The Murals of Jalatlco

 

Two Murals

The little blue mural is on the corner of Cinco de Mayo and Alianza next to the Pre-Conquest mural. (You can see the edge of it in the photograph.) This building is one of my favorites. It was an auto repair place. The building was big enough for a desk and a few spare parts. All of the work was done in the street under a beach umbrella opened over the car. This week a sign was posted saying they have moved north to the barrio of Reforma. As Reforma is an upscale neighborhood I assume they did very well in this little place.

A few months ago I saw a young woman and a young man working on this mural. As parts of it are disintegrating I assumed they were touching it up although they might have been painting the design over the peeling blue paint. The lettering appears to me to be Greek but I haven’t spoken Greek since my college days...several lifetimes ago. I like the simplicity of the design. I like the limited palette and especially this particular blue. I also like the Ivory. I am a fool for ivory.

The second mural is a block north of Alianza on the Street Narciso Mendoza. It is one of the more narrow roughly cobble stoned streets and many of the small buildings are in decline. Surprisingly there are some examples of modern architecture as well.

The mural appears to have something to do with Day of the Dead but of what I am uncertain. La Comparsa is a group of persons who march together in a parade. The background figures are skeletal and so perhaps they are the camparsa.

The mural is dated 2013. You can see that the murals here have a limited shelf life. Six months out of the year this faces the sun all day, in the dry season, and in the rainy season it is drenched...when it rains here it’s like Morton’s salt: it pours. The two are rather hard on latex paint. Or any paint over plaster which sometimes absorbs moisture.