I opened the front gate this morning to find the sidewalk had morphed into an Estación de la Cruz.
Worshipers prayed, recited the appropriate devotions, and then slowly moved on.
Posts Tagged ‘photos’
Serendipity on Viernes Santo…
Posted in Celebrations, Holidays, tagged Estaciones de la Cruz, Good Friday, Holy Week, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, ritual procession, Semana Santa, Via Crucis, Viernes Santo on April 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Faces of Jueves Santo
Posted in Celebrations, Holidays, tagged Holy Thursday, Jueves Santo, Maundy Thursday, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Semana Santa on April 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Today was Jueves Santo (aka: Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday).
Believers gathered to commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus. Tables are set up in church doorways selling pan bendito (3 buns for 5 pesos of blessed bread). And, where there are more than ten people, vendors gather….
Outside Iglesia de la Preciosa Sangre de Cristo — I suspect her life hasn’t been half as sweet as the dulces she was selling.
A little sweetheart on his best behavior and waiting to process.
Would you buy pickled carrots or peppers from this woman?
The rains came and the capas del agua vendors miraculously appeared outside Santo Domingo.
After visiting the prescribed 7 churches, I rewarded myself with my (hopefully, not last) supper — a flor de calabaza and quesillo empanada, cooked to order. Yummm….
Grand installation…
Posted in Environment, Home, tagged Casita Colibrí, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, tinaco, water on April 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
And now a pause in our Semana Santa coverage…
Yesterday was a momentous day at Casita Colibrí. I arrived home just in time to watch the removal of my late, previously mentioned, but definitely not lamented, baby-size tinaco and the installation of my gigunda, new, and much wished for, tinaco. It was a sight to behold!
These guys looked so young… but worked efficiently and seemed to know exactly what they were doing. I sure hope so!
Fingers and toes, but not eyes, are crossed that this will, at long last, solve my every-other-day lack of water problem.
Of trees, shadows, blossoms, and brooms…
Posted in Nature & Science, tagged brooms, escobas de otate, jacaranda, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Santo Domingo, twig brooms on March 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »
On my way to the Oaxaca Lending Library this morning, I was stopped in my tracks by tree shadows and dappled lavender jacaranda blossoms on the rust red of newly landscaped planter beds of Santo Domingo. Light, shadows, color, texture…
Full moon rising over Oaxaca
Posted in Nature & Science, tagged full moon, La Luna, Mexico, Moon, Oaxaca, photographs, photos on March 20, 2011| 3 Comments »
November, where did you go? Part 3
Posted in Gardens, tagged Casita Colibrí, Echeveria Pulvinata "Ruby", Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca, John Pilbeam, photographs, photos on November 27, 2010| 1 Comment »
… and then there was the “Exploring Oaxaca for Mammillaria and Echeveria” lecture, sponsored by the Oaxaca Garden and Nature Club.
The lecture was held at the Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca. The gardens are part of the magnificent old monastery complex of Santo Domingo, and have a storied history. The Dominican Order began construction in 1570; during the revolution, the buildings were used to house the cavalry; at one time it was “made available” to the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca; and in 1994 citizens protested plans to turn the grounds into a luxury hotel/convention center. Oaxacan artist and benefactor, Francisco Toledo and his foundation, Pro-Oax came to the rescue. The original impressive underground cistern system was uncovered and put into use and an (almost) 6-acre ethnobotanical garden was established to preserve, protect, and propagate Oaxaca’s rich biodiversity, that has nourished the people’s and their culture of this valley for thousands of years.
The speaker, John Pilbeam, is from England and leads expeditions to Oaxaca every year in a quest to see various cactus and succulents in their natural habitat. He is a 70-year-old man with that wonderfully dry British sense of humor that he used throughout the talk… definitely not boring! I learned a lot, even the name of one of my favorite rooftop garden plants:
Echeveria Pulvinata "Ruby"
The icing on the day’s cake, was John sat next to me at the luncheon that followed at La Olla and we had several delightful conversations throughout the meal, including his stories of growing up in World War II, London.
Alacrán and Tintinnabulation
Posted in Animals, Home, tagged African Tulip trees, apartment, Casita Colibrí, insomnia, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, scorpions, travel on July 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Church bells and scorpions; I must be back in my new home.
My return to Oaxaca was long and bumpy, with thunderstorms populating almost the entire trip. A rocky ride was had by all. The pint-size Embraer landed at 11 pm — pretty late for Oaxaca’s little airport. However, as we alighted from the plane, the land crew provided welcoming umbrellas to protect us from the downpour, as we dashed across the blackened tarmac to the terminal. With luggage retrieved, green light received, and boleto purchased, I jumped into the waiting and wonderful white airport van.
First to be dropped off, I pulled and dragged my suitcases up the two flights of stairs (trying not to awaken my sure-to-be sleeping neighbors along the way) and into the waiting embrace of Casita Colibrí, only to be greeted by carpenter’s tools strewn about and my bathroom door off its hinges — evidence of a project that was 2/3rds completed when I left six weeks before. Not a problem, I told myself. Then, my toilet wouldn’t flush. No big deal, I told myself. However (drum roll, please), when I came face-to-face with a scorpion in my bathroom sink, that WAS a problem!
I tried to be a “grownup” but it was my first real live scorpion and it totally freaked me out. Eventually, I managed to send it on its way to the big alacrán casa in the sky. I will spare you the details but suffice it to say, among other things, it involved saran wrap and duct tape. Scorpions tend to carry on their scorpion business at night and, needless to say, sleep has not come easily since my close encounter. However, like a good former reference librarian, I’ve done my research and discovered that the sting of the local variety of scorpion may be painful but is generally not deadly to healthy adults, lavender is used in France as a repellent, and people in the US Southwest report success using cedar oil to keep these creepy creatures out. Now to find one or both… In the interim, I reluctantly purchased and used one of several toxic sprays found on Soriana’s shelves — moderate peace of mind must be achieved if I am to get a good night’s sleep!
