# Hace frio



## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

Been in this house a few years now. Today is the second time we needed to start a fire to keep comfortable. 

Do they call the kindling to start a fire Ocote throughout Mexico or is that a local thing ?


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

It's called ocote here in the central Michoacán area.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

chuck846 said:


> Been in this house a few years now. Today is the second time we needed to start a fire to keep comfortable.
> 
> Do they call the kindling to start a fire Ocote throughout Mexico or is that a local thing ?


I have no idea, but I just wanted to say how cool it is that you have a fireplace. When it gets cold in Mexico City, all I can do to get warm is turn on my R2D2 electric space heater.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

Isla Verde said:


> I have no idea, but I just wanted to say how cool it is that you have a fireplace. When it gets cold in Mexico City, all I can do to get warm is turn on my R2D2 electric space heater.


We also have four very large cats !


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

chuck846 said:


> We also have four very large cats !


I'm not a cat lover, but I wish my landlord would let me have a doggie, a small one, since my apartment is tiny.


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## tcreek (Sep 13, 2010)

chuck846 said:


> Been in this house a few years now. Today is the second time we needed to start a fire to keep comfortable.
> 
> Do they call the kindling to start a fire Ocote throughout Mexico or is that a local thing ?


Big box stores have fire logs in them, but being so late in the season may not be in stock. It been warm here in the past few days, and have not used the heater in almost two weeks.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Ocote is a fire starter more than kindling. In Chiapas a lot of people still cook with fire and we have kindling You can also use the pods from the flamboyant /tabachin as kindling. They work great, Ocote is a type of pine and and small pices of pine coated with resin. By the way down here you can buy small pieces of wood or large pieces of wood to start the fire and it is ocote.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Ocote is a particular kind of pine that is high in resin which makes it particularly suitable for kindling.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

Hi, Chuck. You've mentioned before we're semi-neighbours. Here in Tepoztlan there is a Colonia Los Ocotes. It's along the road to San Juan Tlacotenco. It's called Ocotes because there are a lot of this particular pine growing in that area (one of the higher elevations of Tepoz). I love the smell of wood fires in general, and of ocote in particular.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

While we have had some warm and sunny days here in San Cristobal de Las Casas this February and so far in March, we have experienced quite a bit of cold weather and even unseasonal rains this year. That's OK with us as we expect that here in the Chiapas Highlands at 7,000 feet with the problem exacerbated by periodic damp and cloudy weather fronts often with chipi-chipi from the Gulf. We are lucky to have four propane wall heaters throughout our home and a very efficient fireplace that beautifully heats our living and dining rooms. Those propane heaters have been doing overtime this year and are a godsend in San Cristobal which, at its altitude can often be quite cold and cloudy at all times of the year except in April and May. While we delight in the warmth provided by those heaters and that splendid fireplace, we are lucky as many people in this area have inadequate heat or no heat at all. This is especially a problem in rural areas in this poorest of Mexican states where most homes, some at altitudes as high as 12,000 feet more or less, are uninsulated and often rudimentary constructions with heat, if any at all, that comes from smoky, unchimneyed kitchen cooking fires. The bracing weather here is an important reason many foreigners otherwise attracted by the area's rustic charm and diverse cultures, move on to more amenable climes in relatively short order if they can afford the move. People with the good fortune to live at Lake Chapala as do we seasonally, should thank the powers-that-be for the fabulous climate they enjoy there and only grouse about the weather at the lake with tongue planted firmly in cheek.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

ojosazules11 said:


> Hi, Chuck. You've mentioned before we're semi-neighbours. Here in Tepoztlan there is a Colonia Los Ocotes. It's along the road to San Juan Tlacotenco. It's called Ocotes because there are a lot of this particular pine growing in that area (one of the higher elevations of Tepoz). I love the smell of wood fires in general, and of ocote in particular.


And then there is Ocotopec
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocotepec,_Cuernavaca,_Morelos


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