Otro triunfo para Betty...

this post goes in Spanish for my colombian fellows!

En una noche en que se enfrentaba la industria del cine mexicano (que vive uno de sus mejores momentos) y la cultura telenovelistica tan caracteristica de Mexico pero esta vez con un fuerte componente colombiano, Betty la fea, o mejor La fea mas Bella acaparó la atención de todo Mexico.

Mientras los directores, actores, guionistas y fotógrafos mexicanos nominados al Oscar vivían una de las experiencias más importantes de su vida, al ser protagonistas de la 79 edición de la entrega del premio más famoso del cine, en México la dos televisoras más importantes peleaban por ganar la audiencia.

Así, Televisión Azteca apostó a la transmisión en vivo de la ceremonia de premiación del Oscar, mientras que Televisa, en un hecho inédito en la historia de la televisión nacional, programó en domingo y en el mismo horario (19:00 horas) el final de la telenovela La fea más bella, que protagonizaron Angélica Vale y Jaime Camil, y que la población mexicana siguió fielmente desde hace meses.

El final de la telenovela La fea más bella acaparó la preferencia de los televidentes la noche del domingo, pues superó al programa competidor, la 79 entrega de los Oscares, por 33.5 unidades de rating, llegando a su punto más alto de audiencia a las 9:15, cuando tenían 48 puntos de rating y 67 puntos de share, es decir, en algún momento de la noche, 67 de cada 100 televisores encendidos estaban monitoreando el final de La fea.

Marca un hito...

• La fea más bella duró trece meses y se convirtió en la telenovela de más altos ratings en los últimos años


• Cinco veces fue cambiada de horario debido a su creciente sintonía


• Es la única novela que ha terminado en domingo


• Nunca antes el final de una telenovela había durado tres horas y media

Candelaria's day

Here I am again discovering new things from Mexico, today I was surprised with the announcement that we would have TAMALES sponsored by AAB (my bank) in the cafeteria... the reason?? Today was the dia de la candelaria, and to celebrate it Mexicans eat Tamales and Atole, two very "typical" mexican foods.

Well, to my surprise Tamal is just what we call in Colombia "BOLLO" some corn based stuff that is wrapped in Corn leaves. Of course the Mexican ones had chili and Mole, which means they were HOT!!!

What is this tradition about?? well I have to go back to January 6, el dia de Reyes (the three kings or three wise men), a day when children get gifts from these kings (again!!! since most of them also received gifts in xmas from santa!).

In the afternoon, family and friends gather to share the "Rosca de Reyes" , which is a traditional wreath-shaped bread that is made only during the first days of January. On that day we had Rosca de Reyes at work offered by the bank, and then at home offered by AIESEC members :)

The Rosca is served with chocolate caliente (hot chocolate), and tamales. Hidden inside this delicious rosca, are several small figurines, of Baby Jesus. Each person cuts a slice of the rosca, and whoever gets the baby figurine has to invite everyone present to a new party on February 2, Candelaria day.

On February second, Candelaria day, the many Baby Jesus figurines are taken from the nativity scene to the church to be blessed. Practically all the markets will restore, paint and dress these dolls for the occasion. This year the Catholic church asked mexicans not to dress baby Jesus with Charro or Soccer player dress since according to them the image was not a toy and respect should be showed!

Apparently, this particular tradition comes from the Mexicas (an acient indigeneous grou) and it was "catholized" after the colonization, for Mexicas the 2nd of Feb was the first day of the month and the day when they honored the Tlaloques, representants of the Rain god, Tláloc. This day they used to sacrify children that they dressed with special outfits in order to pray for good crops.

SOCCER IN MEXICO

Just like in Colombia or Brazil, Soccer is like the national sport here in Mexico... so I was very curious about going to my first game.
I had to admit that the experience was very different here in Mexico, as you see in the pic, games are one of those activities to attend in FAMILY, yes, they take all the gang to the stadium, dressed with the colors of their favourite team, they eat tacos, tortas, carrots with chile (hot!), quesadillas and all mexican typical fast food available...
The game was Cruz Azul vs Pachuca, Cruz Azul is one of the teams from Mexico City, and Pachuca is the team where three colombians are playing, so guess for whom I was cheering?? :)
The game was really nice, it was the first of the season but we had the chance to see 5 good goals, 3 of them made by Cruz Azul which means that Pachuca lost, but I still had a lot of fun!
The weirdest thing of all was the show in the break, we had a group of fighters "luchadores", who played soccer with some random people from the audience, only that the rules of the game were kind of different, allowing all the acrobacies and special moves like "tijera", "salto mortal", to quote a few of the complex fighter moves that we are used to see in cable from MExican TV stations.
I think I will try again this experience, now I'm looking forward to see the CHIVAS of Guadalajara, according to some people, the best team in this country... I'll let you know!

Año Nuevo en Acapulco
I'm one month late with the post but in order to satisfy your curiosity, let me tell you about ACAPULCO!
Getting there took us about 6 hours in car from Mexico, it was sooooo nice to see the sea again and such a relaxed/informal environment.
As we were driving around the city, I could enjoy the beautiful views of the beach and the bays, mixed with the glamour of sofisticated hotels and houses located around the beach. In fact some famous people in Mexico have huge houses in Acapulco, like Luis Miguel or Thalia for example.

The center of the city has plenty of options for bars, discos, restaurants, making night life very active in this city! Actually more than for having nice beaches Acapulco is nowadays famous for the crazy and wild parties that take place there.


My friends and I stayed in a beach located at 30 mins from the center, it was called Pie de la Cuesta, it was very quiet, taking into account that half of mexico city was in Acapulco, so it was like an oasis in the middle of the madness for new year's eve.