THROUGH THE LENS OF HISTORY

It is a compelling, enigmatic image of the Mexican Revolution. The woman sits on the train tracks, stares into the camera’s lens. She’s dressed in men’s clothing. Her arms are filled with what look like branches. Behind her, there’s a crowd, most faces concealed in shadow.

The date of the photograph is 1915. The caption reads: “This woman, nicknamed La Destroyer, was famous for helping those who had fallen in battle to die a more rapid and less painful death.”

This photo is from the Casasola Archive, a collection of close to 500,000 images that document the history and culture of modern Mexico. The archive is the work of hundreds of photographers, but the cardinal figure is Agustín Víctor Casasola.

Casasola is among the most important photojournalists of the 20th Century. He and the photographers who worked for his press agency took pictures of everybody: ordinary Mexicans and the famous, alike: Porfirio Díaz at the end of his 30-year reign; revolutionary leaders Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa in moments of triumph, and death; artistic and intellectual figures such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and exiled Russian Leon Trotsky.

With the approach in 2010 of the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution and the 200th anniversary of independence, these pictures take on added interest. At Archivo Histórico Pablo L. Martínez, the government archives in La Paz, you'll find historical images and documents on display until Sept. 30. You may find Casasolas' work there. In any case, here's where you can learn more about the photographer and his pictures:

Mexico: the Revolution and Beyond is a magnificent coffee-table book published by Aperture in cooperation with the Mexican government’s CONACULTA INAH. An excellent introduction by Peter Hamill puts the photographs into historical context. The ISBN number for the hardcover English edition published in 2003 is 1-931788-22-7.

Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution by Mexican journalist and novelist Elena Poniatowska is a slim English-language paperback crammed with fascinating stories, accompanied by Casasola’s photographs, about the women who travelled with the revolutionary armies and often fought alongside their men. Allende Books, La Paz’s English-language bookstore, has copies in stock. Allende Books, open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. is at Independencia #518, between Serdan and G. Prieto. Phone number: 612-125-9114.

Mexconnect’s website has an article online about Casasola. You’ll find it at
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1086-the-legacy-of-agustin-victor-casasola-photographer-1874-1938

Genoveva Pérez León; photo below is Eulalia León Talamantes

MAKERS OF THE STORM DOLLS

Walk into the La Paz home of Genoveva Pérez León and you enter a kaleidoscope: hot-pink ribbons, a rainbow of cloth swatches piled high, shelf after shelf of jars filled with beads and shells and sequins. And everywhere there are dolls — brilliantly costumed cloth dolls.

Genoveva is a maker of muñecas. It is an art learned from her grandmother and mother on the family ranch near Todos Santos during a hurricane season 60 years ago.

"I was the oldest of 10 children. I didn't have time to make dolls because I would be doing the chores," she tells me. But when the storms hit, everyone had to hunker down indoors. While the children waited for a break in the weather, they started making dolls to pass the time. "We called them chubasqueras (storm dolls)."

Genoveva lifts one doll after another from a large glassed-in cabinet and stands them on the table. She introduces each: This one with the braids is La Serena, from the ranch land of her own Sudcaliforniana hills. This one in the ruffled orange dress is La Costa, from the coast. And this beauty in elegant red satin, sequins and embroidered flowers is Florida Pitahaya.

Genoveva is 67. I am 60. But we could be girls again, playing with dolls.

I pick up La Serena and stroke the ranchera doll's thick yarn braids, tied with pink bows. Her lips are embroidered cherry-red. I lift the ruffled flower skirt and admire the white lace petticoat, knickers and black velvety slippers.

It takes Genoveva three days to make one doll. In her work, nothing goes to waste. "I do not like to throw out cloth," she says. From small scraps, she makes dolls the size of a baby finger, each snug inside a bottle capped with a seashell.

Later, Genoveva takes me to meet her mother, Eulalia León Talamantes. Eulalia, who lives with another daughter a short drive away, has just celebrated her 91st birthday. She has lost sight in one eye, but has no problem threading a needle. And she is still making dolls.

Yes, Eulalia says, it is a little sad to say Adios to a doll when it comes time to sell it. "But then, I can make another. I love making dolls." Her daughters estimate that their mother has made more than a thousand of them.

Eulalia is matriarch of five generations living nearby: there are 10 children, 41 grandchildren, 58 great grandchildren and 10 great-great grandchildren. The family hopes that someone among the youngsters will continue the tradition of making dolls.

But Genoveva isn't taking any chances. As part of a government project a few years ago, she taught a course in doll-making to eight women in the ranch country where she grew up. She says five of the women are continuing the work.

I ask Genoveva if there is anything else she would like to say. "Tell people, if anyone wants to learn, I would be happy to teach them, so that this art isn't lost. I love making dolls."

