Mehiko Māja Num 3 August September 2013

MehikoMﾄ）a http://www.mehikomaja.com/

Spanish language: The best is yet to come

A new reality for this decade: Marijuana is coming to town Rosa Mexicano: My Mexican kitchen rules

No3.AugSept 2013

Just for help: Hospital de Jesus

I bet you didnﾂｴt know they were Mexicans: 10 world personalities from Mexico

Bienvenidos Welcome to the third number of our online magazine.

Summer months are very significant to Mexicans due patriotic reasons, July comemorates the fundation of Mexico City as the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan meanwhile September is known as “month of Fatherland” because the celebration of our National Independence day.

Yet the way how we choose to celebrate is not with tales and stories about those events but with a glance to a possible solution for the biggest problem Mexico faces in this XXI century, the drug traffict and the reign of the organized crime around it.

In this number we discuss the debate several experts are having about the legalization of marijuana, and present elements for you make your own conclusions about it.

We will also want to honor our country talking about some great Mexicans whose contributions to the science and arts have change our World for good.

Beside our regular section about the history of the Spanish language we have something special for you can begin to learn it, also a new colaborator from Mexico City and our first advertisments I hope you enjoy this number, and if you can, do me a favor: in Sept 16 grab a cup of fine Tequila and toast, Viva Mexico!

Cezars Torres Mehiko Māja

Mexico in Latvia This bimester we have some changes, new format, new secctions, new collaborations, well even advertisers, our baby is growing up and this is thank to you.

We know this is the begining of this project and that we have issues to fix in the magazine, and with every number we learn, and we try to be better but we are not alone and the best advisers we can get are our kind readers, mean you. We read and listen every suggestion, every critic, and even the compliments. Help us to make this a nice, fun, interesting experience, if you have something to say, we will listen.

Other people that are listening are the political and economical leaders in Mexico, and what they listen is that the debate about marijuana legalization should take place, we have in this number a long discuss about this topic. We have the third installment of the 1001 years of Spanish series, and the story is becoming more and more interesting, and to keep things interesting we have 10 personalities that had change our world and probably you didn’t know were Mexicans. We also welcome in this number our new collaborators who present us with different topics but equally important and interesting.

Soon we will open our first store in Riga for selling Mexican products and handcrafts, but this I hope to discuss more in our next number., stay tunned with us in the website or the facebook page.

A lot of good things are happening, join us!

Content

Article: Marijuana

JAPDF Hospital de Jesus

1001 years of the Spanish language: The language of the Romans

Eat & Drink

Culture, fashion and design Arts & Enterteinment

Article Sergio Sarmiento is a Mexican writer and journalist, newscaster and television interviewer. He earned a BA in Philosophy with honors from York University in Toronto, Canada. He is a founding partner of the newspapers El Financiero and Reforma. Currently his column Check Mate is published in more than 20 Mexican newspapers. Internationally he has written for The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.

Marijuana by Sergio Sarmiento (translated from his column Jaque Mate 22.07.2013) There are two important reasons to consider legalizing or at least decriminalizing marijuana. The first is that the prolonged ban has not reduced consumption, but on the contrary, it has increased and also generated additional problems. The second, and more fundamental, is that the government has no right to prohibit an individual who uses a substance that harms only himself.

Alcohol, for example, can kill with a dose 10 times higher than the effective. In other words, if two glasses one can achieve a state of joy, 20 can kill you. Instead is thinked that it would take a thousand or more doses of marijuana above the effective dose to kill a consumer, and I say “think� because nobody would be physically able to smoke more than one cigarette in an hour Cannabis (Gable, Robert, "The Toxicity of Recreational Drugs", American Scientist, 2006).

Alcohol generates millions of deaths worldwide due to traffic accidents and provokes aggressive behaviors that cause death. Tobacco also cause cancer and kill millions.

There is, however, deaths attributable to cannabis consumption.

