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Archive for the ‘Travel & Tourism’ Category

Today is Día de los Niños (Children’s Day) and it’s a big deal here.  Oaxaca began her celebrations days ago.  The 6th Festival of Children’s Story Telling opened on Saturday, yesterday an exibition of traditional toys (Colección Hanni Sager Juguete tradicional) had its inauguration at the Museo del Palacio, and Friday, the Guelaguetza Infantil calenda filled the streets from Santo Domingo to the Basilica de la Soledad.

As several bands played, the children from Oaxaca’s preschools wearing the traditional costumes from the 8 regions of the state of Oaxaca waited, posed, walked, danced, and threw candy to the appreciative crowds gathered on the sidewalks along the ten-block long route.  (Note, some of the little girls already practicing holding canastas (baskets) on their heads!)

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Parents and teachers, many also wearing traje from the Cañada, Costa, Istmo, Mixteca, Papaloapan, Sierra Norte, Sierra Sur, and the Valles Centrales regions, proudly walked alongside the children.  Vive Oaxaca concluded their article,

With such events from the early years of life are taught to love our Oaxacan culture, traditions, music and preserve the best legacy we have: our roots. Congratulations to the teachers and parent to correctly perform with great momentum this holiday culture.  [Google translation]

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Plaza de la Danza…

Microphone

Microphone, speakers, and pigeon…

2 speakers on stands

We are all here…

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Where is everyone???

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Wednesday in the Mixteca

cement block building "Fabrica Marmol" "El Colibrí"

How could I resist?  Photo, yes.  Dining, no.  We had already eaten and so were not tempted to try Restaurant El Colibrí, across the street.  However, still scratching my head about the relationship between marble (marmol) and hummingbird (colibrí).

Concrete block building with sign, Fabrica Marmol, El Colibrí

This librarian couldn’t resist doing a little research.  According to Wikipedia, the hummingbird in Aztec culture was, “emblematic for their vigor, energy, and propensity to do work along with their sharp beaks that mimic instruments of weaponry, bloodletting, penetration, and intimacy.”  Hmmm…  the tools and strength needed by a marble mason.  Now, it’s beginning to make sense.

(Thanks Chris for stopping so I could take the above photos.)

And now a song from the Mixteca, “Chikirriyó’i” (“El Colibrí”) (The Hummingbird):

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A meal named for the 3 parts of a bullfight?  Yes, the origin of the name of Mexico’s ubiquitous 3-course, fixed price, midday meal, Comida Corrida, is derived from the “Tres tiempos” of a “Corrida de toros.”

Ordinarily, simple and substantial, chef Jean Michel Thomas of Gío (aka, Dondé está el Chef?) has taken it to a French infused gourmet level — all for only 80 pesos.  My lunch on Monday…

Crema de Flor de Calabaza al Aji Panca

Crema de Flor de Calabaza al Aji Panca accompanied by Agua de Jamaica

Tartare de Atún Fresco con Tomate y Arroz a la Mostaza de Dijon

Tartare de Atún Fresco con Tomate y Arroz a la Mostaza de Dijon

Pastel de Chocolate Oaxaca con Coulis de Mango

Pastel de Chocolate Oaxaca con Coulis de Mango

Gío currently can be found at Eucaliptos 407A, Colonia Reforma, in the city of Oaxaca.  It is open Monday through Friday, from 2:00 – 5:00 PM.

¡Buen provecho!

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On this Earth Day, I thought I’d post photos of the Matria, Jardín Arterapéutico project.  These were taken 3 weeks after my previous visit.  Despite 90+° (F) temperatures since the garden was planted, it is thriving and very few plants have been lost.

The key to the garden’s success?  Megan Glore and her team of volunteers are listening to what the plants are telling them and responding accordingly — just as we should all be doing with Mother Earth.

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… go out in the midday sun!

For more than a week, most afternoons have found me holed up inside my apartment with curtains drawn against an unrelenting sun — a semi-successful attempt to retain the cool air I’d ushered in when doors and windows were thrown open first thing in the morning.

Empty sidewalk with sliver of shade

These May-like temperatures, in the mid to high 90s F during the day, have been THE major topic of conversation amongst Oaxaqueños, ex-pats, and visitors, alike.   If you must venture out, as I did yesterday, you hug that sliver of shadow.  Umbrellas come in handy too!

Woman walking in a sliver of shadow

The multiplex theaters on the outskirts of the city are some of the very few buildings with air-conditioning.  However, to get there, one must take a sweltering bus or taxi ride through traffic clogged streets, never knowing when a bloqueo or road construction will bring your retreat to a scorching halt.  A better alternative is to follow the lead of these priests processing into the Basilica and head to the nearest church.  Mil gracias to the architectural gods for their thick stone walls and soaring ceilings!

Procession of priests entering the Basilica

¡Hace mucho calor!  Time for a siesta…

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More from the wall art at Calle Melchor Ocampo and La Noria.  I can’t help thinking of Leonard Cohen’s, Bird on a Wire.

