Random Ramblings

They provided an airline ticket and a room in a glitzy hotel tower. Tianguis is the annual Mexico tourism trade show, which attracts thousands of travel agents, resort promoters, service providers and a good number of freeloading journalists. And I had a blast. I always loved a good junket!

Since I returned to Puerto and started producing this humble rag, I hadn't left the territorial limits of the state Oaxaca - that's going on 10 years, and I mean state, not country. Through a series of fortuitous events, I acquired a press pass for Tianguis 2006 (national press, not international, this time; no junkets) and was offered free use of a condo, walking distance from Acapulco's sprawling Convention Center. It was irresistible.

I've travelled the Coast Highway to Pinotepa Nacional and beyond in that time, but it had been more than 30 years since I'd actually driven in the state of Guerrero and the prospect of crossing that line seemed positively exotic. I love a good road trip!

So what follows are some musings inspired by that trip, but for reasons of space, it will be rendered in three-dot journalese, which absolves me of any grammatical sins:

Places I always stop at along the way: La Doña Restaurant in Santa Rosa de Lima, charming and guaranteed good food ... a cold beer and drop off the paper at Guido's - leaving San José del Progreso, before the topes at cattle inspection station. No Guido sign, it's Cerveza para Llevar and Cabañas. Friendly eatery, intriguing collection of historical prints, antique implements, funky sculptures. An unexpected, hidden pleasure.

No time for Tutútepec so I forego hill-top view of the coastal plains ... It's always a thrill to cross the wide Rio Verde into Jamiltepec District, but shocked at low water level: the Green River looked positively brown ... hear there are plans for a dam, way up stream. I'll get back to you on that.

Drive into Jamiltepec, intriguing and accessible Mixtec market center, to check progress of zócalo remodeling. It's not there yet, but no longer resembles Ground Zero.

Fourth Friday of Lent in Huaxpala, huge fiesta, centuries-old bazaar spills over onto Coast Highway. Lots of different indigenous groups. Traffic crawls along the highway. Unfortunately, most non-food stalls full of same cheap, imported dreck, a few gems here and there ... Return trip six days later: cleanup just beginning, signs of some serious partying.

The Big Moment: over the line into Guerrero ... It's the same: the Costa Chica, same topography, same mix of people, cultures, music, food: That line is totally arbitrary ... Guajinicuilapa - I love saying that - first town you get to. Escaped African slaves found refuge here, town has only Museum on Afro-Mestizo culture in Mexico ... The road's in great shape, just repaved, mitigates the 222 topes along the route ... Had to see Ometepec, made famous by Alvaro Carrillo song: prosperous, hustling hilltop town, very hip, wedding cake church ... Juchitan? I know Juchitan, I worked with ... never mind.

Into the shimmering city: Make sure you take the Puerto Marquez road. ACA: cleaner, glitzier, more functional than I remembered. Shopper's heaven, sin & fun in the sun. Tianguis 2006: a blast, Mexico showcases its charms for the world. Lots of hustle, elaborate parties, handouts, free samples. The Pluma de Oro contest is now the Pluma de Plata - post-Gotari devaluation?

I met José José, Oscar Cadena and saw the Ballet Folklorico de México. I discovered that even during Tianguis & Spring Break, you can find a room near the Zocalo for 150 p.

Everyone loved the paper.

And Oaxaca shone as bright as any other state in the nation - although Veracruz came close (great cigars).

More on these themes, in real English - and even Spanish - in upcoming issues.
- - Warren Sharpe, editor

Calendar

The expedition was comprised of 11 ships carrying 500 soldiers, two crossbowmen, 13 musketeers, 18 horses, 14 artillery pieces, 109 sailors and 200 Indian guides and bearers. Cortes called the place Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, Rich Town of the True Cross, founding the first European town in America.

