Hot days on the water

 We a

re currently anchored at a marina in IJstellstein, where we spent last night. This was not in the plan, tentative though it's been. The day before we'd left Maarssen for Montfoord, going under and through numerous bridges and a lock or two. We spent the night there, in a charming smalll town, stocked up on groceriess, cooked dinner on the boat. But....

Well the heat wave that's hit Europe has created the highest temperatures ever recorded in the Netherlands. One effect that has directly affected us is that the low bridge in the town, which we would need opened to pass through, is stuck closed due to the heat. Yesterday it hit 100 F. So we decided to backtrack an hour or so to where we are now.

The bridge is still closed, as are many others. It's good that we've been somewhat flexible in our plans, and do not have a set series of destinations. But there are towns that we definitely want to visit, including Gouda, Delft, and Leiden. Gouda, famous for its cheese (the correct pronunciation is Chowda, with a gutteral ch, or just Howda for those of us who can't do the gutteral sound. It doesn't exist in English, but does in Hebrew and other languages like Arabic.) That's probably why I can pronounce it and Loring and most Americans can't. By the way, this sound is also the proper pronunciation of van Gogh, with end sound the same gutteral. So if you want to impress people, or, more likely, amuse them try pronouncing the cheese or the painter with the hard ch sound next time the subject comes up. 

So here we are at this marina, not sure there even is a town here. One good thing is that they have showers here, and toilets, and a restaurant. We do have a shower, or at least a showerhead, onboard, but we haven't yet used it. It seems that it will flood the entire bathroom, which probably isn't a terrible thing. But with the heat, I've just been having Loring dump buckets of water from the canal over my head. And he has just been jumping in the water at every opportunity. I would probably go in the water too if I had a way to get out. The bottom rung on our boat's ladder is too high for me, nearly too high for Loring to hoist himself out. 

One source of entertainment while we've been docked here is watching people jump from  the bridge. This is one of the high ones that many, but not all boats can pass under. It's about 15 feet high. Every bridge's height is indicated on the boating app, and also every boat's height is written on it. Ours is about 8 and a half feet at the height of the upper deck and steering wheel. All afternoon yesterday a group of teenagers, mostly boys, jumped repeatedly into the water. Once, the adults staying in the camper right next to us(there are folks camping here as well as boaters) people probably in their 30s, jumped in as well. They are here in two campers, a younger and and an older couple, I am guessing the parents of one of the younger one. 

I wonder how much people normally jump in or even just go in the water, and how much is due to the extreme heat. 

And there's a fairly constant parade of boats in the canal, of all sizes. Some with couples, some with families, some with groups of young adults and lots of beer. Everyone is very friendly, nearly everyone waves or says hi as they pass by. There are periodically people on paddleboards. But we've seen nearly no one in a kayak or a canoe. 

Everyone we've come across is Dutch. They speak to us in Dutch, which makes me glad that we don't stick out as tourists.  And everyone speaks English, very good English.

Our boat is labelled on the side, with their slogan of No license necessary, no experience necessary. Which does make me feel branded as a novice. 

Today we will go back to Monfoort, on our original path, although we don't think the bridge is open. There's no practical other route by boat to Gouda. Most likely we will stay there again tonight, and with luck the bridge will be open tomorrow. The heat is finally supposed to subside by then. We are wondering if there will be a backup of boats waiting to go through. 

Alternately, there's the land route. If necessary we could go by bus or uber from Montfoord to Gouda.  But that takes all the fun out of it. 

Two delightful days in Marssen.

 We tied up in the center of the town. Both sides of the canal were lined with beautiful and meticulously maintained houses, and some estates. Our Other boats were on either side of us. Most everyone we've met, on the streets, in shops, on the water, are Dutch. But the folks docked next to us, in a boat much bigger than ours, were American. We asked where they were from, and they said Florida, and New York. But they had sold their house to buy the boat, and spent several months of the year on it.  When we came back from dinner, in a cafe on the other side of the canal, they invited us aboard for a drink. But I was exhausted and begged out. The next morning they were gone. I would have loved to know more about their lifestyle, where they spent the rest of the year, where they left the boat when they weren't on it, etc. But never got to ask. Oh well. 

