Thu 1, Fri 2
Sat 10
National Motocross Championship
Dirt bike racing returns to Puerto this year. Practice rounds take place today.
10 a.m. Camino a Puerto Angelito
Miss Puerto Escondido Contest
Srta. P.E. represents Puerto at civic functions for the next year.
Winner is the young woman who sells the most ticket-votes.
10 p.m. Salon Los Mangales
Mon 12
National Motocross Championship
Final of this dirt bike race.
10 a.m. Camino a Puerto Angelito
Culture of the Coast
The official folkloric group from San Pedro Mixtepec present a program of traditional music and
dance
8 p.m. Town Hall Esplanade
National Book Day
The birthday of the poet-nun Juana Ines de la Cruz -- there's a kindergarten named for her in
Puerto -- is a day to promote literacy, libraries and the written word.
Day of the Postman
Every trade and profession in México has a date on which their contributions to society
are acknowledged.
Tue 13
Martial Arts
A demonstration by the Nippon Kempo Association of Oaxaca
8 p.m. Town Hall Esplanade.
Wed 14
Culture of the Coast
Music and Dance from Santiago Jamiltepec
8 p.m. Town Hall Esplanade
Thu 15
Miss Chiquita Contest
Only recommended for those with a high tolerance for cute and precocious
8 p.m. Town Hall Esplanade
Sailfish Tournament Pre-Contest Meeting & Sign-Up
7 p.m. Restaurant Los Crotos
New Moon in Scorpio at 12:41 a.m.
Fri 16
Opening of the 13th International Sailfish Tournament
First day of a three-day contest
7 a.m. Bahía Principal (Main Beach)
Sueños Tropicales "Batik by Cata"
Opening Reception for the artist, Kathleen Garvin (See more under "ART")
7 - 9 p.m. Gallery El Sol de la Costa, Adoquín
Mrs. "Emerald Coast" Contest
9 p.m. Hotel Aldea del Bazar
Sat 17
International Sailfish Tournament
7 a.m. Bahía Principal
Official Opening of the Fiestas of November
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony by the Governor of Oaxaca
7:30 p.m.
Coast Festival of Dance
8th annual showcase for enduring cultural legacy of the Oaxacan coast
8 p.m. Town Hall Esplanade
Sun 18
Final of Sailfish Tournament
All boats must return by 3 p.m., when the winners will be formally announced
7 a.m. Bahia Principal
Sand Sculpture Contest
8 a.m. - noon Bahía Principal in front of Restaurant Junto al Mar.
Sponsored by International Friends of Puerto Escondido
Miss Golden Tan Contest
Noon Bahía Principal
Children's Theater
5 p.m. Parque El Idilio
Coast Festival of Dance
The dances of the Oaxacan coast mix Indigenous, European and African cultural influences
8 p.m. Town Hall Esplanade
Mon 19
Grupo Ochú
Folkloric dance group from Colombia
7 p.m.
Reggae Concert with Grupo Jamaiquino
8 p.m. Town Hall Esplanade
Tue 20
Anniversary of the beginning of the Mexican Revolution (1910)
National Holiday, banks and government offices closed.
Revolution Day Parade
8:30 a.m. Through the main streets of town ending at the Agencia Municipal (Town Hall)
Manialtepec Dugout Parade & Contest
Local fishermen adorn their launches and dugouts as animals, birds or topical tableaux in a fun
and colorful day on the lagoon.
1 p.m. Isla del Gallo, Laguna de Manialtepec
Orquesta Primavera
the acclaimed Oaxacan pops orchestra never disappoints with its repertoire ranging from the
light classics through Oaxacan themes ending with some swinging jazz. With singer Georgina Meneses
8 p.m. Town Hall Esplanade
Wed 21
Cuban Music
Concert by "Los Jubilados" (Wish I could tell you more about this one; shades of Buena Vista
S.C. perhaps?)
8 p.m. Esplanade de la Agencia Municipal
Thu 22
Thanksgiving Day
If you want turkey and fixings, try La Torre Restaurant (Reservations Only) on the Rinconada or
Art & Harry's on Playa Zicatela
Festival of Coast Music
2 p.m. Restaurante El Hermano Toño
Martial Arts from China
Demonstration of Wushu
6 p.m. Town Hall Esplanade
Intercollegiate Dance Contest
Local high school kids compete on choreography, style and pizzazz. Show your support.
8 p.m. Esplanade de la Agencia Municipal
Fri 23
International Surf Tournament
7 a.m. Playa Zicatela
Betsi Pecanins
Folksy to bluesy, a very talented vocalist with a tight back up band. A big hit closing out
last year's festivities.
8 p.m. Esplanade de la Agencia Municipal
Sat 24
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Sun 25
International Surf Tournament Final
7 a.m. Playa Zicatela
Mountain Bike Race
5 p.m. Parque el Idilio
Calenda & Performance
Traditional parade and presentation by the folkloric group from Sola de Vega
8 p.m.
Closing Ceremony for Fiestas of November
10 p.m. Esplanade de la Agencia Municipal
Thu 30
Full Moon in Taurus at 3:15 p.m.
