Lucha Liiiiiiiiiiiibre!!!

When we got back to the Distrito Federal, we knew there were three things we had to do before leaving Mexico: visit the famed Anthropology Museum, climb the Temple of the Sun at Teotihuacan, and see some LUCHA LIBRE!

The above and below photos were part of a series posted in a park near the Anthropolgy museum, so I can't tell you exactly what happened when the man below made his inevitable fall to earth. One can guess.



The Lucha takes place at a smallish stadium in the Roma neighborhood. Tickets for the first few rows ran about $25, and were worth every peso for the in the FACE action and non-stop hilarity. Below, our show's flier-

The show started off with the ladies' match.


Then there were various pairings of one on one, and team fights.



There was showboating. There was drama. There was leaping and throwing and attempted de-maskings! There were LADIES!



The crowd was maybe the best part about the show, relentlessly heckling the wrestlers, feigning outrage, and saying many, many impolite things about the wrestlers' mothers (especially, for some reason, La Mascara. Poor fellow).

Our best shot of the night-



Try not to be haunted by this shot of the blue Lucha little person. Oh, the things he has seen through that furry mask...



In the end, a victor was determined by TRICKERY in that the wrestler RUSH shamelessly pretended to have been kicked in the groin! Will there ever be justice for Tama Tonga and Terrible? Or for la Mascara's much maligned mother? I may never know, but I do know now that I love the Lucha.

Puerto Escondido!

There are small airplanes that fly from Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido, but those are for people who plan ahead. Team Curious ended up relying on the services of the minibus, which takes the scenic route; seven hours through harrowing switchbacks, up and down mountainsides on the way down to the humid coast. They call this mininbus the VomitComet.

Having been warned, we took a heavy dose of dramamine, and really, it wasn't so bad.


We didn't take many photos in Puerto Escondido, but it is beautiful. Sandy beaches, calm coves, and on the main beach, some fierce waves. We learned that in Mid-November, the town holds a worldwide surfing competition, and gazing on the tight tubes that pounded the shore every ten seconds, it was easy to see why the place is a surfer's paradise.

Swimming though, is not a good idea. The sculpture of the reaching hands (above right) seems to me the best warning against attempting to enter the waters without a flotation device. The undertow is fierce, and even experienced surfers and swimmers lose their lives to its pull every year. Luckily, there are other beaches a quick walk or cab ride away where swimming and floating are featured activities.

Below- gratuitous hotel beauty shots. Our Hotel, Flor de Maria, was so adorably painted that it made me want to live in an alternate universe where everything is CHARMING.


Did I mention the rooftop? With pool? So, who wants to go next year?


But wait, one last very cool thing about Puerto Escondido is Lago de Manialtepec, a lagoon that, for several months out of the year, usually in the late summer-early fall, becomes insanely, beautifully, incredibly PHOSPHORESCENT!!!!



Plankton are what's afoot. When stimulated, they glow. Doesn't come out well in photos, but lemme tell ya- in person, it's astonishing. The water is warm due to the lake being partly fed by a thermal spring. You jump in, and instantly, you are the Glowing Blue Japanime Character of your dreams (You've had the dreams. Don't deny it.) Sweep your hand through the water, and it becomes alive with a bright blue, arm-shaped flame. Lift your hands from the water, and the drips glow. Climb out of the water, and your clothes SHIMMER. No foolin'- for a brief slice of life, you become your own disco ball.


Sasha and Malia (mmm, not really) were kicking it with us in a kayak. When travelling inside the boat out to the middle of the lake, spooked fish are visible beneath the surface of the water, rocketing away like little teardrop shaped bullets.

Lago Manialtepec. Put it on the bucket list.

Oaxaca town- daylight edition

While our visit to Oaxaca was largely dominated by the evening celebrations of Dia de Muertos, the city is charming and the people amazingly warm and welcoming. I'd be remiss not to feature a few shots sans skeletons, in the clean bright light of an Oaxacan afternoon.



