Sensory Overload

Mexico is definitely not for the faint of heart. It is loud, fast and everything can happen at once. Example...Sunday night we were in Veracruz. That is a great night to be there as it is danzon night. Danzon is a wonderful style of music here, a style of jazz that originated in Cuba. Sundays in Veracruz there are two danzons. One is in a small square a few blocks from the main zocalo. Here you will see many old folks, minimum age seems to be about 60 or so, maximum...well, we saw some folks in their 80s. Maybe it is a dying art, as there were no young folks except in the band. Anyway, these elders come down to the square with their significant other, or sometimes alone, to dance the danzon. It looks easy, just a few steps here and there, but I am sure it is not so easy. The band consists of some brass, a trumpet, a trombone and some percussion. The songs all kind of sound the same, and a little off key. So Amy and I just sat at a restaurant and watched and listened. Great stuff. We had a wonderful crab soup that is a speciality in Veracruz, washed down with a couple of Negro Modelo beers.

From here it was a three block walk to the Zocalo and here everything was different. There was a HUGE crowd, several hundred folks. Most were watching the danzon and the band here was much bigger and pretty much on key. Professional musicians. After watching this for awhile we sat down to have some dessert (an okay, but not great flan) and here was where all hell broke loose. The band playing the danzon was loud, so you could here them even though we were about 100 feet away. But then there were all these wandering musicians, strolling through the tables of the various restaurants, playing for people at the tables. At one point I counted four different groups PLUS the big danzon band. All playing at the same time!!! Maybe for the table that the musicians were playing for they could here the band that they were playing for, but for us it was just one loud mish mash of music, danzon, sons de jaracho (the local traditional music), guitar trios, and then a mariachi band showed up!! Yikes!! That was our clue to get the heck out of there.

For lunch in the same square it was much quieter. A guitar trio come over to our table and played a couple of beautiful, traditional Veracruz songs. Nice guys, lovely music...it will be on YouTube soon.

The city of Veracruz was much nicer then I expected. A bit grimey, but its a real working port town where there are lots of container ships and oil being exported. The Malacon, the walkway along the water is great for people watching. All sorts of folks trying to sell you fake Raybans or Rolexes. Great big huge cargo ships and tow boats along with a few navy ships. The breeze off the ocean was lovely. The food left a little to be desired, but heck, we had just come from one of the great food towns in all the world, Oaxaca, so maybe its all relative.

We have been having quite a few seredipitus moments. Yesterday, in the charming river town of Taclotapan, we took a boat ride with a guy named Horatio. He told us about his three granddaughters who learn traditional dance at the Casa De Cultura. So were went there late in the afternoon and here was the local version of a Hawaiian halau, with their kumu and ukulele players. They kids were learning the traditional dance and they ranged in age from about 5 to 15 or so. They set off in pairs of boys and girls and do a kind of flamenco with a lot of heel banging on the floor. They were accompanied by about 10 kids playing the jarana, which is an 8 stringed instrument tuned JUST like an ukulele. Very beautiful instruments with narrow bodies and they have a certain kind of strum they do. This was all overseen by their dance instructor, who was a lady probably in her 70s and obviously knew what she was doing.

So Amy is writing alot about what we have been doing the last few days so I will just write about a really cool experience we had today. We are now staying in Catemaco, a small town on Lake Catemaco in southern Veracruz state. Its a bit touristy, but this time of year there are no tourists. That is hard on the locals, especially the guys that sail the little boats that take you out on the lake. Havent done that yet. This afternoon Amy wanted to go to a town about 45 minute bus ride today, Santiago Tuxtla. This is a great little town with a very nice parque, or square. As we were wandering around an American guy came up and started talking to us. He was so glad to see us as he hadnt seen an American in several weeks. Needless to say, we are not in Cancun!! Amy wanted to go to the town Casa de Cultura, so he showed us where to go way up this hill and that we should talk to Don Angel, the creater, owner and manager of the place. Indeed we met Don Angel, who was very gracious and kind and showed us around the little place. They give all sorts of classes here on various things, like dance, playing the jarana, painting and basket weaving. He even gave us a small basket. He then took us into his office where he sang some traditional songs of the area and even a couple he wrote, on the jarana and the guitar. He then read us a poem about his town, Santiago Tuxtla. We were very impressed with the place and gave him a donation to help three students for a semester (amazing what $20 will get you here).

WOW!!!!

We just had to log off because we heard a procession going by outside and had to have a look-see. As you may know, these are the days leading up to December 12th, the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. So there are all sorts of things going on in all the towns. We heard the song La Guadalupana outside and knew there was a procession going on. Sure enough, about 100 people were walking by being led by two small floats with Guadalupe on them and being followed by a truck with giant loudspeakers playing this song over and over. Everyone (except us, who by now had joined the parade) had a little red candle. We all sang the song. We slowly strolled around the block past the firehouse and the parque up to the cathedral, where they went in and were all singing the song (the truck with the loudspeakers never made it inside). You know, this kind of thing is really touching and is what makes traveling so wonderful. I am not a believer, I realize that the story of Guadalupe was made up by local priests in the 1500s to convert the Aztecs. And it worked like a charm. Guadalupe is bigger then big here in Mexico. Bigger then Jesus, bigger then God himself, she is what the Mexican people really feel in their hearts when it comes to their Catholocism. But even as a non
believer in Guadalupe, it touches my heart. These people really believe. And isnt that what a different culture is all about¿ Not only the food, the landscape and the art, but the religion, too.