The walls of Oaxaca continue to talk.
Posts Tagged ‘photographs’
Just because…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged graffiti, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, street art, urban art, wall art on April 1, 2014| 4 Comments »
Good Samaritans
Posted in Beverages, Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Food, Religion, Travel & Tourism, tagged agua fresca, Día de la Samaritana, Día de las Aguas, Good Samaritan day, Horchata, Lent, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations on March 30, 2014| 4 Comments »
If you are in Oaxaca and it’s the fourth Friday of Lent, it must be Día de la Samaritana (AKA, el Día de las Aguas) — a uniquely Oaxacan celebration. It is inspired by the Gospel of John story in the New Testament: At noon, a tired and, apparently, thirsty Jesus, on his way to Galilee, asks a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well in Sychar for some water. His request was highly unusual because, according to the Old Testament, “Jews regarded the Samaritans as foreigners and their attitude was often hostile.” The woman complied with his request and the rest is history.
By noon, this past Friday in Oaxaca, the thermometer had already reached 90º F in El Centro Histórico and people of all ages, from small children to abuelos, were already lined up at bougainvilla and palm decorated booths in front of churches, schools, and businesses for the traditional Día de la Samaritana free aguas. It wasn’t just plain water they were waiting on, it was for divinely flavored aguas frescas made with fresh fruits and flowers — jamaica, horchata, chilacayota, tamarindo, sandia, and others. However in front of the churches, prior to the offering of aguas, there was a reenactment of Jesus and the Samaritana, as well as a priestly blessing — and an article in Noticias reported that, given the blazing hot sun, some in the crowd became a little impatient.
All were eventually served and the streets were filled with smiling people drinking a rainbow of aguas. Within an hour the serving pots, pitchers, bowls, and buckets were empty and all that remained were garbage containers filled to overflowing with plastic cups.
By the way, talking to my friend Sam, who teaches at Universidad José Vasconcelos de Oaxaca, they had an aguas frescas contest — memorable combinations of watermelon with strawberries and lime; atole with tuna nieve; and coconut with strawberries. However, I was informed the day’s winner was the piña colada — alas, minus the rum, I’m thinking.
Day in the life
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, Food, Parks & Plazas, Politics, Travel & Tourism, tagged Cocina Economica Isabel, Día de la Samaritana, huevos divorciados, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, political rally, PRI, Tuna band, Viernes del Llano on March 28, 2014| 6 Comments »
Eight hours today in Oaxaca…
Tuna band in Llano Park
A queen and her consort at Viernes del Llano
Huevos Divorciados at Cocina Economica Isabel
Día de la Samaritana agua on the Alcalá
PRI march and rally at Plaza de la Danza
Speaking of danzantes
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Politics, Protests, Travel & Tourism, tagged dancers, Danza de la Pluma, danzantes, demonstrations, Mexico, Oaxaca, penachos, photographs, photos, protests, San Bartolo Coyotepec on March 24, 2014| 8 Comments »
Reason number 579 why I love Oaxaca…
Today was the first day of a way-too-short first time visit to Oaxaca by a couple of California gal pals — an orientation walk through El Centro was the order of the day. And what did we stumble upon in front of the Government Palace? Danzantes waiting to perform a couple of the dances from the Danza de la Pluma.
They began dancing and I flashed on Saturdays’ blog post, Danzantes in training. However, these guys definitely weren’t apprentices — they had the steps and jumps down WITH those heavy and seemingly unwieldy penachos on their heads — and the crowd cheered.
The danzantes and most of their gathered audience were from San Bartolo Coyotepec, about 15 km south of the city. It’s a village known for the artisans who make black pottery. However, along with the band and dancers, there were banners and protestors.
According to this article (in Spanish), “they arrived at the presidential palace in the main square of the city to demand the replacement of the elections because the process was considered seedy and does not represent the will of the community.”
Culture and politics… I couldn’t have arranged a more quintessential Oaxaca experience, if I had tried. And my friends, what did they think? They loved it all!
