The Simple Gifts of Christmas

We like to spend a bit of each Christmas morning
visiting friends; that is no different here in Oaxaca.
This morning we drove out to the community where we
work to visit two special families who have accepted
us as friends. They welcomed us into their humble home and served
us fresh coconut milk, right from the coconut!
Ruth whacked away at the shell with a huge machete
finally making a small hole for us to drink out of.
The hospitality and sharing of Christmas was displayed by this family. Humble people with simple gifts; simple gifts but non-the-less gifts of great value- they give themselves.

Poinsettias

Poinsettias here are not just small Christmas plants sold in December. They range from decorative plants that adorn the main square to large trees that grow in people's gardens. Poinsettias, and other plants, make Oaxaca alive with color; in December, in January, all year.

Christmas Eve on the Zocalo, Oaxaca

We spent Christmas Eve in an outdoor cafe in shirt-sleeves, drinking hot chocolate out of ceramic bowls. Many of the Catholic churches in the city march from their neighborhoods to the city center, The Zocalo, usually with energized brass band setting a festive tempo for their congregants, floats and costumed dancers following along behind. We spent about 2 1/2 hours enjoying friends, music, parades, people watching, and fireworks. A Oaxacan Christmas is solemn, extravagant, spicy, folkloric, ritualistic, colorful.....maravilloso!!!
What a special time and treat to celebrate and honor the Christ Child.
Feliz Navidad !!...

Lachivisa

Our hosts, Rulfo and Celia.


Celia, preparing TLYUDAS
in her kitchen over an open
fire. MMM! delicious


A quick clean up before church. Brush was raked
together and burned! Oh, if we had only thought to
bring marshmallows!


We brought some health tools (like this blood pressure
cuff) to check people's blood pressure and glucose levels.
A simple but important test that these people would
otherwise have to pay for. Diabetes is a serious health
problem in Mexico, especially here in the south.
This women lives alone. She hikes down to the river
everyday and rests in her hammock. At the end of
the day she hikes back up.

Traditional traje (dress) from the Isthmus,
in southern Oaxaca.