Palm Sunday - Domingo de Ramos 4/2/2023

First time I've missed this in years, but car problems meant a no go this year.

Power to the people...

 Yesterday, at 6AM, the power went out for ten hours.  It was a good thing.  CFE (La Comisión Federal de Electricidad) was installing new poles, new lines and a new transformer and wow, what a difference a day makes. 

The power has always been sketchy here with dramatic fluctuations everyday.  Some days, things like the fridge or microwave would barely crawl along.  And everyone has big surge protectors. About a year ago, one of the neighbors circulated a petition for a new transformer that we all signed. Well, look at this! 

The difference is so noticeable. Everything electric is just purring.  Gracias, CFE, who showed up with a huge crew and got the job done quite quickly.

Knives out...

 

"Get your knives sharpened on the spot." One of the special services to be found on the streets of Oaxaca. For some reason, and maybe it's the brutal heat, but this shot makes me think of Sisyphus... just keep pushing and pushing.   And, as always, the street art tells many stories.  No knives here, but bottles. 

And where else could a simple picture of corn, maiz, which was developed in the Mitla region 10,00 years ago, elicit so much pride and respect. 

This saxophonist appears regularly in different guises. Wonderful stencil work.

The juxtaposition of these three images across from Santo Domingo is good food for thought.  Tourists love taking photos with the figures from Tehuantepec, but the locals are not quite so enamored with them.  You can see how they're are feeling by the scowls on their faces.

And of course, someone is always watching.

What a world...

Trying to get back into the groove of posting after just returning from Boston to Oaxaca. Water is a big issue in both places.  In Oaxaca, there ain't none.... well, very little. The city has so little, it cannot meet the needs of its inhabitants.  It's dire.  It is possible to buy water from a pipa or water truck, but only if you know someone and are willing to pay expensive prices.  And who knows where they are getting it?  And it's even worse for the 22 million people in Mexico City.  No water - no life.

In Newton, it's a different world. There's abundant water, but the city estimated water bills for years due to faulty meters and people are getting huge bills.  Mine was $600 and I was only there a few weeks.  Others have been in the thousands.  I heard of one for $56k... maybe they have a pool.

My blogger buddy, Shannon and I, joke that we are now living in a dystopian world like those that we've read about in our audio books.  Well, here we are. 

Hottest ever... war, famine, corruption.  We are in for some hard times.  This may look like a happy scene but... it's warm enough in Antarctica for butterflies?