Posted in Celebrations, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged Donají, Guelaguetza, Guelaguetza Auditorium, Internet streaming, La Leyenda, Legend of Donají, Live streaming, Mexico, Oaxaca, popular travel destinations, travel on July 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Live and direct from Oaxaca’s Guelaguetza Auditorium; see what all the fuss is about! Watch the July 23 and 30 Guelaguetza performances, along with the July 29 production of the Legend of Donají, stream live on the internet at:
View from the terrace… The Guelaguetza Auditorium during last night’s Legend of Donají show.
Posted in Travel & Tourism, tagged Lonely Planet, Mexico, popular travel destinations, Robert Reid, safety, tourism, travel, vacation on May 2, 2012| 2 Comments »
We, who live or spend a significant amount of time here in Oaxaca, can’t say it too many times…
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
Every week or so I get asked, ‘Is it safe to go to Mexico?’ I had always said, if you’re thoughtful about where you go, yes. But after my most recent trip there, I’m changing my answer… to a question:
Do you think it’s safe to go to Texas?
To be clear, violence in Mexico is no joke. There have been over 47,000 drug-related murders alone in the past five years. Its murder rate – 18 per 100,000 according to this United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime report – is more than three times the US rate of 4.8 per 100,000. Though Mexican tourism is starting to bounce back, Americans appear more reluctant to return than Canadians and Brits (5.7 million Americans visited in 2011, down 3% from 2010 – and, according to Expedia, more than four of five bookings were adults going without children). Many who don’t go cite violence as the reason.
What you don’t get from most reports in the US is statistical evidence that Americans are less likely to face violence on average in Mexico than at home, particularly when you zero in on Mexico’s most popular travel destinations. For example, the gateway to Disney World, Orlando, saw 7.5 murders per 100,000 residents in 2010 per the FBI; this is higher than Cancun or Puerto Vallarta, with rates of 1.83 and 5.9 respectively, per a Stanford University report (see data visualization here, summarized on this chart, page 21). Yet in March, the Texas Department of Public Safety advised against ‘spring break’ travel anywhere in Mexico, a country the size of the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy combined. Never mind that popular destinations like the Bahamas, Belize and Jamaica have far higher homicide rates (36, 42 and 52 per 100,000). Why the singular focus?
Before you nix Mexico altogether, consider these five things:
[Read full article HERE]
Posted in Celebrations, Holidays, tagged altar, animal figurines, Chia Pets, Día de la Virgén de Dolores, Mexico, Oaxaca, Our Lady of Sorrows, photos, popular travel destinations, virgen de dolores, Virgin of Sorrows on March 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Today, the 6th Friday of Lent, is El Día de la Virgen de Dolores, the Virgin of Sorrows.
Altars have been set-up in courtyards and businesses around town, including this one at Hotel Las Mariposas (butterflies).
It commemorates the pain suffered by the Virgin Mary on the death of her son.
By the way, note the “chia pets.” This is where the US entrepreneur originally got the idea in the late 1970s for the terracotta animal figurines planted with Salvia Hispanica.
Tonight, I’m headed to a special Día de la Virgen de Dolores program, including a concert of sacred music performed by the Coro de la Ciudad (chorus of the city of Oaxaca), at the Templo del Carmen Bajo.
(ps) Ooops! Apparently, the concert is tomorrow night.
Posted in Environment, Parks & Plazas, Travel & Tourism, tagged automobile pollution, climate action, Coyoacán, Ecobici, environment, environmentalism, Llano Park, Mexico, Mexico City, Oaxaca, popular travel destinations, recycling, waste container on February 10, 2012| 2 Comments »
The day before I went up to Mexico City last month, crossing Llano Park, I came across a newly installed waste container encouraging plastic recycling; courtesy of Tierra Sana, a company promoting and selling environmentally friendly products.
These baskets have cropped up in other parts of the city — this one in the plazuela next to Carmen Alto church. Please know, the trees will cry if you don’t recycle.
Once up in Mexico City, I noticed Occupy Coyoacán practiced recycling.
And then, we were all brought up short by this electric car…
These charging stations are not far from the Templo Mayor; an appropriate juxtaposition, I think. Automobile pollution can’t be good for the Great Temple.
Then there is bike-sharing — 1200 bikes at 90 Ecobici bike stations in Mexico’s capital city.
For more on Mexico City’s Green Plan, check out 10 Highlights of Mexico City’s Climate Action Program.
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 »
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.
Posted in Celebrations, Churches, Culture, Holidays, Religion, Remembering, Travel & Tourism, tagged Black Christ, celebrations, dance, mom, Oaxaca, popular travel destinations, Señor de Esquipulas, Templo del Carmen Alto on January 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Sunday, in the Plazuela de Carmen Alto, celebrations honoring the Christ of Esquipulas (Black Christ) were in full swing. I was awakened at 6 AM to the sound of fuegos artificiales (fireworks) and eventually drifted off to sleep after 11:30 PM, as fireworks’ explosions resumed.
Festivities lasted all day and I couldn’t resist heading up to the church courtyard to see what was happening.
When I arrived, seats in the shade were filled and a small crowd was gathered behind a barricade; a castillo, laying on its side in three parts, was being constructed; a teenage Oaxacan brass band, with the requisite tuba towering over the other instruments and their players, was waiting to play; and young dancers were performing with a combination of earnestness and joy.
Dance always seems to be an integral part of celebrations both secular and religious, and, in reflecting on my love for this, at times, perplexing and contradictory place, dance is one of the things that resonates the most.
A small stage set up under the trees; dancers, their handmade and unique costumes; energetic music; choreographed steps passed down through generations spirited me back to my childhood…
Let’s dance!
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View From Casita Colibrí 