In fact, marijuana seems to have healing effects. It is used to reduce nausea from chemotherapy and to relieve some symptoms of glaucoma. In Mexico, soaked in alcohol, is applied cutaneously to decrease muscle pain. As in other cases of popular medicines, serious scientific studies are required to determine whether this effectiveness is real. In the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, Italy and other countries is approved THC spray that fights spasticity (muscle stiffness) caused by multiple sclerosis. Sabrina Richards published in The Scientist in January 2013 a partial summary of the scientific literature suggesting harms or benefits of marijuana.

What is clear is that the ban has not reduced the consumption and instead it has generated social problems. Millions of people have lost their freedom because consumption or trading of a less dangerous drug than others who are legal. The black market has generated violence and strengthened a criminal class that has diversified into other crimes. Taxpayers have paid huge amounts of money to keep armies of cops dedicated to the war against marijuana and other drugs that could have been better used to fight violent crime.

I do not think, however, that pragmatic arguments are the most important about legalization. The government simply has no right to prohibit the use of a substance that, if anything, only harms the person who uses it. The nineteenth century British philosopher John Stuart Mill was right when he warned: "Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual himself is sovereign."

Vicente Fox on drug legalization (source The Huffington Post)

Ex President of Mexico (2000-2006) Vicente Fox has embraced drug legalization as his main issue.

Last month he traveled to Seattle to speak as a guest for Diego Pellicer, a company that hopes to commercialize marijuana in Washington and Colorado -- two states that recently legalized marijuana’s recreational use, though the US federal government still views smoking pot for fun as illegal.

There he blasted U.S.-led drug war efforts as a “total failure,” praised the Portuguese policy of total drug decriminalization, and reaffirmed his call to legalize weed.

“The War on Drugs convoked by President Nixon 40 years ago as has been a total failure,” Fox told High Times, which posted a video of the interview to YouTube on Tuesday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kS3yQtgAiGU

“Today many more people die from excess in drinking alcohol, or excess in smoking, or excess in having bad eating habits,” Fox said. “And so diabetes, so obesity is killing much more people than drugs. Same thing with alcohol and that.”

Fox Center in Guanajuato, Mexico The president Fox also announced that Centro Fox (Fox Center is an academic establishment founded by president Fox after his term in office), will lead the research on marijuana for medical purposes, for which permits will seek to establish a distribution network of the substance to be used in scientific studies.

From July 18th until July 20th of the current year, the Fox Center together with Jamen Shively, CEO of Diego Pellicer Inc. & Former Microsoft Executive, organized the "USA - Mexico Symposium on the Legalization and Medical Use of Cannabis". Experts of Both countries exchanged information and experiences about the application of the public policy of legalization of Cannabis – See more at: http://tvolucion.esmas.com/foro-tv/es-la-hora-de-opinar/225112/debate-convicente-fox-1/

Jorge

Castañeda is a Mexican politician and academic. He received his B.A. from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Economic History from the University of Paris,. Has worked as a professor at several universities, like the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, New York University, and the University of Cambridge. He regularly contributes to newspapers such as Reforma (Mexico), El País (Spain), Los Angeles Times (USA) and Newsweek magazine., and served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2000–2003).

Mexico City to legalize marijuana (source Jorge Castañeda for The Washington Post) A growing number of Mexicans are asking logical questions: Why should their leaders follow a path that provokes violence, generates human rights violations, erodes the country’s image abroad and costs a fortune — mainly to stem the northern flow of drugs? Why spray and uproot marijuana fields in the hills of Oaxaca, search for tunnels in Tijuana and incarcerate “weed” traffickers in Monterrey if consumption is made legal in parts of the United States? Why deploy such an enormous effort to deter drug trafficking if Washington does virtually nothing to stop the flow of firearms to Mexico — and has concluded that it can, and should, prevent migrants from Mexico and Central America from entering the United States? If Congress can “secure” the border against people, using walls and drones, why can’t it do the same against drugs or guns and, in the process, respect Mexico’s right to design its own policies?