Radio, Radio
Sunday 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Chiles y Chocolates, a bilingual radio
program hosted by "Lucy Sonido", actually Canadian musicologist Helena Szutska, an eclectic mix of
music from around the world.
Wednesday 9 p.m.
La Luciernaga (Firefly)
Lucy's midweek, commercial-free hour of free-flowing music. Radio Esmeralda,
94.1 FM.
Cata is Kathleen Garvin, a San Francisco-born artist who began working with batik in the 70's in Key
West. She has lived in Guatemala, Belize and four years in Jalisco, and has spent the last several
months in Mazunte, producing the work that will comprise this show.
Her technique applies hot wax on cloth with brushes, rather than the djanting tool used in traditional Indonesian batik, to create a more subtle, "painterly" effect. The natural fabrics are immersed in a bath of fiber-active dye producing permanent washable color. As well as hangings, the show will include clothing, one-of-a-kind wearable art.
Cata draws her inspiration from the rich colors and sensuality of the American tropics: Vibrant flora, exotic fauna and dreamy human forms combine to form a lush, languid landscape.
Sueños Tropicales opens with a Reception for the artist from 7 - 9 p.m. on Fri 16 at the Gallery of El Sol de la Costa and will be on view through the end of the month.
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Dance is universal. Humans, since the beginning of time, have used the ritual of movement and music to define their past and to try to effect a propitious future.
Through dance, we express emotion, we commune with magical forces, and realize our dreams. Dance is group therapy, an attempt to control destiny and a means of preserving a collective cultural memory.
México's rich cultural heritage includes this enduring tradition of dance. And nowhere is that tradition stronger or more diverse than in the southern Pacific Coast region.
The dances that are still an intrinsic part of village life on coastal Oaxaca are an amalgam of three distinct cultures, the indigenous Meso-American, the European and the African.
The Coast Festival of Dance (Festival Costeño de la Danza) puts special emphasis on this Afro-Mestizo tradition.
Festival staples such as the Son de la Artesa, in which the dancers stomp out a lively cadence on a dug-out tree trunk shaped at its ends with the head and tail of a rooster, and the Dance of the Devils, are among the dances that most strongly reflect the black African tradition.
But most closely identified with this part of México's Pacific coast is what is known as Chilena music. While some believe that chilenas, which bear some resemblance to the cuencas of Chile, were introduced here by sailors heading to California during the Gold Rush, it is now thought to predate the mid 19th Century. Some of the "call and response" rhythms of the chilena are very similar to Andalusian cadences probably introduced by early Dominican missionaries.
The festival, which has an eight year history in Puerto Escondido, has developed into one of the most respected and entertaining of its kind in México.
Under the guidance of the Oaxacan Institute of the Culture (Instituto Oaxaqueña de las Culturas), anthropologists and choreographers select the most authentic, interesting and entertaining groups to present these regional traditions during the two-day event.
The dance performances take place Sat. 17th and Sun. 19th at 8 p.m. at the Town Hall Esplanade (Esplanade de la Agencia Municipal). The festival draws national media coverage, it is televised live and the governor will be on hand to cut the ribbon to open the festivities, which include a particularly good display and sale of fine Oaxacan arts and crafts.
Don't miss it.
November brings this grand fall spectacle for both anglers and the land-bound curious, the 13th
annual International Sailfish Tournament.
Primarily a sailfish contest, the event offers unspecified prizes for dorado and marlin competitions, as well as new categories: for women fishers and for children.
For the main event, the top three prizes are a Nissan Sentra 2002; a Nissan pickup 2002; and a Tsuru Gs1.
The competition is open to all who agree to abide by its bylaws and the judges' decisions.
Entry fee is 7.000 pesos per boat with the right to use three lines. Last-minute registration can be made at the Tournament Meeting on Thursday, Nov. 15
Events tents will, as usual, be strategically placed on the main beach, and all are invited to attend the festivities, which include music, games, and on Sunday, the Friends of Puerto Escondido Sand Sculpture Contest and a "Miss Golden Tan" Contest.
Good luck and good fishing.
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.
The paternalistic Díaz was much enamored of Europe and the United States and believed that massive foreign investment and the concentration of land ownership for "efficient" production were the key to Mexico's progress.
But these policies took a devastating social toll in the countryside where peasants lost their traditional communal land holdings and were forced into servitude on the huge ranches and plantations.
In 1910, the centennial of Mexican Independence, the population numbered 15,360,269, of whom only 830 were large landholders and another 410,345 small farmers. 80% of the population were dependant on abysmal rural wages. An uneasy peace was imposed by the rurales, a thuggish police force that brutally suppressed unrest, but the country was seething with resentment.
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 including the 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 was 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's regime and took up the mantle of the Constitutionalist resistance.
Villa and Emiliano Zapata continued their guerrilla campaigns, fighting against both Huerta and the Constitutionalists.
Years of chaos and bloody warfare ensued until the success of the Constitutionalists brought a measure of political stability to the country in 1917.
Carranza's Constitution of that same year incorporated fundamental political and social reforms that remain the basis of Mexican jurisprudence to this day.
A parade to mark the 91st anniversary of the Mexican Revolution will leave the Benito Juárez Sports Stadium at 8 a.m., Nov. 20, and make its way to the Town Hall Esplanade.