They were one of the very few Americans we've run into.

Our dinner at the cafe had been more appetizers than dinner, all fried foods, as the waiter had explained . He said most restaurants were  closed Mondays and Tuesdays, because there wasn't enough business. And they only served the fried foods. I had a limoncello spritz, and Loring has been drinking gin and tonic because they don't seem to be familiar with martinis except as a canned pre mixed drink, which they didn't have.

Our full day in Marrssen we actually spent in Utrecht. It's a two bus ride from Marrssen, which we managed to mostly handle. You needed to pay by credit card and use a different card for each person. I am not sure why. And you need to check out when you leave or you are subject to a fine. Thexdrivers were very accommodating when our second card, an amex, didn't work, and just waved us thru, and then we snuck thru the exit gate together. 

Utrecht is the Dutch town I spent time in over 50 years ago. I don't think I ever went beyond the beautiful old city. I remember being able see the famous Dom tower from my friends ' house. What we saw of the old town is still beautiful.  We mostly spent our time at the Central Museum. We are in the middle of a heat wave. More about that later. And so our goal was to spend as much time as possible in an air condoned environment. 

i

Floating visions

 That's what they call the event. Floating Visions: Bosch reimagined.

And this year's theme is Powered by Defects. Ok. And some exerpts from the program:

"Defects can be found everywhere, poverty, unrisen cakes, badly dressed carnival goers, long term illness."

 I get the point but it's a rather odd conglamoration of examples. Of which those are only a few. 

The first float are the heralds announcing the parade.  And the defects in all of our lives. We of course didn't understand anything. 

Then, the SOS float. The designers collected bottles from patients and staff at a local hospital, and a

 "wish creature" announces  their wishes from a vessel filled with seaweed-like sculptures.

Apparently in Bosch's time sailors in danger would throw bottles with their final cries for help.

I will try to describe a few more of the floats, the ones I liked the best.

Meerklank is a floating barrel with open ends with four people in black black aboard, walking forward to keep the barrel rolling, It represents moving forward despite flaws, partly submerged and having to move forward to keep from sinking. This one was Loring's favorite, and one  we didn't need to understand any language to appreciate.

Perhaps my favorite was called The lazy curious innovative human. Three women are on individual small platforms linked to one another, drawn by a fourth person in a small float in front. Each has white kitelike wings. They are all different, one is on a ladder. It's quite elegant. The program explains that they are taking on the invincible force of graity, and in doing so lay bare the flaws we all possess. Sometimes it's better not to know the explanation! 

Another elegant float was called Als verlangen dansen. I will have to look up the translation. It was created by a woman intrigued by dancing from childhood, but who suffered an injury at the age of twelve. Now she wants to keep dancing., this time with other women who want to dance despite being burned out, being pregnant, etc. It was another visually appealing one. A half dozen dancers in a variety of black and red attire, on a triangular float intersected by a number of barres.   The float is motored by another half dozen women in the water, all wearing red bathing caps. And two of them perform synchronized swimming moves ahead of the float.

The last one I'll describe is De fanfare van oliedom. "we are all addicted to oil."  " this depicts and sets to music our addictive complacency...and insatiablel greed with a boisterous orchestra." The float is set upon oil drums, with others atop it played as drums. and musicians wearing oil  can funnels as hats, everything painted a bright blue. This float was powered by several people pedaling.  "They hammer their message to the quays. Will it be hellilsh noise or heavenly music?" 

The parade takes an hour. We watched it once in our purchased grandstand seats, and then two days later from an embankment on the other side of the river and further down, giving us a different perspective. 

It was low key and I'd guess almost entirely local and other Dutch people.  I'm glad we finally did it. 

