head. Modesta says about Gasca, los ladinos son listos. I recall we had a discussion lo these many years about the various levels of colonial ethnicity: indios, mestizos, criollos etc. It was quite complex and I hope someone out there can enlighten us. Carla Estrada does not flinch on this subject. As ugly as it is, she does portray the prejudice.

I think it was noted that Adalgisa may originally have come from the continent because her accent is quite noticeable. As was the case in Europe, English nannies were de rigeur in the late 19th century, so Spanish nannies in Mexico.

And how d'ya like that Cristóbal, mouthing off with the big news. Well, now, everybody seems to know at least half of the story. But the principal good guys and bad guys now know both (I think). I like that the characters, including our galán, are allowed their imperfections.
 

Agnes, just a few days ago, Isabel said the same thing about Mirtha, "los mulatos son listos". In la Pola, the Spaniards born in Spain have many more rights than those born in the colonies, who are said to be manchados por la tierra. Apparently the Church had a little scam going in which mestizos could purchase purity for their blood (Pola's mom bought this purity for her family so Pola's brother could be a priest.)

Carlos
 

Carlos— If only it were a simple case of prejudice, but as you point out, just as in this country, the disparaged classes are increasing disenfranchised (and concomitantly impoverished) as one goes down the ladder. Many caribbean islands functioned as barracoons, prisons or holding areas for slaves and "miscegenation" brought on ridiculous hierarchies of mixed blood ("ocotoroons, anybody"). The US even had laws against racial mixing until 1967!!

But wait, I hope it's not a spoiler to say that we also get to deal with anti-semitism in this novela. Caray caray!

I wish I could manage my schedule to watch La Pola. I keep seeing the ads for it and it looks terrific.
 

I was reading with great interest today's comments (the previous Alborada post) about maguey, aguamiel, mezcal, and Tequila. I agree with Sylvia that mezcal is reminiscent of a single malt Scotch. It's very much an acquired taste, but these days, I really enjoy sipping both good mezcal and Tequila.

My profa and I recently had a long discussion about pulque and pulquerias. She has firsthand knowledge and is not a big fan. I've never had pulque but I am fascinated. She tells me that pulquerias are not exactly high class places.

Carlos
 

Tks Paula H.

I wonder how many haciendas burned down in those days, so many candles in the house & I assume that is fire in the outside lanterns.

The rickshaw that Doña Juana rides in is surprising to me, I didn't know they used them. Pobre Modesta has to run along beside it. I thought it was always horse & carriage.

I've been googling but can't find anything about rickshas in Mex.

I'm very intrigued with Modesta, I love her looks, I think she is wise, I don't think she is a bad person, & she knows everything, todo. I think she might be important in the downfall of the bad people. I don't know how she feels about Luis, but probably wouldn't express her thoughts, just agree with la jefa.

Must be in little Rafael's contract that he can't cry or he's on Valium.
 

I posted this late on yesterdays comments, but thought it was interesting.


Now I found this site about mezcal/mescal, the one with the worm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezcal
 

Continuing the mezcal/mescal discussion, since there seems to be interest:

On the previous post I pointed out that Tequila is an apellation - i.e. a legally controlled name associated with a geographic region. It can only be called Tequila if it is produced within the state of Jalisco, or a few nearby areas.

I had the great fortune to tour a small mescal factory in Oaxaca Mexico, the state famous for putting a maguey worm in their mescal. It was a much smaller facility than a typical winery. I'm not sure they exclusively make mescal from maguey, because I thought I also saw blue agave growing in the area. Regardless, they can't call it tequila because of the geographical restrictions for the name.

The "smoking" is more like slow roasting the agave hearts in an underground earth pit for several days. We got to taste it afterwards, and it kind of tasted like sweet potato or a very sweet butternut squash with a smokey flavor. Then it is mashed and fermented. And finally distilled. The still was right out in the open.

The place had a restaurant as well as a mescal tasting area. They have various levels of aging the mescal - you can get reposado, añejo, etc. And different colors. They also sold a coffee mescal liqueur which was pretty interesting.

Highly recommended if you ever have the chance to tour such a facility.

Audrey
 

It's called a "Sedan Chair". They were very common in Europe in the 1700s. I think they only fell out of favor in the 1800s.

Audrey
 

It's probably worth pointing out that carriages, having wheels, require some type of road surface, where a sedan chair - not so much.

Audrey
 

I have never heard of the sedán chair. Gracias Audrey. Who says you can't learn from novelas.
 

