Mexico

Christmas Season

Posted on by Laughingnomad

The Christmas season begins with the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 and continues until January 6…the Day of the Three Kings when presents are opened.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or Virgen de Guadalupe) commemorates the traditional account of her appearances to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City from December 9 through December 12, 1531. It is Mexico’s most popular religious and cultural image: Nobel laureate Octavio Paz wrote in 1974 that “the Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the National Lottery!” On Guadalupe Feast Day people wait in line for hours to enter a church and kiss the foot of the Virgin. Little children are dressed up like the indigenous Indian children to whom the Virgin appeared.

During the Christmas season there is music, dancing and expositions of all kinds in the Zocalo and all around the Centro. One evening there were three music groups going all at once in the Zocalo including a Calenda with traditional indigenous dances in one corner in front of the Cathedral and a stage full of dancers demonstrating modern Mexican dance styles in another corner. A trio of flutes played indigenous folk music in the middle! And that’s not counting the guitarist and singer in one of the cafes and the poor roving singer with long black coat who sings a horrible loud version of “Oaxaca Oaxaca” and then expects you to give him money for your trouble!
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Village of Benito Juarez

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Last week Ana, Steve and their 3 year old Oscar and I drove to Tlacalula and then west on a winding road high in the Sierra del Norte to the tiny village of Benito Juarez. I parked the car near an intersection where a pick-up was parked in front of us on the road. Along comes a truck and smacks right into the back of the pickup…just didn’t stop! Broke the taillight and dented the pickup…but no one got angry…in fact they just chuckled and looked at the rear of the pickup and took off again. I was amazed how different this scene would have been in the States.

After walking around and taking pictures for awhile we ate freshly caught trucha (trout) stuffed with cheese and herbs at a small comedor…with hand made blue corn tortillas and bowls of hot coffee with a dash of Rompope. Then back home on a much better paved road than the one we drove up on. On the way down we picked up a child and a couple women with bags of flowers who were waiting for a bus to take them to a market at the bottom of the mountain. They gave us a beautiful flower and offered to pay for the ride. No way said Ana!

First Christmas In Oaxaca 2006

Posted on by Laughingnomad

The Zocalo is lovely now with Christmas events every night. Both the teachers and the police are out of the Zocalo now.

Last night the Canadian couple, Ana and Steve and their 3 year old son Oscar, and Joe from Chicago, in the other two apartments, and I “caroled” the manager’s family in the 4th apartment. Then we set up a table and chairs in the courtyard with Rampope (a kind of alcoholic eggnog with milk and almond flavoring made by the nuns here) and chocolate, cookies and Ana’s gingerbread house. We showed slides on Joe’s laptop computer of snowy northern America and wore scarves around our necks even though it was pretty warm out at 7pm. Our singing was pretty sick…there were so few of us and Joe had to print out the words to Christmas songs because we couldn’t remember them. I tried to get some video in the dark and sing too which was pretty ridiculous. Funniest part was that Joe lined up two rows of chairs facing each other…one row for them and one row for us. As only two of us spoke Spanish that was pretty ridiculous too. I had invited my friend Max along and bought him a Santa’s hat which, with his white beard and red shirt made him look almost like Santa. But he doesn’t speak Spanish either.
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Freedom Of Speech

Posted on by Laughingnomad

December 14, 2006
More Dispatches from the War against Journalists

Before he left office on December 1, Mexican president Vicente Fox lauded big strides against authoritarianism and intolerance during his 6-year administration. Besieged by murder, violence and intimidation, many Mexican journalists are wondering what country Fox was talking about in his homilies.

“We are up to our ears hearing how freedom of the press was one of the great accomplishments,” wrote Veracruz state’s Mundo de Cordoba newspaper in a recent editorial. “In reality, what was gained was to put us in the dishonorable first place position on the list of the most dangerous countries in the Americas to exercise journalism.” Nine Mexican and foreign journalists have been murdered in Mexico so far this year, six of them since October. Three other Mexican journalists have disappeared in 2006.

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Max’s Day

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Since I spoke to you last, I have spend one king-hell of a strange day. The morning was spent exchanging e-mails with one of the Mexican nationals who works for the sinisterly named ‘Citizen’s Benefits Office’ at our embassy in Mexico City. As you know I’ve been trying to straighten out my seriously screwed up Social Security account for the last four or five months.

