This Month in Puerto

Sunday 4
Miss Chiquitita Contest
6 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Friday 9
La Guelaguetza
The folkloric ensemble from Colegio Calmecac presents an overview of the cultural traditions of the state of Oaxaca.
7 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Saturday 10 - Sun 11
Super Motor Cross
Think extreme, adrenaline-pounding sport in Puerto and surfing obviously comes to mind. But over the last five years, since this exciting dirt bike competition has taken its place alongside the Big Three events of the November Fiestas, Motor Cross has won hundreds of fans and practitioners in our city.

The main event is the Grand Championship Race of the Circuíto Azteca league, which attracts the best riders from around the nation and several Latin countries.

But the two-day affair includes categories encompassing all levels of expertise, age range and bike size: Children, teens, beginners, veterans, 85 cc races, 125 cc, freestyle, and experts.

There be plenty of other related activities, such as the election of La Chica Cross, who will lend her allure to the prize-giving ceremony on Sunday.

It all takes place at the Motor Cross track located at the entrance to Playa Puerto Angelito. Start your engines.
Modest cover charge. Events begin at noon.

Saturday 10
Martial Arts Festival

Nippon Kempo National Tournament
10:30 a.m. City Hall Plaza

Exhibition & Festival
7 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Los Tigres del Norte
Los Tigres del Norte are not just another strutting, flamboyantly attired, accordion-toting norteño band. Well, actually they are, but what makes Los Tigres special is that they pretty much invented, or at least defined, that norteño, banda sound, which has become hugely popular on both sides of the border, and beyond. Originally from the northern state of Sinaloa, Jorge Hernández, his brothers and a cousin started the group in San Jose, Calif,. in the late 1960s when they were in their teens.

Their phenomenal success began in 1972 when they released an album called Contrabando y Traición ("Contraband and Betrayal"), which included a song about a woman dope smuggler who shoots her man and takes off with the money. It proved to be a huge hit on both sides of the frontier, inspired a series of B-movies; the narco-corrido was born and a remarkably successful Spanish-language pop music career was launched.

The Mexican corrido probably dates back at least to the Mexican-American war of the 1840s. These epic ballads defined the political and popular issues of the time and celebrated great deeds and heroic feats. In a marginally literate society, this was how news was spread. Corridos were defiant and anti-authoritarian, dealing with the struggle to survive in an imperfect world.

In the '70s and ''80s the corridos of the norteño bands, inspired by "the Tigers of the North", found modern day heroes in the narco traffickers, coyotes and illegal immigration. But Los Tigres have mellowed over the years, infusing their traditional norteño sound with bolero, cumbia and rock. And more often than not their songs are stories of love found, lost and betrayed. In fact the title song of their hit album, Directo al Corazón, will always be associated in my mind with a passionate, but ill-fated love affair that I'm sure I'll get over eventually.

The appearance here Los Tigres, who have sold millions of records and won umpteen Grammies is a major cultural event.
9 p.m. Plaza de Toros "La Costeñita" Tickets are $200.00 in advance available at Don Felix Hardware, Tex-Mex, Mundo Vaquero, as well as here at the world headquarters of El Sol de la Costa.

Sunday 11
Amateur Boxing
7 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Wednesday 14
Inauguration of Festival Zicatela
Running through Nov. 25, Festival Zicatela presents a daily program starting with early evening cultural events, food fares and folkloric presentations, followed by night-time concerts.

All activities take place at the newly-dubbed "Zicatela Plaza", located way beyond the commercial strip of Zicatela Beach towards the Point.

First day program:

Festival Inauguration
5 p.m.

Photographic Exhibition, historic views of Puerto Escondido
6 p.m.

Art Exhibition featuring the work of Isthmenian artist Soid Pastrana
6:30 p.m.

Concert - to be announced
9:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Thursday 15

Poetry Reading and presentation of a new book by Cesar Rito.
4 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Mezcal Fair
5 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Culinary Fair
Specialities from the Chatino region.
5:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Chatino Music & Dance
6 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Dance & Guitar
a cultural presentation by the children's ensemble from Puerto Cultural Center.
7 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Los Dorados in Concert
Unlike many contemporary jazz groups, Los Dorados aren't dedicated to the deconstruction of the melodic phrasing of mainstream jazz. On the contrary, this four-piece combo remains true to the spirit of be-bop, of Miles and Dizzy. Good stuff
9:30 p.m. Plaza Zicatela, $50.00

Friday 16

Poetry, Art, Photography
Surf photos, art by D.F.'s Esmeralda de los M. Alatorrea
4 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Crafts Fair & Expo
5 p.m. Zicatela

Afro Mexican Traditions
Poetry, artwork and music and dance from the Afro-mestizo villages of the Costa Chica
5:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Cultural Missions
8 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Caldo Tlalpeña in Concert
Jazz influenced rock
9:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza, $50.00

Saturday 17 - Tues 20
14th 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.
8 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Saturday 17
Foot Race
4 p.m. Parque Idilio

Poetry
Ulises Torrentera presents his new book
4 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Culinary Fair
Specialities from the state of Guerrero.
5:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Mosaic of Guerrero Folklore
7 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

14th Coast Festival of Dance
8 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Oscar Chávez & Los Morales
During Oscar Chávez's long and distinguished musical career he has embraced the full gamut of Mexican musical genres from romántic ballads and tropical cumbias to rancheras, corridas and trova, Latin folk music. In fact he has ventured far beyond his native land to embrace musical forms such as Argentine tango and songs from the Spanish Civil War.