Moctezuma greeted Cortez in a sedán chair, so I guess they were used in Mexico

http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h17-am2.htm
 

Phew. I've seen through #19 now. I don't know if I'll be able to watch 20 tonight or not, and if I don't then I don't know if I'll be able to keep up by watching two eps tomorrow. I feel even more behind now because they're showing them during the day now. Slow down, dammit!!

I'm still a little confused as to who knows what about whom, but that's a problem I have with pretty much all telenovelas, so never mind. :)
 

And regarding the recent comments about the costumes... I'll take everyone's word for it regarding the historical accuracy of the fashions; but I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed zippers and polyester. Even the poorest people are wearing things with amazingly straight, even seams and not too many wrinkles. And far fewer stains than you would expect during the pre-Spray'n'Wash era.

There must be a dry cleaner's in town, too.
 

Dear Jeronimo (aka the vicious kisser), please contact Luis Manrique immediately for tips on how to kiss a woman.

FC is the. Best. Kisser. EVER!

Carlos, thanks for the link. The pulquerias remind me of the chicherias when I was traveling through Peru. Chicha is made from other things, not maguey, but the social aspect of it sounds similar. One of those six-packs of pulque in your link looks like the one I purchased. The man at the store made a point of telling me it would not be nearly as tasty as the real stuff but that it's all one can get here in the U.S. He also had flavored varieties but I wanted to try the original flavor.

Audrey, your tour of a mezcal factory sounds like a lot of fun. I'd like to do something like that sometime. Thanks for reminding us about using the name Tequila for said product.

It seems like everybody knows that Hipolita is the little boy's mother and that everybody EXCEPT Hipolita knows that Luis is the father.

I love it when Juana goes off on Diego. Her big stick looks lethal.

It seems like there is no love lost between Gasca and Modesta. They both got their digs in at each other in this episode.

Paula, thank for posting the links and discussion topic.
 

Susanlynn will be pleased at the screen time that shirtless Marcos is getting lately.

The preview showing Luis meeting little Rafael is adorable. I can't wait to see the entire scene.
 

Carlos, I had always heard that women were generally not allowed in pulquerías; that they were sort of like neighborhood social clubs and you had to be one of the regular guys to be welcomed into one. The stuff has always fascinated me. I have an image from all my reading that it's kind of thick and gooey, served warm. I've never even been tempted.

And as for sedan chair: in every history of Aztec or Maya I have read, it is clearly stated that for all their cultural advancements, they never developed the use of the wheel. There were wheeled childrens' toys, so they were not ignorant of the concept, but wheels were not part of transport in either of those cultures. Meaning the Maya built those massive stone city complexes throughout Yucatán by dragging those rocks and lifting them somehow. The Aztec used canoes on the lake a lot and porters carried loads on their backs with tumplines wrapped around their foreheads. Audrey makes a good point about roads. The explanation most often given for the Maya is that the jungle prohibited roadbuilding and most travel from city to city was by river. The Aztec did build roads in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) though, and impressive long causeways connecting the city to the mainland. A mystery of history.
 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

Of course the period I'm referring to is 300+ years before the time of our story, but perhaps customs die hard.
 

Sylvia~~~I enjoyed the scene in which both of my telenovios appeared together. And..si, si, FC could teach a course in kissing. He's got all the right moves. There were some great closeups of that beautiful face. I also liked the scene of Felipe and Cristobal introducing Rafael to Cristobal's manservant.
 

I wonder if the woman who interests Marcos but pays no attention to him might be... ummm.... Perla?

I swear, when Martín was walking down the road with his sleeves rolled up, it looked like he had a big honkin' watch on his left wrist. Some sort of bracelet?

The new regidor is none other than our crazy uncle Max from LldA.

Carlos
 

Here is a blurb from the wkipedia entry on Sedan Chairs that describes the introduction to Europe:

"Portuguese and Spanish navigators and colonistics encountered litters of various sorts in India, Mexico, and Peru. They were imported into Spain and spread into France and then England. All the names for these devices derived from the root "sed-" from the Latin "sella" - the traditional name for a carried chair."

I have a feeling that the chair in a box with windows version was reintroduced to New Spain from Europe.

Audrey
 

I enjoyed seeing Tio Max in this. His voice is quite distinctive. He's good at looking very stern.

Very interesting info on the sedan chairs. I think I'd rather walk but maybe in that era the streets were filthy. We've already seen people toss their chamber pots into the street, blech.
 

