Altos y bajos

That's me with basura pointed at my head. Basura means trash. I love that I am looking into the wrong end of the camera and it is pointed straight down. Actually, I am using a small still camera, my back up.

It is funny how certain days can be filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows. Yesterday was such a day. I will keep the lows to myself, like anyone needs to hear about them, but one of the insignificant ones was that I dropped my Nikon and messed up the only lens I have with me.

However, the highs were pretty high. The plan was to drive out to the cemetery in San Antonino for a concurso or competition, I think for grave decoration, but I don't really know. At any rate, it was the day before and we had the place almost completely to ourselves which was even better. It has to be one of the most beautiful panteones in all of Oaxaca. I visited it three times this week, each time it grew more beautiful. More on San Antonino later.

On the drive out we stopped at Jacobo Angeles restaurant where there was a feria of the woodcarving from nearby San Martin Tilcajete. Jacobo and his wife, Maria are real movers and shakers and are doing everything in their power to promote the artesanos.

I went with Henry Wangeman of Amate Books and as we went in, all the artesanos stopped what they were doing and gathered around us in a wonderful welcome. Henry has many years of promoting, selling, exporting and exhibiting folk art. He is a hero in many of the villages.

And little ole humble me? Moi? Not much other than collecting and commissioning pieces over the years and doing my best to encourage and promote this amazing art. I also wrote those directories and apparently after my talk last week, inspired a few people to visit the villages and buy pieces.So they were happy to see us. I love how Martin Melchor is holding the directorio open to his page.
These shots are all Henry Wangeman's. Gracias, hermano.

If this isn't nice

Many years ago, when I was starting my Buddhist studies, my teacher, a venerable man from Sri Lanka, told me, "Chris, there is no such thing as a western Buddhist so do the best you can and have fun."

And maybe it is the same for me and Day of the Dead, El Dia de los Muertos. I am not a mexicano and I will never fully experience or comprehend the whole experience, but I did the best I could and surely had fun.

Sand painting in the zocalo.I had a plan before going in and even though when the time arrived I kind of forgot it, everything went incredibly well. All of it was made possible by the use of a car from Rosa, aka DF Rosa. Muchas gracias!!!

I made repeated visits to certain cemeteries and the zocalo to first, follow the prep and then, be there when things were happening. I will go back in a week or so to see the aftermath. I made impromptu stops at the panteones is San Bartolo Coyotepec and Ocotlan just because I happened to find passing by. I was lost coming from San Antonino when I stumbled across the one in Ocotlan.

Rebozo and flowers in San Antonino.And even though I had a plan, I never really knew what was happening when. Yesterday, I awoke at 5AM to go and find the dancers in San Agustin Etla. I had no idea where they were so I had to drive around, stop the car, get out and listen and eventually I found them by following the music.

I had been planning this for two years, to catch them in their mirrored and belled outfits as the sun came over the mountains. Success! They had already been dancing for 12 hours and were feeling no pain, in trance-like states of intoxication. Mezcal and dancing like crazy will do that. Try it sometime. There was a great band that played nothing but high energy infectious music. They would pack into the yard of someone's house and the dancers would follow them in and it was instant party. I stuck with them for a few hours, a part of a large parade of people joining them as they walked the streets going from house to house. It all ended in complete madness in the center of the town as one band was coming down the hill as the one I was following was going up. The music kicked into a whole new gear as did the dancers. They knew it was the end and I found myself in a mosh pit of incredibly happy and hammered peopled. Total insanity of the best kind.

I did get some great video of the whole thing that I will edit and get up soon.

It was all of 9:30 in the morning so it was back to the house to recharge batteries and get ready for the afternoon trip to Teotitlan del Valle where I joined my Zapotec weaver friends, Zacarias and Emilia Ruiz and their sons, Antonio and Beto, and Antonio's wife, Claudia for a meal of mole negro. My good friend, Henry Wangeman of Amate Books and his son Zack (named after Zacarias) and others were there.
The altar at Zacarias'.At 3PM a cool wind blew in as the dead departed. We paid our respects and then went to the panteon. It was cool and gray. There was a band playing contemplative music and people sat around and listened and talked, shared a story, a drink, a handshake or a hug.

As Henry always says, quoting Vonnegut, "if this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

El Dia de los Muertos (II)

Today I retraced my steps from yesterday and went back to the huge panteon in the city and out to San Antonino again. My thoughts were to try and catch the various stages at each place. San Antonino is such a special cemetery. I think it is my favorite. The people are always so friendly and their technique of mixing the soil to make a plaster and then using it to put a skim coat on the graves seems to be quite unique. I have not seen it anywhere else, anyway.Yesterday the sun was shining, but today, as soon as I arrived it started to rain quite heavily. I could see the sun in the distance and i kept hoping to catch some light at the end of the day, but no luck as the rain seemed stuck on top of us. I just sat and waited and eventually i was completely alone in the cemetery with the rain pinging off the tin arch I was hiding under. I enjoyed the solitude and contemplated many things, mostly the beauty and serenity of the setting.Mexico has so much it could teach El Norte if they would ever pay attention. In the US, death is to be feared, kept at a distance, often sanitized to the point of being easy to ignore. Here, it is with us all the time, a friend. I love watching families assemble around the graves, cleaning and freshening them up and then celebrating with the departed's favorite fooda, drink and music. Children laugh and play games on the graves. It is almost impossible to feel any sorrow, only happiness and a deep connection to the never-ending cycle.After the rain in San Antonino, I drove back over the mountains into cool, clear air and stopped at San Bartolo Coyotepec just to pay my respects and see what was happening there. Each cemetery is so different, but in all of them, people are celebrating this wonderful tradition. I renews the souls of both living and deal.

