One Step at a Time

It's a good day when my pedometer tallies more than 30,000 steps.

Christmas Tradition

Every December 24 the people in a small village south of Oaxaca carry out an unusual tradition. The men go up into the mountains, cut off tops of shaggy pine trees, and bring them down to the village. There, an area has been prepared with holes to hold the trees while they are decorated with balloons. Then young men carry the trees through the town's streets, following a band, walking along the highway where traffic is stopped for as long as it takes. The procession ends up at the church where some of the trees are brought into the church. The remaining trees are taken where a fiesta is held for the rest of the day, and into the night. (By the way, after the tops of the trees are cut off, new tops are generated at a rapid rate.)

Night of the Radishes

Each December 23 for almost 115 years, the city of Oaxaca has had a radish carving competition. The radishes are on display for one day pnly then are fodder for the pigs. The radishes are of three varieties, the largest being daikon-like. They are planted September 20, October 20 and November 20, and harvested December 19, giving four days to carve. Here are some photos, Frida with lovely hair, Eve being flirtacious, the Virgen of Guadalupe, and a full shot of an entry to give a sense of the displays.

School Uniforms

Every student wears a uniform to school, and each school has their own style and colors. Even the teachers wear uniforms but theirs are different from the students. There were some students marching in the Independence Day which was a perfect opportunity to catch groups wearing their school's uniform so you can see the similarities and differences.

The Horses Are Always Last

Even in Mexico the horses are last in a parade.

Los Bomberos

The Fire Department had every siren and light going. The firemen with the shovels had maneuvers that they did moving the shovels, right shoulder, left shoulder. The fire trucks are from Nick's company, Pierce.

Mexican Police

These are the ones you don't want to irritate.

Women in the Military

Independence Day Parade

There were not any floats in this parade, but mostly a display of military troops and equipment. First, some very well-camouflaged military, including some that look like Wookies.

New Apartment

Here are some pictures of the new apartment. It is minimalist at the moment.

Red, White and Green

Today is a national holiday for the birthday of Benito Juarez with banks and many stores closed. Here is some red, white and green in honor of their national pride.


Benito Juarez served five terms as President of Mexico, and was very popular for lessening the power of the Catholic Church and standing up for the indigenous. Benito was from the town of Guelatao, about an hour outside of Oaxaca. He was orphaned when he was three, raised by his uncle and aunt, and spoke only Zapotec, the language of the largest indigenous group in Oaxaca. He was illiterate until he was 12 when he started school in Oaxaca and learned Spanish. Later he went to law school. Oaxaca is extremely proud of their Benito, who is on the 20 peso bill. There are two monuments to Benito here and--trivia alert--one in Chicago on Michigan Avenue.

Flags are flying large today. There isn't much wind in Oaxaca so it is not easy to get a waving flag. One flag is in the zócalo. The other flag at one of the Benito Juarez monuments, several miles away. I was walking up my street and it caught my eye because it is not usually there.

Triqui Women

The Triquis are one of the 16 indigenous groups in Oaxaca, with only 8000 speakers of their language. It is one of the poorest and most marginalized ethnic groups, with much violence directed towards them. They govern through indigenous customs and do not recognize existing government.

The Triquis are easily recognized through the red huipiles that the women wear. Here they are at the south end of the zócalo setting up their stands with blouses, shawls, scarves, change purses, keyrings and headbands.

Lent

They decorate for Lent here with Easter being the most important holiday in Mexico. Besides doorways, they put bows or ribbons along the windows. To give you an idea of the weather, they used crepe paper for this doorway without fear of it being ruined in the rain.

Zaachila Market

Thursday is market day in the village of Zaachila, about 20 minutes south of Oaxaca. I went there for the first time this week and was very pleasantly surprised at the size of the market and the wide selection of products. As typical of markets in Mexico, abundance is in everything, see the woman surrounded by mangoes and oranges.

La señora makes caramelized popcorn and colors the caramel with red, yellow and green. It was SO good, I was sorry I had only bought one package. I wanted a photo of the popcorn, she thought I wanted her photo and immediately posed while the ladies adjacent to her gave her posing advice. I had to shift my camera from the popcorn to her face so fast as I didn't want to miss an opportunity.

Baskets are used to carry products to market or for washing clothes. The clothes are placed in the baskets and water is poured through.

Different types of beans on this table including the red beans in the center which I bought. Note the large sized grayish black beans in the front, very unusual.

A box of sugar, called panela or piloncillo. It is very hard and is broken apart or grated or melted. This is the sugar used to caramelize the garbanzo beans from a previous post.