Sunday April 30
Children's Day
A special day devoted to children was established in Mexico in 1924, after the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of Children was issued calling on all the nations of the world to protect and cherish the young. It has become a day to give gifts and candy to the rugrats. In Puerto there will be a special program for the town's kids starting at 4 p.m. at City Hall Esplanade.

Monday May 1
Labor Day
The international day to honor labor and recognize the struggle for workers rights to organize unions is celebrated today in most parts of the world -- - the U.S. being an obvious exception. May Day dates back to 1886, when a demonstration by workers affiliated with the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada was brutally repressed in the city of Chicago.

May Day is a national holiday: banks, some businesses and government offices will be closed.

Wednesday May 3
Bricklayer's Day
Day of the Holy Cross
Every trade or profession in México has a day to recognize its contribution to society. This one's for bricklayers and building laborers. As it is also the day of the Holy Cross, flower and ribbon-bedecked crosses are placed at building sites.

It is not an official holiday, but it might as well be: Anybody involved in the construction industry will be at a fiesta, and if you are having a house built, you'll be picking up the tab. Many other folks will gather with family, neighbors and friends to eat tamales and drink some cold beers to honor the symbol of their faith, the Holy Cross.

The Holy Cross is occasion for the annual fair in many communities, including the Santa Cruz neighborhoods (colonias) in San Pedro Mixtepec and Rio Grande and it's especially important in Santa Cruz Huatulco (see below) and Santos Reyes Nopala, where fiesta activities will take place all this week.

Huatulco: Legend of the Holy Cross
Huatulco served as the major port for trade between New Spain and Peru from 1540 to 1560. This function later shifted to Acapulco because Huatulco too often fell prey to pirate attacks including Francis Drake (1579) and Thomas Cavendish (1587).

In 1616, the Spanish destroyed and abandoned the port, moving their settlements further inland, as they did elsewhere along the coast, which explains why the county seat of so many municipalities here are located where they are.

The name Huatulco comes from Quauhtlelco, a Nahuatl name that means place where wood is worshipped from cuauhtli - timber; telosa - to bow; and co - place.

Legend has it that when the Spaniards first arrived there they were astonished to find the Indians praying to a cross.

They were told that long ago, an old, bearded white man came from the sea and presented the cross and told them to revere it.

The Catholic church recognizes this mysterious visitor as the apostle Saint Thomas, but to students of prehispanic México, he is the Plumed Serpent, Quetzalcoatl or Kulkan, the bringer of culture for the Toltecs and the Maya.

The cross is said to have withstood those pirates attacks, even Cavendish's attempts to burn it and pull it down with his ship.

In 1612, Bishop Juan de Cervantes brought part of the cross to the cathedral in Oaxaca. From this piece he fashioned a copy of the original, which can be seen today in the church in Santa Maria Huatulco, a clean, pleasant town surrounded by impressive mountain peaks. Other fragments of the Holy Cross are said to be kept in the cathedral of Puebla and in the Vatican.

Friday May 5
Cinco de Mayo
Although this holiday to celebrate the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Pueblo is a national holiday --- banks, post office, government offices and some businesses will be closed -- it's not that big of a deal in México, even though it has become such a huge festival of Mexican pride in the U.S. and elsewhere

Wednesday May 10
Mother's Day
It's not a moveable feast in Mexico, it is always celebrated on this date, which falls on a Wednesday this year. Mothers' Day was created in Philadelphia in 1907 by Mrs. Ana Jarvis, much to the delight of Hallmark cards and florists everywhere. In México, Moms' Day was initiated by a guy who worked for the Excelsior newspaper in Mexico City. And it is a very big deal in the country; celebration of motherhood will span the entire week, with special events and promotions at many local hotels and restaurants. If your mother is here, take her out for dinner and buy her flowers. If not, relax: Mom's Day is usually on a Sunday most places. But why not call her anyway?

Saturday 6 - Mon 15
Annual Fair in Rio Grande
Rio Grande is a rich agricultural town about 45-minutes to the west on the main highway to Acapulco near Chacahua Lagoon National Park. It is a bustling community of some 30,000 people, built on cattle raising, limes, peanuts and copra production. Rio Grande is the biggest community in the Municipality of San Pedro Tututepec.

