Christmas Season in Arocutin

Papaya Christmas Star

A toast to Christmas - with my first taste of Mezcal at the beer festival the other day.  Strong - and not bad.  I definitely prefer it to Tequila.    (Some info on tequila, mezcal and pulque  can be found here) And another toast: with the rum balls my landlady & friend Georgia baked and gave to me.  Delicious!

I continue to see new birds all the time.  Here's a cutie, perched at the edge of my terrace:

Spotted Wren

I'm planning to explore more of the pueblos in the area.  To get a start, on Christmas eve day I walked to Tocuaro, the next village south of here.  On the way I stopped in at the church in my own village of Arocutin, where there's a lovely carved altar panel appropriate to the season:

(As I'm writing this, I'm enjoying glimpses of the hooded oriole that hangs out in the bushes in front of the house

and I can see a calf running up to it's mother to nurse in the pastures below, and pelicans swimming in the wetlands.)

As I walked along the old dirt road that parallels the new paved one,  gates in the hedges and stone walls opened up vistas to the mountains in the distance, with ever-changing foregrounds:

In Tocuaro I stopped in at the local church,

which was decorated nicely for Christmas:

As I wandered through the village I came upon a nice grassy lane that led me back toward Arocutin:

 Continuing home , I caught up with a walking stack of corn stalks,

carried by this hard-working guy:

Saw this handsome burro.  There are lots of them around here - and their braying makes me laugh!

 

 And as I walked back up into Arocutin, I was greeted with this  primitive image of the Virgin, carved into the clay embankment:

For dinner that afternoon I had been invited to Georgia's house. Along with her boyfriend Fernando and a young local family, we enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner with all the fixings.  What a treat on a Christmas day away from home!

That night there was a bit of fiesta in the pueblo, complete with marching band.  I was especially intrigued by these guys in sequined costumes with devil motifs. They led the band through the streets and danced a bit; perhaps they had a larger role after I left the festivities.

(I just took a break and had some little crispy corn tortillas with my own home-made salsa and guacamole and a little bottle of Dos Equis beer.  Getting into the Mexican groove!)

In keeping with my own tradition, I took a nice long walk on Christmas morning.  I went farther into Mal Pais than I had ever gone on my own.  I followed a trail quite a way in, until it petered out on a hilltop and I had to retrace my steps - which I did without getting lost!

It was nice to see flowers blooming on Christmas day:

Cactus

Madrona Tree - with honey bee

Orchid  (I had seen many plants, but this was the 1st one I saw in bloom)

Bromeliad

Saw a nice big lizard as I headed in

and from a hilltop, my favorite volcano:

For Christmas dinner I treated myself at Campestre Aleman, the German restaurant just down the road.  Sitting out on the back porch I enjoyed  a tasty rabbit dinner with a glass of Malbec as I watched ducks & geese swimming in the trout ponds and a white egret and a great blue heron prowling the shores.

 Music and dancing continued that afternoon; as I was listening to the band a friendly stranger gave me a beer - and then wanted me to have another one -but one in addition to my dinner wine was enough for me. (A LOT of drinking goes on during these festivities!)

Scary Dancer

and another one...

Band members seemed to find this one amusing

The band - from the neighboring pueblo of Uricho.  Trumpets, trombones, clarinets and a tuba seem to be the standard here.

The Men's Gallery

Yesterday the festivities continued in Arocutin when thousands of people came to watch the big bull-riding event at the stone arena behind the pueblo, where 2 hillsides provided clear views down to the action.  As the afternoon went on, more and more people streamed in as hawkers wove among them selling snacks and drinks, rockets shot into the air and the band played on:


The band was pretty good - but from my experience it seems that in Latin America you don't have  to be able to sing on key in order to be the lead singer.

There were some good-looking men in the crowd (I happened to notice):

Handsome cowboy

And another...

Eye - I mean Cotton - Candy.

I had sat on the hillside a long time waiting for things to get started - with the band playing, speeches being made, officials being introduced and the riders making their entries and being anointed with confetti by traditionally-dressed ladies.   There were 8 riders in the line-up.  Here are some of them:

My butt was sore and I was getting  a bit hungry, so I only stayed for three of the riders.  It was pretty exciting, with the bulls bucking wildly and the riders being jerked around without holding on except with their legs!  This guy never did get thrown off:

Ride 'em, Cowboy! 

... staying on - with NO HANDS - to the very end

This guy took a wild ride - but ended up scrambling off onto the fence

 I left and had supper at home, then went back into town that evening because I had heard that there might be dancing at the roofed, open-air basketball court  - but when I got there they were playing basketball, of all things!  The dancing may have started later, but I wasn't up for waiting around to see.

This morning I took a combi to Erongaricuaro and met up with my friend Charles Dews.  We took an easy walk down to Eronga's "tourist area" on a canal that leads to Lake Patzcuaro.  Booths selling handicrafts and food stood empty - we were the only ones there late on  a Saturday morning.  At least I finally got a photo of Charles:

We walked up to the plaza to do some shopping - and there was a line of people stretching half-way around the plaza.  The government was distributing free flat-screen TVs to people who were poor enough to qualify - and there are a lot of poor people in this area.  Charles and I had a bit of discussion about how the people might have been better helped by something other than TVs.

Back at my casita this afternoon I was treated to a procession of colorfully-dressed youths and a marching band passing by on the road right below me:

The band was a bit squawky - but enthusiastic - and it was fun to watch them from the driveway.

There will probably be more festivities in the village - if so, I'll let you know.  Meanwhile, hope you all have a very happy new year!