New Years in Oaxaca on Steroids

New Years Eve revellers started firing off mini rockets and sizzler firecrackers around eleven in the cathedral square and there was no escaping them. They'd charge up high into the air or shoot out horizontally aiming right for you. You had to jump and dash away.

They'd start off in one direction, then do an about face zig zagging into another or shoot around under your feet. Hundreds and hundreds of them. The noise was deafening. Fun -- scary and amazing there were no shut downs. Susan, Alan, Max and Kai were right in there playing their part. 

We had our New Years' dinner in the market. Long benches and tables and very short on elegance. But I was over ruled and wasn't feeling too frisky because I'd tripped on the 2 1/2 inch drop entering our room and gone flying just before dinner. Hadn't even had time for a sip of wine. Clumsy me. Arnica, tensors and ice helped a lot and I should be as good as new in a few days.

Susan et al visited the textile villages and ruins outside the city today, the areas you would have seen in my blog two years ago. Bob and I museum hopped today and loved the absense of street vendors and hawkers who were probably at home nursing hangovers.

I've taken four hours of Spanish lessons at the same school as two years ago. Our casa is at the opposite end of town this time and I swear I walked 55 blocks both days during the two days of classes. Bob and I are doing our best to keep up with the rest of the family and are glad we've seen a few of the outlying areas already.  Here are some treats for your new year:

                    

                          A hammock to relax in.

                      

                      Yummy meat for a feast.

                        

                  Or perhaps something more enticing.

                  

                     You'll want some veggies.

                    

               

                                       And fruit.

                

                         

             Oaxaca is famous for chocolate from the cacao bean.

                  

                   

                     This worker is grinding and drying the beans.

                             Mexican art and architecture to inspire you.

                                   

                                

                              

                             

                           

              

                         

                         

        

                              Old wall construction.

                  

                    

           

             Nature's art

            

        And a few more hammocks in case you are sleepy.

      Tomorrow afternoon we take a five hour bus ride to Puebla, a lovely city north of here. We're all well and always noticing the diiferent ways people live in other countries.

 It's fun at home while eating breakfast at our kitchen table to imagine street vendors here peeling fruit for workers to grab on their way to work or to cruise around Asian countries in my mind and see workers out in their fields in the early morning. I wonder what they would think if they could see us relaxing with coffee before heading out.

I'll send family photos -- hopefully today.  Be well.