Spring is nature’s way of saying…
Posted in Gardens, Science & Nature, Travel & Tourism, tagged Cabellos de Ángel, cactus, Flor de mayo, flowers, May Flower, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Primavera, Pseudobombax ellipticum, quotations, sea, Shaving Brush Tree, Spring, trees on March 20, 2014| 2 Comments »
You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming. –Pablo Neruda
Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. –Rainer Maria Rilke
Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment. –Ellis Peters
Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!‘ –Robin Williams
A Sunday drive…
Posted in Animals, Buildings, Food, Geography, Restaurants, Travel & Tourism, tagged agave fields, cattle, Los Huamuches, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, restaurants, Teotitlán del Valle on March 18, 2014| 8 Comments »
Domingo’s escape from the city out into the countryside of Oaxaca brought back one of my fondest childhood memories: Sunday drives with my grandparents into the golden hills of northern California. Two-lane winding roads with only the occasional car or pickup truck; farms, fields, and roadside stands outside my rolled down window always brought a sense of adventure mixed with freedom and serenity. And, it still does…
Oaxaca city to Teotitlán del Valle, where we yielded to a herd of cattle.
Santiago Matalán past fields of agave to San Baltazar Chichicapam.
We continued on the mostly deserted road towards Octotlán de Morelos.
Onto Hwy. 175 and a lunch stop at the roadside restaurant, between Santo Tomás Jalieza and San Martín Tilcajete, from almost two weeks earlier.
And this time we noted the name: Los Huamuches. Another delicious comida… a perfect way to end our meandering and head for home.
New gals in town
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Religion, Travel & Tourism, tagged calacas, graffiti, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, skeletons, street art, urban art, Virgin of Guadalupe, wall art on March 14, 2014| 2 Comments »
Arnulfo Mendoza Ruiz, RIP
Posted in Creativity, Culture, People, tagged Arnulfo Mendoza Ruíz, artists, death, funeral, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Teotitlán del Valle, weavers on March 10, 2014| 11 Comments »
Blog post as catharsis…
Saturday was a sad day in Oaxaca. It brought the completely unexpected death of one of Oaxaca’s most talented artists, Arnulfo Mendoza Ruiz. He was only 59. I knew him a little, peripherally through my blogger buddy, Chris, who has known him and his large Zapotec family in Teotitlán del Valle (his sisters are well-known chefs) for many years and with whom he had been collaborating on a project. Arnulfo had a well-known store and workshop called La Mano Mágica on the walking street here in Oaxaca, which showcased, not only his artistry (paintings, exquisite weavings, metal work, and more), but also the cream of Oaxaca’s artesanía and artist community. We would occasionally stop by or he would hail us from the doorway — always with twinkling eyes, mischievous smile, and well-worn fedora atop his head.
Today, the doors are closed.
As I’ve mentioned several times before, ritual and tradition play central roles in all aspects of Zapotec culture and it was amazing to watch it being expressed on Saturday. Arnulfo died in the morning and by the early afternoon, friends, family, and many of the major artists in Oaxaca, were gathered in La Mano Mágica. At one point, there was mournful chanting by several men in the gallery where his casket lay, later a band played, people came and went in the main workshop room, and in the room behind, his sisters prepared and served chicken covered in black mole, rice, tortillas, and atole. The women busied themselves with the ritual of preparing and offering food, but allowed the tears to well up when condolences were given. However, the men in the family sat or stood in clusters in the other two rooms, and remained stoic.
Under the embrace of El Picacho
According to belief, the funeral was held the next day. As we drove out to Teotitlán del Valle on Sunday, the winter sky’s usual puffy white clouds had turned dark and gray and a few tear drops fell from the heavens. There is a tradition of dimming the lights on Broadway to honor the death of a prominent member of the theatrical community. And, yesterday, it felt like Mother Nature desaturated the color of Oaxaca a little in honor of Arnulfo Mendoza Ruiz.
Led by the solemn sounds of a band, pallbearers carried the casket from his home high atop a hill in Teotitlán del Valle, down the steep and winding cobblestone streets, to Templo de la Preciosa Sangre de Cristo where a mass was celebrated. And then, all processed to the cemetery. The anguished sobs, as his body was lowered into the earth, were heart-wrenching. Like laughter, I think grief is contagious, as it reaches into our heart, takes hold, and shakes the continuum of feeling in each of us. And so, tears welled-up in my eyes.
