a mare

2009-05-24T23:05:00.022-05:00

alebrijes de oaxaca

Guatemala

2007-07-02T19:26:00.000-05:00

Colombia

2007-07-02T19:19:00.000-05:00

The desert

2007-02-04T11:40:00.000-06:00

The desert: thorns, thorns and more thorns. Pink, yellow, black, brown, big, little, painful, painless, on the ground, on your knees, in your shoes, in your hair...
A short thorn lesson on thorn biology:
Pink and microscopic: these get stuck in your skin and mysteriously find their way between the threads of your clothes. Close examination is necessary to yank them out and despite yanking out 10, undoubtedly you'll continue to find at least 20 more as the day goes on.
Long and yellow: in reality, you'll only get caught in these if you're not watching where you're going (...). These guys are easy to remove.
Medium size with hook: Once they go in, they try their best to stay in. They're happy to be hooked into your skin. Give em a yank and hopefully without too much pain they'll let you take them out.
Nature isn't easy, but if you're lucky at the end of the day you'll hear the coyotes howling and see the big round sky full of stars, stars, and more stars... and you'll feel like you're at home.

Day of the Dead....

2006-11-15T13:35:00.000-06:00

November 2. Altars, candied skulls, chocolate skulls, day of the dead bread, candles, skeletons, skeletons, skeletons.

The mountains

2006-09-24T15:26:00.001-05:00

Just inland from Zihuatanejo there are some wonderfully magical things happening in the Sierra.

2006-09-24T15:09:00.000-05:00

Some fotos from the oh so posh neighborhood of Polanco.

Check out the shoe hospital

Virgen de Guadalupe

2006-08-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

Recently I went to the Basilica de Guadalupe, where you can find the home of the Virgen Guadalupe, mother of all Mexicans. People flock from all over to catch a glimpse and maybe even touch this important figure. In Mexico you will find an image of the Virgen pretty much everywhere you go in Mexico - necklaces, keychains, wall hangings, in public transportation - everywhere. Here at the Basilica you can see the original, see a reenactment of her miracles, and catch some music.

Christmas in Mexico

2006-01-06T18:39:00.000-06:00

sand Nativity scene in Acapulco

December 12 - The Christmas season in Mexico began with the night in which much of Mexico celebrated the discovery of the virgen of Guadalupe many years ago. Several streets hosted parties that included pozole, mezcal (much stronger than tequila) and tlacolerero dancers, who are groups of people from different neighborhoods who go around town performing folklore dances from Guerrero. At 12 am they even sang happy birthday to the virgen followed by more pozole, mezcal, and chilenas (traditional dances).

December 16-24 posadas - fiestas in people's homes. The Joseph and Mary looking for a place to stay is usually reenacted... pinatas follow

January 6 - Three Kings Day - Cutting of the Rosca (cake). There are several plastic toys hidden in the cake. The people that get the toy have to make tamales for everyone else on February 2.

Acapulco

2005-12-06T23:39:00.000-06:00

Acapulco is a ridiculous mix between nice beaches, beautiful weather, an awful underworld, and alas, Coca Cola Christmas Trees, similar to the one we have here in Chilpancingo - I can't quite figure out what kind of deal was negotiated so that several cities in Mexico could have Coca-Cola Christmas trees....

Temazcal

2005-11-20T17:44:00.000-06:00

Temazcal: Aztec sauna made of stones and adobe. Hot water is poured over the stones to create the vapor.

Today I participated in the biweekly temazcal here in chilpancingo.
I went out of pure curiosity...just to see what this was all about and I didn't expect it to involve a whole ritual, I just expected a little sweating. However, upon arrival I realized it would be more than just a little calor. When I arrived everyone was covering themselves with mud...apparently part of the tradition. Someone gave all of us cinnamon tea and there was sage burning. I decided to try out the mud part, and painted it all over my body. It felt good and we added some aloe vera to the mud. I was pretty nervous about going in due to the heat and the heavy air inside but it was actually kind of nice....well, a little uncomfortable and kind of nice, it will take some getting used to. Before going in the little girl who was hanging around (and has some sort of interesting aztec name i can't remember) covered us in sage smoke Inside we greeted everyone with "ometeo"- "lord of duality" (I'll have to research this more). Once inside the leader had us all inroduce ourselves, we sang lots of songs, and clapped and made requests/wishes for another person or group of people. The leader pays respect to the four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water during the ceremony...these are the elements that give us life and also that create the temazcal. Supposedly when you exit the temazcal it's like you're being reborn...coming out of the womb or something like that. At any rate, you come out splash some water on yourself and go to another area to lie down and to get more tea.. It was kind of cool and I did feel really good afterwards. At any rate, an interesting cultural experience and I'll probably go back in two weeks for another dose.