This was a great episode.

Diego's scene with Juana was fantastic! Wow - like watching a Shakespearean tragedy. Both performances were incredible - Luis Roberto Guzmán really let out all the stops!

I thought the kiss incredibly chaste. But the slow seduction of Hipo? Wow! Smokin'

Audrey
 

I think I can understand why Juana would use a sedan chair in the city.
1. It's a smoother ride, I suspect. If the bearers walk in step, it should be pretty smooth. You don't feel the road bumps like in a carriage.
2. Nothing gets in your way. If her coach got stuck behind a farmer's mule cart on a narrow street, there is no place for the farmer to move out of her way. But her bearers can get her around any obstacle.

3. I suspect there is a bit of conspicuous consumption there too. It shows she can afford four strong men whose only job is to carry her around.
 

Paula, regarding #3, Juana'a sedan chair reminds me of Mrs. Jamieson in the mini-series Cranford. She was always putting on airs and the only one in the town who was transported around via sedan chair.
 

Was it just me, or did Colunga seem particularly sexy in today's cap?

I still remember the first time I logged onto Caray and saw his picture. It jolted me and I thought, "My gosh, that's the best looking man on earth!"

Since then I've watched through Pasión, Amor Real, MEPS, and now Alborada, and I'm still stunned by how amazingly good-looking he is.

I sure do like telenovelas sometimes!
 

I agree, Paula. FC was incredibly sexy in this episode. Like I said — Smokin' !

(On the sedan chair, again!) I suspect #3, conspicuous consumption, was another reason it fell out of favor in the 1800s, as it is a rather blatant display of power over lowly servants, or extreme divide between the classes.

Audrey
 

All I can say is OH COLUNGA. Last night's kiss was incredible. He's the master and always will be. I think he's hotter in this novela than any other, maybe with Pasion coming in a close second. I find myself just sighing repeatedly throughout the episode - in front of my husband!!!! LOL
 

Sylvia,
the scene where Luis meets Rafael is absolutely amazing... FC might or might not be a daddy yet, but he certainly has a good 'touch' for small kids...
you will see many more 'Luis/Rafael' scenes... one in particular much later, just remember the word 'agua'... THAT one is amazing too.
 

Paula, this is my favorite Colunga 'look' of all the novelas he's done... except the hair ... i like his hair better in SDA... he is almost too thin here... but definitely great eye candy... they haven't even shown the scandalous 'shirt off' scene...other than the beg credits. even Alejandro Tomassi blushed...
 

Cachiuachis (sp?)--I haven't heard that term since I was little. It means junk, usually a bunch of children's little toys.

It's like cachilas, cachorros and choques. The words have a great ring to them.

Luis is working his magic on Hipolita. It just can't take much longer before we see them amorously bed down together.

Diego's smack down by D. Juana was worth watching over again.

Now Isabel knows everything about Rafael's parentage from Felipe. Poor Hipolita--she's going to be the last to know.

So, Paula, are you the one that started TBLMOE? I have a list of attractive men in categories--drop dead gorgeous, really handsome, down to interesting and lovable. FC is in a class by himself at the very top, under TBLMOE--there can only be one.
Dona Nube
 

FC will always be TBLMOE to me, even though he doesn't always look as good as this. Alborada tops everything. Can't wait for the famous undressing scene, although it's quite a ways off. Remind me to turn off the captions, so I can see the whole screen.

And Carlos, on re-watching the Modesta scene, I realize I was wrong. She didn't say Gasca was listo, she said he knew too much. I must have mixed it up with Mirta's comment the episode before.
 

Yes, Doña Nube, guilty as charged. I coined the term TBLMOE. You're also right, he's in his class alone. Even if you were to say that Colunga and Pierce Brosnan (or pick your favorite #2 guapo) are the two best looking men on earth, that would be like saying that the sun and Juipiter are the two biggest bodies in the solar system - Jupiter is only a tenth the diameter of the sun.

I've told this story before, but maybe not in this group. I once dreamed that I arrived at a banquet with assigned seats. I found my seat and discovered that I was seated at an 8-person table with two of the best looking men on earth. Two seats away, on my right, was Fernando Colunga. And two seats away, on my left, was Fernando Colunga!
 

In Puerto Rico it is spelled 'cachibaches' or 'cachivaches' and it pretty much means the same thing... junk and/or old stuff you would get out of the house into a yard sale when you got around to doing some purging or spring cleaning...