We are now on our boat, docked along a spit of land not too far from where we embarked. We had a lesson from the staff and were on our way. I'll describe the first part of our boat trip as well as the other things we did between the two parades we attended, in my next post. 

First nights in the Netherlands

Our complimentary charcuterie board which i think they call a plank.

 We are in the town of den Bosch in the Netherlands, home of the 17th century painter Hieronymous Bosch. You may be familar with his work. He is best known for his depiction of his cleverly  grotesque scenes of hell and demons, especially the Garden of Earthly Delights tryptich . Until now I thought the town was named for him. It's actually the other way around, as I found out on a visit to his home this morning.  His family name was different. He took the name den Bosch, "from Bosch" which the museum video mentioned was a clever bit of marketing, so that people would know where to find him. 

Let me explain the motivation for this trip. Several years ago I saw a video on fb of the Bosch parade. It was a parade of floats on the river Dommnel in town,  inspired by Bosch's work. In the back of my mind I thought, some day I'd like to go to that. I thought that was four or five years ago, until fb showed me I had posted a video of the parade ten years ago. I guess my concept of time these days  is not very accurate. 

So, seeking inspiration for our next travels, I saw the dates of this year's parade were in late June,just the time I was looking to go. And so, we built a trip based on this funky little parade.  It happens four or five times over the period of three days, a few in the afternoon and a few at 8pm. I decided we should go twice, once in the evening and once in the afternoon. The parade itself is free, but for better viewing you can buy tickets at two different locations along the route. Which I did. 

I;m not sure how  many of the attendees are local and how many from afar. The majority of the people we've seen at the parade and in town are Dutch speaking. We've heard English sporadically, but most of it not Americans. Many visitors speak English, but as a second language, and it's the default language for foreigners. And almost all Dutch people speak good English, in some cases flawless. 

For our trip, the parade was the inspiration, but not the main focus. We decided to rent a boat for two weeks, and will embark on that part of our adventure tomorrow. I had looked for boat trips online, but not bike and barge trips or cruises. I eventuallly came upon sites where you could rent a boat to drive yourselves, and for which you needed neither a license or any experience. 

And so tomorrow we begin the next part of our adventure. We will travel to Vinkeveen, the home base of the Le Boat company, from which we will be renting our Cirrus Two cabin cruiser. After an hour long training we will be off on our own for two weeks, boating to wherever we would like. They provide some potential itineraries, routes and places to stop along the way. But there is no set itinerary. We have some tentative plans of places we would like to visit, but will improvise as we go. I am excited but also a bit nervous; have never done anything like this before. 

So let me tell you about our stay here in den Bosch and the parade. We are at the Golden Tulip Hotel in the center of the old town. It's a charming town and a nice hotel. One problem, however, When we went to check in, they told us that there was a problem with the air conditioning  in the old part of the hotel. It had been broken for a couple of days. They gave us a choice, either the room we'd reserved,which had a view of the main plaza and a small balcony, or another room with air conditioning in the newer part. Oh, and did I mention that we are here in the middle of a hear wave?! It's been in the 90s when typical temperatures are in the 70s.  So, as you might have guessed, we took the air conditioned room. To compensate they gave us a voucher for two drinks and a charcuterie board in the hotel restaurant. And after I asked they said they would also give us a partial refund for the less expensive room. The charcuterie board was impressive, including not just the meats and cheese but also shrimp tempura and fried wontons and some other treats.  As the price on the menu for that was over $25, and then the drinks about $10 each, i guess that was a pretty nice compensation. 

The first night we went to the parade and sat in the grandstand seats we had purchased. One thing, though. We had envisioned a night time performance. But the parade was aat 8pm, and it doesn't get dark until about 10pm. 

The parade was delightful and low key. It's certaninly not a major event in the country, which was fine. I am not sure that all the locals are even aware of it. When we were waiting for the train here from the Amsterdam airport we asked a man on the platform if the train we wanted would be on the track we thought it would be. He said he was also going to den Bosch. I asked if he was going to the parade, and he said no, he was going home.  I don't think he even knew what I was referring to.

