On a trip back from Mexico City, we made sure to stop in the town of Saltillo, Coahuila to purchase the tiles of the same name.

My dad had first worked with them, or fallen in love with them when he was doing house renovations in the Florida Keys. It was a stop that he was sure would be the highlight of the trip.

In Saltillo, the tiles bake in the hot sun to finish. Each square is unique as a tree or a snowflake. Often time stops in the form of an ant, a small paw print, or the circular pattern left by a Coca-Cola bottle by a worker. Over time they develop a rich patina.

The kitchen floor shown in the video was just cleaned & resealed by my 78-year-old mother. She worked in the traditional way of cleaning the tiles that she learned from a Cubana in Key West, using old towels, cleaning & buffing in sections. They look fabulous, don’t they?