Baseball - Guerreros de Oaxaca vs. Leones de Yucatán

Oaxaca doesn't have a professional soccer team. Well, okay, they do have one. They're called the Chapulineros and they're in the third division and are poorly funded. I don't even know what their logo looks like because, as far as I can tell, nobody pays them any attention. Most Oaxacans' futbol loyalties lie with one of the three big national teams -- America, Pumas, and Chivas -- whose games are all televised and watched with riveted attention at every bar, restaurant, shop, and market stall in town.



While Oaxaca lacks a professional futbol team worth following, what Oaxaca does have is a professional baseball team -- the Guerreros ("Warriors") de Oaxaca. Alfredo Harp Helú, one of the richest dudes in Mexico, is a big lover of béisbol and a big patron of Oaxaca. In addition to having funded a bunch of art and social projects in the state, he's also the owner of the Guerreros. The team is well funded and they're off to a great start this season with a 7-1 record.

We've been anticipating the start of baseball season since our arrival in Oaxaca in October. We finally caught our first game last night. Joining us at the game were Ralph and Tanya (friends from language school), their friend John, and our new roommate Claire (a journalist from Chicago). As far as we could tell, the tickets were all one price: 50 pesos (about $4US), with a 50% discount for women. There are no assigned seats and, since Oaxacans apparently don't show up until the third inning, we scored some sweet front row seats behind home plate.

In some ways, it felt like we were watching a farm league game in the states. At least generally speaking, there were a lot of familiar things -- people selling concessions in the stands, dancing mascots, cheering fans. But in other ways, it was completely different.

For starters, the Guerreros have their own cheerleaders -- the Guerreritas, a scantily clad bunch of booty shakin', pelvis thrusting, thigh high boot wearing dancers, whose apparent job it is to distract the opposing team by grinding on the astroturf in front of their dugout. We had a pretty good view into that dugout and it seemed to be working.



Sadly, they did not have pretzels (or peanuts, or crackerjack). Instead, they sold traditional Oaxacan fare like tlayudas, tortas, and tacos, all of which are yummy in their own right, though not what I crave at a baseball game. On the bright side, the beer was cold and only cost $1.50.

Apart from ex-Minnesota Twin Lew Ford's awesome home run in the seventh inning, the most exciting moment of the night was when Alex caught a foul ball. Not only was it the first foul ball that he'd ever caught, but it was extra special because it was the only foul ball that actually fell in the seats all night (the stands were so shallow in the infield that all of the other balls went flying out into the street).



Although the game got off to a shaky start, the Guerreros looked great in the later innings, winning 7-4.

Toward the end of the game, Claire and I went up to take pictures with the Guerreros' mascot, a large bird named Tato, who had spent previous innings make lewd gestures at fans and burying an old guy's face into his crotch. Not surprisingly, getting a picture taken with Tato involved getting groped by the birdman while they played kissing noises over the loudspeaker. Probably worth the photo, but definitely not something I will repeat. We will, however, definitely be catching another game.



The full set of photos is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/documama/sets/72157623709625460/

Here Comes Santa Claus

Last Friday one of the directors of our language school called me and Alex into the office to ask us an important question -- "would Alex be willing to be Santa for 200+ primary school children on Monday morning?" Heck yes he would. The suit was awesome, although the beard, wig and gloves were all a bit damp from a recent washing. Once Alex was fully dressed with a pillow to give some bulk around the middle he was almost unrecognizable. Our roommate Alana and her boyfriend Antonio joined us for the fun.

The kids were totally adorable, especially the young ones, who really thought it was Santa (Alex had to eat his snack behind one of the backdrops so they wouldn't see him without his beard). The older kids were a little more skeptical. One class of kids was convinced that Alex was "Maestro Tony," their gringo English teacher. They also wanted to know why Alex was wearing Converse. He told them he'd left his boots up in the North Pole because they're obviously too warm for Oaxaca. Alex played the part perfectly and I spent the whole time taking pictures. Here are a couple of teasers (the rest of the photos are on my Flickr site):

Meet the Pets

One of the many benefits of our new apartment is that it comes with some pets. Here's a quick intro:

Marta. Tabby cat. Sleeps in our apartment.

