San Jose Del Pacifico

19.3.08-23.3.08

We hand out biscuits on the creaky minibus as it snakes its way into the hills and everyone relaxes in a way only biscuits can make you do. A man in the snazzy black cowboy hat behind us smiles and we chat a little. He is going home for the holiday with his son, taking home for the family the earnings from his farm job in the states. Through the bus window we buy coconut ice lollies and re position the huge wooden yoke so that it doesn’t fall on the old man that strained to get it aboard at the last stop.

Later we stop for filling potato and guacamole salsa wraps, a snip at 10 pesos (33p) each. The red, dry plateau stretches an extraordinary distance broken only by the odd hill rising like an air bubble in toffee out of the flat expanse, we continue to wind our way upwards.

After driving along the perilously narrow spine of a forested hill we arrive in the small village completely immersed in cloud. We reluctantly disembark into the damp and chilly air, wondering what is behind the wall of white on the other side of the street.

We are directed to an old lady who has a place and she leads us blindly down a steep dirt track. We manouvre round a stubborn donkey to a log cabin teetering on the edge of who knows what. It’s a complete white out all round. “Is that a cliff drop away in front of us?” We’ll have to wait and see. I have a hunch when the cloud lifts there’s going to be peachy view so we take the cosy but basic mountain retreat.

Nearby dwelling

It’s the last night of a festival preceding the main festival, so we dump our stuff and climb up to the top of the small village where the locals are assembled and in high sprits. Here all of the social buildings are cobbled together. The basketball court butts up against the church, where a professionally organized tournament is in full swing. Above the court is a permanent brick stage, its set up with drum kit amp and mikes. With all these festivals in Latin America even a tiny garret needs a proper music venue.
We eat spicy chorizo tortillas and drink hot punch made with suspect alcohol poured from a bottle that may have been procured from a hospital. Its like a poster paint container with alcohol written across it in large red letters. Too chilly to be fussy and eagar to get in the spirit of the event (as we are latecomers) we cheerfully sip the poky brew.

The games are fast & furious and we join the throng seated round the edge and try to visually explain a rugby ball and its use to one of the locals, to the amusement of many. A new mc style commentator takes the stand, he’s loud, frantic and funny, no one scores for ages as he puts the players off but the crowd love him. He uses a deep drawn out voice to say foooouuuuuul! Parodying the Latin American football commentators.

Behind us a huge complex cane structure is being lashed together, looks like it will stand 30 meters high. 8 men start to rase it and we realise we are in the path if it falls. We shuffle, it wabbles upwards, then it gets caught in the trees & wobbles some more before finally stablising and being tied in place. You’d need about 40 security to pull off a cliff top event like this in England; the simplicity is pleasing and a bit of danger adds to the anticipation of the spectacle.

The many games of basketball are finally over, the band strike up and the fireworks begin. A woman dons a papermache and cane whatsit, the fuse is lit, she dances around the court and Catherine wheels spin above her, bangers explode and traffic lights cascade out over her head.

Next (after a persistent & enthusiastic casualty of the surgical alcohol is helped from the court) a papermache bull is charged at the audience in a more energetic display of fizzy bright gunshot loud pyrotechnics. The band picks up tempo but never waver from the same perky big horn tune throughout.

Finally the super structure is lit we stand cosily squashed in with the band against the wall of the church as it sparks into life. fuses wiz up the sides and light pairs of Catherine wheels in reds and yellows, when these die the fuses continue upwards to light more before setting off a large wheel in the middle with a bird design. This pattern continues, the centre wheel is lit up with a giant mushroom surrounded by a happy festival message in red. All pretty high tec low tec, if this was attempted in London you could guarantee one side would have stopped working after the first small wheel. We are amused that the mushroom is larger than crucified Jesus on the top wheel.

San José del pacifico is famous for magic mushrooms that grow down the damp forested mountain side, wrong season though there were a couple of youngsters that night that may have been under the spell of the revered trippy fungus.

Freezing we retire to our cabin and sleep piled high with colourful wool blankets and feel like we are in a fairy tale awaiting the mystic place to reveal itself to us.

In the morning we wake and run to the door like you do when it’s snowed in the night to see what’s outside. Here’s the view…

The next few days we pretty much sat here gazing out at the ever changing colours, twitching (in the binocular sense), reading or doing water colour challenge. Occasionally we drag ourselves away for chorizo, cheese and mushroom Quesadia’s at our favorite quirky wooden local restaurant.

