alebrijes de oaxaca

Guatemala

Colombia

The desert

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....

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

The mountains

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

Some fotos from the oh so posh neighborhood of Polanco.

Check out the shoe hospital

Virgen de Guadalupe

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

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.