With the Colima Volcano filling the air with fireworks almost daily, it is no wonder that visitors to the state of Colima are asking for souvenirs related to El Volcán.
Molcajetes (mortars for salsas) shaped like little volcanoes seemed like a good idea to Mara Íñiguez, founder of Aprecio por México, a Colima-based organization dedicated to supporting Mexican artisans. Íñiguez then discovered the elegant and innovative molcajete designs of Guadalajara artist Paula Durán, which combine an interior of volcanic rock with a pinewood base, making the mortar much lighter, more attractive and more practical for serving hot dishes. Durán’s design seemed the perfect item to offer tourists in Colima.
There was only one problem: local artisans knew little about working basalt, the hard rock from which molcajetes are made.
Perhaps inspired by the fact that most of the so-called Volcán de Colima is in Jalisco, Íñiguez decided to draw upon the skills of the basalt sculptors of San Lucas Evangelista on the edge of Lake Cajititlán, located about 20 kilometers south of Guadalajara.
All of which explains why I found myself watching rocks being blown to pieces this morning on the hillside above San Lucas.
“First I use a sledge hammer and chisel to drill a hole about three hands deep,” said artisan Adrián Rodríguez, “and then I put a packet of fine-grain gunpowder at the bottom of it.”
For a fuse, Rodríguez used a sort of plastic drinking straw, again carefully filled with gunpowder. Techniques like this provide local sculptors with the chunks of rock they need for making – you guessed it – molcajetes, which these days are most often crafted with the help of stone-cutting machinery and lathes. “It used to take us all day to make one molcajete but with machines we can turn them out fast,” Rodríguez told me. “ I just filled an order for one thousand.”
As he spoke, Rodríguez’ techniques were being filmed by audiovisual specialist Cecilia Guerrero for a documentary which she and Íñiguez will present to Colima officials for the benefit of local sculptors who want to catch up with their Jalisco cousins.
Aprecio por México has been working on such projects for four years, according to Íñiguez. “We have helped artisans teach people how to make charming catrinas (elegantly dressed skeletons for the Day of the Dead) out of cardboard and we got herbalists to teach the public about medicinal plants. We’ve rescued traditional textile-making techniques and nearly forgotten recipes. Maybe the most memorable of them was the complicated process for baking an Ante Colimate, a kind of cake containing pine nuts, coconuts, pineapple, lemon and liquor, which is served inside of a wicker birdcage. It takes three days to make it and there’s a very ancient ritual for presenting it.”
Íñiguez elaborated on how she got started assisting artisans.
“It all began with pinwheels,” she told me. “I was traveling in Puebla and on the roadside when I saw the most amazing pinwheels. They were large and made of wood, carved into the shapes of birds and flowers. They were gorgeous and I offered to present the craftsman’s work in other places so he would become known. That was where it all began. I became a sort of cazatalentos, a talent hunter.”
Aprecio por México can be reached by phone at (º312)554-4000 (cell). It is on the web (apreciopormexico.com) and on Facebook (Aprecio por México). For the time being, you won’t find the cool basalt-and-pine molcajetes there, but you soon will. I bet there are already a few Colima sculptors trying to figure out where to obtain gunpowder at this very moment.