Hats and Hair

Hola! Buenas tardes!
Now, don't remind me if it is buenas or buenos. Regardless, I am never going to remember. What I do know is it is the afternoon............

And this morning was not quiet. Horses were going down our street before dawn and while it was a beautiful sound, that is what kept me awake.

The horses were coming down, with their riders, from the ranch country. Beyond the Chalaton barrio is ranch land and the campo, countryside. Many people in town keep their horses up there, so they spent a great deal of time getting up there and back down to town for the Dia de Revolucion parade.

I always enjoy going to this parade, and as I have said many times, it's the ninos who are the most fun to photograph. Since this will my be fourth time to post photos from the parade I have decide to just do something different. If you want to see every school banner and the children marching in their uniforms, every sports team, all the drill teams, the military, the bands, the cannon, all the pyramids, the dancing children, the karate wood block choppers, the cyclists AND the ten teams of cheerleaders, you can re visit the past posts from the Day of the Revolution, November twentieth, or look in the labels to the right where you should find them under events or celebrations, but today you will see.............................. hats and hair.

















and there was a lot of it..................
The hats, of course, that everyone goes to the parade to see are those of the vaqueros and their caballos. The photo above is only a small sampling of the sea of white hats that continues down the street. They always bring up the end of a parade with a dramatic entrance. This is what people go to the parade for. Well, aside from seeing their friends and being seen, this is what they go to see, the cowboys and their horses..

It was good to find out they were holding the celebration today. I was very afraid they would go US on us and have it tomorrow so they could have a three day weekend. It turns out tomorrow will be a holiday, so there will be a three day weekend after all. The Tecate store was stacking tables and chairs into trucks and beer cases were going out the door at a rapid speed. Fireworks are going off through out town and I expect a full blown fiesta night since many people will take tomorrow off.

We will also take tomorrow off and head north. Our first trip to the states in almost a year. We are going up by bus to Tucson and then flying to Dallas.

We went to Navajoa last week and got Senor a senior card. When you turn sixty in Mexico, you are considered a senior and a special card can get you a good discount on a bus ride.

Supposedly, the card is easy to get, maybe so if you are better prepared. We thought we had all the necessary items, but we forgot to make copies, so after several trips for copies, and lots of paper work, fingerprints, a break so the worker behind the desk could have lunch, Senor got his card.

A quick trip over to the TUFESA bus line to buy tickets for the express bus, reading the ticket closely on the way home, wishing we could return and exchange them for the express bus, well, it took all day.

So we are taking the not so express bus to Tucson and will probably have to wait at the border for all the folks who do not have any paperwork to be removed from the bus and told, no, you do not get to go to the United States today, but our flight does not leave Tucson until Tuesday, plenty of time to hang out at the border, no problema.

I am patiently waiting for Senor to get his laundry out of the washing machine so I can put mine in. Then I am going to pack. Bag packing will be done last minute by Senor, I am sure just right before the taxi pulls up at five thirty to take us down to the bus station.

So here is wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
Que le vaya bien! Linda lou

GEM, Gringo in Mexico

Buenas tardes!

We returned home on Tuesday and are settling back in to some gorgeous autumn weather and the golden glow of the afternoon sun as it falls even farther to the south.

For those of you who might recall that we would then be making a second turn around trip from Mazatlan to Alamos and back with our son, Ian, he was not able to make it. This works fine because one round trip here and back was enough. I am not sure we could have done two. We hope to see him in the new year, maybe for FAOT.

We did so many wonderful things with KD and the novio. It was great fun. One of the special events that occurred during the week was meeting GEM, Gringo in Mexico, and attending a callejoneada led by La Estudiantina.

If you are not familiar with GEM, he is a fun loving gringo who travels around Mexico, enjoying himself immensely as he fights bulls, eats grasshoppers and bares his body on nude beaches. He does a terrific job of promoting all the wonderful and exciting things this country has to offer, all the while being filmed by Televista, the Mexico television company. GEM is then seen in over forty countries by satellite.

KD and novio and I were walking near our street and suddenly, there was GEM, whose real name is Robert. We received an introduction from the promotional assistant and a personal invitation to a callejoneada the following night.

A callejoneada is a street procession that winds its way through narrow streets and alleyways while being led by La Estudiantina. A group of students dressed in thirteenth century Spanish costume, La Estuduantina plays a variety of musical instruments and sings traditional songs.
They are very dramatic, mysterious and extremely good musicians and singers. Usually when they arrive, it is from a dark alley and their entrance can be breath taking, their cloaks swaying in the breeze, the serious looks upon their faces.

In the photo below I managed to walk behind them on their entrance from a narrow street near the church. The ribbons signify their order in the troupe.