Mexico is a highly conservative country whose population remains largely opposed to legalizing marijuana. But an increasing number of business, political and academic leaders are shifting their views. The city council of Mexico City, which has authority to legislate health and law enforcement issues, is contemplating a measure that would, in effect, allow the regulated possession and use of marijuana. Already, Mexicans can legally possess five grams of marijuana, an amount much smaller than what is commonly sold, bought or shared. Effectively decriminalizing marijuana would be in line with liberal attitudes in the capital and laws that rest on the firm belief that the right to privacy includes certain personal choices, even — or especially — when not shared by the majority.

President Enrique Peña Nieto opposes legalization but seems open to a broad debate and to whatever consensus would emerge — locally, nationally or regionally.

He may accept Mexico City’s decision even if he doesn’t like it.

Mexicans have paid a high cost in the struggle against drugs. We know that this war cannot be won. This fight should be waged by physicians rather than armed forces.

Decriminalization of marijuana is not a silver bullet, but it would be a major step away from a failed approach. Mexico City is the place to start, and could be voted a legislation as soon as November this year.

If approved the bill could be as follows: »SALE: The bill allows the purchase of up to 40 grams of marijuana monthly in the pharmacy network. In order to purchase, the consumer must be registered, but their identity is being withheld under the Data Protection Act (Habeas Data). »SELF CROP: Permitted and regulates the personal self-cultivation up to six cannabis plants per household and the collective production of the drug in membership clubs (consisting of a minimum 15 and a maximum of 45 partners).

"MEDICAL USE: The bill authorizes production to scientific research and medicinal use. It also allows the production of non-psychoactive cannabis known as industrial hemp. »BAN: As in the case of snuff, smoking marijuana would not be allowed in enclosed public places and not drive any type of vehicle under the influence of drugs, besides prohibiting any advertising of the substance

Point of view: Nothing would stop this now, the cannabis legalization While in Washington and Colorado already are establishing businesses and cooperatives to sell marijuana for recreational purposes, Mexico continues to persecute and arresting producers of this plant.

These entrepreneurs are not a bunch of young junkies who are in favor of legalization and regulation of cannabis. No. We're talking about entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, social activists, officials, politicians, lobbyists, academics and journalists of good standard. All of them are convinced that prohibition has failed and that the best way to solve the problem of consumption and addiction is legalizing marijuana and regulating it The issue in the United States is not whether to do it or not, but how. They are thinking which tax rate to put, where to produce, how to sell and with under which quality standards. Here are business opportunities, and in this regard, began to walk one of the most powerful machines in the history of mankind: American capitalism.

In Mexico we are just thinking whether or not to discuss the subject. Many, out of fear or hidden conservatism, they resort to ridicule or insult to all those who want the debate (like president Fox detractors do). Could be that those who mock do not think that is important if Mexico has a position regarding the reality of the legalization of marijuana in the United States?

When a product is legalized in one country, in practice it become legal on the other. For Mexicans, for example, is very easy to get guns in the U.S., where is legal, and bring them to Mexico where they are illegal. No one can stop this flow.

Another example: when alcohol was illegal in the United States, it was smuggled from Mexico where was legal (like this born the Gulf Cartel). Let's say in this respect that in 2014 or 2016 the inevitable happens: that California legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. Does not have this a significant impact on our shared border?

In Mexico urges us discuss and resolve this issue. Ex President Fox said it well: debate shouldn´t scare us. In any case, what should scare us is not to discuss our problems. (from “Ya nada detiene la legalización y regulación de la mariguana” (Nothing stops the legalization and regulation of marijuana) by Leo Zuckerman, published in Excelsior 25.07.13)

The political cartoon:

Mocking of President Fox as Walter White (Bryan Cranston) from the TV show Breaking Bad due the role of Vicente Fox as advocate for the legalization of marijuana by Rapé from the newspaper “Milenio”

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Just for help: NGOs in Mexico City As in many places, Mexico City´s civil society also run the extra mile for their peers. Since this number we have the collaboration of Junta de Asistencia Privada del Distrito Federal (Private Assistance Board of Federal District jap.org.mx) - a government agency that supervises, aids and supports many of the city´s NGOs (specifically Private Assistance Institutions, IAP).