Rest in peace, Arnulfo
Today, I continue to feel drained and very sad. I didn’t know Arnulfo well, but feel humbled by the fragility of physical life. I keep reflecting on how each of us tries to bring meaning to this temporal physical existence. Arnulfo was a flawed man and was chased by demons, but in his creativity and nurturing of the arts, he left the world a little better than he found it.
Chris’s farewell blog posts to his friend are especially touching: A sad day – Arnulfo Mendoza (1954-2014) and Another sad day – Arnulfo Mendoza (1954-2014).
And, here are two online obituaries (in Spanish): Adiós a Arnulfo Mendoza and Oaxaca de luto por la muerte de Arnulfo Mendoza.
Slow food, the Oaxaca way
Posted in Culture, Food, Restaurants, Travel & Tourism, tagged clayudas, food, Los Huamuches, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, restaurants, San Martín Tilcajete, slow food, tlayudas on March 7, 2014| 9 Comments »
Tuesday, not only brought the previously mentioned Carnaval, San Martín Tilcajete style, it also provided comida, muy sabrosa. No, not one of the 4 restaurants in Oaxaca recently listed in the 101 Best Restaurants in Latin America and the Caribbean. I’m talking about al fresco dining in a roadside restaurant. Sitting under the branches of a large shade tree on plastic chairs, around a plastic table, with cars and trucks speeding by, it was surprisingly tranquil.
We had ringside seats as our lunch was prepared on a well seasoned comal. I couldn’t help thinking as we sat at this unpretentious restaurant, in the middle of the fields that yielded the ingredients for our lunch, prepared according to culinary traditions passed down through generations of Zapotecos, this is quintessential “slow food.”
That’s my tlayuda (sometimes spelled, clayuda) being lifted off the comal — and it was one of the best I’ve eaten! Fyi, tlayudas are one of the 10 Essential Things To Eat And Drink In Oaxaca.
For more on our yummy lunch, see Chris’s blog post, Fat Tuesday done right. Alas, neither one of us took note of the name of the restaurant — all I know is it’s on the east side of Hwy 175, between San Martín Tilcajete and San Tomás Jalieza.
Carnaval, San Martín Tilcajete style
Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Religion, Travel & Tourism, tagged Carnaval, Carnival, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, mascaras, masks, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, San Martín Tilcajete on March 5, 2014| 1 Comment »
Another day… another celebration… another adventure! Yesterday was Día de Carnaval (aka, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival), a day to let the good times roll before the sacrifices of the Lenten season.
As you have probably surmised, the Spanish brought the tradition to Mexico. Like many other seasonal celebrations, it conveniently coincided with indigenous festivals celebrating the “lost days” of the Mesoamerican calendar, “when faces were covered to repel or confuse evil.” Apparently, it caught on “because it was one time when normal rules could be broken especially with the use of masks to hide identities from the authorities.”
And so, off we went for Día de Carnaval in San Martín Tilcajete (28 km south of the city), a village known for its fancifully painted wood-carved alebrije and masks. We are still doing May weather in March and, thus, it was hot and shade was in short supply.
In the morning, a bride and groom were chosen, villagers gathered for a boisterous and hilarious ceremony in the courtyard, they danced, and then all processed through the streets of San Martín Tilcajete to a designated location where the happy “couple” knelt before a jolly looking “priest.” By the way, those beautiful “women” in gorgeous gowns aren’t what they seem!
Young and old, the “guests” were a colorful crowd. Many of the diablos and diablillos covered their faces with colored pigments and their bodies with red or black oil — rumor has it, motor oil is sometimes used. Yuck!
I’d been to San Martín Tilcajete many times — to go from one workshop to another in search of the perfect alebrije for a gift or to add to my collection — but never before for Carnaval. It was great fun and the photo ops were endless.
As they say in New Orleans, “Laissez les bons temps rouler!”
There she sits, aloft a perch
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Music, tagged Bluebird lyrics, Buffalo Springfield, graffiti, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Santa Rosa, street art, urban art on March 3, 2014| 3 Comments »
Maybe it’s the recent trip to the US — staying in my childhood home, rearranging boxes of old LPs in the garage, looking at framed Fillmore and Winterland concert tickets from shows I attended “back in the day.” Another sixties-era song came to mind when I ran across this photo I’d taken in January of some street art on Rio Papaloapam in Santa Rosa, Oaxaca (not California). Ahhh… the beautiful harmonies of Buffalo Springfield singing Bluebird by Stephen Stills.
