Where is the Macho?

Mexico- Land of the Macho?

Think Zorro.  Pancho Villa.  Antonio Banderas.  A bunch of swarthy guys in skirts.  Honestly, machismo has been taking some serious hits in our little Village.  We first noticed the local penchant for dressing up as extraordinarily buxom ladies at The New Years Parade.  An inordinate (well in our view at least)  number of parade participants were decked out in outfits straight out of the Women's Plus Size aisles of Sears.  And they were really grooving on it.  Blowing kisses, wiggling hips, sashaying with an insouciance even Marilyn would have envied.  I assumed it was like a Mexican Hasty Pudding thing -- although, in all honesty, I've felt those Harvard boys enjoyed the cross dressing aspect of the event a little too intensely. So, anyway, we figured the local stone masons, plumbers, and other prototypically macho professionals got in touch with their feminine side once a year and then slipped back into their jeans and boots and swaggered away.

And then it happened again.....

The Festival of San Sebastian

Oh, I didn't mean to frighten you with that segue.  San Sebastian was not a transvestite.  I don't think.
He probably did wear a toga though.  But I digress.  So here's the background on Sebastian.  He was a Roman captain of the Praetorian Guard who secretly converted many pagans to Christianity in the third century A.D.  Well, they say secretly, but obviously it wasn't secretly enough because Diocletian found out and ordered him executed by a cadre of ace archers.  This story is just RIDDLED with inaccuracies!  Obviously they weren't "ace archers" because he survived and was nursed back to health by a woman named Irene.  What kind of name is that for a Roman woman?  Anyway, Sebastian denounced the emperor for his cruelty and the Emperor (proving the point rather effectively) retaliated by having him beaten to death.  Twice martyred, once dead.  So Ajijic has a barrio named San Sebastian and each year the neighborhood devotes an entire day and night to celebrating the life and near death and actual death of San Sebastian.

 Just after dawn the devotees met at the Rosario Chapel on the Plaza to pick up San Sebastian and transport him (it's not only Virgins who get to ramble!) to his shrine at the corner of Emilio Zapata and Marcos Castellanos for a 7AM mass.  Then the whole neighborhood has breakfast together in the street.  Then they go to work.  Then they come back and have another really huge meal together in the street at 2PM.  After eating for two full hours, they crank it up for a parade back through town to reinstall Sebastian in the Chapel. (Hold on, I'm getting to the cross dressing thing eventually.)  In the parade there are men toting large clay pots filled with "typical feasting foods" and long boards on which are many loaves of home baked tachihual (I have no idea what that is) bread sporting white frosting, red sugar sprinkles and sweets.  They are followed by a string of floats depicting the martyred Saint and the neighborhood beauty queens.  In what I consider a stretch of the imagination, the beauty queens represent the ancient legend of an indigenous princess who bathed in El Ojo del Agua, a spring that is said to have inspired the town's name.  But I can't see how.  Well, let's just forget that.

Now, come the sayaca dancers!  History first.  As with everything here, there are two (or more) stories about where the sayaca tradition comes from.  Story #1:  Right before the Spanish arrived, a couple came to Ajijic and they were oddly attired and pretty much out of their minds.  The local curendera (think shaman) was trying to do her best with them but they just followed her around pirouetting and jabbering and stuff.  The locals, showing a distinct lack of political correctness, taunted them and called them sayacas which loosely seems to have evolved from a word for slip or elaborate dress.  Story #2:  A little more modern.  A deranged woman named Xicantzi would burst from the mental hospitalita (the hospice next to the little church where San Sebastian resides) whenever strangers came to town.  She wore very odd clothing and would follow men through the streets trying to kiss them.  When they refused, she threw face powder at them from her purse.  I like #2.  Although how Xicantzi translates to sayaca escapes me.  So here is how it plays out.  We won't explore why the sayacas are in a parade for San Sebastian because the only possible answer is: "Quien sabe?"

In the parade you also see a pretty huge crowd of boys between the ages of roughly eight to eighteen.  The are running ahead of the sayacas and they are taunting them to try to chase them.  There is, of course, a tuba band (banda) in back of the sayacas providing inspirational music so they can cavort and mince and pirouette down the street.  Half (or more) of the sayacas are dressed as women (see I did get to it) and half as men.  Well, you'll see the photos.  They all have sachels or handbags that are filled with flour or confetti.  At random intervals, the sayacas will have had it with the taunting and will run into the crowd of boys and pour flour on them or hit them with confetti eggs.  This inspires a mini stampede down the street.  It is pandemonium. Flour flying, people scrambling, music blaring....fun.