Together we believe this would be a great opportunity for them to promote the work they do, share their successful cases and if possible, call to international action or support in some humanitarian topics. Here a brief description about the JAPDF following by their first success story: The Hospital of Jesus.

What is the Private Assistance Board of Mexico City (Junta de Asistencia Privada del Distrito Federal, JAPDF)?

It is a decentralized body of the City Government responsible for ensuring that the nongovernmental organizations registered as Private Assistance Institutions (Institutions de Asistencia Privada, I.A.P.) carry out their intended missions.

Consequently, the Private Assistance Board also works to guarantee the organizations´ permanence over time and to ensure the benefits they provide reach the people who need it most.

The JAPDF is endowed with the legal capacity necessary to carry out its mission of supporting, promoting, advising, supervising and coordinating the 400 Private Assistance Institutions under its jurisdiction, in accordance with the Law of Private Assistance Institutions of Mexico City (Ley de Instituciones de Asistencia Privada para el Distrito Federal (LIAPDF).

What is the structure of the JAPDF? The Private Assistance Board of Mexico City is governed by a Board of Directors. The Board if comprised of six government representatives and six Private Assistance Institution representatives, as well as its standing President.

Board of Directors: 6 Government Representatives (5 from the City Government and 1 from the Federal Government) •Ministry for Social Development in Mexico City •Ministry of the Government in Mexico City •Ministry of Finance in Mexico City •Ministry of Health in Mexico City •Integral Family Development in Mexico City •Ministry of Finance and Public Credit 6 Representatives from the Private Assistance Institutions •Children and Young People •Seniors •Health and Addictions •Education and Community Development •Donors and Pledges •Disability and Rehabilitation What are Private Assistance Institutions (I.A.P.)?

They are non-profit organizations that operate in accordance with the Law of Private Assistance Institutions of Mexico City. They work to promote, prevent, protect and rehabilitate individuals in various areas of social and economic development.

The Private Assistance Institutions are classified under the following six categories: •Children and Young People: These organizations work with boys and girls of all ages, some as young as newborns and up till the age of 21.

•Seniors: The seniors are looked after in group homes and day centers.

•Health and Addictions: Health services for physical and/or mental health are provided in clinics, hospitals, shelters and rehabilitation centers.

•Education and Community Development: They provide formal and informal educational opportunities, scholarships, community development services, job training and cultural activities. These are available to children, adults and seniors alike.

•Donors and Pledges: These provide secure loans, financial support and advice, and in-kind donations. These are geared toward individuals and small businesses.

•Disability and Rehabilitation: These organizations serve people with disabilities in group homes and day centers by providing physical rehabilitation, special education, counseling and job training.

If it’s I.A.P, it’s serious.

For more information, please visit: www.jap.org.mx Calderón de la Barca Núm. 92. Col. Polanco, 11560 México, D.F. Telephone: 52 79 72 70

THE HOSPITAL OF JESUS, I.A.P (EL HOSPITAL DE JESÙS, I.A.P): 490 YEARS OF COMMITMENT TO THE HEALTH OF MEXICO The Hospital of Jesus, I.A.P will soon reach 500 years of providing medical care to Mexico´s most disadvantaged citizens. As a member of “Community IAP: Together for Mexico”, it provided 500 surgeries and attended 1,000 patients in 2012. It also provided specialist consultation to over 4,000 individuals and more than 50,000 lab studies.

In addition to its hospital services, the Hospital of Jesus, I.A.P is also a teaching hospital. It is proud to train and educate the newest generations of healthcare professionals working in Nursing, General Medicine and Chemistry.