Listen to my bluebird laugh
She can’t tell you why
Deep within her heart, you see
She knows only crying, just crying
There she sits, aloft a perch
Strangest color blue
Flying is forgotten now
Thinks only of you, just you, oh yeah
So get all those blues
Must be a thousand hues
And be just differently used
You just know
You sit there mesmerized
By the depth of her eyes
That you can’t categorize
She got soul, she got soul
She got soul, she got soul
Do you think she loves you?
Do you think at all?
Soon she’s going to fly away
Sadness is her own
Give herself a bath of tears
And go home and go home
Excuse me while I kiss the sky
Posted in Culture, Gardens, Science & Nature, Travel & Tourism, Weather, tagged graffiti, jacaranda, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Primavera, Spring, street art, trees, urban art on February 28, 2014| 4 Comments »
I’m still in recovery and catching-up mode and a nagging cold (caught in el norte) hasn’t helped. While I’ve only ventured out of Casita Colibrí a few times, I’m loving being back in the land of color.
And, after my recent sojourn to points north, where Mother Nature is a drama queen when it comes to seasons, I’m savoring one of the subtle signs of spring in Oaxaca.
The jacarandas are beginning to bloom.
Purple haze all in my eyes…
Excuse me while I kiss the sky!
A matter of degrees
Posted in Casita Colibrí, Gardens, Science & Nature, Travel & Tourism, Weather, tagged bougainvilla, Mexico, New York state, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, snow, weather on February 25, 2014| 3 Comments »
Last week near Saratoga Springs, NY it was 15º F, doors and windows were sealed shut, and the furnace was blasting.
Today, back in Oaxaca, it’s 90º F, doors and windows are wide open, and I’ve got the fan on.
What a difference one week and 2000+ miles makes. I’m definitely a warm weather person!
Expressing the outrage
Posted in Creativity, Economics, Politics, Protests, tagged Enrique Peña Nieto, graffiti, Mexico, Oaxaca, oil industry, PEMEX, petroleum industry, photographs, photos, protests, street art, urban art on February 20, 2014| 24 Comments »
Monday’s headline from the Huffington Post read, “Enrique Peña Nieto’s TIME Cover Sparks Outrage In Mexico.” The Time Magazine cover (to be published February 24, 2014) shows an imperious looking Peña Nieto, with the bold-face headline, “Saving Mexico.” Judging from personal conversations, numerous articles, and marches throughout the country, that is definitely not the way most Mexicans see their president.
Elected in 2012, Peña Nieto has proposed sweeping reforms, including a previously mentioned education package modeled after the disastrous US, “No Child Left Behind Act.” These unpopular reforms have citizens marching in the streets and calling for Peña Nieto’s head. One of the reforms that Mexicans find most egregious is the proposal to open Mexico’s state-run oil industry, PEMEX, to foreign investment. This is one that strikes at the heart of Mexican pride.
A little background: In 1938, in support of oil workers striking against foreign-owned oil companies, Mexico’s president, Lázaro Cárdenas, citing the 27th article of the 1917 constitution, expropriated the Mexican facilities of the United States and Anglo–Dutch oil companies, nationalized the oil reserves, and created the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (aka, PEMEX). Mexico now owned and controlled this valuable resource.
Back to the present: According to the Huffington Post article, “The energy bill, however, faced massive protests when it passed through Congress in December. Demonstrators shouted ‘The homeland is not for sale!‘ as officials voted to allow private companies to exploit oil and gas reserves in the country, according to the Associated Press.”
In true Oaxacan fashion, marches have been held and banners, posters, and murals have gone up throughout the city to express the outrage and indignation felt by a majority of Mexicans at what they see as an attempt by the Peña Nieto government to sell-off their patrimony.
Of course, as the Time Magazine article illustrates, the US is applauding Peña Nieto and the actions of his ruling party.
Size doesn’t matter
Posted in Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged Mexico, moto taxis, motorcycles, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, toy car, transportation, trucks on February 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »
What are you driving these days? Size doesn’t matter when it comes to cool rides in Oaxaca…
The question is, do you dance with wolves while driving?
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