International Priests Visit Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca
The firecrackers call in early afternoon to announce that something spectacular was about to happen in the village later that day. It’s filled with surprises here. My neighbor Ernestina comes over in the morning to offer me 20 fresh, creamy chicken and mole amarillo tamales for 100 pesos. Then, later tamales are served for […]
Street Food: Perhaps the Best Tamales in Oaxaca
It was one of those perfectly glorious Oaxaca days. Our walking destination: corner of Calle Armenta y Lopez and Calle Cristobal Colon on the southwest side of the Zocalo. There on the southwest corner, tucked into the shade of the Parisina building protected from the strong Oaxaca sun, is perhaps the best tamale stand in all […]
Candelaria and Tamales Go Together in Oaxaca
Candelaria means tamales in Oaxaca, Mexico. Here in Mexico, tradition dictates that the person who gets the plastic baby Jesus imbedded in the Rosca de Reyes on Three Kings Day, January 6, gets to offer tamales on Candelaria, February 2. Nearly everyone gets the baby and everyone eats tamales. And, it’s not just one type of […]
Skip the Hotel and Be Our Experiment
“Skip the hotel and be our experiment.” That’s what my friend Annie Burns wrote to me after I took her up on her invitation to come visit her in Teotitlan del Valle. “You and Stephen can be the first to stay with Josefina and Magda,” she said. Annie has a heart as big as Mexico, […]
Chipil Grows Wild in North Carolina
Jose is with us today helping Stephen in the yard, clearing out the woodshed in preparation for winter, sorting through the detritis of a cluttered garden shed, and making a haul or two or three to the dump. He and his wife just had a new baby boy, his third, three weeks old. They named […]
Posadas in Teotitlan del Valle
Christmas in Teotitlan del Valle starts nine days before with posadas (procession) every night. The nine days represents nine months of Mary’s pregnancy, according to my Zapotec friends. On the first night, the baby Jesus is taken out of the creche in the church along with Mary and Joseph and carried through the streets under […]