So, to the parade. In fact it was unnecessary to buy tickets, although it was nice to sit in the grandstand in seats with backs. The seating was sold out, for all the performances, so I was glad we had purchased them in advance. There were about 17 floats, all lof them except the very last one from the Netherlands. The last one was from France according to the program. The theme this year was "Powered by Defects" although I am not sure anyone would have gleaned that without reading the program. The program describes each float and what it represents in detail, and will attempt to summarize the gist of it in my next post.

Fiestas and Siestas and the Fabian family artisans

 Back at home now, after a pretty uneventful trip back. With one exception. While at the Mexico City airport between flights, a woman came over to me saying, "Joanna? Joanna Liss?"  It took a couple of seconds before I recognized her. It was Natalie Jordan from EF, where I had worked with au pairs and families for a number of years. I see her posts on fb periodically, and knew that she was now a vice president of EF, and the director of the Au Pair program. I was very impressed that she recognized and remembered me. I can't even remember how many years it's been. Loring took a picture of us which she posted on fb. It got a lot of likes. Mostly from people that know her, of course. She knows a lot of people. But I recognized a few names. 

First I wanted to describe our encounter with Norberto Fabian. In the Oaxaca region there are various villages, where people specialize in a particular craft. Some are are weavers. One village has potters who work with black clay.   It is similar to what I found years ago in Peru, certain areas where people made textiles, others where they carved gourds, a city that I stayed in where they made small alter type scenes made out of potato clay.  I am not sure which of these crafts are continuing to be produced by younger generations, but it seems in Oaxaca that they are. You see the alejibres in all the craft shops in the city. 

Our connection with the Fabian  family dates back seven or eight years. We had Norberto and his father Ventura do a presentation at our house for one of our salons. I had arranged it with Nina Hasan, a Boston area woman who had made a short film about the Venturas a while back. She brings the Venturas every year around Day of the Dead and they do presentations at one of the Harvard Museum and elsewhere, aknd sell their creations. We did the same at our house.  Fabian died a few years ago. Norberto now does the carving and his wife does the painting. 

I had assumed they wouldn't be hard to find in the village, but I was wrong. The town was indeed replete with studios of alejibre makers, with signs on their doors. But no evidence of the Fabians. I stopped at one place and asked the person. I assumed everyone would know each other.  Finally, as we were walking around, a man on a motorcycle with a young girl on the back pulled up and asked if he could help us. I told him who we were looking for. He said right away, he's my friend. He pointed us in the right direction and said it was a blue door, and that he'd let Norberto know we were coming. And said he had a studio too, and he hoped we would come visit him afterward. His name was Benito. We walked down the street but saw several blue doors and no sign with the family name. Eventually a man came out from behind a blue door and waved at us. It was Norberto. There was no sign on the door or anywhere. 

Their studio was also their house, which was pretty modest. They had partly finished but unpainted figures on the ground next to a tree, and others in a wheelbarrow and a table with some figures and containers with paint.  We met his wife Blanca, and his mother, Ventura's widow.  They had bags of figures all wrapped and ready for the upcoming market in town, which I believe is weekly. They unwrapped creature after creature. And of course we bought a few, two little ones for the grandkids although they will hopefully go on a high shelf until they are older.  And Loring surprised me for choosing one for us. It happened that we both were drawn to an octopus, done largely in black and white, contrary to most of the figures which are very brightly colored. 

Norberto remembered comig to our house with his father. He continues to come up every late October to early November and do presentations at Harvard, the Museum of Science, and I think at a few other venues, artisan fairs or shops. So perhaps we'll go visit him at one of those places this winter.  Or maybe have him come to our house again, if the timing works out and if there are enough salon attendees who didn't meet him before. 