More mañana.....

Finalmente - Muertos!

I am just back from a long day shooting the beginnings of El Dia de los Muertos. I drove back until a full moon after a remarkable day. This is why I am here. Lots to post in the coming days, but it will take some time to go through the hundreds of shots and then the video. I will start posting tomorrow..... in reality, I should still be out there drinking it all in, but one can only drink so much in any given day.The entrance to el panteon in OcotlanFlowers for sale everywhere. Everyone was carrying a bundle.Rosas, mis favoritas!Ofrendas everywhere.

Graffiti

Graffiti remains a very hot art form in Mexico.
Here are some shots from both the DF and from Oaxaca. Can you tell what came from where?Jesus saves.... but Moses invests.Here is Oaxacan graffiti artist, Luis Rodriguez, who is working on codices now.

Tradiciones

Here is my pan de muerto that I bought from two young girls, maybe six or seven years old, in Tlacolula yesterday. I also received this chocolate from Rosa Blum of Amate Books, whose comadre, Yolanda Santiago of La Union woodcarving fame, makes the best chocolate in all of Oaxaca or so they say. I am all set.

Thursday @ 7 PM

If you happen to be in town, please stop by Amate Books for my riveting talk on the woodcarvers of La Union Tejalapam and San Martin Tilcajete. Not only will some of the artesanos be there, but there will be mezcal and snacks afterwards. Gracias to Henry Wangeman and Rosa Blum for hosting these talks.

Back to Oaxaca

I made the drive down from the DF to Oaxaca with no problems.... aside from a slight detour to drive though Puebla. Note to self: don't drive in Mexico alone without a map. I hit construction south of Tepoztlan and made a wrong turn by simply following the car in front of me. My sense of direction is always good and I knew I was heading east instead of south, but what's a few extra kilometers when it gives one a chance to see the country. I know I should have taken pictures, but you know how it is when you're lost and clueless. I'll take them next time. However, I was struck by the wide expanses, the mountains and the fields of flowers and vegetables. One picture is worth a thousand words and seeing as though I don't have the photos, I will spare you the thousand words. It is good to be back in Oaxaca, but Mexico City, wow, what a place. It really put the hook in me.

La Ciudad

The classic tourist shot of CoyoacanCuidad de Mexico, what a place! As I continue to experience this city, I keep remembering things from David Lida's book, "First Stop in the New World" about this amazing world capital. It is a great read and I highly recommend it. So when I visited the beautiful old cantina, "La Guadalupana" I thought of his chapter on the cantina culture. The same as I walk the streets and go by bakeries or watch street performers or experience traffic or visit shopping malls and supermarkets, his words come back to me. He loves this city and I can see why. It is a huge sprawling entity and obviously, I have not seen much of any of it, it would take years, but I like this place.

The headless organ grinderOranges and OnionsLennon overlooks the parkNote the classic tourist shot in the right hand corner, same as mine.
Lida has his own blog which is always interesting.

Buttons - Botones

Button, button, who's got the button? ¿El botón, botón, quién tiene el botón?

Cake! Pastel!

Xochimilco

Xochimilco is one of the DF's delegaciones or boroughs, about 28 kms south of the center of the city. There was a time, hundreds of years ago, when Xochimilco was a lake, but now all that is left is a series of extended canals which lattice through the chinampas, raised areas or artificial islands which are bordered and contained by ahuejotes, trees in the weeping willow family.Most of the area is only accessible by boat. Lots of families live back there. On weekends the canals of Xochimilco are packed with people, many of them come to party very hearty. Mis hermanos. I never had any gigs like this.... or did I? Block parties in DC came close. There are boats with mariachis and marimba bands and others with lots of food and drink for sale.Hilario, the "gondolier" of our trajinera boat had lived his whole life there and had many stories. He quickly debunked the legend of the many creepy dolls on one of the chinampas, that the island was haunted by a spirit of a little girl who had drowned nearby. He said the story of Don Julian, the previous caretaker, had hung a doll on a tree to appease her ghost and soon people began bring more. But Hilario said it was all hype, a great way to get people to visit and of course, spend money. He said, "Keep those ghost stories (and $$$) coming. Whatever you do, don't tell them the truth."

The area is full of nurseries, plants and flowers everywhere. Xochimilco has four different micro-climates and this one is absolutely perfect for growing things.The day we were there it was very quiet with primarily families on the boats. These kids were having a great time. Those are cempasuchitl (marigolds) in the background, peaking just in time for El Dia del Muertos in another ten days. I love this phrase carved into one of the boats. Loosely translated, it reads, "This is all I got for not studying (in school.)