Marisel Vera's Blog

The Crying Virgin

Statues and portraits of the Virgin Mary crying are common throughout España. I grew up Catholic but had never seen a crying Virgin Mary before. Our friend from Madrid said that the Crying Virgin goes back to the Spanish Inquisition, justifying the Inquisition’s actions.

I think it went like this: “See how the Virgin is crying because you’re not Catholic? Let’s get out the torture instruments!”

Sevilla, España

[image error]View from the roof top of the Catedral de Sevilla.  The sign said one had only to walk up 14 ramps to the top, but it was 34 ramps! One courageous woman walked to the top using a walker.

Dinner for One

A New Year’s tradition in the German speaking world is watching this video.

50chf at the Farmers’ Market

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Today, at the local farmer’s market in Zurich, Switzerland, I bought: 2 salmon steaks, 5 clementines from Spain, 3 apples, 1 large parsnip, 1 small bunch cilantro called korriander here, (I’m making sofrito tonight), 8 red carrots, 2 bunches lettuce-one red, one green, both look like flower bouquets, which is why I bought them, 1 bunch lettuce cabbage looking, 6 leaves purple chard, it’s not called Swiss chard here (Ha!), 1 Spanish onion, 2 medium tomatoes, 2 baking potatoes, and 12 farm fresh eggs with orange yolks.  I’ve got to say Swiss eggs are the best we’ve ever tasted.

Plus

[image error] Yummy baguette, donut balls, and nut bread.

Hubby swears the donut balls taste like Clyde’s. True Chicagoans over 20 remember Clyde’s Donuts over on the West Side. How does this compra (Puerto Rican for groceries) compare to USA prices? You tell me.

Coffee break/moving day

[image error] Green espresso cup and saucer I found in a Zurich second hand shop.

Moving day in Zurich

[image error] Outside elevator to bring our furniture up through balcony–the European way.

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Into the Woods Over Zurich

Zurich is the city for walkers and hikers as there are many lovely trails in the mountains and forests. Coming from Chicago, I haven’t done much hiking in the forest or up the mountain.  But I’ve given myself three personal challenges: 1. Eat as much chocolate as I can from as many different little shops as I can find.  2. Visit as many European cities as my coin purse allows. 3. Push myself to get my nose out of books and be more physically active.[image error]

My first adventure in the hiking world was up in the woods above Zurich.  We took tram #15 to the Romerhof stop then hopped on the little red Dolderbahn, a cogwheel railway train to

[image error] Deanne is the strongwoman of Dolderbahn!

Bergstation Dolderbahn at the foot of the Adisberg Mountain.  It’s incredible how close these trails are just minutes from the city of Zurich.

[image error] View from Dolderbahn

As Andy Griffith would say, “And it was a good day.”:

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[image error] Tower which I didn’t climb. Remember Jimmy Stewart in “Vertigo?”
[image error] Firewood, anyone?
[image error] Deanne goes to school. (A little schoolhouse.)

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[image error] Deanne wants a pony.
[image error] Swiss girl and horse
[image error] “Tada! Irish cows in Switzerland!”  What next?
[image error] Camels! Walking on the trail.
[image error] Auf wiedersehen, camels!

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A Little Side Trip To Germany

When you rent an apartment in Zurich, Switzerland, there is a very real likelihood that it won’t have closets or light fixtures.  This means that one of the first things you have to do, once you sign the lease and pick up the keys, is buy lights and wardrobes to put your clothes in, unless you like tossing them on the floor in the dark.  Shows like Downton Abbey (which I am currently watching on the British channel, sorry, American fans) have grand ornate wardrobes.  No relatives on either side left us a title or furniture, so we bought three white laminate IKEA wardrobes from the current tenants of the apartment. Still not enough closet space for an average American couple and then someone said Go to Germany!

Saturday morning, our new friends Enrico and Tatiana drove us to Dogern, Germany home of Mobel Markt.  We could buy furniture made by different German makers at Euro prices, with free delivery AND they would figure out the sales tax for you.  For once, it was cheaper to pay Swiss tax than German tax.

