gringa musings from a rooftop terrace in Oaxaca
Where did July go? As the old saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun and fun I certainly have been having! (Well, except for the root canal. But, I won’t go into that.) After having a blast with friends and neighbors rooting for Mexico in the World Cup, I headed to Teotitlán del [ ]
Oaxaca and Oaxaqueñ@s have gone all in showing their support for El Tri, Mexico s World Cup team. The state government is providing covered outdoor viewing with live transmissions of all games on giant screens in Parque Primavera Oaxaqueña Cho ndobá, Parque El Llano, Plaza de la Danza, and the Alameda de León in the [ ]
It’s been a typical, crazy, full-on Oaxaca, return. When my plane touched down three weeks ago, the main road leading to and from the airport was blockaded by Sección 22 of the teachers’ union, so it took 1-1/2 hours (usually 30-40 min) in bumper-to-bumper traffic over the back roads for my driver to drop me [ ]
As my regular readers may have noticed, the blog posts of late have been few and far between. I must admit, I ve found it really difficult to motivate writing about Oaxaca while I m having to spend so much time in El Norte though, goodness knows, photos and topics are definitely not in short supply. [ ]
On this Valentine s Day, I m celebrating with Oaxaca s walls that speak of things we love. In Mexico we say, ¡Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad! (Happy Day of Love and Friendship!)
In my Jalatlaco neighborhood, from contemporary to whimsical to traditional They are the numbers that you meet when you re walking down the street each day. (Yes, as I wrote, I was humming the Sesame Street song, The People In Your Neighborhood.)
As 2025 moves from the front windshield to the rear view mirror, instead of focusing on the (metaphoric) traffic nightmares of speed demons, red light runners, and auto wrecks that can lead to what Reading the Pictures refers to as carnage fatigue, I d like to follow their example and look back at those experiences and [ ]
Twas the night before Christmas and I m again spending it with family and old friends in my childhood home in California. However, Oaxaca is never far from my thoughts. And, Navidad decorations were already in evidence before I flew north to California earlier this month. May Pancho Claus by Chicano music legend, Eduardo “Lalo” Guerrero, [ ]
From restaurants to street food to home cooks, for the last seven weeks I have been making up for eight months away from my favorite Oaxacan food. And then there was Barbacoa de Chivo at Adolfa s stall in the Tlacolula de Matamoros mercado. It smelled so good and I was so hungry, I forgot to [ ]
During Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), under the sun dappled light filtering through graceful several centuries old ahuehuete trees in the panteón of Tlacolula de Matamoros, the living offer the scent of cempasúchil (marigolds) to guide their departed home. And, to nourish them during their journey between the worlds of the living and [ ]
The Zapotec village of San Antonino Castillo Velasco is known for its flowers. Their difuntos (departed) await them on November 3, as they understand their living loved ones have been occupied in providing flowers to decorate the altars and graves of neighboring villages in the valley of Oaxaca. I returned yesterday and my senses were [ ]
A few days ago, I completed my Día de Muertos shopping mandarinas (mandarin oranges), manzanas (apples), cempasuchil (marigolds), cresta de gallo (cockscomb), chocolate, and pan de muerto (Day of the Dead bread), thus allowing construction of my ofrenda to begin. I unwrapped photographs of my parents, grandparents, and extended family members; selected some of [ ]
After eight months up in el norte, I arrived back in my sweet Oaxaca home Wednesday night. Travel seems to get more exhausting by the year and thus I spent Thursday and Friday unpacking in slow motion and limiting my grocery shopping to within four blocks of my apartment and just for the necessities [ ]
Tonight, El Grito de Dolores, also known as El Grito de la Independencia (the Shout of Independence), will echo from the balconies of government buildings throughout Mexico. Mayors, governors, and La Presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Mexico s first female president, will re-enact Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s 1810 call to arms (with a lot of improvisation) [ ]
Whether you are currently in Oaxaca or, like me, thousands of miles away, you can watch La Guelaguetza 2025. The 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM performances on July 21 and July 28, 2025 are being live streamed on the Guelaguetza Oficial Facebook page, CORTV, and Guelaguetza 2025 YouTube channel. (Note: Most of Mexico, including Oaxaca, [ ]