Okay, so now San Sebastian is back at the chapel being tenderly returned to his spot after a pretty full day.  The sayacas are outside doing silly things to amuse the throngs.  But are we done?  Mais non!  Now it is time to go back to the neighborhood to get the street party going.  The party is fueled by punch laced with God only knows how much alcohol.  This is to get people in the right frame of mind for Papaqui.  Papaqui is a frenzied mock battle in which cascarones -- brightly colored eggs stuffed with confetti-- are hurled at anyone within range.  I continue to ponder how they get the confetti in the eggs.  If you know, please tell me.  Anyway, the throng mills about until local mariachis begin to sing a traditional song filled with humorous references to San Sebastian's life.  I have failed to see anything humorous about San Sebastian's life but my Spanish is still quite poor so maybe I've missed something. When the song begins, it is the signal to start pelting people with eggs ferociously.  This continues until there are no more eggs.  Then a band tunes up and the folks rock out until the early hours of the morning. Remember -- they were up getting San Sebastian BEFORE 7 AM mass.  That's stamina.

Well, it turn out that we will be seeing more of the sayacas.  They are part of the whole Carnaval scene that is already beginning to unfold.  A parade today (covered in next blog), then next Sunday and then I think every day in the week leading to Mardi Gras. Whew.

Sayacas on parade 

Some sayacas even show a little midriff !

The statue of San Sebastian complete with arrows, followed by men carrying the tachihual bread.

No parade would be complete without a life size depiction of San Sebastian.

No parade would be complete without los ninos and more tachihual bread.

Another sayaca followed by the band.

A float with the young beauty queens (or princesses) of San Sebastian.

The masks of the sayacas are truly amazing!

The sayacas dancing in the plaza.

Another House Tour

We went on another house tour this week.  It wasn't as good as the first one but it was still pretty good. Since I have gone on and on and on about San Sebastian (not that he isn't worth it) I think I will just discuss the house we liked the best.  Next blog I may feature the one with the really tarty bedroom -- not as tarty as ours but pretty bad.  AH!  Perhaps a contest between our bedroom and that one.  Excellent.

So this house started out as a Bed and Breakfast.  It has a main house and then a casita with two bedrooms and the biggest bathroom I've seen outside of Newport mansions.  It is one of those houses that even though it is really big seems very cozy.  I would buy this house if I had gazillion dollars and was willing to off the current residents.  So, I will let the pictures speak for themselves once more.

No house in Mexico is complete without their very own burro.

Creativity is everywhere --- even in the bathroom. Note the matching wastebasket & toilet.

Even the entry ways are beautifully decorated.

The domed ceilings with the windows are wonderful for adding light to the rooms.

The paneled wood doors are a creative way to close off the kitchen  or have an "open concept".

Colorful tiles add accents to the kitchen.

Because of the year round temperate climate, outdoor living space is utilized a lot.

Another view of the outdoor "living room".

Even the headboards on the bed are decorative.

Creativity abounds on the walls.

No house here is complete without the obligatory pool.

Here you can take a bath with a view. . .

or use the shower instead. This is the bathroom for the casita!

The house opens out onto a patio with a fountain.

The Breakfast Club

Almost every Thursday night we go out to dinner with The Breakfast Club (based on the iconic film of the same name).  We like the irony of the dinner/breakfast thing too.  Anyway, when Michael and I first arrived here, we were invited to this dinner and met lots of interesting people many of whom have become very good friends.  Over the summer, the average number would be around 15 or 20 people.  Last Thursday it was 56.  It makes for a diverting time.  Restauranteurs love us needless to say and with these numbers Wes (our organizer) has significant clout to get specials and deals.  But anyway, last Thursday we went to a restaurant called The Peacock Garden.  Thought you might enjoy some pictures.  I do believe that the U.S. health inspectors might have a bit of a problem with the co-mingling
of poultry (live) and persons.  Worry warts.

The "peacock" of The Peacock Garden.

This rooster decided to join us.

A few of our friends ...

and a few more of our friends!

A Thought on Parenting

I met an American woman (younger-- but isn't everyone?) who is married to a Mexican man.  They have a little daughter.  She said that it made her crazy that her husband was always saying:  "Rosa, please bring me a glass of water."  "Rosa, please open the window."  "Rosa, please take my dish to the sink".  Finally, she'd had it and told him that he was treating the kid like a slave.  Why didn't he get up and do the things himself.  And he said," That's the problem with you norteamericanos.  We teach our children that it is their job to take care of us.  That's why when we get old they bring us into their houses and take care of us and feel it is the right thing to do.  You are all the time doing things for your kids and spoiling them and then you don't understand why they put you in a nursing home."  She shut up.  Probably too late for all of us.  Oh well.

Onward!

So we move onward to Carnaval.  Everybody is doing fine.  Justin's film (well, not his but you know what I mean) is in its third week of filming.  Alex is enjoying a week with his good friend Robbie in Vieques and Michael is wrapping up his audit for Lake Chapala Society (thank the Lord!).  Betsy and Fred will be jetting in from Boston in less than two weeks for a visit.  Planning is in full swing for a trip to Portugal and Spain in the spring.  Please let us know what you are up to.  We miss you.