View From Casita Colibrí

One of the qualities that amazes me about most Oaxaqueños is their patience with waiting in interminable lines.  On the one hand, I think those north of the border could take some much-needed lessons in civil and well-mannered behavior.  However, on the other hand, I think Oaxaqueños deserve much better than having to stand in endless lines, be it the bank, a government agency, or to get tickets to a concert by their favorite daughter, Lila Downs.

Last year, unable to figure out the hows and wheres of getting a ticket to her free concert during the ten days of the Guelaguetza festivities, I was on the verge of giving up getting tickets to see Lila Downs, when friends coming in from out-of-town(!), offered a couple to me.  Of course, I accepted!

This year, after several false leads, on Tuesday morning L and I climbed back up to the Guelaguetza Auditorium to try to score some tickets to this year’s free concert.  The box office was scheduled to open at 9 AM, we got up there at 8:30 AM and found ourselves at the end of a line that stretch halfway to the planetarium AND that continued to grow as the hours ticked by.  Abuelos, niños, moms, dads, and teens lined the pathway, talking on cell phones, eating, talking, and laughing — without a raised voice or harsh word spoken.

At almost 10 AM, when the line hadn’t moved an inch, I walked down the hill to the box office to see what was happening.  Nothing, as it turned out!

However, good-natured patience finally succumbed to whistles and shouts by those who were in the line of sight of the ticket booth — after all, according to the newspaper they had begun lining up at 4:30 AM!!!

I wound my way back up the hill to report my findings to L.  Alas, after another 45 minutes of no movement, impatient gringas that we are, we gave up.  However, to borrow from the musical Sound of Music, “somewhere in [our] youth or childhood, [we] must have done something good,” because 48 hours later, my neighbor presented us with tickets!  And so last night, we climbed back up Cerro Fortín to see Lila Downs.  We were very happy campers.

She put on another spectacular show — mixing new tunes with old, incorporating several of the Guelaguetza delegations into the production, and generally bringing cheers and sing-a-long voices from the hometown crowd.  By the end, everyone was on their feet.