Below is GEM.



The curator of the museum introduced him and the crowd went wild. In the you tube clip below you can see that evening's event. There are several times where KD and I are in the clip, especially around the three minute mark. I don't know Robert Kalish who made the you tube, but he did a great job of capturing the excitement of the crowd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vUcMZrCBZA

The burro follows the callejoneada and carries bottles of red wine in the plastic bins.





I think seeing La Estudiantina perform is one of my favorite events in Alamos, and I hope you enjoy seeing the photos and the Kalish you tube. I don't know what satellite network GEM comes on in the states but I am sure if you want to see the episode of his visit to Alamos, you can find it.

Senor is playing bridge and talkzone cut off my twilight zone. They said either pay up for new episodes or you can just listen to ring a ding girl over and over again. I thought, okay, looking for something new to do now on bridge day.....................siesta is my answer.

The Ladies are Back Home

Buenos tardes!
The ladies and I have just returned from the Las Comadres luncheon. Raffles, door prizes, auctions, a fashion show, lunch on the portal of a beautiful old hotel and mingling with friends old and new, both foreign and mexicano make this a fun event.

Las Comadres is a Mexican charity which provides emergency assistance to families in the Alamos municipality. In addition to the food baskets the charity dispenses at Christmas and Easter, financial assistance is available for medicine and medical treatment. Transportation for receiving medical treatment and maintenance of a year round food bank is also provided. In addition, Las Comadres maintains a wonderful little thrift shop in town, filled with books and clothing and a vast assortment of treasures.

The ladies had a great time, they were well received and all the oohing and ahhing over them has sent them directly to siesta.

Below is the central courtyard of Los Tesoros Hotel and restaurant, where the event is held. I took these photos this morning before the event, when I took the ladies down to become one of the table centerpieces. Everyone was setting up and rushing around keeping busy.



This is the table holding all of the incredible door prizes.



Here is one of the Glasspondstudio pendants, donated to be a door prize.







The ladies, waiting patiently on the table, for people to visit them.





Many of the centerpieces were beautiful floral arrangements.

Several friends and I ended up sitting here, with a few Mexican friends and I was so excited when the gorgeous Mexican young woman next to me won my pendant. She is very voluptuos and curvy and was wearing a lowcut blouse. Against her deep brown skin the pendant shone brilliantly. She quickly became the star of the event. She looked so beautiful and I was kicking myself for not having my camera with me.

Once in awhile, I will get a big surprise as I see not only foreigners wearing my work, but women in the Mexican community as well. I am always thrilled to see that they enjoy the pendants and earrings so much. So, this is will be something I will remember for a long time.

Now I need to follow the ladies in suit, and seek siesta.

adios, linda lou

End of the Clay Tale

Buen dia!

Below is a lovely photo Senor shot from the roof top last evening. You can just see the thunderheads building to the north on the horizon. It took those clouds almost a day to get here as it is now pouring rain this afternoon. Maybe we will go beyond the four inches we got here on Durango Sunday night. The air is fresh and very fragrant, the smell of rain and flowers.


.

The end of the clay tale is near. We did not see anything come out of the kiln, Senor had a bridge day that lasted until six. Then I missed two more firings out in Uvalama. They just had to fire when they had to fire and there was really not any way for us to know about it.

Today there was a presentation at Casa de la Cultura, for the children to show off their prized pieces and receive certificates, so I went up this morning to join in and take photographs.

Outside Cultura, I snapped a few photos and you can really see the montanas are greening up. A few more rains and they will be very brilliant and tropical and lush.

Inside, the fired clay was presented for viewing and the children and their families were excited to see their work.

Sadly a few pieces were broken, but Jorge kindly explained to the families that glue will fix anything. In the plaque below you can see the clay pretty much remained adobe, but has some discoloration with a smoky fired look. Jorge says these could be glazed and fired again, but the purpose of his class would be for the children to paint them with acrylics.

Here is my candle holder ..................maybe it will look better painted.

and the pieces for my wind chime, with some type of creature on top of the right one.


and my wall plaque...............................looks like it did before firing.

Some of the kids who participated are in the photo below with the teachers, upper left.




So, now I will need to paint these things and see if I can even turn the wind chime into a wind chime and I don't know about that candle holder. jorge said maybe I shoud turn it upside down and it will look like some hrapes....hanging. I will think about that..............

For about two weeks now I have been hearing a large band practicing.

Just like the 'Elusive Bongo' post, I have been out on new old bike to find the source. I finally found it today at Casa de la Cultura. It is remarkably large, about twenty five members, drums, tubas, clarinets, flutes, trumpets, trombones, saxophones and snare drums. The players are all young kids in their teens and early twenties, and are being conducted by Ramon Alcantar, a local music teacher who is also a very talented musician.

