Your table(cloth) is waiting...

And it better be big and round. This had, maybe, a four meter diameter.

On the reverse of the display, one in red.

These from an exhibition, La Piel de Mi Raza, in San Bartolo Coyotepec at the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular Oaxaca.

The hupiles from the Mazatec and Chinantec peoples are amazing.

Months of work go into each of these and the detail is remarkable.

Be sure to check out Casa Colibri's post which is more extensive and informative. 

Market Day - Etla

Every day of the week one can go to a different village market on the outskirts of the city.  I suppose Tlacolula's Sunday market is the most famous and it is certainly worth a visit, but each market is very different in layout, feel and energy.  So all are worth a visit.  How does this compare to yours?

Of course, they are open for business every day, but there is always one special day and for Etla, it is Wednesday.  I feel lucky to be so close and go practically every week.  Can you see and name the items in this photos that are so uniquely Oaxacan?  Answers below

I see some the same people every week.

And in each village there is a different way to carry one's purchases.  In Tlacolula it is baskets.  In Etla, it is a bag made from a costal or bigger bag.  Of course, I have mine.

There is a livestock market nearby, so this is a pretty normal sight.

I like the bulls on the back window and that, for once, the lucky goat has plenty of room and looks comfortable.  ¡Viva Etla!

Answers:  misperos, the fruit, ocate, the wood for starting fires, cal for comals and corn and the green pods are huajes for snacks or making mole.

The voice of Teotitlan del Valle

One of the best things about this place is one has the chance to hear lots of different indigenous languages.  If you want to hear some good typical music and lots of Zapotec, here is Tsae Xigiae, La Voz de Teotitlan.  Give it a listen.

When I'm in Teotitlan, lots of what I hear is Zapotec and I understand... nada.  And when I'm at friend's houses, it's like when your parents didn't want you to know what they were saying and spoke in some language they knew you didn't understand.  I always joke that I understand Zapotec now, except there are seven hundred different dialects of Zapotec.  You can go to Santa Ana del Valle, just a few kms away, and it is different.  The station is in Spanish and Zapotec - enjoy!
h/t Mina Ruiz Gonzalez

Somewhere in Mezcal country

This is somewhere between San Dionisio Ocotepec, Chichicapan and Santa Catarina Minas on the roads that connect Mitla and Ocotlan, which, incidentally, is one of the best day drives around.

Drone Envy....

I want one!

The folks from Musa Oaxaqueña were in Teotitlan del Valle last week with a nice drone setup.  The video is not up yet, but I am interested in seeing how it came out.

Getting the right angle shooting the dancers is always a challenge and I am curious how the overhead worked.  However, this setup looked pretty sophisticated and the drone behaved perfectly with his gentleman at the controls.  One downside..... It was pretty noisy

Somehow, I think this is the real Musa Oaxaqueña (Oaxacan muse).

Traditions - Tamales amarillos

Part of the celebration from last week's recognition of la Fiesta de La Virgen del Rosario was, as always, food, wonderful food and all of it following traditional dictates.  We are lucky to eat tamales amarillos made by one of the best cooks I know, Emilia Gonzales, of Lila Downs video fame.

She made four hundred of these delectable treats that go down so easily that is possible to eat more than ten at a sitting.  The masa is made from corn from their fields.  The chickens come from the yard.  And the hierba santa, one of the key ingredients comes from the garden. The taste... sublime.
She even gave us a bagful to take home. 

Wait until next time....

One of the dancers, Francisco Lopez Ruiz, was on the sidelines, looking on, as his fellow dancers performed last week in Teotitlan del Valle.  You can see from the look on his face how much he wanted to be out there.  However, he was sitting out because of an injury to his ankle.

You can also see his pride, frustration and determination to get out there as soon as possible. 

The men and I joked about how serious he looked and he broke into a big smile, "See you in December."

Plumas in Teotitlan del Valle.....

Another wonderful day in Teotitlan del Valle as the danzantes performed once again, this time in celebration of the Fiesta de La Virgen del Rosario.  This is the penultimate time they will dance this year with one more in December for La Virgen de Guadelupe.  Then they have only one more year left in their commitments.

This time the venue was in front of the municipal building due to earthquake damage to the church. So a slightly different view, but still a good one, especially with friends like these.

