Colombian Murals - A Taste of Mexico [CCC's Street Art Contest #223]

Not far from the last mural I posted in the historic center of Santa Marta, Colombia, I found this beautiful mural. (It's exact location is the corner of Calle 18 and Carrera 3.) Coming from Mexico, my immediate reaction was to think Oh sure, yet another Day-of the- Dead image... until I remembered that I was in Colombia, where this holiday is not even celebrated the way it is in Mexico, and that this was actually a wall painting, which was probably created to last a bit longer than even the fully extended días de los muertos.

Welcome to El Mexican!

There was a good reason for seeing this version of la Catrina, the fancy skeleton woman created by José Guadalupe Posada which has become such an ubiquitous part of Mexican culture, on this particular wall. After all, it belongs to a restaurant that prides itself in being "Mexican"... sort of. - Notice that it's not "el Méxicano"! Typing these lines, I kinda regret not having taken a picture of how it looks inside, or even the menu, because my first impression was that the name was spot on for being so gringofied. I don't mean that as a bad thing, necessarily. It just is. Though you could also call it North-American-Fusion, since one of the items on the menu was poutine. Poutine??? The last time I had that was in Victoria, BC!

But since I would be the last one to suggest going to restaurant from my own place when I am traveling somewhere new, I did't even bother taking a picture. Except for the mural, which looked fantastically Mexican. And yes, it is much more of a woman having her face painted as a Catrina, which is also super popular for the day of the dead. The creator of this mural is ... well, none other than elmexican_smr which is not a famous muralist, but the bar itself. Oh well...

Check Out More!

This post, as my mural ones typically all are, is part of this week's CCC's Street Art Contest, where each week there are numerous interesting murals to be seen, and if you are to share one, you have a chance of winning something. If you are interested in seeing all the murals I have found in Mexico, please visit my post series Mexican Murals.