Velas de cascara de naranja

I first saw these in the Mercado de Artesanias in Cuernavaca next to the Palace of Cortes a few years ago.  Just saw a brief glimpse of them on a tourism video and it reminded me.   I don't have my old fotos any longer so decided to go looking for others.  After searching for some form of  "candles in the skin of citrus" I finally found them under "velas de cascara de naranja". Different types of these seem to be a popular home craft in Latin America.

They were so unusual, delicate and so much work went into them I was surprised I found no mention of them in English ... maybe meaning not many had seen them.   I was also surprised they were only 40-50 pesos.  They made smaller ones using limes.

The skin is turned inside out, put on a mould and left to dry.  The etching is done with a fine tipped soldering iron.   String is wrapped around so the lid only comes down so far.  Then the flowers and leaves are glued on and the whole thing is covered with a thin coating of wax.  Wish I could have found a detailed description of the process but didn't.

velas de cascara de naranja

orange skin candles

Found this on how to make boxes

Here's the video and they are shown at about 32 seconds

Danzón - a chick flick?

I guess so with a female director and leading role but still one of my favorite Mexican movies.

It's about a couple of phone operators in Mexico City that live for the weekends and the Danzón. Julia (Maria Rojo) finds her perfect dance partner, finds a little romance and he suddenly disappears. The rest of the movie is Julia's search adventure for her dance partner in Veracruz. Lots of dancing, good music and low key adventure.



I used to sit for hours watching Danzon on the weekends on the Cuernavaca plaza. No live music, always recorded and often more dressed up than the folks below.

Cuernavaca - City of Eternal Spring

Well another month of Spanish language school at Encuentros and I'm sure I know more but damned if I can tell. Got an apartment for around $300us, had some great young neighbors, played a little music, drank a few Victorias and drove to a number of places close by ... including Tepoztlán, Taxco, Mexico city and a Balneario (spa). I left Cuernavaca around the 1st of September.

You can read and see more of my activities in the Cuernavaca area on the web site below.
sparks-mexico web

Cuernavaca is a modern and busy city


Tepoztlán


Apartment patio with music, food and beer


Part of the Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño in Mexico City. Best of the three Museums we went to that day.

Through Patzcuaro and on to Cuernavaca

Just didn't seem to have time in Patzcuaro to update this Blog along with the web site and studying Spanish. Now I've continued on to Cuernavaca and started another school this week. Should be here for a month before returning to Melaque ... on the way back north. I'll break out my camera and take a few trips here pretty soon

You can read and see my activities in the Patzcuaro area on the web site below.
sparks-mexico web


Tzintzuntzan Sunday Market near Patzcuaro