The Hospital was the first Private Assistance Institution (I.A.P.) on the continent and since its founding it has observed its commitment to serve the medical needs of the general population in order to improve the health and quality of life of Mexicans.

GENERAL INFORMATION Organization´s name: Hospital de la Purísima Concepción y de Jesús Nazareno (Hospital de Jesús), I.A.P. Address: Av. 20 de noviembre #82 Col. Centro CP.06090 Founded: 1523 Founded by: Hernán Cortés President: Dr. Julián Gascón Mercado Board members: Dr. Julián Gascón Mercado Dr. Gerardo Arellano Piña Dr. Pedro Álvarez Sánchez Dr. Luis Ramón Lares Manjarrez Dra. María Elena Linares Carranza ONLINE Website: http://www.hospitaldejesus.com.mx/ “The Hospital of Jesus was the first Private Assistance Institution (I.A.P.) and the first hospital in Latin America. It was founded by Hernán Cortés in 1523, nearly 500 years ago.”

1001 years of the Spanish language* Part 3:The language of the Romans The first written documents where are found words in Spanish which constitute the birth certificate of that language date back over 1000 years. These documents are written in Latin and the words in Spanish are marginal "annotations" or glosses explaining or translating this or that difficult word, placed these words in alphabetical order can summon a "dictionary" not much different than those used today.

One of these documents is a sermon attributed to St. Augustine, who had a great influence on medieval culture. The Latin used in this text is substantially the same in which Cicero wrote yet only as a written language since the Latin spoken in the time of St. Augustine was not the same as in the time of Cicero. In those years of the century V AD Cicero classical Latin was used only in writing and the Latin of St. Augustine (written and spoken) became the reference to be used in the Roman Europe culture, from Portugal to Austria. Until the tenth century almost everything that was written in Western Europe was in Latin but no one spoke in that language. The "annotations" in Spanish that someone wrote at that sermon attributed to St. Augustine are the testimony of the passage from one language to another.

The centuries after AD 1000 are of effervescence for the Spanish language, in which occurred such important events as the invasion of the Goths and Arabs first and the conquest and colonization of America later. Those are the gestational ages for the Spanish language. 1000 years prior to that, most of the Iberian peninsula was held by the Romans, and although had not died all the Pre-Roman languages, the Latin was well established.

The conquest of Hispania was the beginning of the Roman expansion outside Italy.

To the wars of conquest in the first century BC were added the wars of lust for power. In Hispania evolved part of the struggle between Marius and Sulla and between Caesar and Pompey, but by AD 31 Augustus had control of the situation.

In the words of Rafael Lapesa: "to conquer new countries Rome ended with the struggles between tribes ... imposing order to others... these diverse peoples together were subject to the ordering discipline of a universal State" subdued peoples lost much, including their languages, but eventually also gained much starting with the Latin language which they made own.

Everywhere were Roman roads and rulers, officials, soldiers and Roman colonists.

Everywhere the same temples were erected, bathrooms, schools, arches, stelae.

Everywhere adopted the same way of life and religion, yet by AD 313 under Constantine that religion became Christianity. Christian thinkers of the ages IV and V felt that God used Rome to create this empire unifying customs in preparation for the kingdom of the Christian church.

Although Latin was spoken in all parts of the empire, was not spoken in the same extent in all provinces, In Lusitania for example, all native languages disappeared unlike in Armenia, where only soldiers, Roman officials and some natives spoke Latin. On the contrary, the Greek language not only did not disappear but continued to be a lingua franca in the Roman Empire and even was used among the early Christians.

The portion of the empire where the language of Rome was predominant is called Romania or Latin Europe covering the modern nations of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Romania, part of Belgium and a portion of Switzerland. Later the Romania would conquer new linguistic territories in America, from French Canada to Patagonia, where it speaks romanice "style of Rome" or romance. The Romance languages are the daughters of the Imperial Latin.