We did go by Benito's studio, which Norberto had described as "very big." And indeed it was. It was actually a huge showroom, featuring Benito's work as well as that of other members of his family. I wasn't clear on if all the artisans were relatives. There were many rooms, and Benito gave us a tour of them. Some pieces were huge, and museum quality. And very expensive, in the thousands of dollars. 

So, to return to our last days in the city of Oaxaca. We wound up staying at "Up in the Clouds" for the whole six days. It was  pretty hot a couple of the afternoons, but the other days were cooler. If we were at the room mid to late afternoon  a shower really helped alleviate the heat. And most days we took a break from our sightseeing in the afternoon, sitting in a cafe on the Zocalo in the shade, me drinking fresh squeezed lemonade, Loring a beer. It made me realize  the reason for the siesta, not just to take a break from work but to take a break from the heat of the day. Not that it's observed much anymore, where people don't usually work close to home and it isn't practical to go home midday. I guess in the countryside there are places where people are still able to take a break. But I didn't see any evidence of shops or businesses being closed in the middle of the day. Of course, that's also when I was sitting in the shade and sipping lemonade, so perhaps some did. 

As far as fiestas, it seemed that every day we were there, in the city, there was some kind of music or event. The first night, which I previously described, was the most elaborate. But the second night there was also a parade, although much smaller, that we watched from our rooftop abode. There were some large papier mache puppets as well as a brass band. It seemed to be a birthday celebration. 

And the following days and evenings there were brass bands. One day in our walks and between visits to museums we came upon at least four different bands, although we never heard any of them playing, just walking to some destinaation to play. They were wearing military style uniforms but I don't know if they were actually military, and we never discovered what the occasion was.  And then, on our last night, we went to a restaurant on the Zocalo again. We had seen them setting up a tent and stage earlier, and thought we might see some kind of show. There was no performance that night, though,  it must have been for a subsequent day. But, there was a brass band, and lots of people dancing, which was wonderful. They were mostly Mexican, and quite a variety of folks. There was a tall young man in a suit with an older woman who we guessed was his mother or even grandmother. A few very short older men very snazzily dressed and very graceful with their partners And one young couple who had their camera set up on a tripod, no doubt to be posted online before long. They were really hamming it up, rather over the top but they were having fun. It was the perfect last evening of our trip. 

Oh, and if you are wondering, I never did try the grasshoppers,  although I was tempted.  Our last restaurant had an item on the menu that was guacamole with a side of grasshoppers. I kid you not. They, and other restaurants, also had items on their menus with grasshopper sauce!  But I just didn't quite have the nerve or the stomach and didn't want to ruin my appetite for my last meal. Which was delicious, by the way. I was kind of tired of guacamole and tostados. They had crepes on the menu, which were a little thicker than the French version. And filled with chicken and in a green sauce that seemed similar to the green mole we'd had one night, but wasn't described as such on the menu. 

And that brings to an end my Mexican saga. I hope you enjoyed reading about it, and I recommend your visiting, both the beach and the city. 

 

Grasshoppers and other delicacies, and all kinds of crafts and art.

 Our last night in Oaxaca and in Mexico. It has been an excellent trip. Temporarily concerned by violence in a different part of the country after the Mexican government killed a renowned narco terrorist. The State Department issued a warning to US citizens to shelter in place, a bit scary. But it only applied to some other states, not here. We wouldn't have had an inkling if we hadn't read about it online. And the warnings by US and other governments have been lifted. It of course sounded worse from afar. However, the Boston Globe's travel editor was stranded in Puerta Vallarta, where much of the violence was, not because of having to shelter but because of the blizzard at home. And he did get caught up in the violence, watching from the roof of his hotel. He said it was pretty frightening. 

 We have paced ourselves pretty well, I think, a couple of museums or activities a day, with a break midday to relax in the heat of the day at a shady cafe in the Zocalo, the main park, and watch the parade of people stroll by. A good number of gringos. but many more locals and Mexican tourists. Tons of street vendors selling everything from blankets to embroidered blouses to carved wooden spoons and bracelets. There and in the street markets we know that a large percentage of goods is actually from China. There are stores with finer quality expensive crafts and goods. 

