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THE FIESTAS OF NOVEMBER

November is a terrific time to be in Puerto Escondido. The rains are done, the weather cools off and the landscape is lush and vibrant. It's also the month that we gear up for the winter tourist season with the Fiestas of November, a line-up of music and folklore, food and fun, sports and cultural events that showcase our town's special attractions.

The Fiestas include the big three events: The Coast Festival of Dance, the International Sailfish Tournament and the International Surfing Tournament. But there's also the excitement of Motorcross, concerts, dances, arts and crafts exhibits and ample showcasing of the unique cultural traditions of the Oaxacan coast.

The Fiestas de Noviembre demonstrate that Puerto is ready to greet its visitors with a warm Bienvenida.
Warren Sharpe, Editor

This Month in Puerto

Friday 5 [nadia]
Art Exhibition
by members of the Arco Artists Collective. Opening Ceremony:
6 p.m. Cloisters of City Hall
Cultural Program
presented by the Cultural Center of Puerto Escondido
7 p.m. City Hall Esplanade
Nadia in Concert
The pride of Oaxaca, Nadia Yvonne, a winner in the TV Azteca reality show "The Academy", performs with a full Mariachi Band.
9 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Saturday 6
Cultural Performance
by Cultural Mission of Bajos de Chila.
7 p.m. City Hall Esplanade
Noah's Ark
A satirical theater piece
8 p.m. City Hall Esplanade
Super Rodeo & Dance
All star bull-riding rodeo event with music by national banda star, Coyote and his Holy Land Band. Also Banda Amigo and Cadetes de Linares.
8 p.m. La Costeñita Rodeo Arena

Saturday 6, Sun 7
Motorcross
Saturday is for practice sessions. Then, Sunday, competition begins in earnest with races for children and juniors, beginners and veterans and the Premier Motorcross Championship featuring the best riders from the south and central regions of the country competing for a 25,000 peso purse.
10 a.m. Entrance to Puerto Angelito Beach

Monday 8
Art Garden Project
Inauguration of an urban culture project by Arco artists' group, which offers free plastic arts workshops on Sundays at Parque d'Idilio
6 p.m. City Hall Esplanade
Amateur Boxing
7 p.m. City Hall Esplanade
Folkloric Performance
8 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Tuesday 9 [frida]
Art Exhibition
by students of Frida Kahlo School
4 p.m. Cloisters of City Hall
Food Fair
with emphasis on the pre-Columbian roots of Mexican cuisine
6 p.m. City Hall Esplanade
Folkloric Performance
by students from CABAO College
8 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Wednesday 10
Bicycle Race
3 p.m through the principal streets of the town

Thursday 11
Crafts Exhibition
by artisans from Oaxaca's Central Valley
6 p.m. Avenida Hidalgo
Book Release
Ing. Abel Emigdio Baños presents his new work "Shortcuts to Memories", music provided by Ing. Carlos Martinez Calderon, Prof. Alberto Marroquin Juárez and Pedro Torres.
7 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Friday 12
Arts & Crafts of the Oaxacan Coast
exhibition and sale. Opening ceremony:
5 p.m. Av. Hidalgo, opposite City Hall
Art Exhibition
works by Prof. Dolores Carrillo Opening Ceremony:
7 p.m. Cloisters of City Hall
Folkloric Dance
presentation by the Dance Troupe of Santiago Yaitepec
8 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Saturday 13
Food Fair
featuring the regional cuisine of Oaxaca and Chiapas
6 p.m. City Hall Parking Area

Sat 13, Sun 14
11th Annual Coast Festival of Dance
The Coast Festival of Dance is a showcase for the vigorous and enduring traditions of this area's cultural patchwork of Indigenous, European and African peoples. See more.
7 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Mon 15,Tue 16, Wed 17
Cultural Program
presented by the Oaxacan Cultural Institute. Details unavailable at press time
8 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Thur 18 - Sun 21 [surfiando]
International Surf Tournament
The grand Fall classic, this year dubbed the PXM International Pro. is one of the longest running contests in Mexico. See more on the tournament.
8 a.m. Zicatela Beach

Friday 19
Chess Tournament
Inauguration:
5 p.m. Hotel Aldea del Bazar, Bacocho
Art Exhibition
"Feeling and Color" with works by Francisco Montiel, Eva Laemmler and Olga Ruiz
6 p.m. Cloisters of City Hall

Fri 19 - Sun 21
International Sailfish Tournament
The 16th running of this competition with special prizes for Dorado and Marlin. More
7 - 3 p.m. Playa Principal

Saturday 20
Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution
November 20 marks the beginning of the Mexican Revolution and the end of the Porfiriato, the long autocratic rule of Porfirio Díaz, the Oaxacan native son and loyal lieutenant to Benito Juárez who assumed the presidency in 1876 and just didn't know when to give it up. Opposition leader Francisco Madero called for an uprising on November 20, 1910 to oust Díaz, who stole that year's election to take a seventh consecutive term as president.

