Patience - Videos

Videos are very slow to upload from here. I am exercising patience as I hit hour 14 for the HD gem of the calenda. When I hit 24 hours, I will probably wake up and realize it ain't gonna happen. I will just compress them more and try again.

Out my window

Shots of the day - Plumas Dos

Today was the last day of the fiesta in Teotitlan del Valle. I wanted to stop by and take Emelia Ruiz some flowers in thanks for the wonderful meal last week. She greeted me at the door, thanked me and gave me a plateful of her molé negro with pavo (turkey,) some rice and homemade tortillas. As I said before, she makes the best molé I ever tasted and today just reinforced that opinion. It is a rich, shiney purple/black with an incredibly smooth texture. Mmmmm... muy rico!
Then it was off to shoot the danza de las plumas. A picture perfect day with mostly townspeople there. I learned from being a reporter that you try to put yourself in a position to always get the shot. Today that meant geting inside the ring of folks watching and kneeling down so as to not block anyone's view.
I knew this was coming. The two guys controlling the whole scene are part clown, part ringmaster. They make sure everyone is happy, that things are going smoothly, that the dancers get water, mescal or sodas, they work the crowd.

I was too easy a target. What a riot! Everyone was laughing at me, make that with me, because I was laughing pretty hysterically, all the while shooting. I have no idea if he was actually shooting me. I hope so. I will have to check the tape.

La calenda - Teotitlan del Valle

People were very proud and excited about the calenda for this year's fiesta celebrating La Preciosa Sangre de Nuestra Señor Jesucristo, the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, because there were over seventy young women in it. This parade or desfile de mujeres, occurs twice in the weeklong fiesta, as does the danza de las plumas. The women carry baskets or canastas, each one adorned with a saint, the Virgin or Christ.There is much preparation that goes into these events and I showed up early to watch the girls get ready.There were some very young girls who would be marching.It is an honor to march in the calenda and all the women were dressed in traditional outfits of enredos, skirts woven on the village looms and fajas or sashes. These are all dyed with cochineal, the vibrant red dye for which Oaxaca is so famous.The calenda on Friday was building up and just getting ready to start when the skies opened up. Hey, it's the rainy season and all rains are a blessing. So we huddled on the porch to the side of the church and waited for the weather to break. It didn't, but it did let up and it was on. Led by a band, they headed out, a marvelous sight. At the tail end of the parade was another band and the dancers from the danza de las plumas. Notice that the plumas are covered with plastic as were many of the canastas and women. The things are heavy enough without all the added weight from the rain.Once again I was up in the bell tower watching this guy ring the chimes. It was a glorious and deafening sound. The calenda left the church to parade though the now muddy and water logged streets of the village. By the time I got down from the steeple they were long gone. I made a mad dash trying to find them. "They went thatta way," numerous people told me, but after a few minutes of searching to no avail, I wised up and went back to where people were patiently waiting and hung under a balcony trying to keep the cameras dry.Eventually, I spotted them way down the street headed our way. They walk through most of the village and it is a long way. The canastas are heavy and the rain added to the weight. These women march with both arms up holding these baskets for what may be a mile or two. I wondered if I could do it.After an hour they all returned to the church where they had started. It was time to eat and continue the celebration.As I mentioned it is an honor to march and these two young women from Santa Maria, CA were in Teotitlan for the first time. Their names are Brycé and Ixel Lopez and their family was so excited. Actually, it was their first time in Mexico, but they have many relatives living in Teotitlan, a huge extended family. They looked right at home. Man, I was envious. First time in Mexico and there they were, right in the middle of such and ancient and special ceremony.

La Danza de las Plumas - Teotitlan del Valle

Yesterday, we were invited out to visit good friends in Teotitlan del Valle, the Zapotec weaving village. I shot over 350 photos and a good chunk of video, so it will take some time to filter through to find the nuggets. I am always very happy if I get 10%, so that means maybe 30 or so, which would make a heck of a post, so I guess I will do it as a series.We started at the home of master weaver, Zacharias Ruiz and his sons, Antonio and Betto. Here's Antonio and his daughter.His mother, Zach's wife, Emelia, is one of the best cooks I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Hands down, her molé negro is the finest I have ever had. Yesterday, she made what seemed like hundreds of tamales filled with molé amarillo y pavo(turkey). They proudly said that the corn came from their land the the turkeys from the backyard. They were delicious. I ate maybe, ten, but Zacharias put away at least twenty.So after a few beers, some mescal, homemade tortillas (nothing like 'em) salsa and tamales, we were off to the church to watch la danza de las plumas, sometimes called the dance of the conquistadors. I was with Henry Wangeman of Amate Books and he showed me the way to get up into the bell tower overlooking the whole village, a spectacular place from which to shoot. Henry split, but I stayed up there and eventually someone came up to kick me out, but after talking to him, he said, "You're OK, you can stay, but hide yourself and don't let anyone else up here."The danza de las plumas has been danced in this village for over 500 years and probably existed in some other form for years before. This place has almost 2000 years of history.More about it in the next post, but here are a few shots. The dance began at about five in the afternoon with the band playing under a huge tree.Here is one of the principles, a real cutie and a great dancer.It was an exhausting and exhilarating day.