The Latin Europe

Spoken and written Latin The literary and spoken language can be close to each other, but the language of literature is usually a stylish selection of things that are not normally say in ordinary language. Just as the poetry of Ruben Dario can not give an idea of the Spanish spoken in Nicaragua, Seneca's work don’t helps to clarify the Latin spoken on the streets of Cordoba. Literature is a refined product and Latin literature was divorced from the language spoken by the common people since the times of the poet Livius Andronicus. Latin literature was not born slowly from the "people" but like almost all other Roman institutions was taken from Greece.

The Latin took from the Greek voices that did not exist in the Roman culture such as camera "habitación” (room) or balneum "baño” (bathroom). The proportion of Hellenisms of Cicero and Virgil were far above the average popular level and soon exacerbated the difference between literary and educated language and crude and colloquial language.

This is important because it is a reality that the Romance languages developed from the Vulgar Latin spoken in the street, in the house, in the fields, workshops, and barracks.

With the passage of time the Latin cult literature froze becoming increasingly difficult to understand it meanwhile Vulgar Latin was still alive. A paradigmatic case is that of Virgil, despite being part of the canon of ancient authors, to the fourth century his work required extensive "annotations" or glosses to be understood. Grammarians and monks copied and preserved for centuries the work of the Latin classics so remarkable but failed to end the "mistakes" of popular speech even though was tried through socalled "Appendices" being the Probi Appendix from the VI century one of the most notable.

This paper is a collection of fixes that today is a treasure for the philologists since it is a sample of how the Latin was spoken back then. The "mistakes" or "vices" of the language were not the same for everyone but everywhere in the Latin world happened.

Grammarians saw these "vices" with professional horror but could not stop them or understand their effect on the language.

In the book of The 1001 years of the Spanish language by Antonio Alatorre will find an entire chapter on the changes and developments that suffered numerous words in their writing and meaning during its journey from the Latin into Spanish. In the next installment will discuss Visigoth Spain. *From Antonio Alatorre´ book Los 1001 años de la lengua española

Hablar español 

In this new section we want to help and encourage our kind readers to discover and exercise the language of Cervantes, and to do so we wish to introduce you with our good friends from El Blog para aprender Español. There you can find materials and information for learn and practice Spanish http://www.blogdeespanol.com/about-us/



“We are Raquel and María, Spanish (ELE) teachers from Madrid, with vast experience in classrooms within several European countries. We worked together at the prestigious Elemadrid School (Spanish Language School in Madrid) for several years. Our work and passion is teaching Spanish and sharing Spanish culture. We would like to present you with everything we have learned in order to create a platform of ideas, which resolves communicative difficulties for those who study Spanish. From questions pertaining to living in Spain to others about relating to Spaniards and their culture, we would like to be your guide.”

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Follow the link to discover a new world you can learn with El Blog para aprender Español : http://www.blogdeespanol.com/2013/04/questions-tospeak-spanish/

Culture, fashion and design On ocassion of our patriotic season, in this installement we want to honor the contribution to the sciences and arts but also the heritage of the following 10 personalities who perhaps you know by their names, faces, or work but is almost sure you didn´t know they were Mexicans: Zorba the Greek Anthony Quinn His birth name was Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca. He was a prominent international actor best remembered for his role as Zorba the Greek but also participated in other classics such as La Strada and The Guns of Navarone.

He received several awards, including two Oscars.

Nobel Prize Octavio Paz was a poet, writer, essayist and Mexican diplomat. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. It is considered one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Stand his essays, translations and poems.

Discover of the ozone hole Mario Molina is a Mexican chemical engineer and one of the most important precursors to the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole. He was co-recipient (along with Paul J. Crutzen and F. Sherwood Rowland) of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 for his role in elucidating the threat to the ozone layer of the Earth by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

The conductor Alondra de la Parra is the first woman to conduct an orchestra in New York, the Philharmonic of the Americas.