[zapatista] Many heeded the call, Díaz was forced into exile and Madero become president. But the well-meaning, idealistic reformer was doomed to failure. His government was challenged by revolutionaries such as Emiliano Zapata who were impatient for real land reform and undermined by wealthy landowners and army officers loyal to the old regime.

U.S. Ambassador Lane Wilson played an ignominious role in these intrigues and plotted the coup that resulted in the murder of Madero and his vice-president Pino Suárez and the seizing of power by the odious Gen. Victoriano Huerta.

Opposition soon developed against the usurper. Venustiano Carranza, governor of the state of Coahuila, immediately rejected the legitimacy of the Huerta regime and took up the mantle of the Constitutionalist resistance. Years of chaos and bloody warfare ensued until the success of the Constitutionalists brought a measure of political stability to the country in 1917.

A Parade to mark the 94th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution will leave the Benito Juárez Sports Stadium at 8 a.m, and make its way to the Town Hall Esplanade.


Photo Bazaar
8 a.m. Cloisters of City Hall
Folkloric Dance
presentation by the Dance Troupe Cuetlaxcuapan from the city of Puebla.
7 p.m. City Hall Esplanade
Rock Concert
featuring Naomi Rap and Claudio Yarto's Calo Group
9 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Sunday 21
Gastronomy Fair & Waiters' Race
Local restaurateurs offer their specialities and their staff compete on an obstacle course in a contest of speed and dexterity.
5 p.m. Adoquin Pedestrian Mall
Pop Concert
starring Lilian
8 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Mon 22, Tue 23
Feast of Christ the King
Annual Fair in Puerto's Sector Reforma, section C.

Wednesday 24
"Bici Cross" Tournament
6 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Wednesday 24
Happy Thanksgiving

Thurs 25, Fri 26
Intercollegiate Dance Contest
Terrific event in which local youngsters present their original choreography and costumes
7 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Saturday 27
Auto Sound Contest
A face-off by giant boom boxes on wheels.
9 a.m. Benito Juárez Sports Center
Surprise Event
Your guess is as good as ours
8 p.m. La Costeñita Rodeo Arena

Sunday 28
Save the Wetlands Festival
The week-long festival (Nov. 22 - 28) culminates in this presentation to promote awareness of the importance of the vast system of wetlands along the Oaxacan Coast.

[manialteopec-laguna] The river-fed mangrove lagoons are typical of the topography of the Oaxacan coast. A meeting of fresh water and the sea, this wetland environment harbors an astonishing variety of flora, birds, fish, reptiles and mammals.

The mangrove forests are an amazingly productive ecosystem; the roots nurturing the crabs, shrimps and mussels that attract a wide variety of fish species, that, in turn, draw the birds and other wildlife. But human encroachment is putting this fragile ecosystem at risk.

Sponsored by the National Commission on Natural Protected Areas and the Wetlands Network of the Oaxacan Coast, a coalition of communities dedicated to conservation and sustainable development, the program will present music and dance from these areas and report on the progress of grassroots conservation efforts in the region.

Other events during this week will include the release of baby sea turtles in the member communities, reforestation and cleanup operations and workshops on wetlands restoration and ecotourism.
10 a.m. City Hall Esplanade [georgina]

Huapango Concert
part of the Wetlands presentation, Huapango is the dominant musical style of the other coast: from the state of Veracruz. Oaxaca's chilena music will also be performed as a counterpoint to illustrate the cultural differences -- and the similarities --- of the two regions.
6 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Georgina Meneses
Charismatic, film actress-beautiful and with a celestially pure voice put on the earth to sing the Oaxacan ballads that drip with the sweet anguish of love, Georgina entranced her audience earlier this year at a concert at Puerto's UMAR university.

Georgina has three albums available, each featuring the work of a famed Oaxacan composer: Chu Rasgado, Alvaro Carrillo and Tata Nacho. Don't miss this special concert as she returns to put her mark on the Fiestas of November, 2004.
8 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Dance
A free party to close the Fiestas of November, 2004 with Las Siluetas.
10 p.m. City Hall Esplanade

Read This Month's Feature Articles:
16th International Sailfish Tournament
PXM International Pro Surfing
11th Coast Festival of Dance


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