The city has a beautiful Cathedral, set alongside a gorgeous convent/monastery which has been made into a fine museum.

The convent/monastery has large, elegant windows overlooking a gorgeous botanical garden on one side, and the Cathedral on the other.


Below, an unintentionally creepy woodwork, quite in spirit withthe Holiday.


To clear that wee bit of ghastliness away, a video of a wedding party exiting the Cathedral, complete with costumed dancers, full band, and a swirling giant paper mache bride. Giant groom showed up a bit later, also swirling, presumably from some of the local Mescal. I'm sure it was a sensational party.

Monte Alban

It takes about fifteen minutes by bus along a steep, switchback-heavy road to reach Monte Alban, the former Zapotec stronghold.



Monte Alban (casually named after the farmer who owned the land where it was found) was one of Mesoamerica's earliest cities, and was inhabited for almost 1,000 years, beginning around 500 B.C., peaking around year zero, and finally was abandoned around 750 A.D.



Situated on top of a hill, the temples offer views of the three valleys that comprise Oaxaca.

Below, Young poses in front of a ball court. The game was believed to be similar to the old Mayan favorite of "whack rubber ball through hole, lest you be sacrificed." High stakes make it exciting!



But life in Monte Alban was not all laughs and blood-sport, as evidenced by the stone murals, dubbed "The Danzantes" which feature the frowning faces of castrated and soon-to-be sacrificed prisoners.



The site is fascinating to visit, has a great museum featuring some skulls that were seemingly deformed via metal bands into unusual, elongated shapes, and other skulls which have teeth that are sharpened, capped, and otherwise altered. I was amazed to see that the zapotecs practiced early forms of brain surgery. before 750 A.D.!

A few more shots. They do not capture how massive and breathtaking the site is, and even when there, it tests the imagination to picture it as it must have been. Oh, for a time machine (and an invisibility cloak. Safety First.)

OAXACA - Dia De Muertos

I cannot really capture in words how truly fantastic the Dia de Muertos celebration is in Oaxaca. After a delayed departure from Puebla, we arrived in Oaxaca on Halloween about an hour after nightfall. We checked into our new favorite airbnb, and our host Victor told us that if we hurried to the city's Panteon General, we might be in time to catch the celebrations there.


The graveyard was filled with people, and the crypts that lined the walls were adorned with candles.


We were told that when the rather sedate gathering at the Panteon General ended, the real party would be starting a twenty minute drive away in Xoxo. When we arrived, we could not believe what we found-



This is probably the least freaky scenario that could be conjured from spending Halloween night walking through a graveyard. Flowers and candles everywhere. Music, family, smiling faces. Ah, Mexico.



The festival continued for the next two nights, in the graveyards and in the city streets amongst the living, and the fashionably painted to resemble the not so alive.



Nothing to see here but a giant ghoul on wheels-


The streets were packed with people long into the night-


Some Muerto-related street art


Before we end with some more music, a few of the Altares that people made to honor the deceased.
One of our favorites was dedicated to a Lucha Libre wrestler-


The following was dedicated to a theater director-


And this was just a spooky, diorama-esque display that we liked-

And here to play us out is one of the roving bands that entertained the calaveras, fantasmas, drag queens, and tourists long into the night-



Until next year, Descansa bien, Muertos.

Ferrocarriles! (en Puebla)

Many great things to share, but the first one is silly. Sometimes while traveling, one winds up in strange places, such at the Museo De Ferrocarriles in Puebla.



We saw some excellent old trains, which, as in los estados unidos, were a big part of modernization and development. This museum was great- largely untouristed, and they let visitors climb into some of the cars and lay on the tracks like tragic silent movie heroines.



"So all I'm doing is working here, and the foreman keeps riding me like it's my fault there are vacas all over the track slowing things down!"


Classic, velvety coach car-


Detail of conductor's car. Lot's of engine, not much view-