Inventor of the color TV Guillermo Gonzรกlez Camarena. He was a prominent Mexican scientist and inventor who in 1940 invented a system for transmitting color television.

Inventor of mouse pad Armando M. Fernandez. Inventor of MousePad, the famous and padded based to slide the mouse. It was not an invention as simple as it might seem, was developed in 1979 by applying engineering concepts to optimize quality.

The richest man in the world Carlos Slim is an major businessman. It is considered by Forbes com the world's richest man for years but has been in the top three. He owns many large international companies. Also does charity work and has its own aid organization.

Invented the concrete of the future Joel Sosa and Sergio Omar Galvรกn Gutierrez Cรกceres, both civil engineers inventors of translucent concrete. This material is more transparent, stronger and lighter than conventional cement, and is also waterproof. Many homes of the future will arise with this material.

Co-inventor of the contraceptive pill Luis Ernesto Miramontes was a chemical engineer co-inventor of the contraceptive pill

Discover speed faster than light-Warp speed Miguel Alcubierre Moya is a Mexican theoretical physicist best known for having developed a mathematical model that would allow to travel faster than light without violating the physical principle which holds that nothing can exceed the speed of light. According to the same Alcubierre, the idea came watching science fiction series Star Trek. Such a mathematical model called Alcubierre metric and correlates with the momentum of deformation (Warp Drive).

Eat & Drink From the article: How to survive in Garibaldi, Mexico City

by Denisse Espejel, published in Chilango 21.06.11 Go to the Plaza Garibaldi is a magical experience, specially if you've never been there, and do not know what to expect: on Eje Central is the door to one of the main attractions of Mexico City.

Here I leave a few tips on what to do and what not to do in your future visit to the Plaza del Mariachi.

DO: •Garibaldi is like the Bermuda Triangle. It is best not to take your car. Calls for a taxi to arrive and leave, Garibaldi Square is in Eje Central, between Calle de Allende, Montero and Ecuador, Colonia Guerrero, with Tepito •Each song is at $ 80 - $ 90, the first thing you have to do is hunt for hours to mariachi, here they are almost rock stars.

•Have fun. It's a total fun and you will laugh like there's no tomorrow, the more drunk you are, the more it is worth.

DON’T: •Be careful with your check . If you do to lose consciousness with every drink ... care: can become a problem. Garibaldi is great but the waiters are more than aware of all the drinks you order, too much, in fact, they'll even come to chase you to charge you all those drinks that-of course-you do not remember. Take one marker and mark yourself on the arm every thing you ask, you will end up like a zebra but without problems.

•Try to keep your friends in sight and not make decisions without consulting them, Garibaldi is bursting and easily you can get lost in the flock of drunkards. The last thing you want is go out of the bathroom and find your table deserted Read the full article in: http://www.chilango.com/antros-bares/nota/2011/06/21/dos-y-donts-de-garibaldi

Rosa Mexicano: My Mexican kitchen rules by Anna Zeibārte* Salsa in our minds is something liquid and almost always hot and perhaps not very healthy. But in Mexican cuisine is one salsa which will surprise you, with its taste and its consistence. More over – summer is absolutely perfect time to try this salsa – pico de gallo. Before I tell about the salsa itself I must tell – I absolutely hate onions, really, really hate. I don’t have allergy, just really don’t like to eat them. So during the years I have learned to be tricky with onions and cut them literally in microscopic pieces. This dislikness sometimes make difficult to me eat somewhere else but home, yet my husband like onions, so – yeah! After telling about one of my biggest caprices, I need to tell onions are one of the main ingredients in pico de gallo and I absolutely love this salsa. So, even if one the biggest fighter against onions loves this salsa, you will love too, more over because it is unbelievably easy to make. If you don’t like tomatoes – then even cutting in small pieces will not makes this salsa tasty for you  I almost forget – name of the salsa is cute too, it means beak of rooster.

I know that this salsa has a lot of variations, but I will tell only the one I really make myself and that my husband loves.