Now, Eunice, before I moved down here I would have laughed out loud at anybody who told me there was any more hide-bound, ineffective, opaque, inefficient or surreal organization on the face of god’s green earth than the U.S. Federal bureaucracy. That was before I learned the Mexican ways of conducting business. They are simply incomprehensible to anyone not born and raised here. The first rule to remember is that Mañana means only one thing: “Not today.” Staffing a Federal bureaucratic department with Mexican Nationals was a strategic blunder exceeded in our lifetimes only by Bush’s Iraqi war.

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Sights & Sounds Of Oaxaca

Posted on by Laughingnomad

It is very quiet in Oaxaca now
For some people.
Others are in hiding.

There are only fireworks at night.
It is the Christmas season.
There is a big tree with lights in the Zocalo.
The pain of the people is buried under
Tree bark and red Chrysanthemums in the gardens.

It is very quiet in Oaxaca now.
The PFP are camped in the plaza
In the front of the Cathedral…
Sleeping, reading the papers…like the teachers
But they have big guns on their laps.

It is very quiet in Oaxaca now
For some people.
Others are watching and listening.
And waiting.

Like the Tlacuache.

San Andreas Huayapam Fiesta

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Last week, with friends, I attended the annual San Andreas Huayapam Fiesta about 25 minutes northeast of Oaxaca City. Very well organized with a lot of people for such a small pueblo. There was a local band that played music during the fireworks that scared the heck out of me and kept me well back from the action. Men ran up and down with with fireworks shooting out of structures built like bulls and castles. Once in awhile small boys would chase after a wheel that would spin off into the crowd.

Then a huge structure was lit with continuous fireworks shooting up and down and up into the night sky. Young men walked around giving out free copas of mescal and cigarettes. Food stands and carnival rides for the kids surrounded the band stands and dance area. I understand that each family was assessed $30 for the fiesta…a very large amount for most people. By the end of the night no one had ended up in jail as is often the case. When the fireworks were finished a great band played for the dance that began at 1am. The band played until 5am with no break.

Calderon Takes Oath Of Office

Posted on by Laughingnomad

It was reported on a discussion site that “Felipe Calderon took the oath of office as president of Mexico this morning in a ceremony that lasted four minutes. The house of legislators came to blows several times before he arrived, and the shouting continued throughout with a pause for the national anthem.

The PFP surrounded the building.

The video camera showed Arnold Shwarzeneger approaching the chamber, smiling as if he were about to be interviewed as a star presence. I think the whole thing ended before he got in the door.”

It has also been reported in the Mexican media that the Governor has a list of 100 foreigners they are looking to arrest that helped out the resistance here. I imagine these are mostly journalists and others from countries like Cuba and Venezuela. But some expats here are worried that their visas won’t be renewed if they have been found supporting APPO.

I want to make it clear that I have posted no articles to any foreign press nor have given any financial or other assistance to the APPO nor to anyone supporting APPO. I do scan blogs and discussion sites for information that I can use to assess my safety here. As a foreign expat I am keeping a very low profile. I don’t want to risk not being let back into the country.

PFP Attacks Nov 25 During Our Trip To Cajonos

Posted on by Laughingnomad

I drove Lester and Max to San Pedro de Cajonos yesterday. Left at the intersection at Tlacalula and then an hour and a half up into the Sierra del Sud mountains. Beautiful drive. San Pedro hangs on a cliff above a valley. The Blas family makes Alebrijes there.

Getting back to Oaxaca City about 5pm, I drove up Guerrero St. where Max lives to find milling crowds of frantic people who were attempting to undue the effects of PFP tear gas with handkerchiefs soaked in vinegar and Coca Cola. A march had just gotten to the city and the PFP didn’t much take to having the Zocalo surrounded by APPO supporters.

Exhausted from the day’s drive, I went to bed at 8pm to find out the next morning that over 2000 people, many innocent bystanders, had been arrested and beaten and taken to jails…but not charged. I also found out that Max had a method to his madness…knowing I might have been caught in the middle of it all had I stayed in the city.