The Murals of Ajijic Part 10: Calle Juarez from the Carretera to Calle 16 de Septiembre

A giant female face covered with tattoos fills the wall of Siker Imprenta. Ojos de Dios (God's Eyes) are below her right cheek. These symbols are sacred to indigenous people in Mexico, most particularly the Huicholes (Wixáritari) The diamond pattern is woven on crossed sticks representing the Four Cardinal Directions (north, south, east, west). The green eye in the middle represents the center of the world. Upon the birth of a child, the father weaves the central eye and adds an additional layer each year until the child reaches five. An Ojo de Dios is a prayer for the child's long health and provides divine protection.

Siker Imprenta is a print shop on the corner of Calle Juaez and the Carretera, (the main street through Ajijic). There are additional murals on Siker's north side. In this posting, I will focus on Calle Juarez, which runs south to Calle Ocampo. There, it is renamed Calle 5 de Mayo, which runs down to the lakeshore. This is the only mural on Juarez/5 de Mayo with a human image. All the rest include various animals (some mythical) and one rather abstract image of Lago de Chapala.

A wide-eyed chihuahua wears a penacho (head dress) of quetzal feathers. The background includes flowers and mountains, probably representing the view toward the south side of Lago de Chapala. The penacho, earrings and necklace are of the kind worn by Mexica (Aztec) aristocrats and those of other pre-hispanic civilizations. The green quetzal feathers were especially prized for this purpose and indicated a high rank. A penacho much like this was given to Hernán Cortéz by Mexica Emperor Moctezuma. Part 4 of this series shows a mythical figure dressed much like this chihuahua.

Chihuahuas are a mix of pre-hispanic dogs and small European dogs brought to the New World by the Spanish. The pre-hispanic dogs arrived from Siberia 10,000 years ago and the DNA of modern chihuahuas contains about 4% of the genetic material from those ancient dogs. The ancient people, including the Mexica, raised dogs as both pets and for food. They also revered a dog-god called Xoloti or Xolotl whose purpose was to guide the sun through the underworld during the night and to act as the god of fire and bad luck. The muralist left no name or date. The word "Sayer" in left corner refers to a brand of paint local artists use.

This fantastic creature is a mix of a panther, an eagle, and a horned dragon. The intense expression on the face of this creature strongly suggests that something is being stalked. The prey is probably the colorful armadillo you will see in the next photo. The mural can be found on the west side of Juarez, just south of Calle Zaragoza. There was no artist's name or date.

Pre-hispanic people created images of a variety of composite creatures from multiple species. In Aztec mythology, a primordial sea monster called Cipactli was a mix of crocodile, fish, toad, and serpent. Many pre-hispanic civilizations revered Quetzalcoatl, a god who had the body of a serpent but the feathers of a bird. The Olmecs produced multiple sculptures of Were-Jaguars, which were half-human and half jaguar. 

A small armadillo stands its ground against the panther/eagle/dragon. Armadillos look just like this little guy, only without the bright colors. Instead, the bodies of living armadillos are in various shades of brown, providing fairly decent camouflage against predators. Their Spanish name means "little armored one" and refers to the leathery shell that covers most of the body. When threatened, an armadillo sometimes rolls itself up into an impenetrable ball. The Aztecs called them ayotochtli, meaning "turtle-rabbit" a name that also seems to fit.

A Feathered Serpent drapes itself over the door of a shop selling maiz (corn). The shop's sign reads "The Sons of the Corn! We are sons of the same Cob". The Feathered Serpent is the personification of Quetzalcoatl, who was worshipped by many ancient Mesoamerican cultures. The Maya called him Kulkulkan and the great staircases on the pyramid called El Castillo at Chichen Itza are decorated with Feathered Serpents.

At the bottom, almost as an afterthought, the muralist has included an agave plant framed by two rabbits. The agave was a very useful plant for pre-hispanic people. The fibers from its leaves made string, baskets, and sandals. The spines at the ends of the leaves became needles. The heart of the agave produced a mildly alcoholic beverage called pulque. Rabbits also had an association with pulque. The Aztec god called Ome Tochtle, meaning "Two Rabbits", was the god of drunkenness.

Detail of the Feathered Serpent's head. The muralist has apparently done his homework because this image is a close match to the Feathered Serpent I saw at the Great Citidel in Teotihuacan. Note the gourd clutched in the left claw of the serpent. The liquid spilling out is probably pulque. Could it be that the Feathered Serpent is sloshed? Given his expression, the languid way he is draped over the door, and the presence of the agave and the rabbits, this is a distinct possibility. 