You need just very few ingredients: 4 tomatoes, 1 small onions or ½j of bigger onion ½ cup cilantro (coriander) or parsley, if cilantro is not easy to find 5 – 6 jalapeno peppers or 1 marinated pepper, this one will be perfect too and let say – is a way to make this salsa more European 1 – 2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice Salt and pepper

Although I am giving vey specific measures to make this salsa, you really can vary it – put more onion, if you like, or more pepper – everything depends on you taste. There is no way to make this salsa wrong. What makes it kind of perfect :) So, you start cutting tomatoes. Absolutely necessary is to cut out all seeds of tomatoes, because letting them will make your salsa too liquid. Also you need to cut tomato in very small pieces, because everything in this salsa need to be in small pieces – like 0,5 cm x 0,5 cm.

After cutting onions, and peppers, chop cilantro, mix everything and add lemon juice, peppers and salt. Mix all this up and put in your refrigerator for one hour. This will let all your ingredients absorb each other tastes and smells.

So, magic happened and you have an amazing salsa which will surprise you and your loved ones. Beside it looks very pretty, with all its vibrant colors. This salsa tastes very good with meat, nachos, quesadillas, even as topping of hot dogs, hamburgers or even fries. In short – it can be topping of many things.

Enjoy  I know you will 

*Anna Zeibarte is a Latvian historian and intellectual who has collaborated in several history books in Latvia and who gracefully has agreed to share with us her vast knowledge in Mexican food, result of the long season she lived in that beautiful country

Arts and Enterteinment Guillermo del Toro – Pacific Rim, and Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity

In this occasion we won´t present a Mexican movie per se, instead we dedicated this space to two of the most renowned film directors from our days and their work.

Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro have presented to the world a bold form of filmmaking, brilliant and innovative.

Alfonso Cuarón caught the attention of critics in the United States with his English film adaptation of two classic novels: A Little Princess, by Frances H. Burnett, and Dickens's Great Expectations. With his next film, Y Tu Mama Tambien, won an Oscar nomination from the Academy. This preceded bigger productions as the third film of Harry Potter and Children of Men. Guillermo del Toro, "El Gordo", combines fantasy and narrative with an effort to infuse visual or poetic beauty together with a lifelong fascination for monsters, from his film Cronos to the film adaptation of Mike Mignola´s comic book Hellboy, and Pan's Labyrinth.

Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSxZ5Q8bUeQ

Pacific Rim The film is set in the 2020s, when Earth is under attack by Kaijus colossal monsters which have emerged from an interdimensional portal on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create the Jaegers: gigantic humanoid mecha, each controlled by two pilots whose minds are joined by a neural bridge. Del Toro envisioned Pacific Rim as an earnest, colorful adventure story, with an "incredibly airy and light feel", in contrast to the "super-brooding, super-dark, cynical summer movie". The director focused on "big, beautiful, sophisticated visuals" and action that would satisfy an adult audience, but has stated his "real hope" is to introduce the kaiju and mecha genres to a generation of children

Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuMU2q00w3I

Gravity Gravity is an upcoming techno-thriller film directed by Alfonso Cuar贸n and cowritten with his son Jon谩s. The film stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as surviving astronauts in a damaged space shuttle. Cuar贸n wrote the screenplay.

Medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is on her first Space Shuttle mission accompanied by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney), who is commanding his final expedition. During a spacewalk, debris from a satellite crashes into the space shuttle Explorer, leaving it mostly destroyed, and stranding them in space with limited air. Without means of communication with Earth, they must cooperate to survive.

Sources, photos and information Internet: 

The Huffington Post

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The Washington Post

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Milenio Diario

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Check Mate by Sergio Sarmiento

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Excelsior newspaper

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The Mexico City Experience

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El blog del español

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Chilango

Books and magazines: 

Los 1001 años de la lengua española de Antonio Alatorre

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Revista Algarabía

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