Los Dias de Los Muertos

I have been a very bad writer. I love to write once I get started, it's just the getting started part... But today I should be good because I slept for 12 hours last night! I did not go out for one minute. I kind of wish I had but I was so exhausted from the night before it just didn't happen. The whole hostal was partying all night last night, along with the rest of Oaxaca I believe. I am really glad to have been here for Los Muertos, the city completely transformed between Wednesday and today. We went out early this morning to see if any of the ofrendas (alters) were still up at the Soledad, but everything had already been cleaned up. ¡Que rapido! Yesterday we stopped in the Palacio de Gobierno to see a huge Frida Kahlo ofrenda made of flour mixed with colored water. It was pretty amazing. On Friday night a bunch of us went to the Casa de Cultural Oaxaqueño to see the Dance of the Dead. We started upstairs crammed in a little hallway as the Dead marched through to the atrium. I actually couldn't see a thing here, but the music was creepy and good so I got the idea. The whole crowd, must have been 150 mas o menos, rushed to the balcony surrounding the atrium and the dance began below with us looking down. There were five dancers in black with their faces painted. They spent a lot of time on the floor making interesting patterns and wiggeling like worms. But beautiful worms. It was contemporary dance which reminds of dancing at CCSF which I miss here. My body is so achy right now because I have not been stretching enough. I did find a dance school in Merida, so as soon as I get back I will go. There is also quite a bit of yoga in Mexico which is great. Back to Los Muertos... after the dance in the atrium we followed a masked and caped man down the stairs to watch a dead woman prancing through the hall to the fountain in the patio. She was tiny and had on a long, lacy black dress with long, wild, curly dark hair and walked like a queen. The patio was filled with the traditional magenta and gold flowers and candles in cut paper holders. She rose to the rim of the fountain and danced around it as the masked man spoke of death. The band began to play a happier tune and then all the attendants started pulling guests onto the paths to dance with them. Of course I went. It was so fun, everyone was so sweet and happy. They served hot chocolate and bread and we all put flowers in the water.

After the dance we returned to the hostal and left again with an even larger group of 12 or so. All travelers, Memo was the only Mexicano. There were many bottles of Mezcal being passed around as we walked to the Panteon San Miguel, a cemetery completely decked out for the celebration. There was a music stand out front so a few of the girls and I had to stop and dance for a while. The locals are always so mystified when we do this. As if they are not dancing all the time themselves! The cemetary was beautiful, mainly the walls surrounding it though, about 5 levels of tombs one on top of another with a candle in every alcove. Many of them had dates from the 1800's but are clearly well kept and repainted frequently. Some little boys in costum came around asking us for pesos but instead we danced with them. How fun to have a party in a graveyard! It is so different from what I know of visiting them in the US. It changes death to something natural and integrated rather than pushing it away as something we can avoid.