It took almost a week, but unpacking has finally been completed, suitcases stored, apartment has been tidied, carpenter has put my bathroom door back on, I’ve fixed my toilet, and the pantry has been restocked. I again awake to church bells chiming, geckos chirping, and colibrís zipping across my terrace. My African Tulip trees are in bloom…
… and tonight I’m going to watch the Guerreros de Oaxaca play the Piratas de Campeche with my best friend in Oaxaca! It’s good to be home…
If It’s Tuesday…
Posted in Gardens, tagged apartment, Casita Colibrí, gardening, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, terrace on May 11, 2010| 1 Comment »
… it must be time to water Casita Colibrí’s growing garden!
The 112 containers, from 6″ to 24″ pots and 30″ x 8″ x 8″ planter boxes decorating my entry and terrace, are brimming with one to twelve succulents and cacti. They are watered weekly with gray water — shower water, dish water, and rain water, the latter when and if it ever rains again! Oh, and then there are the 2 bougainvillea, 1 plumbago, 1 gardenia, 1 geranium, and pot of herbs, which require watering two to three times per week in this 90+ degree heat. Water is an especially precious resource here in Oaxaca and we tenants must pay for all water deliveries to our compound. So, in order to nurture my garden, everyday I haul buckets and dish-pans out through the terrace gate to my collecting barrel, a 32-gallon (not so sweet-smelling) plastic garbage can. The plants don’t seem to mind the hand-me-down, fetid, murky water — in fact, they appear to love it!
With a few exceptions, my original garden was propagated from slips lovingly cultivated by my neighbor G, from his own exuberant and thriving terrace garden — a garden so profuse that there is scarcely room to walk! When I arrived ten months ago, I was a disbeliever, never imagining that my terrace, too, could become home to a lush riot of greens, grays, magenta, red, yellow, orange, white, and blue.
An added bonus, besides (hopefully) filtering at least some of the exhaust from the diesel buses that race each other up the hill, the vegetation attracts a host of critters — giant friendly bumbling black bumblebees zeroing in on blossoms; geckos skittering across the pottery and terrace walls in the morning and afternoon, catching their breakfast and dinner; large brown crickets that like hang out in my “greens” recycling basket, not minding or even moving when I add more spent flowers and cuttings; and birds, including my home’s namesake colibrí, flitting back and forth across the terrace, chasing insects and sipping nectar from cactus and succulent flowers.
My garden never ceases to inspire, reward, and delight. And… the garden god watches over it all!
478 and counting…
Posted in History, Holidays, tagged calendas, celebrations, Happy Birthday Oaxaca, history, Mexico, Oaxaca, parades, photos on April 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Oaxaca is old! As a cursory glance at Mixtec and Zapotec history and their descendants will tell, this valley has been settled for thousands of years.
However, yesterday the city celebrated its founding as a colonial city, marking the 478 years since Spanish settlers (their bloody way paved by Hernán Cortés and his conquistadores) successfully petitioned the Queen of Spain for a land grant of 1 square league. The colonists had already established their own town on the site of Huaxyacac, renamed it Antequera (after an old Roman city in Spain) and received a Royal Charter from King Charles I of Spain. However, Cortés had successfully gotten the entire Valley of Oaxaca (hundreds of thousands of acres) declared as his own private marquisate and, his greed knowing no bounds, kept trying to evict the colonial townspeople. By obtaining the queen’s charter, this end-run around Cortés insured the rights of the townspeople to the land. Thus, April 25th continues to be celebrated as Oaxaca’s birthday.
Saturday night I had a ringside seat on my terrace for fuegos artificiales (fireworks) — first emanating from the vicinity of the ex-convento of Santo Domingo (6 blocks to the NE), followed by those sent up into the night sky from La Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (AKA: my backyard). Sunday morning, I was awakened at 6:05 to the sounds of Lady Soledad’s bells chiming — more musical than the usual clang-clang-clang — for a full 5 minutes, along with the rat-ta-tat-tat of firecrackers, adding exclamation points!
I went down to the Zócalo a little before 6pm — the calenda (parade) hadn’t yet arrived, but the place was teeming with people (mostly all Mexican). Payasos (clowns) were in abundance, but the big hit was a bungee cord contraption suspended above a trampoline. A guy would harness a kid to the cord, jump up and down on the trampoline with his arms around said kid and once momentum was achieved, let go and send the kid sling-shot-like up into the sky. Yikes, the way several of the kids were flaying around, I thought someone was going to break a back.
For the 3rd day in a row, temperatures continued to be in the high 90s, unseasonably hot even for Oaxaca so, for the second day in a row, I hit the ice cream shop — this time for a scoop each of peach and banana (in a cup, no cone this time… less messy as it melted) — a great combination! The calenda eventually arrived with all the usual suspects — several brass bands, municipal honchos, dancers in costume, monos (giant puppets — see above photo), etc. Did I mention, it was really hot? There I was, dripping wet, confining myself to the shade of the Zócalo’s 135+ year old towering Indian laurel trees, and eating ice cream when these participants (of all ages, I might add) had walked, played, and danced their way under the blazing sun for 13 blocks from Llano Park!
After 13 blocks, she didn't look any worse for wear!
Guys unmasked.
Feeling the heat... the pause that refreshes!
That's all folks!
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