Where to purchase the storm dolls: You can order by phone at 612-122-6349 or look for the dolls on sale Saturdays near the kiosko on the Malecón (at the foot of 16 de Septiembre). You can also find the dolls at Allende Books, Independencia 518, between Serdan and Prieto.

FINDING YOUR NEXT GOOD BOOK
If you’re an English-reading bookworm in La Paz, lucky you. Books are not hard to find. (If I sound envious, that’s because I am writing this from Iquique, Chile, where I have searched in vain to scratch my itch for books in English). Here is a list of places to get books in La Paz, including both English and Spanish-language sources. These will be high-priority stops when I get back in town at the end of October. If I have missed your source of books in La Paz, please send word to rozinlapaz@yahoo.com

Allende Books
The city’s English-language bookstore reopened Oct. 1 after a summer break. Its new location is close to Jardin Velasco and the Cathedral, at Independencia #518, between Serdan and G. Prieto (612)125 9114. This tiny shop, which opened a year ago at its original location on Allende Street, has a little something for everyone. You will find a very nice selection of books on the Baja and mainland Mexico, as well as current fiction and non-fiction imported from the United States. The store features the Moon and Lonely Planet travel guides, maps, some materials for boaters and fishermen (Sea of Cortez Cruiser's Guide, most recent fishing maps of the waters in the Sea of Cortez and Pacific Coast), Spanish language study materials and dictionaries. There's an assortment of children's books, many bi-lingual, books featuring Mexico style interior decoration and desert gardening, not to mention cook books, some by local authors. You will also find many hand-selected gift items from the peninsula, mainland Mexico and Central America. And it's all in English. Open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 to 2. Allende Books has a website: Allendebooks.com

Allende Books is also a good place to find out more about the La Paz book group – to learn where, when and what book will be discussed. The book group is slated to resume in November. According to plans made last spring, for November’s meeting the group’s selection is Three Cups of Tea, One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. For the December meeting, the selection is Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett.

Librería Educal Libros y Arte
Most reading material is in Spanish, but this government-supported bookstore is a Mexican cultural gem when it comes to gift-buying and browsing. The store opened a year ago at the Antigua Presidencia Municipal de la ciudad de la Paz (Avenida 16 de Septiembre at the corner of Belisario Domínguez, (612) 128 94 21). That’s next door to the tourism office. You will find CDs, children’s toys and art objects, as well as books here. For more information (in Spanish), go to the website at lapaz@educal.com.mx

Libros de Cristal
Formerly Libros Libros (Books Books), Libros de Cristal is on the corner of Constitucion and Madero (Constitucion 195 (612)1221410). In English, you’ll find some magazines, a handful of art and Baja/Mexico travel books – not a lot for the English reader. But the selection in Spanish is excellent: popular fiction, kids’ books, cookbooks, some maps and travel books (not like Moon Guides, Rough Guides or Lonely Planet). The store used to stock paperbacks, but on a recent visit, that rack was gone.

Ramirez:
This large variety store bordering Jardin Velasco (Calle 5 de Mayo 204 (612)1227692) carries everything from chocolates to furniture. Their books section is mainly in Spanish, but you will also find some Baja books in English and a shelf or two of English magazines and mass market paperbacks. Their well-stocked shelves of Spanish-language books includes dictionaries in Spanish/German, Spanish/French, Spanish/Italian, Spanish/Portuguese.

Loto Cafebreria:
Its location is the 400-block of Independencia across from the side entrance of the Cathedral near Jardin Velasco. Loto is a coffee house, patisserie, sandwich shop, Internet café, gathering spot for smart young Mexicans in the evenings, art workshop centre and art gallery all rolled into one. And there is a free book exchange – Spanish, English and a smattering of other languages, too. Here is a sample of English-language publications you might find for sale at Loto. Dwell, Art And Deco, Architectural Digest, Cosmopolitan, Infashion, Southwest Art, B and W, Mac Life. And here are a few book titles you might run across: thrillers of Stephen King, titles such as The street Lawyer, by John Grisham; Black boy, by Richard Wright; The Virgin Blue, by Tracy Chevalier; Amistad, by Alex Pate. Loto celebrates its first anniversary with a fiesta Nov. 3.

Club Cruceros’ free book-exchange:
This book exchange in the Club Cruceros’ clubhouse is a great place to find beach reads, but you will also encounter the occasional Pulitzer-prize winner and classic. The clubhouse has magazines of a certain vintage and a VHS/DVD rental library. While you’re there, consider taking out a membership for $10 (or 100 pesos) per year. Club Cruceros de La Paz is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping less fortunate children of La Paz and to exchanging cruising information. In addition, club members organize a large variety of social activities. Members are mainly ocean cruisers, but landlubbers are welcome, too. Check out their website at . http://www.clubcruceros.org/ or visit the clubhouse at Marina de La Paz.