Wall with painting of birds sitting on a wire

Like a bird on a wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.

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Several days ago, my previously mentioned, indomitable, and always adventurous neighbor Marga brought me a bag of small reddish-orange flowers.  She waxed lyrical about their flavor (somewhat peppery) and crunchy texture, never mind the color they add to any dish.  The street vendor from whom she had purchased these delectable delights even hinted at their medicinal qualities.  Marga, what’s the name of the plant?  (The librarian planning to do a little research before consuming.)  Alas, she didn’t catch the name.

Small red flowers in a clay bowl

Anyone have an answer?  By the way, even without a name, they were a delicious addition to 3-days worth of salads.  I think I’ll show the photo to some of the chefs-in-training at today’s Feria Gastronómica…

Feria Gastronómica poster

Yummm….

Breaking news:   They are black bean blossoms (flor de frijol).  Mil gracias to Margie Barclay of the invaluable Oaxaca Calendar fame.  That was fast.  I love my readers!

Update, this just in:  They are scarlet runner bean flowers, according to another longtime Oaxaca resident.

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Sometimes color seems like a distraction, so an experiment in de-saturation from the last day of Carnaval in Teotitlán del Valle.

For some outstanding up-close and full color photos, head over to Oaxaca-The Year After.

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Friday we returned for another extraordinary day — the last day of Carnival.

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Again, muchisimas gracias to the gracious and generous people of Teotitlán del Valle.

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I’m playing catch-up with blog posts.  After the Good Friday Procession of Silence, I thought life would slow down a little.  That’s what’s happened in years past — I caught up on the “to do” list on the home-front, leisurely plowed through the hundreds and hundreds of photos from Semana Santa, did a little research and a lot of thinking about what I’d just seen and experienced, and then crafted a few blog posts.

That was before we found out that Teotitlán del Valle celebrates 5-days of Carnival after Easter, not before Lent!  A little levity after the solemnity of Semana Santa and in one of our favorite places was not to be resisted.  And so, blogger buddy Chris and I set out on Monday afternoon in search of the house in Sección 1 (the village is divided into 5 geographic areas) that was hosting the daytime fiesta that precedes the evening festivities in the Municipal Plaza.

We returned yesterday for the Sección 5 fiesta, so more to come.  Now it’s off to Tlacolula for the Nieve, Mezcal y Gastronomia Festival.

FYI:  For a more detailed explanation of this Carnival celebration and photos from last year by a professional photographer, check out Ann Murdy’s website.

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Was it December?  Maybe it was November the last time the city saw rain… until this afternoon.  Those specks you see are very welcome raindrops on my window.

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It brought thunder and lightning, but fell gently.  It only lasted an hour, but cooled and cleansed the air.

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I can see clearly now…

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The Semana Santa poster said the Viernes Santo (Good Friday) Procesión del Silencio was to begin at 6 PM in front of .  Knowing the drill, I arrived at 4:45 to take photos as contingents and participants arrived — but nobody was there.  The old antiwar slogan, “What If They Gave a War and Nobody Came” came to mind.

Of course it was going to happen, it’s just that time isn’t what it seems here. Word on the scene had it that, despite the poster info, it wasn’t to begin until 6:30 PM.  No worries!  Well, except that Mexico doesn’t begin Daylight Saving Time until next weekend, the light began rapidly fading, and 6:30 PM became 7 PM.  Por favor, let Oaxaca’s 27th annual Parade of Silence begin!

And it eventually did — up Macedonio Alcalá, left at the Cruz de Piedra, left again on García Vigil to Independencia, another left, and back up the Alcalá.  And so, in darkness and silence the procession returned to the church where it all began.  Contingents could be heard late into the night parading through the streets of the city, as they returned the Jesuses and Marías to their respective home churches.

Lots more photos can be seen over at Oaxaca-The Year After.

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In Oaxaca the penitents gathered…

Purple hooded penitent

in front of Preciosa Sangre de Cristo on Good Friday…

3 black hooded penitents

preparing for the Procession of Silence.

Purple hoods behind black hooded penitent

For those who are wondering, “What’s with the hoods (capirotes)?”  The answer can be traced back to the Middle Ages.  Members of lay religious charitable organizations (cofradías) would don the masks and hoods to guarantee anonymity and promote humility in their service.

From the Holy Week in Seville, Wikipedia page:

At the heart of Semana Santa are the brotherhoods (Hermandades y Cofradías de Penitencia),[1] associations of Catholic laypersons organized for the purpose of performing public acts of religious observance; in this case, related to the Passion and death of Jesus Christ and to perform public penance.

The brotherhoods, besides the day-to-day work in preparation for the processions, also undertake many other self-regulated religious activities, and charitable and community work. Many brotherhoods maintain their own chapel, while others are attached to a regular parish.

The Spanish brought the tradition to Mexico and penitents continue to play a major role in the Viernes Santo, Procesión del Silencio in Oaxaca.

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And so Viernes Santo (Good Friday) began…

Mass said, a Vía Crucis (Stations of the Cross) procession through the streets of my neighborhood.

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