IF IT SEEMS TO YOU that Easter arrives awfully early this year, you're not mistaken. The calculations for the date of Easter are somewhat complicated and based on the first full moon following the Spring Equinox, March 21. Easter can fall on one of 35 dates, between March 22nd and April 25. Easter has not fallen on March 22, since 1818, and will not do so again until 2285. It does, however, fall on March 23 this year (but will not do so again until 2160; Easter last fell on the latest possible date, April 25, in 1943 and will next fall on that date in 2038). So now you know. Ready or not, here comes the biggest holiday period of the year, which always puts a strain on our fragile infrastructure and on our fragile environment. This community lives on tourism, but it is well to remember the gifts nature has bestowed on us and which fuel this tourism. So take the time during this frenetic season to enjoy the quieter side of Spring.

Happy and peaceful holidays; Be good to each other and be good to the planet.
- - Warren Sharpe, editor

This Month in Puerto

Grand Rodeo/Dance
Puerto's splendid rodeo arena, La Costeñita, celebrated its 6th anniversary last month with a marathon line up of bull riding competition and an all-star dance concert, headed by the popular band La Apuesta. The show must have proven very successful, because it's being repeated this month. Actually La Apuesta is gaining nationwide fame. It was started in 1993 in Mexico City by Enrique and Juan Casaos originally from Oaxaca's Sierra Juarez. Also on the bill: Guerrilleros de Saavedra.
(Be warned that although the show might begin at 9 p.m., the headliner is unlikely to take the stage until midnight or 1 a.m.
9 p.m. Plaza de Toros La Costeñita

Jacob Cruz Quartet
Latin and classic Jazz
8 p.m. Playa Sol Beach Club

Saturday 15
Beach Clean Up
A state-wide effort to spruce up all the beaches in preparation for the biggest tourist influx of the year. It begins at 7:30 a.m. and the Oaxacan Tourist Dept. invites everybody to participate.

Sunday 16 - 22
Holy Week!
It begins with the processions and religious observances of Palm Sunday, which marks Jesus' triumphant return to Jerusalem, officially ending the 40 days of Lent. Good Thursday, 20th, and Good Friday, 21st, are national holidays when huge numbers of city dwellers descend on the nation's tourist destinations.

Monday 17
National Holiday
to commemorate the 201st birthday of Benito Juárez, Friday 21. Since this day coincides with Good Friday, the obligatory day of rest will take place today. Government offices, banks and most other non-tourist related businesses will be closed.

Monday 17 - Thurs 20
1st Annual Surf, Music & Cultural Festival
The organizers of this festival, including the Mexican TV music channel Telehit, hope this will became an annual spring event here in Puerto, The program includes a four-day pro-am surf tournament, DJ contests, beach parties, art and fashion shows. The events will take place at the center of Zicatela and also at Guadua restaurant, out towards the Point.

Wednesday 19
Fiesta of Saint Joseph
The Catholic Church designated Saturday 15 this year as official day to honor San José, because the festival falls within Holy Week. But most local communities named for the great biblical patriarch, Joseph, husband of Mary and father of Jesus, will hold their annual fair to honor their patron saint around its traditional date.

Traditional saint's fiestas include calendas, lively processions through the streets with brass bands, huge papier-mache puppets and candle-lit globes inviting participation in the festivities. On the Eve of the saint's day (here that would be Sunday 18) there is the spectacular, if occasionally alarming, lighting of the castillo; it's a large tower rigged with fireworks to ignite in sequential order in an amazing display of pyrotechnic magic. There are numerous Saint Joe's nearby, including those suggested as excursions.

Thursday 20
First Day of Spring
It officially began at 11:48 p.m. last night.

Friday 21
Birthday of Benito Juárez
Among its many illustrious sons, Oaxaca produced two dominant figures in Mexican history. One is Porfirio Diaz, the president who didn't know when to quit and whose excesses gave birth to the Mexican Revolution. The other is Benito Juárez, the Zapotec Indian who rose from humble origins to become the most revered leader in Mexican history.

Benito Pablo Juárez García was born on March 21, 1806 in the village of San Pablo Guelatao, Ixtlán, Oaxaca. Orphaned at age four, he learned to speak Spanish and to read and write at the age of 12, when he was sent by his impoverished relatives to Oaxaca and taken into a seminary for an education.

He went on to study law and at age 28 began his career in public office as a councilman in the town. He later served as state deputy, a civil and finance judge, secretary of state, governor and, seven times, president of Mexico. He suffered jail terms and exile. He led the resistance to the French invasion under the Emperor Maximilian and guided the country through a time of vicious internal struggles to establish La Reforma, the series of reforms that limited the powerhold of the church, foreign business interests and the old ruling class.

Most of all, Juárez is remembered for his honesty, unimpeachable integrity and humanity. His quote "Respect for the rights of others brings peace" is the motto on the seal of the state of Oaxaca.

Saturday 22
Trio Tlacamama
A highly accomplished group whose repertoire includes chilenas and romantic music.
8 p.m. Playa Sol Beach Club

Sunday 23 - Sun 30
Annual Fair
San Gabriel Mixtepec
The official feast day for Saint Gabriel the Apostle is actually in September. But, because this is often the wettest month of the year, and nobody wants it to rain on their parade, this town's big fiesta in early Spring.

San Gabriel Mixtepec is an attractive coffee-growing community, perched in the foothills amid rich vegetation and abundant wildlife. Its riverbanks and waterfalls are popular picnic sites. San Gabriel is about an hour-and-a-half drive from Puerto, it's where you would leave Highway 137 for Santos Reyes Nopala.
Partial program:

Sunday 23
2 p.m. Convite procession
8 p.m. Calenda procession

Monday 24
8 p.m. Fireworks and the lighting "el castillo"
10 p.m. Dance with the groups Talibanes, Diablos Negros y Los Gabys

Tuesday 25 - Thursday 27
Sports contests

Friday 28
5 p.m. Cultural program, including a Song Contest

Saturday 29 / Sunday 30
3 p.m. Jaripeo, bull-riding rodeo

Thursday April 3
Homage to Alvaro Carrillo
Every year on the anniversary of his untimely death, Pinotepa Nacional, a city he did so much to immortalize with his "Pinotepa", pays tribute to Oaxaca's most celebrated composer. The day begins with an arts and crafts fair and Culinary Fair beginning at noon. In the evening the celebrated Orquesta Primavera from the city of Oaxaca will perform and at 7:30 p.m. on a host of talented trios from Mexico City, Oaxaca and all parts of the Costa Chica will interpret the vast repertoire of this beloved Oaxacan.

Municipal Square and Cultural Center, Pinotepa Nacional.
See more about Alvaro Carrillo

Sunday April 6
Daylight Savings Time
Spring forward . . . It takes effect at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April, when clocks are to be set forward one hour (i.e. 2 a.m. becomes 3 a.m.).

Read this Month's Featured Articles:
Semana Santa
Alvaro Carrillo
San Jose's
Encounters with the Natural World