Saturday, August 18, 2007
Oaxaca
Oaxaca is about a 6-10 hour (depending on the class) bus ride south from Mexico City. We quite enjoyed our day of winding through the mountains--some even snowcapped--and desert highlands of southern Mexico. As a reward after a long day of bus travel, we agreed to go to a fancy restuarant once we arrived in Oaxaca. After an evening strolling around the cobblestoned colonial streets and happening on an adolescent Guelaguetza (a regional festival that we'll mention later) dance primer of sorts, we did just that and thoroughly enjoyed the drizzly courtyard ambience and maize-based flavors of some fine Oaxacan dining. The next day we spent mostly at the nearby hilltop ruins of Monte Alban.
-Brent
An example of the 150 or so varieties of
chiles you can find in Mexico.
Early morning in Oaxaca.
Souvenir sellers taking a break with a view at the
Monte Alban ruins.
The young traditional dancers at the little performance
in the street we happened upon.
You can tell a lot of practice went into this. Notice the
cotton candy guy.
The future dancers of Oaxaca look on.
Costume change.
Lots of twirling.
The old-meets-new courtyard at our
fancy dinner restaurant
...Our second night in Oaxaca was a blast due to a huge parade that took place in preparation for the big festival two days later. There was tons of music, dancing, costumes, and humorously enough, a plethora of free tequila shots being passed out to the crowd. We followed the parade for several hours as it wound throught the streets setting off periodic fireworks. In fact, the fireworks continued going off literally all night long which made us feel like we were waking up in a war zone at times. Anyway, good times.
-Brent
Scenes from the parade:
University band performing in street
They gave away carnations
The next day we went to a nearby town named Tlacolula where there was this enormous Sunday market. This was my favorite day of the trip thus far. I loved the many opportunities to bargain and speak Spanish and enjoyed the colorful stalls and smells of food. The crafts and pottery were impressive, and we managed to come away with 6 shiny (and breakable) pieces. Since we would only be in Mexico another week and a half, it was easier to rationalize lugging around some fragile souvenirs from time to time. Plus, they were only a couple dollars each. I'm happy to say that we came home with none of them broken!
-Erika
Scenes from the market:
Our lunch...chicken, black beans, salsa and crumbly
cheese on corn tortilla
After the market in Tlacolula, we headed off to see a massive tree that's reported to be the biggest living biomass in the world. Although that fact is disputed, the tree had begun to overtake the adjacent church and is supposed to be over 2000 years old! Its size was very hard to capture in a photo. As we walked up, we were struck by the sounds of hundreds of birds singing as they flitted around in the giant tree.
-Erika
That is one massive trunk!!
Boy and lady splashing each other in a fountain
Finally the morning of the Guelaguezta festival arrived. We showed up two hours early in order to sit in the free section of the big stadium. Two hours early wasn't quite enough! The stadium was already packed, but we managed to squeeze into two aisle spots. The Mexicans around us were very friendly and tried to take care of us a bit and ensure that we were enjoying ourselves. The guy beside me attempted to get us free hats to shade us from the sun and shooed away people blocking our view. Very sweet. We even scored a free breakfast. We enjoyed the customary music and dances, but they were the same as the ones we had witnessed up close in the parade days earlier. So we finally succumbed to the beating sun and left early, filing past lines of armed police that were present in case of riots.
-Brent
Us with packed stadium behind
Erika used her sweatshirt as a sun block
Guelaguetza festival
Should this make us feel safe or worried?
After that, we went nearby to the main market and checked out the chocolate shops. Oh my goodness, it was awesome! The chocolate was literally being made right in front of us from cacao beans and cinnamon sticks. The ingredients of the chocolate were simply sugar from cane, cacao beans, cinnamon and almonds. Delicious. We got a bar to take home and a shake. I think it was one of the most heavenly things to ever go in my mouth! After that I took to carrying a little bag of chocolate around with me in my pocket.
-Brent
Amazing chocolate shake
Erika in front of cactus garden
Wedding goers forced to take shelter in
the rain
Bright buildings in Oaxaca
Next up...Chiapas!
