The 16th century Augustinian monastery of Acolman de Nezahualcóyotl is still in use.

Lilliana Garduño drove us to Acolman de Nezahualcóyotl, the site of the 16th century monastery of San Agustín.  The indigenous people of that time were reluctant to enter the church building, she said, because of its imposing size and high ceiling.  Instead they would gather for Mass in front of the entrance, and the priests would address them from the balcony.

Across from the entrance was the taller or workshop of José Leonardo Martinez, an artist who creates images from the produce of the plant known as the maguey, an agave native to the Americas.  The maguey has many uses.  If the stem is cut before flowering, a sweet liquid, aguamiel,  gathers in the heart of the plant and is fermented to produce the alcoholic drink pulque.  From its leaves come fibers for making rope, matting, or cloth — and for making works of art.

From the maguey come fibers for sewing or for making works of art.

Señor Martinez showed us how the maguey can shed its skin to produce a white paper, and how other native plants, like the nopal cactus, can yield dyes of yellow and red.  He himself specializes in creating images from colorful, needle-like reeds, attached to paper by means of bee’s wax.  We purchased from him an image of Teotihuacán and of the Calendar Stone, the 24-ton sculpture of Aztec cosmology discovered in 1790.  Señor Martinez was a teacher as well as an artist who has preserved the knowledge of the indigenous people.  After we left him, Lilliana drove us to the Villa de Guadalupe, the site of the basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary’s revelation to Juan Diego.