Muertos

This whole week is Muertos, really. Yesterday we went with Flor (the lady who runs the school we are going to start going to. Oh yeah, today is our first day.) to the huge market so she could buy stuff for her alter and we could mill around and ooh and ahh. Building the altar was fascinante. We put walnuts and roasted peanuts and apples and nìsperas and tiny apples and marigolds and big red borla flowers and beer and mezcal and skeleton figures. Candles, incense, cut tissue paper banners hung all over. Also fotos of her parents and their names. Names are important. And so is a glass of water and salt. For purification. And the incense so the dead know where to go.
Anyway, the picture is of one of the street paintings. It's made out of flowers and rice and beans.
We got flowers and stared making our own altar as well. I'll post a picture when we finish.This is Joel on our way back from the Mercado de Abastos getting stuff.

Money Trap

So here is our new apartment! Isn´t it cute? If you want to see the other pictures you have to go to Joel's blog. We split them up. Like a baby in a divorce settlement.
Anyway.
I really like it. It is super nice on top of a lady's house with a big bouganvilla and tons of succulents in pots and lots of hummingbirds (colibrís) and puffy birds and sunshine. Very relaxed and open non-cavelike, compared to our other house. With white walls! Straight white walls. So anyway, anyone who feels like coming down to visit us is more than welcome. This is a cool town and I think it would be a great place for us all to come for vacation. Much better than Mexico City.
Mom, you could fly down here and write!

Helicopter,

Helicopter let your long rope dow-how-ow-ow-own.

Check out this sweet Volvo! It is in the Carrera Panamericana which is a race that is going on right now and Joel has written about. It was very exciting to see them all start off! It was just like the great race! I was looking around everywhere for Tony Curtis, but maybe he got there late. He probably had an engagement at the Emerald Queen Casino. But anyway I teared up a little bit to see them all racing around the corner and waving to everyone. Actually, now that I think about it it was more like It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad World because taxis and cop cars and fire trucks and buses kept getting caught up in the spirit of things and driving fast down the street too.
But before they even started there was lots of drama. All the cars were set up in the Zocalo, it was pretty typical car show angled parking and oglers and all that. One couple was talking about how long it took to decide the starting order the day before and how they had changed it all at the last minute that morning. (Or maybe they hadn´t? We weren´t clear)
Oh, and then the next guy we walked by was talking about how his engine blew up! "And what did they say?" "Oh! Our engines don't do that!" "Typical!" He was pissed. He was up half the night taking it out and he had spent fifty gazillion dollars to get down there and now look. He has to wait around for a new one. Anyway.
I should go look and see who is in the lead now. There were lots of other cool old Volvos too, but if they have the same pickup that Inga has I'm not sure they stand a chance.

Anyway, so after that we went to Arrazola (which took some doing to get there) and looked at Alebrijes, those famous Oaxacan wood carvings of animals painted bright colors. Everbody there makes them. And they are beautiful. But after about forty minutes I felt like I would puke if I saw another one. Luckily we got some icecream and caught the next collective out of town and now I am enamored of the ones I got once again.