Traveled to Tacambaro yesterday to visit new friends, Artemio and Sylvia. We gathered picnic supplies and headed off in search of adventure and breakfast. Landed at el Molina after a beautiful hour long drive through the mountains. Passed pine thickets, peach orchards, avocado plantations, and thousands of blackberry bushes. Lots of folks selling pulque along the way but we weren’t tempted. Unmarked topes (speed bumps) kept trying to get us but we were always on the lookout. Saw Synchronicity, Vulcanizadora, and muffler men…Mofles! El Molino’s avocado omelette was super yummy. We hated to picnic on empty stomachs so we ate a lot before lunch. Afterwards, we traveled down into Tacambaro, a beautiful colonial town, and bought carnitas. Headed out to a crater lake to swim but I went for a hike instead. Susan and Artemio swam while I walked up a ridge through burnt fields and enjoyed the beautiful view. Becky enjoyed visiting with Sylvia and Andy lakeside surrounded by red dragonflies, then we all moved on to Taller Martin Pescador. What an amazing day. Can’t quite describe how inspiring it was but it was a day filled with stimulating conversations about typography, letterpress, literature, music, art, politics, and papayas. Juan Pascoe is a worker, philosopher, printer, designer, typophile, historian, writer, musician…and a very nice man. We thoroughly appreciated his hospitality and wished we had known he was in desperate need of ping pong balls. We dined on carnitas and vino while he entertained us with stories about Frida Kahlo, Leo Eloesser, and their letters. We enjoyed seeing his current collaborative effort with Rodriguez, on press, about the Mexican Independence. "Everything this year is about tens." And hearing more about the history of Mexican printing surrounded by sleeping dogs, dancing boxes, and violin playing. And Andy made off with one of Juan Pascoe's shoes.
