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Travel & Experiences

A Mexican town watches its ‘Roma’ star shine. Another treasure’s fate is less clear

Olivia Garcia Perez, 26, buys the movie "Roma" in a market stand in Tlaxiaco, Mexico, the hometown of the movie's star, Yalitza Aparicio.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
By Esmeralda Bermudez, Los Angeles TImes, Photos by Gary Coronado, Los Angeles Times

High on the mountain of Yucunino, where a valley of pines leads you straight to Tlaxiaco, everyone knows about the girl.

La Yalitza, they call her — as if she were a storm that swept through their town. Young and indigenous, she was like so many women here, until she was plucked from her corrugated metal shanty and made a Hollywood star.

Yalitza Aparicio is now up for an Oscar for her role in “Roma,” and her hometown couldn’t be more proud.

But as they eagerly watch to see where fame takes her, Tlaxiaqueños worry about the fate of another treasure in town.

A moto-taxi, a common form of transportation in Tlaxiaco.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
"Roma" star Yalitza Aparicio taught at this private kindergarten in Tlaxiaco.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Parishioners with figurines of baby Jesus after a Fiesta de la Candelaria Mass in Tlaxiaco.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Market day in Tlaxiaco.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Guadalupe Ramirez, right, gives music lessons at the Casa de la Cultura in Tlaxiaco.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
The home where actress Yalitza Aparicio lived with her family.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Paris Chiquito, or "Little Paris," is the nickname for Tlaxiaco.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
A clock tower is surrounded by an open-air market in the Plaza de la Constitucion in Tlaxiaco.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion Catholic church that anchors the Esplanada Benito Juarez in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Esmeralda Bermudez

Esmeralda Bermudez is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. She was born in El Salvador, raised in the Los Angeles area and graduated from the University of Southern California. Before joining The Times in 2008, Bermudez worked at the Oregonian in Portland, covering city government and immigration. She has reported from Mexico and Guatemala where her coverage in 2006 won her the Guillermo Martinez-Marquez Award for Latin American Reporting. Bermudez was also a finalist for Livingston Award for International Reporting. In 2016, she was part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the San Bernardino terrorist attack.

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