Mexico, Decision-Making, Improvisation

Painting from Bed

On September 17, 1925, a streetcar hit the bus in which Frida Kahlo was traveling. According to the Museo Frida Kahlo, she was immobile for months and began to paint. Her mother asked a carpenter to make an easel that could be used in bed. Her mother also had a mirror placed on the top frame of the bed.

The museum keeps the bed in the room that Kahlo used during the day, “con el espejo en el dintel” (with the mirror in its top frame). During the convalescence, which kept her immobile for nine months, she was able to start painting portraits.

The Convent Kitchen

In the most popular legend of mole poblano, told by Uno TV, a viceroy paid an unexpected visit to a convent in Puebla. The nuns “improvisaron un platillo con lo que tenían a la mano” (improvised a dish with what they had at hand): dried chiles, spices, stale bread, seeds, chocolate and more. México Desconocido places the legend in the Convent of Santa Rosa and names the nun Sor Andrea de la Asunción and the year 1685.

The food magazine Grupo Animal says that these accounts should be taken as anecdotes, “sin ningún rigor histórico” (without any historical rigor). It cites Ricardo Muñoz Zurita, who calls the Santa Rosa origin “sólo leyendas” (only legends).

Nachos

In 1943, a group of wives of US military personnel came into the Club Victoria restaurant in Piedras Negras, Coahuila. According to México Desconocido, the kitchen did not have the ingredients for the usual menu. Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya took tortillas cut into triangles and fried, added cheese and strips of chile, and put them in the oven.

An Extra Car

In 1989, Mexico City introduced Hoy No Circula, “today it does not drive.” The program bans most drivers from using their cars one weekday a week, according to the last digit of the license plate. Chilango writes that “mucha gente, que no quería quedarse sin coche, optó por comprar un auto extra, aunque fuera viejito” (many people, who did not want to be left without a car, chose to buy an extra one, even an old one).

In 2008, Lucas Davis published a study of the program in the Journal of Political Economy. He reports that evidence from additional sources indicates that the restrictions led to more vehicles in circulation and to a shift toward high-emission vehicles.

The Banner from Atotonilco

The conspirators of Querétaro planned to begin their uprising in December 1810, according to México Desconocido. Their plan was discovered in September. When Miguel Hidalgo learned of it, he began the movement in Dolores, on September 16.

On the march, at the sanctuary of Atotonilco, Hidalgo took a banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe, according to INEHRM, the government’s institute for historical studies. A history booklet on the government portal gob.mx says that the movement gathered under this emblem, which “se dice” (it is said) came from the parish of Atotonilco.

The Controlled Accident

David Alfaro Siqueiros called one of his techniques accidente controlado, the controlled accident. Nitrocellulose lacquers, “también llamadas piroxilinas” (also called pyroxylins), played a central part in it. They were used for car paint and nail varnish. He threw the paint with a brocha de aire, an air brush. Jackson Pollock attended an experimental workshop held in New York.

In 2015, a UNAM team led by Roberto Zenit explained the physics behind the technique, a fluid phenomenon called the Rayleigh-Taylor instability.

Obeyed and Not Complied With

Spanish colonial law gave officials a way to stop a royal order for a time. A royal declaration of 1509 says such orders “primero deben ser obedecidas y no cumplidas, y después consultadas” (must first be obeyed and not complied with, and then consulted on). The Recopilación of 1567 uses a similar formula: “que la tal carta sea obedecida y no cumplida.”

Between 1571 and 1574, the authorities of Mexico City, doctors included, applied the formula obedézcase pero no se cumpla, “let it be obeyed but not carried out,” in a dispute over medical practice. A study of the case sums it up: “obedecieron pero no cumplieron” (they obeyed but did not comply).

The Cuauhtemiña

On June 13, 1998, in Lyon, Mexico beat South Korea 3-1 at the World Cup. Cornered by two Korean defenders, Cuauhtémoc Blanco trapped the ball between his feet and jumped forward over them with the ball. The move became known as the cuauhtemiña.

The sports newspaper Récord describes it as a technical resource “nacido en el barrio” (born in the neighborhood).

They Did Not Count on My Cunning

In Roberto Gómez Bolaños’s television comedy El Chapulín Colorado, one of the hero’s catchphrases is “¡No contaban con mi astucia!” (They did not count on my cunning!). His weapon is the chipote chillón, a squeaky toy mallet.

The show ran from 1973 to 1979. The character kept appearing in sketches until 1992.

Buckets and Crates

In Mexico City, residents reserve a parking space on the street with buckets, crates or other objects, or they pay a franelero, an informal attendant who watches cars. Chilango describes “apartar lugares con botes, cubetas o recurrir a los llamados franeleros” (reserving spaces with cans and buckets, or turning to the so-called franeleros) as an everyday scene.

On August 15, 2025, the Congress of Mexico City approved 24 to 36 hours of arrest for people who charge for parking or for watching cars on public streets.