More pictures from Oaxaca (by Cindy)

Happy 2010 to all.

I hope you each have a good year and keep your New Year's resolutions. My resolutions haven't changed, just been renewed - keep healthy with regular exercise and a good diet, keep practicing Spanish and the piano, read more nonfiction, and don't pass up any travel opportunities that come my way. The last resolution is, of course, the easiest to keep and we ended 2009 with a trip to Oaxaca in southern Mexico for the Christmas holidays. The state of Oaxaca has many beach resorts but our interest was directed toward the center of the state - primarily the city of Oaxaca (the capital of the state) and the ruins and villages near by.


Christmas and kids

We enjoyed several Christmas traditions, especially those where children took an active role.


These two cuties were in a procession on it's way to the Basilica.


There was a parade on Christmas Eve with floats and bands from each of the churches in town. Not surprisingly, every float was a live creche scene using kids. The shepherd is holding a real lamb.


This wise man is looking especially wise.


Is she pensive or just tired? I think riding around and around the zocalo can get pretty boring after a while.


Pyramids and tombs

Of course we had to visit several archaeological sites in the area. I think I read that there are more than 3,000 sites in Mexico. That could take us a while. We visited 5 on this trip.


Monte Albán sits on a mountain high above the Oaxaca Valley and the city of Oaxaca. The top of the mountain was leveled off to allow for the creation of this Zapotec ceremonial site.


I made Jim pose in one of the tombs discovered at Monte Albán because it's the first time we've ever been allowed to enter one.


This funerary statue was found in one of the tombs in the area. It intrigued me because it was female and human looking in a museum room full of fantastic creatures (animal gods perhaps?).


This shot of Yagul was taken from a fort on the hill. You can see the ball court in the lower left. Above that is a patio with an administrative building overlooking it. And in the center right are the maze like remains of the walls of a large residential complex called the Palace of Six Courts, named for its 6 porticoed courtyards (duh).


The tomb entrance above was at Yagul - too small to crawl into though I tried.


This mask of the Zapotec god of rain and thunder, Cocijo, decorated an altar at the nearby Lambyteco ruins and was still on site. I can't believe it wasn't put into a museum.


The buildings at Mitla are famous for the superb stone friezes that decorate their facades.


Here is a close up of some of the geometric designs. Imagine these brightly painted - awesome.


Streets, courtyards and crafts

We didn't spend the whole trip walking around ruins. In fact most of our ramblings were around the streets and parks of Oaxaca.


Bright sunshine, vivid colors, warm weather - who needs snow to celebrate Christmas?


I have no idea what this is or why she was standing in the street but we had to get a photo.


Latin America means courtyards - from the old and picturesque ...


... to the restored and stylish. (Our hotel)


And shopping - always lots of opportunities to shop. The area is famed for woven rugs, textiles, black pottery and wooden toys. I bought a blanket from this street vendor, made in his family's workshop he assured us.


We saw an unusual type of arts & crafts at Noche de los Rábanos (Night of the Radishes), an annual fiesta held two nights before Christmas. Locals compete to carve radishes into people, animals, and occasionally, churches.


A third of the displays were flowers and people made from corn husks - like these. Maybe they should change the name of the fiesta.



And more churches

But my favorite tourist attractions are still the churches, especially anything decorated in bright colors ...


... like this pulpit in the Templo de Santa María de la Asuncion in El Tule.


The church itself isn't bad either. (Templo de Santa María de la Asuncion in El Tule)


This is one of the bell towers of the Virgen de la Asunción in the village of Tlacolula.


The church of San Jerónimo in the village of Tlacochahuaya ...


... is decorated in vivid floral murals by local artists. Very unusual.


San Matías Jalatlaco in the city of Oaxaca was one of my favorites because of its simple altar accented in bright red and gold. Notice all the fresh flowers - we see lots of flowers in every church we visit.


The bigger churches often use bronze or richly gilded plaster to glorify God. Not exactly my cup of tea - still one cannot help but be impressed. This gilt-covered altar ...


... and pulpit are in the Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán.


We were back in Guadalajara in time for a New Year's Eve celebration with friends. Who knows what 2010 will bring? I think we'll have some visitors and a trip to Bogota, Colombia. I'm sure there will be other adventures as well. We wish you all health, happiness and prosperity in 2010.

(To see more photos and a brief video of our trip check out Jim's blog entries in Dec. 2009.)

The Night of the Radishes in Oaxaca

This grasshopper made from radishes was part of the huge display called The Night of the Radishes, celebrated every Dec. 23 for more than 100 years.

Local people craft all kinds of sculptures from radishes, flowers, and corn husks and leaves.

There were thousands of people around the town square, packed five and six deep, to see these sculptures, which numbered maybe 200.



This video of just under 2 minutes shows some of the scenes of that night, a parade, and some sights around town. (I´m using a Flip video camera that´s about the size of a cellphone and editing the clips on iMovie on my Mac.)







This king was fashioned from carved radishes.


Scenes from Oaxaca

The rich ornamentation of the ceiling of Santo Domingo church does take your breath away. It triggers all kinds of mixed thoughts and feelings, given that you pass dozens of beggars on the way to the church.

Local crafts include mythological creatures fancifully painted. The Bulls jersey is probably from China.

Oaxaca is famous for its embroidered dresses and other textile arts. This was in a Christmas market.

Workers take a lunch break while repaving a street with cobblestones.

These mannequins show that Mexicans have a taste for tight pants.

Christmas in Oaxaca and Monte Albán

As we were walking through the streets of Oaxaca, we happened on a religious procession honoring the Virgin Mary. The Virgin is perhaps more important than Jesus to Mexicans, especially those who mix Catholicism with native beliefs.

In the state of Oaxaca (the capital has the same name), there are 15 different native languages spoken. The dominant local one is Zapotec, with some 500,000 speakers. Mexico´s first and only indigenous president, Benito Juarez, was a Zapotec from Oaxaca.

In a cafe on the town square we met up with Olga Rosario Avendaño and Victor Ruiz, a couple who have a news website, Olor a Mi Tierra (The Scent of My Homeland), that specializes in covering human rights, the environment and local culture of the state of Oaxaca.

Victor and Olga have both taken courses with me through the Digital Journalism Center. Their biggest audience is in Mexico City and the U.S., where residents of Oaxaca go to find work.


These angels were part of the procession mentioned above.



In the south of Mexico, native languages and culture are more important. The people here have less-European features.
























Monte Albán is one of the most important pre-Columbian archeological sites in Mexico. The city was founded in 500 B.C. as a ceremonial center and was important for the next 1,300 years.

The scale of it is impressive, but it´s not as big as Teotihuacan, which is near Mexico City.

The people who built this site had a form of writing, a mix of hieroglyphics and ideographs. The stories they tell are of conquest of other local peoples. History as usual is all about war, one people taking away other people´s stuff.







This is a ball court. Players would use the angled walls, originally smooth, to steer the ball toward the goal. The ball game evidently had an astronomical significance.

At some sites, evidence suggests that the losers of a ball game were ritually sacrificed. There is no evidence of such a practice at Monte Albán.