Plants vs Zombies in Teotitlan del Valle!!!!

So we're just hanging out watching the dancers when I notice this guy.  Who knows what lurks out there?

 

OMG!

He swore he was not a zombie.... or a plant.

Fortunately. we were all safe.....

Just your average Zapotec super hero.

More plumas - Teotitlan del Valle

Trying to capture any kind of dance in photos or video is difficult.  Do you try to take in the whole or concentrate on something like the feet as they execute the choreography?  Sometimes it all goes by in a blur.

And it is serious physical work, fighting the wind and dancing.  You can see the strain on Eligio Ruiz Contreras's face.

Catching Malinche, Quetzali del Rayo Santiago Ruiz, just as she twirls...

And then there's her counterpoint, her Spanish version, Doña Marina, Elizabet Hernandez Gutierrez.

One has to learn to anticipate, to shoot just a moment before they leap or turn..... and sometimes, you just have to get lucky..... or they stand still for a second.

Plumas in Teotitlan del Valle

This week is the beginning of year two for this group of dancers with one more to go and they are in fine form.

So wonderful to be there and marvel at this wonderful spectacle.

Much more to come....

El otro lado - The other side

This is the view looking in the opposite direction from my morning vista, due west.

I love this spot under these trees whose fragrant leaves relieve stress when rubbed on the forehead and around the eyes. 

 Such a glorious time of year

Morning vista

The view from my bedroom...

Just amazing to see the changes in the countryside as the rains transform it from browns to greens.

What a difference a day makes....

Well, actually three years and a little rain... make that lots of rain.... and work.

This is what it looked like three years ago after cleaning up what was a bit of a bomb zone.

The plants have grown so much.

I'm learning more and more about what it is to have a garden here, where it is normal to go five or six months without a drop of rain. 

So there are plants for the dry season which are finally getting established.  And there are those which thrive in the rainy season like the cedron or lemon verbena and the grenadas or pomegranates, which lose all their leaves and look dead.  Now they are covered with leaves, the cedron exuding such an amazing fragrance.

Lots of flowers to come which will draw even more butterflies and hummingbirds.

On this very stage....

On this very stage, next month, the dancers of the guelaguetza in Reyes Etla will, once again, present the regional dances for which Oaxaca is so famous. 

This round platform surrounded by mountains and vast vistas is one of the best places to see this annual celebration.

And you may recognize the church found there.  It was in Nacho Libre.

The views south to Atzompa are always lush, but even more so now with all the recent rains.

A detail from the above....   A man, a scythe, a horse and a sea of green.

Good to be back... cont...

There are people, places and things I miss in El Norte, like friends, food and my piano, but while I am there, I miss the people and the food here... and I have a digital piano here.  While I'm there, I take advantage of all that New England has to offer, but I never see anything like this...

So good to see my friends at the Etla market... my juice lady who gave a gift of those greens...  I had no idea what they were.

Rosa, from who I have been buying from for many years.

They take such good care of me.

However, the traffic snags are surely different than in the Ted Williams Tunnel.

And a different sort of bull than in El Norte.

Good to be back... tamales!

There ain't nuttin' like the real thing....

Sure, there are good tamales everywhere, but for me, nobody's are better than Doña Melisa's at the market in Etla on Wednesdays.

Three big fat rajas for $36 pesos ($2 US)

Good to be back... cont....

Everything is so green!  When I left, it was just starting to change from dry brown.  It feels like the whole countryside has awakened.

Good to be back...

And such a nice welcoming committee...

More Oaxacan magic...

I'm headed back mañana after a month of house maintenance in El Norte.  I also got a chance to touch base with some old friends, pieces from my collection of carvings.  I feel very blessed to have experienced what was probably the golden age of alebrijes or carvings, the 90's up until 2006.  Yes, there is wonderful art being produced now, but several of the old masters, the originators, have passed.  Oaxacan woodcarving was hot in the international art world and people were enjoying and taking advantage of the acclaim and creating many masterpieces.  Like this mask of Medusa by Margarito Melchor of San Martin Tilcajete.

The mask is two feet tall and even the back is remarkable.

Margarito and his son, Margarito, are still carving wonderful masks and a must see if one visits the village.

For many years I commissioned music stands from anyone who would make one.  Here is a beauty by one of the grand masters, Isidoro Cruz, also from San Martin Tilcajete.

That's actually me and my two dogs.

Sadly, Isidoro has passed, but he lives on in his art and in our hearts.  Viva Maestro y amigo!

A song for the times

From John Legend, thought provoking....

Timeless

Just getting ready to head back and going through shots from the past and came upon these two from almost twenty years ago.  It never gets old.

There have been hundreds of thousands of photos of each of them as it seems that every visitor snaps both of them.  I certainly have.... numerous times.

What a difference - Cement edition

Almost all the houses and buildings in Oaxaca are made of cement.  10,000 earthquakes a year might be part of the reason.  Yes, there are a few wooden structures, but they tend to be where there are trees for lumber... surprise.  So needless to say, the people who work with cement can do almost anything with it.  They are masters.  And, as a typical guy and as one who still has an 1895 house in El Norte which needs constant maintenance, I am always watching and learning about all things house construction related in both countries.

I just love watching guys working with cement and in Oaxaca and it is all grunt work, hard and physical, like these guys unloading a truckload of 110 lbs bags of cement... on their heads.

Or these guys pouring a roof.

Well, things are a little different here.  This is happening just down the street from me as they continue to tear down single family houses to put up newer and bigger ones.  Here's how they pour the foundation.  No grunt work at all.

I just watched in awe thinking of my Oaxacan friends.

They can direct the flow of cement anywhere.

Hard at work....

All done with a wireless remote.

Vive la differance?

My cousin Vinny

Perfection

The things that I miss....

I must be missing something