Forming the end of the serpent's tail is an ear of ripe blue maiz. There is a complicated Aztec myth about Quetzalcoatl's creation of human beings and the discovery of life-giving maiz. The short version is this: Quetzalcoatl was one of the Creator Gods who formed the world. Quetzalcoatl was given the task of populating it.  

After many adventures in the Underworld, the Feathered Serpent managed to create human beings, but they were weak because they had nothing to eat. With the assistance of some ants, he discovered kernels of maiz and taught humans how to grow them into food. The muralist was Noel Chalez, who completed the mural in 2023. His gallery is located at Calle Marcos Castellanos #2, Ajijic.

 

Lovely mural of a feeding hummingbird. This is part of a larger mural on the west side of Juarez. Unfortunately, the other part was partially damaged, so I just included this detail. There are at least 5 species of hummingbirds that inhabit the area around Ajijic. Several of them regularly came to feed on the flowers on the terrace garden of our home. In 2013, I did a blog post about a local woman known as Flossie the Hummingbird Lady She maintained numerous feeders that attracted swarms of them. Flossie has since moved back to the U.S. and her hummingbird oasis is gone, but there are still plenty of these birds around.

The Aztecs revered hummingbirds, believing them to be the spirits of warriors who died in battle. The Nahuatl word for hummingbird is huitzilin (wee-tzeel-een). The most important Aztec deity was Huitzilopochtli, the god war and the sun. His name means "Hummingbird of the South". According to their creation myth, Huitzilopochtli's mother was Coatlicue  (Skirt of Snakes). She picked up a hummingbird nest while sweeping out her temple. This act impregnated her, resulting in the birth of Huitzilopochtli, who was born as a full-sized adult warrior. 

A parrot in flight decorates a wall on the northeast corner of Juarez and Ocampo.  The muralist, who is unidentified, accurately portrayed this beautiful bird. There are 150 species of neotropical parrots, including 22 species in Mexico. I saw some of them in the wild in Mexico's lowland areas and also in Guatemala and Costa Rica. At ancient sites such as Cacaxtla, archeologists have found pens that some believe were used for raising parrots. Their feathers were a valuable item traded as far north as the ancient communities within today's New Mexico and Arizona. In return, those ancient people sent back turquoise. 

A pair of huge Monarch butterflies decorate the west side of the street. Monarchs are a symbol of Mexico, like mariachis or tequila. Their population makes an epic round-trip migration from the state of Michoacan to the northern U.S. and Canada and back. However, no single monarch makes this whole trip. It is a multigenerational effort. I visited their nesting area  deep in the mountains of Michoacan while on a trip to the colonial-era city of Morelia. I was overwhelmed by their beauty and their vast numbers.

Butterflies, like hummingbirds, figure prominently in Mesoamerican mythology.    Teotihuacan was the capital city of the greatest civilization of that ancient world. Butterflies  appear there on ceramics, incense burners, and wall paintings. To the ancient people, they represented transformation and the return of the dead. Butterflies were believed to contain the souls of the deceased. Orange, the color of Monarchs, is widely used during Mexico's celebration of the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Every November 2, a great fiesta celebrates the return of the dead to visit their relatives.

A desert scene with two small dogs fills the wall of this home on the west side of Juarez.

The dogs are not stylized, but appear to be genuine portraits, so they are probably the pets of the home's owner. The scene also contains a large saguaro cactus and three flowering barrel cacti, two plants native to Mexico that I discussed in Part 9. The bougainvillea plant spilling over the wall at the top is real (not painted). Bougainvillea blooms all year throughout Ajijic. The muralist is Victor Alcazar. I showed his murals and studio on Calle 16 de Septiembre in Part 8 of this series. He painted this scene in 2023.

 

A vision of Lago de Chapala and Ajijic. This mural can be found on the wall of a home on the east side of Juarez. It is located about 1/2 way between Ocampo and 16 de Septiembre. The rust colored steeple of Ajijic's Parroquia (Parish church) rises in the bottom left. In the upper right, the rising sun looks like the spokes of a ship's wheel. In the center, a boat floats on blue water while wild vegetation sprouts along the shore. There was no artist's name or date.

A proud papá treats his sons to ice cream. I decided to end this posting with the photo above. While hunting murals along Juarez, I encountered this trio and asked permission to take their photo. As Mexicans so often do, they kindly agreed. Like many of the murals I have shown in this series, the photo captures the essence of the Mexico I have come to love. 

This completes Part 10 of my series on Ajijic's street art and murals. I hope you have enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question, please remember to include your email address so that I can respond in a timely fashion.

Hasta luego, Jim