#equinoxio

Frida Kahlo’s Blue House* in Coyoacán, Mexico City. You need to book in advance. That picture was taken after the worst of COVID, as you can see by the masks. Not too much crowd then. Frida in the garden with one of her favourite dogs, called a Xoloitzcuintle, a hairless dog. She and Diego had several. Part of their constant ‘rehab’ of Mexican culture. Frida almost always dressed in traditional…

Bouche Dorée was very convincing. I could never resist “Golden lips”. She claims she knew my mother, “la niña de Gibraltar”. The girl of Gibraltar. A Gipsy. The most beautiful woman of her time, says Golden lips. In her own words: “She swept your father away, a sailor from Cornwall”. Golden lips also says she met my grandfather in Zanzibar. She should be two centuries old if I believe her. Being…

My virtual museum…

Corto Maltese during the Russian-Japanese war, c.1904-1905. Corto was born in 1887 in Malta, of a Gipsy mother and a sailor from Cornwalls. A “gentleman of fortune” as he called himself, Corto Maltese was an adventurer whose first story was published in Italy in 1967. “The ballad of the salty sea.” The author was an immense Italian artist, Hugo Pratt, (1927-1995), born in Italy, raised in…

Bienvenidos, welcome to the day of the Dead. Possibly the most important religious/traditional holiday in Mexico. The day people honour their dead and mock Death. Above: “Desayunos con sabor”, Breakfast with taste.

Sound engineers on the Plaza.

At the daycare… I kid you not…

Altars to the dead are raised everywhere. This one is in honour of Juan Rulfo, a major Mexican writer, author of Pedro Páramo.

No parking.

Flowers for the dead. The orange “carnation” is called cempasúchil. Cempoáxochil in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs.

“Yo grito vida en este cementerio al que llamamos patría.” I scream (for) Life in this cemetery we call homeland.

The writer’s desk. A tribute to Juan Rulfo.

Incense is burned at every altar.

“Catrinas” (Catherines) represent Death. Not unlike the “Danse macabre” of the Middle Ages in Europe. Developed by José Guadalupe Posada in the 19th century and later named by Diego Rivera, they were a criticism of politics and social practices resulting in extreme poverty.

A Catarina at night.

To be continued…

Ta Prohm is one of more than 1,000 temples in the Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia. Built around 1186AD, it was a Mahayana Buddhist monastery. Above is one of the 4 gates to the temple with four heads of my Lord Buddha. The locals call it “Tomb Raider” since some of the most spectacular scenes of the movie with Angelina Jolie were shot here. For centuries and centuries (remember in saecula…

Previously: My ancestors on my father’s side come a small town in Flanders: Kortrijk. My parents traced the family roots all the way back to Carel Onraet, born in Kortrijk or Courtrai in 1531. After many trips to Belgium over the years, I finally made a detour to Kortrijk: One historic landmark of Kortrijk is the Béguinage, founded in 1238. The 41 remaining houses were built in the 1600’s. My…