Our finds:[image error]Our wardrobe won’t have the mirror.

[image error]To store groceries in because there isn’t enough space in the kitchen.

[image error]Canoe turned into a wine cabinet.  Very German according to my friend.  And no, I didn’t buy it.  Wasn’t even tempted.

On the way home, Enrico stopped at a flower farm by the Swiss border.[image error]

Tatiana and I got out to pick flowers.[image error][image error][image error][image error]

[image error] Honor system coin box. 1chf a flower.

Oh, did I mention that we also stopped at a grocery store in Germany and hubby was feeling a little homesick for the Cubs and couldn’t resist:

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Is that crazy or what? What is the weirdest “American” thing you’ve found in your travels?

Puerto Ricans Arrive in Zurich

Air shipment

When my air shipment arrived, I got two years of my life back.  Two years that I’d spent researching the Puerto Rican migration to Hawaii circa 1900 which is the subject of my new novel.  As soon as I got the boxes, I opened the first one and a huge bug crawled out.  First, I screamed, then, I tried to kill it with my soft ballet type slipper which was the only thing I had handy.  You know how insects are, if you don’t kill them right away, you dream that you metamorphosed into a huge, ugly bug.  And that book has already been written.

The content in the boxes is not necessary to enjoying the beautiful city of Zurich, but it is essential to the writing of my novel. Copies of documents and personal histories in both English and Spanish that have educated this novelist filled two large boxes.  Included in the priceless stash is the unpublished thesis from the 1980s by anthropologist Norma Carr on Puerto Ricans in Hawaii.  Mrs. Carr was one of the first to research the subject and interview descendents of the first Puerto Rican migrants.

Jibaros and other necessary things.

The shipment also included copies of articles published in 1900 by newspapers like the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle which reported on the anemic and sorry looking Puerto Rican “natives” recruited to work in the sugar cane plantations.

One volume that would have been practically impossible to replace is a coveted copy of the history of the San Ciriaco Hurricane from the University of Puerto Rico which is in my possession only through the grace and effort of a kind anthropologist friend and her enterprising student.

Now I’ve got everything I need: my research, pen and paper, a balcony overlooking the busy Hoschgasse, and unlimited cups of espresso. It’s a gorgeous sunny day in Zurich but I feel like writing a hurricane.

A Latina Writer in Zurich goes to Market

Zurich, espresso, farmers market, cost of living, Big Macs, GuessturesI am finally jet-lag free and feeling myself after our Herculean effort to move to Zurich.  My air shipment finally arrived today after being held up in customs for over a week.  When I unpacked my stuff, I counted seven bags of Trader Joe’s uncooked gluten free oats, three bags of cranberries, four bags of nuts, and my Moroccan Oil hair products.  Plus my vitamins.  Not very suspicious to my thinking, but then again, I’m not a Swiss customs agent.  The delivery guy was right out of Swiss central casting.  He wore a red sweater, shorts, and hiking boots. He spoke not a word of English and I’ve yet to learn German, but we understood each other with pantomime.  My Guesstures experience came in handy.

It is fun finding my way about the city and it helps that my husband has been here for six months.  Zurich is beautiful but incredibly expensive for a Chicagoan.  The cost of living index is 200 percent compared to Chicago.  That means that my $1.75 espresso at my local Chicago Starbucks can cost anywhere from 3.5 chf to 5.5 chf or $3.75 to $ 6.10!  So much for my hanging out day in and day out at cafes writing my new novel about the Puerto Rican migration to Hawaii.  My favorite place so far to go for espresso is the Globus café at Bellvue because they also give you a piece of chocolate.  My husband tells me that a McDonald’s Big Mac Value Meal costs 14 chfs, $15 US.  On the plus side, the fruits and vegetables are comparable and so fresh, especially when I can buy them from the twice weekly Burkliplatz farmers market. 

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[image error][image error]We don’t have a vegetable steamer in our temporary apartment.  What shall I do with the cauliflower and broccoli?