Historic reading of the day: The Aztecs had flower wars where battle would be arranged with neighbouring tribes and would end when each side had captured enough solders to use as sacrifices. Killing anyone on the battle field only happened by accident rather than design. Death by sacrifice was a bit like martyrdom you got to go to the best afterworld honoring your violent death.

The Aztecs were gradually converting their symbols to sounds and given a bit more time they would have had a fully functional phonetic alphabet. A drop of water falling into a basin started to signify a. A human eye i. Two parallel lines with footprints in-between no longer a path but o.

Also found out the Mayans used to build imperfections into there stele monuments as only god should be able to create something perfect. This is now looked for to help prove authenticity in the relics.

More processions that afternoon, we can see and hear them in the distance, the band still are playing the same tune.

The next day the mist returns in the late afternoon. We wrap ourselves in blankets and sit outside watching it creep spookily over the layers of hills towards us until everything is again obliterated. Lucky we had already been out and had our fill of delicious unhealthy chorizo, the locals prepare so well with guacamole, salsa and chips!!!

The old landlady visits early next morning and surprises us by making smalltalk through the doorway while we are still in bed. On the way to breakfast we feed the astonished donkey dandelion leaves as he can’t reach anything green.

Later we go for a forest walk down into the view we’ve been looking at for the last few days, all very relaxing, great fuzzy pine trees, don’t see a soul.

Here’s a few more pictures….

Mmm meat

This cutie was with his mum and not the one we were feeding

When the landlady starts to burn her rubbish just below us and we are inhaling toxic smoke the magic spell is broken and we decide to leave the next day. 4 days is perfect, but it is perhaps a little cut off for a longer stay. We can see the lure of the mushrooms; would they help guide you through the fog though?

Oxaca

12.3.08-19.3.08


Our street

After a 6 hour journey through hills covered in superb cactuses (some 20 meters high) we got to Oaxaca. We arrived at the beginning of the spring festivities and found a room above an artisan’s courtyard overlooking a street full of blossoms, blouses, and baskets.



The marimba players (xylophones) welcomed us to the central sq of Oaxaca, a beautiful Colonial town in the pacific highlands of Mexico. The ruins of Monte Alban are a short bus ride making it a busy, bustling place full of tourists. Noted for its great art and food, its home of the Mole, an excellent chocolate based sauce and Mescal a wonderful mind bending tipple that makes tequila seem like a weak cup of tea. Tasty!!


Jackie after half an hour reading the lonely planet guidebook

After relaxing over coffee and declining a variety of woven/carved products we went for a look at Oaxacan art in the cool and lofty spaces of the museum of modern art.

Afro shed

Live art

The original yoda? Think it’s a Goya from the 1800’s, though didn’t make a note of it at the time

Oh I know dear (amazing woven dress). Chorizo something, very nice

The food in Mexico is such a treat, after cheating with Pizza for dinner the night before which doubled up as breakfast (handy tip for you budget travelers out there) we got stuck into the real deal an awesome minced chorizo with black beans avocado lime chilies and fresh bread.. Oh yes!!

We spent the rest of the day meandering the blossomy cobblestoned streets and checkin out more artwork.

This is my favorite piece

There is a really relaxing sense of space here and although it’s hot the mountain breezes keep the streets fresh and the thick walled buildings mean it’s always cool indoors.
A lot of the buildings are made from greenish stone and the main tourist streets are all having a makeover.

If you get too relaxed however these road crossing beacons help pick up the pace. As the countdown literally gets faster as it goes on and the little man ends up sprinting.

Craft markets always make me feel slightly edgy but Jackie tapped into her reserves of willpower to only come away with this photo. Amazing considering pinks, yellows and greens push all the right buttons.

Hello Vera!

This stunning cathedral was just round the corner from our hostel and we spent quite some time gawping at the incredible ceiling

Of all the artworks in Oaxaca my real favorites were the painted out graffiti.

Someone’s been looking at Rothko?

Jackie pallet

Unstucco

Not to be outdone by the inventive graffiti clean up team, the guys in los danzantes used a similar palette on Jackie’s seared tuna with pumpkin seed sauce with a drizzle of chocolate and chili. My Duck stuffed chilies with mescal sauce really hit the spot. The roof was retractable so watched the stars as the waiters wrecked the ambience polishing table legs. This was our posh meal out and the rest of the time we filled up on comedia style 3 course lunches for 50-70 pesos each (2- 3 pounds).