The band has been organized and supported by the Casa de la Cultura and Century Art, an independent music and art organization from the states that is owned by an Alamos American resident.

Each day I have been listening to the band practice and I would say, they should keep up the practice, they have amazing potential. How great to see people this young interested in learning and playing instruments. I hope you enjoy their performance! adios! linda lou

What's Goin' On

Buen dia. That possible storm became a nothing. We went to the barbeque and except for a few raindrops, everyone stayed relatively dry.



There was a wonderful mix of the summer foreign population, the Alamos Mexicano community and some very talented young musicians from the states of Michoacan and Sinaloa and Sonora. These young men are here in Alamos to sell their art in a new shop on the main street of town and they just happen to all be excellent musicians as well. So a full blown jam session lasted well into the early morning hours and we all had a great time. The mayor and his wife attended and we were even surprised with some outstanding Mexican opera which was performed by two members of the mayor's party.

I love to sing and got in my Donovan, Marshall Tucker and Arlo Guthrie jam time along with everyone else. There were beautiful Mexican love songs, current Mexican hits, great old American folk songs, moving mandolin and violin performances, solos from many, and even our good friend, Steve, let loose with a moving rendition of House of the Rising Sun and played his harp as well.


We went home at two am.....................



These brothers are from Michoacan, they all play instruments, they all sing and they are all talented woodworkers, maskmakers, oil painters and sculptors.



Below is Jorge, a talented scupture and musician. He plays a type of bass instrument constructed from a five gallon comex paint bucket, a broom handle and a thick string. It is amazing how he knows what note will be played on every part of that broom handle and it is right on pitch. There was a young man there with his large bass as well and you could not tell the sound of the two instruments apart.

Yesterday we did have a good storm in the afternoon. Although brief, it gave us a good idea of how the four completed roofs are holding up, and we are pleased to say...............great!

In the photo below the impermeable has been spread just in time to dry and then the rain came. It is a rubbery white paint mix that coats the roof top and is the last thing to go on a completed roof. It is what Senor covered the current bedroom and kitchen tool room with in November 2008 before Norbert hit us.

I am thrilled the four rooms got coated before yesterday's rain and everything went as planned. It is just putting us that much closer to getting walls plastered and floor in and being able to have more covered space.

The portal roof below is not completed and you can see the mortar between the placas. The rain comes through here.

We still do not have the doors up, but the iron gates for the windows have been made. It has been difficult to varnish the doors, the humidity makes the varnish goop up like glue almost as soon as it goes on.

So I am being patient and we are spending a lot of time locking and unlocking doors, just being smart about we leave out in the open. A new timer light outside the kitchen tool room door brightens the outdoors at night and we feel more secure. I guess we are really on Mexican time and when the doors go up, well, they go up.

The museum has been offering a few classes that I am attending. The first is a clay sculpture class. There have been five gringas and about thirty five ninos and it has been very interesting.

The gringas hopped in a car yesterday and drove to the museum curator's home in Uvalama, a small village west of here, well known for its red clay and native artists who sculpt and fire it in adobe ovens. We dug more clay, sifted it, added water and prepared it for the morning class.

Below is Jorge, one of several clay sculptors and one of the teachers of our class. He is also the musician who played the comex bass at the barbeque.

Back at the museum we have each sculpted something different every day, a fish or a frog, a mask or a round lamp, an elephant or a plaque. On Saturday, everything will be transported to Uvalama where it will be fired. Drying below are some of the things made by the ninos and gringas.

Here is my contribution to the 'make what you want day', a candle holder and pieces for a wind chime. It took me over an hour to decide what to make, so the teacher told me to take it home and finish it. Today I made a wall plaque with our street name and number.

Then in the afternoons I have been going to a fabric painting class. This class is a little different. There are about thirty Mexicano senoras in the class and I don't quite feel comfortable yet. Only two of them have spoken to me. But yesterday a little girl about eight came and sat next to me and she was very chatty. Mostly she enjoyed telling me how to paint, but I felt better. So at the end of class, the instructor ripped off about three meters of muslin and told me to go home and wash it.

I am not sure if that means I have been accepted or not. Here is my painted fabric. I guess I could make a pillow out of it or a napkin.

So that's my week. Later this afternoon, after class, we are going out to a corral to see some quarterhorses being trained and manana I will go out to Uvalama to see all the clay get fired.

It is cloudy out, but very little breeze, so I am not planning on getting excited about any possibilities of rain. But I will let you know if it happens.

adios, linda lou