Bigotes and Castillos

Wow! So many things keep happening in a small amount of time, it's almost impossible to try to keep up. Here are a few highlights from the last few days:

Mary Kay Vaughan, a world renowned cultural historian, has joined our group for a few weeks. To celebrate the 4th of July, and to have social time with the students, she threw a party at her very lovely home on Friday night. Many professors from our seminars joined in the festivities and we had an incredible meal/margaritas/beer/wine extravaganza.

As a side "project" the guys in our group were dared by us girls to grow mustaches (bigotes) in the style of our co-director William Beezley. However, after only two weeks, they couldn't stand it any longer, so we snapped this photo of them all at Professor Vaughan's house and then they immediately went to shave.

The party was also a great chance to speak formally and informally with a few of the professors about my dissertation research. Everyone is incredibly helpful and supportive, and as the wheels in my noggin' continue to churn, it's becoming more and more clear just how amazing this experience really is.

This weekend we were supposed to take an overnight trip to Guelatao and stay in the eco-cabins there. Unfortunately, our other co-director was ill so we didn't get to go. However, it was actually really nice to have the weekend off for exploring Oaxaca. Our group split in two - one set went to the beach and the other (mine) stayed here and had amazing food, drinks, cultural experiences, and bonding time. Among the cool things we did, we helped to celebrate the Patron Saint Day for La Iglesia de La Preciosa Sangre de Jesus. The finale of the celebration is the burning of a castillo (castle), which is most easily described as an enormous tower of fireworks. The castillo is lit at the bottom and the flames from the different levels ignite the next highest row until the entire tower is burning.

Once that happens, another set of fireworks shoot out of the top of the tower and a HUGE Jesus-shaped firework display is lit. The crowd, who enjoy getting as close to the castillo as possible, helps to keep you brave as balls of flames shoot out all around you. It's certainly unlike anything I've ever seen and it was great to feel like part of the community for a night.

Finally, here are a few shots from inside my new favorite place to be, the (free) Oaxaca City Museum (Casa de la Ciudad):

I'm more than halfway through the program at this point, and am excited that we still have so many things left to do. Topics this week include Love Letters, Domestic Economies, the Invasion of Texas, Juana Cata, Mexican TV News and Translating Sources. We're taking two more field trips this week as well, so I'll do my best to get photos and stories up as soon as possible. In the mean time, keep writing!