An overexposed shot of Jackie at dinner, it was a little spooky to find this piece of artwork in an exhibition the next day.. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I decided we should try some tequila as I remember the good stuff was really tasty, made for sipping rather than chugging. So we went to a fine dimly lit bar and tried the recommended tipples.. Jackie didn’t think much of them; actually they made her want to puke so we ordered some mescal.. Cheaper and much nicer, it was smoky and tasted like drinking a bonfire night…. lovely .

More art……

Giant plastic bag made from smaller ones

A modern virgin of Guadalupe(more on her later).

As we wander about we try not to look at the gory news stands. That old Mexican fixation with death extends to the front of the local newspapers. Today every other publication has a large colour photo of a bin bag with bloody stumps sticking out where the limbs should be, not the usual car crash victim normally in that space. You can’t help wondering how the families feel when they see all this.

The benevolent Day of the Dead is a wonderful thing though, a time to collectively remember those no longer here. We are all for that, especially as it’s so theatrical, shame its in November.

Don’t know where this picture was from, it’s so chipper.

We’ve been reading about the old people of the Isle of Man who spoke a Manx dialect closely related to Gaelic. The last native speaker died in 1970. They had some entertaining words:

Lumper- anything of a good size
Cob-short, stout person
Branchy- boastful, showy, spreading oneself out
Slewed-drunk
Pommit-sea name for rabbit
Lonnag- sea name for mouse
Swiney- of course be a sea pig

A surprise resting stop up a steep hill

the steep hill, check out the roof top pooch

Is this his friend? Love the bucket of water holding the shade up.

Or does he prefer this furry buddy?

Mirador restaurant overlooking the city

More mad wall art, we just couldn’t get enough…

Panted over but still there

Anti-social lunch date

We are at the beginning of a major festival Semana Santa (Holy Week) that runs from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday and is the time most Mexicans go on holiday. Today the main square is packed with Mexican tourists. There’s music everywhere we must have passed 15 live acts scattered about. Locals weave palm leaf souvenirs and sell fairground fair.

We watch an amazing orchestra, rather than a lead violinist they have a trumpet player and all the classical music has a deliciously farty trumpety Mexican feel. Children in the background excitedly launch huge air filled tubes into the air outside the cathedral. They go so high and sometimes hover horizontally in the air before flying diagonally down over the other side of the plaza. The smallest children’s legs are not long enough to get them there in time and the fathers have to make the catch, great cheap toy should import them.

Ak7 are a major band in Mexico, they are excellent ambassadors of the usual jiggy genre. We dance around and have lots of space as none of the Mexicans will stand in the sun. There’s a diagonal line of shade slicing the audience area in two and all the locals are squeezed on the dark cooler side.

Eddie and alexs long lost brother

Later we eat surrounded by locals watching the football over our heads high on the screens on the restaurant wall. Mexico won 5-1 to Haiti which all added to the party atmosphere.

Reading a great classic “The Master & Margarita” written by Mikhail Bulgakov which dams the regime at the height of Stalinist Russia. The great thing about travel (in relation to books) is that you read lots of stuff you would never normally have picked up. Anyway back to the book; the first draft he personally burnt when he found out his previous book had been banned. He finally re-published and the book managed to slip through the censors net. And to such critical acclaim, it sold a record number of copies within the first hour of being published.

at the museum

It’s a great read, theatrical whimsy and surreal mischievous characters, (a bolshy black cat that talks and walks on hind legs and a mysterious long checkered one) underpin ideas that tackle the serious social issues of the time. The premise of the story is that the devil and his side kicks can come to town and cause havoc as the system isn’t working, under the surface the discontent of the people creates many opportunities for them.

There’s a wonderful scene where they set up a women’s fashion shop where everything is free and the greedy ladies layer dress upon dress and leave dripping in accessories only for it all to magically disappear when they hit the street leaving them naked.

Botanical Gardens of the museum

Time to leave Oaxaca, we squeeze onto a second class bus in the afternoon and head away from the crowds for a bit of peace and quiet in a little mountain village.

We think it would be very easy to stay in Mexico for a year and soak up these glorious colours every day.