Deben dejarlo descansar

While eating chiles rellenos and costillas (fried ribs) in El Biche Pobre, the TV was on with the Michael Jackson memorial. I had my back to the tube, by choice, and the waiter came up and said the most intelligent thing I've heard about the whole 24/7 MJfest. "Deben dejarlo descansar," "They should just let him rest."

Tlacolula

Sunday is market day in Tlacolula, a town to the east of Oaxaca just past the Zapotec weaving of Teotitlan del Vaille. It is one of the oldest markets not only in Mexico, but in the Americas. The area has been settled for over 2000 years and one sees remnants of that long history in the language, clothing and products offered for sale. The market stretches for several blocks and surrounds the church, la capilla de Santo Cristo, a church started in the early 16th century. We went for a late lunch and had a wonderful hunk of barbacoa de borrega (lamb) and several bowls of a rich, red caldo or consommé, which was filled with bits of meat and other parts. Of course, there were fresh blandas (tortillas) salsas, condiments, mescal. All were absolutely delicious.After eating, we wandered through the market, where one hears all sorts of languages from Spanish to Zapotec. People come from villages many miles away to shop or sell, so the scope of clothing as wide as the things for sale. Would you buy a matate from this woman? Claro, si! $1200 MP or $100 US, but they will last a lifetime. Make that lifetimes. Some women wear rebozos with floral prints, their hair bound up with ribbons. Others wear the classic black or gray rebozos.

These cauliflowers were huge, as big as my head.I was using my little Canon camera and had somehow set it for "snow" so all the photos were half of success - they sucked. It was a live and learn moment. I plan to go back next Sunday just to reshoot this beautiful setting and will probably will take my trusty Nikon. It is big, but I am more comfortable with it. No guarantees that I won't screw up in a different way, but, of course, the truth is in just being there, not in the shooting.

In political news, yesterday was election day and the PRI once again emerged after the PAN's past victories. Low voter turnout says people are as sick of politics here as they are in El Norte. I am not sure this is change we can believe in. Who knows maybe the newly elected officials will declare victory and immediately resign ala Senora Palin. I am so confused... I vaguely remember being told that quitters never win and winners never quit. I must have had it backwards. I quit. So I guess that means I win. Where do I pick up my Pulitzer?

Entrar

Go ahead. Entry is gratis.

Caminando - Walking

Oaxaca can be just so much fun to simply walk around. Certain days the place radiates happiness. Yesterday, the Fourth of July, was just such a day and it had nothing to do with El Norte's activities. No, it was a celebration of something different. The city was happily and proudly strutting its stuff.The faces of these kids and their mother, a guy soaking up the sun while the words on the side of the cathedral demand complete freedom for a political prisoner.The zocalo is still filled with protesters and vendors. This from the side of one of their tents.Construction continues on M. Bravo, but the work is going quickly. I bet it is done in time for the Guelaguetza in two weeks.Waiting for Godot under one of Oaxaca's most photographed senoritas.

Ceramics in Acatlan de Osorio

Yesterday, Henry Wangeman (of Amate Books - see the side list of Oaxaca's Best)) and I drove up through the mixteca alta into the state of Puebla to Acatlan de Osorios to check out the ceramics for which the place is so famous. Times have changed and they are not producing the quanity and quality that they did in years past, but it was still a worthwhile visit and a beautiful drive. I loved these drainage gargoyles. And these classic ollas.I had not been there before, but Henry has been going there for years and he was his normal font of information and unbridled enthusiasm. Here he is with Sr. Lopez, the owner of the place we visited.
On the way back we were overwhelmed with the wonderful fragrance of onions from this truck (sorry, it's blurry, but we were flying by) and then spotted this beauty filled with corn headed to market in Oaxaca.What dramatic and beautiful country, lush and verdant.