It was an opportunity to get some classic portraits.  This one of Manuel Ruiz.

Ruben Ruiz Bautista

It is so interesting and fun to watch each dancer and the group as a whole, develop and evolve.
Obviously, it is easiest to see in the two girls who portray La Malinche and Doña Marina, Quetzali del Rayo Santiago Ruiz and Elizabeth Hernandez Gutierrez. respectively.

We will be there for their next performance in December.  How could we miss it?

How about you?

Be sure to check out Shannon's post over at Casa Colibri.

Caption?

Arcoiris - Rainbow

The sun is trying to break through, but hasn't quite made it.  If it did that rainbow would be more visible and vivid, but I am happy to see even a faint one - rays of hope.

¡Ya basta! - Enough already with the rain!

This is the wettest rainy season I have experienced in Oaxaca.  It just keeps raining, often coming down in buckets, even some hail, which did an serious number on the gardens. Ah well....

Roads and homes are flooded in low lying areas and bridges are being damaged by swollen rivers. I'm lucky to be up in the foothills, but all that water that falls on those mountains behind me has to go somewhere, so I have running water, little rushing rills, passing through on its way to the river about five km. down the way.  Its sound is very nice at times, but when it is really pouring, it is actually too loud, like it going to wash the house away.  On the positive side, this house has a rain collection system and the cistern is full.  I only wish it was much, much bigger,  This would be enough water to last a year, as it is it will last until Jan. or Feb.

Hey, El Norte - Help Puerto Rico Now!

These are American citizens.  Are we just going to let people die?

"Without gold, you live. Without water, you die."

Help Puerto Rico and the Caribbean islands, too!

From a distance...

See if you can find the famous film location in this shot.

This should help.  What movie?  "Bueller?... Bueller?... anyone?."

Nine!

That's how many earthquakes we had this morning.... These shots snagged from FB.

And last night, just down the road from me after a very intense rain/hail storm.

Resulting in this....

I, like so many, am fine, but am shell-shocked.  I am continually amazed by the Mexican people and how they respond to these horrible events.  And I am saddened that the official US response to all the hurricanes and now, these earthquakes, has been almost non existent.  Puerto Rico, the islands of the Caribbean, Houston, Florida..... I think I'll take a knee and I hope many others will as well.

Let music brighten your day...

Oaxaca is blessed with lots of street musicians.  Sometimes, there is one every couple of blocks and often they are quite good, fun to hear. 

However, obviously, there is another side to their stories.  It is a tough life.  This boy could be in school and maybe he is.  It is not for me to know.  All I can do is support him and his fellow street musicians with the coins I always try to have in my pockets.

Blue skies.... and walls...

It's close to the same blue as the skies....

It's a selfie world...

It's a part of life.....

 Billions of shots all over the world

Of course, some people can rock it better than others.

I confess, I'm not good at ii.... or maybe it's just... "Do I really look like that?!?!"

This.....

Why seismologists didn’t see Mexico’s deadly earthquake coming

A very interesting read from The Conversation

Mexico has a long seismic history, so any given earthquake here does not necessarily come as a surprise. In the pre-Hispanic epoch, inhabitants of the country’s central zone reported on earthquakes in their “códices,” or indigenous records, attributing the shaking to the wrath of their gods.

But the quake that convulsed the southeastern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas on Sept. 7, 2017, was a shock nonetheless.

First, there was its magnitude: at 8.2, it ties as Mexico’s strongest earthquake since the invention of modern seismic-measurement tools, surpassing even the great Mexico City quake of Sept. 19, 1985, which registered 8.1. This recent quake killed nearly 100 people, most of them in Oaxaca, and the death toll is rising as locals continue to dig out from the rubble.

Beyond the devastation, it was the earthquake’s location that took scientists by surprise. Until last week, seismologists believed that its epicentral area – near the old Zapotec city of Juchitán, Oaxaca, in Mexico’s poor southeastern region – was an “aseismic gap.” In other words, we thought this zone, the Tehuantepec gap, was unlikely to cause an earthquake.

Independence Day

Getting ready for the celebration in San Agustin Etla

The dias before the speakers...

The heroes of the revolution...

¡Viva Mexico!