For Chavez, his music is inseperable from his political ideals and commitment to social justice, be it the conservation of indigenous culture and languages or support for social movements to better the lives of the marginalized and the dispossessed.

Since 1970, he has been accompanied by the trio Los Morales, made up of the brothers Héctor, Carlos and Julio Aguilar Morales, who began playing with various mariachi bands and whom he first encountered playing for spare change on public buses in Mexico City.
9:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza, $250.00

Sunday 18

Craft Fair
4 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Art Exhibition
Artists from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
5 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Mario Carrillo
The youngest son of Oaxcan Alvaro Carrillo, one of Mexico's greatest composers of popular music, presents a tribute to his father to whose rich body of work he brings a rare sensitivity and some very interesting arrangements of those familiar and beloved classics.
5:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza, $100.00

14th Coast Festival of Dance
8 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Me Voy Pa' Juchitan
A celebration of the vibrant Zapotec traditions of Juchitan. flower of the Isthmus.
9:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Monday 19

Weaving & Textiles Expo
5 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Culinary Fair
Specialities from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
5:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Costumes of the Isthmus
The stunning traditional dress of the women of the Isthmus region will be on display.
6 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

14th Coast Festival of Dance
A national folkloric group from Peru
8 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Tuesday 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.

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.

It's a national holiday. A Parade to mark the 97th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution will leave the Benito Juárez Sports Stadium at 8 a.m. and make its way to the City Hall Plaza.

Craft Fair
4 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Photographic Exhibition on the theme of the Oaxacan Coast
6 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Art Exhibition
Specialities from the Chatino region.
5:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Susana Harp in Concert
It certainly didn't hurt her career to have the name of one Mexico's richest men, but Susana Harp is both talented and dedicated to her music. She has shown an academic, as well as a musical interest in researching material and traditional instruments. Her albums cover the classics of Oaxacan music from La Sandunga, Canción Mixteca to El Feo, Naila and Dios nunca muere (Macedonio Alcalá).
8 p.m. City Hall Plaza, FREE

Wednesday 21

Seminar on Water Conservation
4 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Culinary Fair
Specialities from the coast of Oaxaca
5:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Sones & Chilenas
The music that defines the soul of the coast, with groups from Pinotepa and Jamiltepec
4 p.m. Zicatela

Grupo Cubano
Habana Fusion
8 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Pedro Torres & Friends
Pedro is a talented local troubadour who is best know for his interpretation of Alvaro Carrillo songs. This night should be heavy on chilena music, because one his friends will be the legendary Chanta Vielma
9:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza, $50.00

Thursday 22

Photography Exhibit

Sports Fishing 4 p.m.

Book Fair 5 p.m.

Expo of Oaxaca Products
5:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Guelaguetza
Sones from Pochutla and Fandango de Varitas
6 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Legend of Donaji
It's the pageant about founding myth of the city of Oaxaca. Donají was a Zapotec princess who was held as a hostage by the Mixtecs to ensure peace and cooperation between the two rival nations. Like Verdi's Aida, this heroine suffered a tragic destiny: she chose to risk death and forever lose her lover, the Mixtec prince Nucano, rather than betray her people.

Donají secretly aided a Zapotec attack that failed to free her. In reprisal she was beheaded; her lover Nucano buried her. According to legend, death did not deprive Donají of her beauty, which endures to this day as she rests, beside Nucano, in temple of Culiapan de Guerrero. Today the image of the severed head of Donají is the official symbol of the city of Oaxaca.
8 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Ferrina Alonso in Concert
She fuses the rich rhythms of the Coast with folk, flamenco and urban sones
9:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza, $100.00

Friday 23 - Sun 25
19th International Sailfish Tournament

Friday 23

Expo of Art & Popular Culture
4 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Culinary Fair
Prehispanic cuisine
5:30 p.m. Zicatela

Guelaguetza
6 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Chilenas and Guitar
8 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Mauro Calderón
This veteran Mexican tenor has an extremely versatile range and tackles the light operatic repertoire, pop and traditional Mexican music.
9:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza, $100.00

Saturday 24, Sun 25
National Extreme Festival

Turtle Release, Sand Castle Contest
Villa Sol Beach Club

Saturday 24

Expo of Art & Popular Culture
4 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Art Exhibition
Rodolfo G. Feria
4:30 p.m. Zicatela

Guelaguetza
Sones Mazatecos and Jarabe Mixteco
6 p.m. Zicatela

Campeche Show
Dancing music
9:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza, $50.00

Sunday 25

Expo of Art & Popular Culture
4 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Culinary Fair
International Cuisine
5:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Mexican Mosaic
Folklore from around the nation
6 p.m. Zicatela Plaza

Juggling Event
Wu Shu Exhibition
7 p.m. City Hall Plaza

Tres de Copas
in concert: Latin pop, ballads and light rock
9:30 p.m. Zicatela Plaza, $150.00

Friday 30
Dance & Closing of November Fiestas
Lots of bands: Mar Azul, Luz Verde de Acapulco, Recuerdo 89, Elegante de Miahuatlan y Memo y sus Humildes de la Costa
9 p.m. City Hall Paza

Read Last Month's Feature Articles:
Oaxacan BBQ
Day of the Dead
Live Music in Puerto