Archeological evidence seems to confirm that Chatino culture was one of the first to inhabit the coastal plains; upon their arrival from the mountains, the Mixtecs formed alliances through marriage, in order to avoid constant battles and to keep from being chased off their lands. But the Chatinos became tribute payers to the Mixtecos during the rule of King 8 Venado and were confined to the mountainous zones where they predominate today.

(For more on the Chatinos, see El Sol de la Costa, Jan-Feb, 2006)

Legend has it that Chatinos arrived from the Pacific in the year 400 B.C., shipwrecked at the mouth of the Rio Grande river. The ship was hurled against a cliff by a terrible tropical storm and sunk to the bottom of the sea, leaving enough survivors to start the town of La Encomienda and possibly La Palma and La Concha.

It is said that a large golden cross from the ship remains and at times can be seen as it glitters at the bottom of one of the huge crevasses in the rocks where the waves crash with a sound that recalls the disaster.

The town's patron saint is the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patrona of all of Mexico, whose feast day is normally observed on December 12. But when Rio Grande was a tiny settlement, originally known as Piedra Parada, "Standing Stone", after the ancient stone markers found there, the circuit priests were just too busy in larger communities to officiate there in December.

So it was decided the town would observe its feast day on May 12 instead.

The major fair of the year salutes the area's cattlemen with a major Cattle Show, elaborate rodeos, dances, cockfights and horse races. It s a grand affair attracting visitors from miles around, almost rivaling the Chila Fiesta In February.

Saturday 13 - Mon 15
Festival of St. Isador the Farmer
Not much is known about Saint Isidor. He is believed to have lived during the 12th Century in Torrelaguna, near Madrid and that he was particularly pious and hard working. San Isidro Labrador is the Spanish worker saint who tilled the soil, obviously a popular patron saint for rural Mexico. The Oaxacan coast is no exception, which means lots of traditional fiestas in the area.

La Barra de Colotepec is one of many communities in the area that will host fiestas in honor of their patron this weekend- There are actually two La Barras, facing each other on opposite banks of the Colotepec River as it runs into the ocean. La Barra de Colotepec, sits on the west bank, closest to Puerto Escondido.

(The other is called Barra de Navidad, which boasts an ecological reserve, iguana and crocodile hatchery and offers birding and turtle nesting tours around its small lagoons.)

The waters off La Barra often have some good breaks and a growing number of surfers are discovering the place.

Bajos de Chila also reveres San Isidro as patron saint and will hold observances during those same days, even though Chila's major annual fair takes place around St. Valentine's Day in February. That's when the inhabitants, mostly workers in agriculture, traditionally had more money to spend. Chila lies west of Puerto Escondido on the road to Manialtepec Lagoon.

Monday 15 is the actual saint's day, so the peak of the festivities will take place on the eve of the feast, Sunday 14. This is the night of the traditional castillo, or "castle", a wondrously choreographed display of pyrotechnical magic. The cohetero, "rocket maker", also creates los toritos, "little bulls", effigies of bulls and other figures, carried on the head and shoulders of local youths as they rush around the square in a loud explosion of fire and smoke.

Other community fiestas for San Isidro include: San Isidro Pochutla, on the coast highway about 35 minutes east towards Pochutla, San Francisco Cotzoaltepec, located on a dirt road off the same highway some 20 minutes driving time, and San Isidro Nopala, reached along the highway to Oaxaca, via Sola de Vega.

Monday 15
Teachers' Day
Day to pay tribute to the nation's maestros. Apples all around. All trades and professions in Mexico have their special day on which society recognizes their contribution.

This month, for example also includes News Vendors Day, Mon. 8 and Students' Day, Tue. 23.

Read This Month's Feature Articles:
Day Trips, The Road to Mazunte
Magic of the Markets