Today we visited two smaller art  museums, both quite interesting. They are both located in lovely old houses, not sure of vintage, could be 19th century, but possibly a century or two earlier. Two stories high, with a courtyard in the middle. One had three enormous trees growing up through the courtyard, with a mural covering two walls behind it. I am not sure if it was a temporary or permanent exhibit, in any case, quite striking. Except for the three large garbage bags in one corner. You would think museum administrators would know better. 

The museums were the Museo de Arte Contemporano and the Museo de los Pintores Oaxicanos. I would recommend both of them. At the second  one, one installation was called It's Art if I Think it is. There were lengths of twine available and people could create whatever they liked, with knots or weaving or whatever. There was a silver haired woman stapling creations to the wall. I thought at first she was a visitor but later realized she was the artist. Each piece had the creator's name and where they were from. I thought it was wonderful and told her. There were also videos of various "artists" explaining what they had made.  Her name is Alison Beda. I am going to have to research her further. She is heading to NYC for another exhibition of her work. She is from Vancouver and said she hadn't had anyone from Vancouver make something yet. Our neighbors here at the hotel El Cid Leon are from Vancouver Island, so I said I'd let them know.  I hope they will go visit the museum and her. 

Also at the Museo was an installation occupying a whole large room by the French-Corsican artist Julien de Casabianca. There were all kinds of items, suitcases, small boxes, a bedframe, much more, many painted, collaged, or filled with a variety of items. I was very impressed and thought immediately of Mass MOCA with its huge spaces. I contacted them to let them know about the artist in case they weren't already familiar with his work. Wouldn't it be something if they exhibited his work sometime in the future!

Oaxaca, in addition to its art and crafts, is well known for its cuisine. And much of it is regional even within the state. We've eaten at little hole in the wall restaurants and an upscale new cuisine locale featuring produce from its own garden. And at one of the restaurants on the Zocalo on our first night here, amidst the festivities celebrating the 113th anniversary of whatever military event it was. We've had little miniature tostados topped with minced meat and sauce or cheese, chile rellenos, a number of dishes with mole sauces. There are many different  moles, dark, yellow, red, green, only some with the chocolate we know about from home. One item that is featured on many menus, and easily available in the markets, is grasshoppers! They seem to be primarily offered fried with chile and lime seasoning. But menus also mention guatarinos as a sauce. Tonight is my last chance to try them, and I haven't yet decided if I will. I am very curious, and am sure they taste good, but not sure I am mentally ready!

Yesterday we went to the Botanical Garden which is adjacent to the former convent, now impressive if overwhelming museum of culture, where the famous turquoise encrusted mosaic skull which is the most signifcant find from the Mt. Alban archeological site was found. The garden can be seen from the museum. You can only visit with a group tour, which lasts about 20 minutes. It's not so much a tour as an opportunity to visit the garden. The guide let us in with a group of about 30, led us down a path and then let us wander and take pictures for the twenty minutes. And there were other employees cautioning us if we went beyond the allowed paths. We could see just a small portion of the garden but it was quite impressive and well worth the visit. There were many types of cacti, some as tall as ten feet, maybe more. 

Well it's time to stop writing and head out to dinner. Perhaps to one of the restaurants on the Zocalo, or possibly another place we've read about. 

I will finish this blog in one last post to update to the end of our trip, and let you know whether I was brave enough to try the grasshoppers! 

We wanted to buy Max and Michel something from here as a housewarming present. They signed their papers a few days ago, while we were here. We decided on a couple of woodblock prints, or maybe lithographs or linoprints.  I can never remember the different printing processes. Many of were foods. We chose one of a lime, and one of a grasshopper. Of course we'll have to tell them that grasshoppers are food here. 

