erin brandy photography

Well, I made it back safely from Mexico, and am now settling in and keeping warm for the winter, trying to find a job, deciding to go to nursing school, not really taking many pictures (artistic ones, that is).  I did start another blog (another blog! how technologically savvy I am!) to showcase the spectacular talents of my local craft group.  Check it out:  http://craftthesnark.blogspot.com/.   You love it.  You can't help but move to the Illinois Valley to join our talented, charismatic, and oh-so-clever bunch.  Do it.  Now.  And bring a craft!

"Hark, deciding to go to nursing school did you say?" Why yes I did.  I'll let you know how that goes once I start school.  Stay tuned.

Today is Three Kings´Day (or, Epiphany in some other countries).  This is the day that the Three Wise Men finally found Mary and Joseph and gave their gifts to the dear, sweet Baby Jesus.  So in Mexico, today is the day that all the kids get gifts from their parents (moreso than Christmas).  Last night kids either polished their shoes and put letters to the Kings asking for what gifts they wanted in their shoes under their beds, or put the letters into balloons and let the balloons fly off into the air.  I like the shoes under the bed thing waay better--no deflated balloon trash floating in the ocean and killing atheistic sea life.  For el dia de los Reyes Magos, they eat roscas de reyes, or king cakes (those of you familiar with mardis gras might know what a king cake is).  They are big rings of sweet bread and have candied fruits on top and little plastic bebés inside (representing the baby Jesus).  If you get a bebé in your piece, you have to throw a party on the 2nd of February, with tamales and chocolate (always looking for a reason to party, these people--I like it).  I got a bebé in my piece, so you´re all invited to my house on the 2nd of February for tamales and chocolate.

Some random Mexican thoughts:

How do you explain holy Mormon underwear in limited Spanish?

I am in constant amazement and awe that Mexican women don´t break their ankles in those crazy high heels in these cobbly, hole-ridden streets.  Very admirable.

Markets full of every kind of thing--great balls of quesillo (yummy, stringy goat cheese) bigger than my head!  Lovely embroidered traditional clothing; other lovely embroidered things that were probably made in Guatemala; sacks full of dried chilis of every kind; fish, meat, frutas, verduras, chocolate, molé, nuts, pottery, ¨nievas¨(kind of like sorbet meets snow cones) in lots of flavors (tuna=prickly pear, not tuna fish); elotes (yummy corn on the cob on a stick with mayo, lime, cheese, & chili); all the smells & sounds & colors mixing into...something, I dunno what.

Fresa=strawberry, but also =snobby.

Chedraui: the local version of Super Walmart where Terminator 2 is on eternal loop on the TVs for sale.

Everyone uses their car horns, frequently, even when there is no chance it will make any kind of difference, but everyone walks reaaalllllyyyy ssslllloooowwwwllllyyy.

Parks and benches everywhere full of teenage couples making out.

The other day I ordered a taco with no meat from a street vendor (taco with no meat=2 tortillas, guacamole, salsa, onion) and he thought that was so funny that he gave me the taco for free.

The women in Mexico curl their eyelashes with a spoon.  Even on the airplane.

No one ever has change in Mexico.  Ever.

And hooray for pictures:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/15301134@N02/

Last night was the Night of the Radishes.  What an amazing spectacle.  Lines do not exist in Mexico; whoever has the sharpest elbows or hips gets in first, so, after two and a half hours of standing in line, we get to see the displays of radishes (rabanos), corn husks (totomoztle), and flowers (flor imortal) that people had sculpted into crazy scenes.

There were probably five thousand people in the zócalo last night, and they were all trying to see the displays.  Man, it was crazy.  And of course, right in the middle of walking around the fenced off raised platform to view the sculptures, they start the fireworks early (the only time anything has happened early here).  So I couldn´t get out through the teeming throng to photograph them.  Missed my chance again.  You´ll just have to take my word for it that they are the most impressive fireworks I´ve ever seen. 

Tonight being Christmas Eve (La noche buena--the good night, I guess when Jesus was being born?), many families are preparing a big meal to be eaten after the Misa de Gallo (the Mass of the Rooster, the Mexican name for Midnight Mass [because the rooster crows at midnight? Sounds like a code name.]).  So, dinner´s going to be really late, then everyone sleeps all day tomorrow.  Kids here don´t actually get presents until the 6th of January, the Three Kings day, when the Three Kings finally showed up after wandering around the desert for two weeks or so.  Although I´m having a lot of fun down here and they really know how to party, it makes me miss my family, and really appreciate being with them during the holidays.  Although this time of year can be a big headache in general, it´s all worth it when the day actually happens and you´re with people you care about.  I hope you all have a lovely evening, wherever you may happen to find yourself.

16 Deciembre 2008

The man in the moon is drunk tonight (esta barracho). He lazes on his side in his trek across the sky, fading bit by bit until he has turned into a bowl for catching stars, then he pours them out in the morning (not the ¨C´s¨and ¨D´s¨ of the Northern hemisphere).

Last night (and for the next eight nights) was a posada, where there are cute little parades with lots of niños, and they symbolize the trek that Mary and Joseph had to take to find a decent place to have their bebé.  Lots of food and music.

Some random thoughts that I´ve jotted down since I´ve been here:

La fiesta de la Virgen de Guadelupe, Oaxaca (12 Deciembre 2008).  New Orleans Jazz and flaming kung fu angel parades--Mexicans know how to party!  December--another fiesta almost every day. 

Oaxaca (and other Mexican cities?)--a city where everything looks old, & poor, & imposing.  All the streets are one way, all the windows have bars, and all the buildings have false fronts, but beautiful, sunlit courtyards just inside.  It´s hard to tell the secrets that each building contains, but sometimes you can see secret gardens peeking out the top.  Sometimes I´m surprised by a sudden warmth behind a door, then I realize it´s a door to a courtyard and it´s bathed in sunlight on the other side.

As it is in every poor country that´s flooded with foreign tourists, everyone is trying to sell you something, & unfortunately most of it has been degraded into cheap plastic crap, and the non-cheap plastic crap is just that--expensive.  Double-sided exploitation.  Oh, and don´t make eye contact if you can help it--unless you have a purpose (especially for women--eye contact is an invitation to bother you no end). 

One of my most surreal experiences so far:  flying into Mexico City on Alaska Airlines and hearing them play ¨Winter Wonderland¨on the plane´s speakers upon landing (can´t escape those Christmas carols, even in Spanish). 

One of the quirkiest best parts so far:  the little men on the ¨walk¨signs on street lights actually walk--& they speed up into a run the less time you have to cross the street.