Museums, markets and archeological wonders

 This will be our third night in Oaxaca city. The room we had reserved, at the Leon el Cid Hotel right in the centro, the old city, is pretty funky. The hotel has only eight rooms. This one seems to go by several different names. On their website it's called Up in the Clouds, on booking.com it has another name, and the staff here calls it the glamping room. It's up on the roof, the third floor, up several different staircases. It has a huge bed, a loft with another bed right above it, and several sofas and chairs. The minute we arrived the staff showed us a message on google translate that said it is very hot during the day, and cold at night. There is no ac. We can switch you to another room." We looked at both rooms, decided to give Up in the Clouds a try. It was indeed very hot in the afternoon. And the room has a bunch of idiosychrocies and design problems. But the view of the city is spectacular. After the first night we decided we'd give it another try. Now it is our third day here and we are still here. The weather today is significantly cooler. Which was great for both being in our abode and also when we were out and about. It's a very walkable city, but still draining in the heat. Right now it's raining, for the first time in our entire trip. We've hardly even seen any clouds. Which is okay while we are ensconsed here, but could be a nuisance in an hour or two when we head out for dinner. 

So far we have visited three museums, two of them small and free, and the other one, the Museum of Oaxacan Culture, enormous and overwhelming. We spent a couple of hours there and don't think we saw everything, but it was enough. Loring has less of a tolerance for museum visiting than I do, but I had also had my fill. The museum is connected to the impressive   Templo de Santo Domingo Guzman church, and was once its convent. There are long hallways around a central courtyard on several floors, and many small rooms, some of which must have been the nuns' quarters. It was a little disorienting, we had trouble remembering which corridors we'd already been down.We started on the top floor, which in retrospect was a mistake. That usually works well for us in museums, but not in this one. It turns out thata the most important and impressive works were on the second floor, and by the time we got to them we were exhausted. The most important pieces were from the archeological site of Mt. Alban, which is about a half hour drive from the city. We plan to go there tomorrow. From looking at pictures and the museum this seems to be a very important site, Zapotec rather than Aztec or Mayan. And I had never heard of it until now. The most impressive finds are in the museum, the most striking of which is a skull encrusted with turquoise mosaic. But there are rooms full of pottery and stonework and much more. 

We visited the attached church first, and were lucky we did. I noticed a sign among all those reminding people that this was a religious site, not a museum, and that people needed to be respectful. And another sign, on a sandwich board, saying that the church would be closed whenever there was an event going on. I'm not sure if that included services. No sooner had a noticed the sign than a man picked it up and moved it in front of the rear door where we were standing. If we had been even five minutes later we wouldn't have been able to get in. Although we are here almost a week, so I'm sure we would have been able to visit later. But other people visiting for a shorter time period might not have been able to. 

The interior of the church was very impressive, different from any other church I can remember visiting. The walls and ceiling are all covered in gold gilt, and just glow. In various places there are images of what I assume are saints. But they are three dimensional, jutting out from the walls and ceiling. 

When we were in the museum we heard and could seen an organist playing the ubiquitous wedding march. They seemed to be practicing, perhaps checking the sound. And when we left the museum some time later, the bride and entourage were arriving and entered the church. Pretty nice for our first full day. 

The night before, from our aerie, we heard music. Out on the balcony we could see a parade, with dancers, musicians, huge papier mache figures being carried, and some people holding large balloon-like globes with writing. They said something about the 113th anniversary of something. I didn't understand the word, but when I looked it up later it was the anniversary of some military event. That's the last thing I would have expected. We did see a few jeeps and guys in uniform, but it was the least similar thing to a military parade I have ever seen. How nice. 

We left the hotel to find a restaurant, thinking we'd seen the entire event from our rooftop. Far from it. The parade ended at a nearby park. For the next hour or more there were bands playing, women and men dancing, those huge puppets, and just a generally festive atmosphere. Some people were dancing with each other, with their children, by themselves. It was a wonderful way to start our visit here. 

We eventually chose a restaurant just at the edge of the park. We tried deciphering the menu, but many items didn't translate. Loring had chile rellenos, always a favorite of ours from our days in New Mexico.They are green chile peppers, in our experience stuffed with cheese. But these were stuffed with meat. They were delicious. I had a dish that consisted of tortillas and shredded chicken in a mole sauce. I think of mole being made with chiles and spices and chocolate. But there are in fact many different mole sauces. I am guessing this one did have chocolate, from the color more than the taste. It was good but a little heavy on the sauce. 

Last night we ate at a place recommended by someone on his blog, which gave extensive recommendations by category, from cheap eats to fancy splurges to newer fusion restaurants. It was about a ten or fifteen minute walk from our place. It was described as having some of the best authentic cooking. I was surprised when we got there, it was a small unassuming place up a flight of stairs. I'd worried that we might need reservations on a Saturday night. Not so. There were a couple of other occupied tables, of about a dozen total.  Again, it was hard to know about many of the items. I did see grasshoppers on the menu and didn't feel adventurous enough to try them. They are very common, we saw piles of them in the market today. I thought at first they were small dried red peppers. I still might give them a chance. It's funny how culturally bound our food preferences are. We still talk about the time I tried a guinea pig in Peru, where it is a delicacy. It came belly up, the entire little creature, on a plate. There was no way I wasn't going to eat it and offend the restaurant owners. However, I did once decline the offer of the eye of a sheep in Morocco, which is considered a great honor. I still feel bad about it, more than a half century later. 

Well, back to present times. The other museums we visited were the stamp museum and the textile museum, both fairly small and both free. We didn't know quite what to expect at the stamp museum, but it was free and we were walking right by.  What really interested me was a couple of rooms with art made from stamps, stamp mosaics, if you will. And there was a small room that was some kind of office, where some of the furntiture was covered with stamps. 

The textile museum had an exhibit of one artist's work, which consisted of small pieces stitched in black on what looked like off white linen. They were interesting and unusual. Nothing was described in English, and the text was too much for me to try to translate. But I did see a reference to Annie Albers, whose work I know as someone who had a great influence on elevating fiber art in the mid twentieth century. And there was also a mention of the artist having spent some time in Oakland, CA, in fairly recent years. I may try to get more info on the artist later  on. 

The rest of the museum featured incredible embroidered garments from various parts of I believe just the state of Oaxaca.  Each village has its own style and tradition.  

We continued from the textile museum to a couple of the famous markets, featuring both food and handicrafts. Along the way we stumbled upon a whole orchestra set up in a park, with chairs set up for audience and many other people standing around. It's Sunday, and the park was filled with people and families with children, many balloon sellers, several shoe shine guys, one just at the edge of the orchestra, each seemingly oblivious of the other. There was one little boy sitting in a chair beside his musician father, playing games on a cellphone as if there was no orchestra at all.  

I browsed through one of the craft markets, for at least a half hour while Loring sat on a bench conveniently located at the center of the market. He was right in front of a woman weaving something small, maybe bracelets, the entire time. When I returned she had her phone propped up  in front of her work, watching a movie I think. She was also talking with another woman who was behind her in the booth. Interesting juxtaposition.  There was also a marimba band playing right next to him for part of the time. I appreciate his good nature in letting me browse for a while. I looked at a lot of crafts, embroidered blouses for me, and wall hanging for a potential housewarming present for Max and Michel for their new house. They just signed papers a couple of days ago. I didn't buy anything, but told at least a half dozen vendors I would consider buying and might come back later. But I didn't. There are so many vendors, how do any of them make any money with so much competition. And that doesn't even include all the street vendors who walk up and down the streets and around the parks with items of various kinds, from clothing to wooden spoons to beaded necklaces, to snacks of many kinds? 

By the way, we did find the Fabian family in the alejibre village of St. Martin, on our way here from the coast. But that requires a post of its own, so I will stop here and recount that adventure in my next post.