Pros: she's clean (not as clean as Eugene, but she makes a decent effort), she's playful and snuggly, kills cockroaches and scorpions (or so we're told).

Cons: annoying meowing in the morning and night, attempts to jump into the refrigerator to eat our food, during Thanksgiving dinner she jumped up and licked the top of the cheesecake, devoured part of the birthday cake our roommate baked for me thus ruining the word "cumpleaños", Jekyll and Hyde purr then attack personality.

Nacho. Puppy. Recently acquired by our neighbors, Byron and Victoria, from the pet store outside the supermarket.

Pros: adorable.

Cons: going through his excited peeing phase, perpetually dirty because of all of the dust in this town.

Nube (Spanish for "cloud"). Semi-feral outdoor cat.

Pros: stays out of the way.

Cons: forgot/never learned how to clean herself which means she is covered in kitty dreadlocks, mostly deaf, indifferent to humans.

Dozer. Rescued shepherd who belongs to our apartment manager's son.

Pros: wants to be our friend

Cons: doesn't know how make friends, has a bad habit of nipping Alex, lurks around in the shadows on the roof at night, gets nervous and pees.

The Stray. A gray cat that has been eating Marta and Nube's food. She's elusive --finally managed to catch a picture of her as she was fleeing across the rooftops.

Pros: she's cute.

Cons: totally wild, her meow sounds like a dying baby goat.

You Can Take a Girl From Her Hoops, But You Can't Keep Her From Making More

The universe has, once again, provided. Alex and I were wandering around this afternoon, completely directionless, hoping to find a store that sells tubing that I could use to make hula hoops. I remained hopeful, but Alex was trying to be more realistic. We didn't know the Spanish word for the tubing so we couldn't ask anyone for help locating it. Moreover, stores in Oaxaca are extremely specialized -- there's a store, for example, that just sells cooking oil. Another sells corn tortillas (but not flour...you have to somewhere else for those). And then, there it was, sitting in the window of a store that sells generators and grinding machines: a large coil of 3/4" polyethylene tubing. They even had the right sized insert couplers. We bought enough to make three hoops and had them cut the tubing on the spot. After another adventure I managed to track down several different colors of electrical tape. And, now, dumdadum, we have hula hoops!

Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos was pretty awesome down here. There were altars made of sugar cane and marigolds. The altars were covered with offerings for the returning spirits of dead relatives. As per tradition, the offerings are tailored to what the dead relative liked when alive -- i.e, many altars had Coca Cola, cigarettes, whiskey and mezcal. And there were so many comparsas (lively bands parading down the street followed by throngs of costumed dancers) that you could jump from one to another nearly every block. We also visited the old "general" cemetery. It's ringed with walls of graves, each of which gets a candle on Dia de los Muertos. Everyone spoke in hushed tones. It was quite beautiful. In contrast to the solemn atmosphere inside the cemetery, there was a full on carnival (rides, food, carnival games) just outside the cemetery walls. One thing that's very clear when you're living down here is that Oaxacans don't miss an opportunity to celebrate. You can find our slideshow here.

Two Buck Chuck, We Miss You

Our local market is surprising well-stocked in the booze department. The one thing that we have yet to find, however, is a decent table wine. Alex insisted that we try Padre Kino, a Mexican wine in a carafe-shaped bottle with a pry-off plastic top.











1L for about $4. Best served cold, according to the label, or used as an ingredient in Sangria (not the best sell for drinking it straight). Here's Alex's reaction before, during, and after.








Yeah, it's that good. Neeeext!

Alebrijes

There are many different types of folk art in the state of Oaxaca -- rugs ("tapetes"), black pottery, green pottery, baskets, tin art. Each pueblo has its own speciality. Alebrijes -- brightly painted wooden figures -- are among the most recent additions to the Oaxacan folk art tradition. According to the May 1991 Smithsonian article that was included in one of our wedding cards, artists have only been making them since the 1950s. The subject matter can be pretty much anything. Animals are quite popular. Back in SF, we have an armadillo, a turkey and a porcupine. I found one at an artisan stand the other day that I had to have. Check it out:


It's from Arrazola, one of the three main alebrije towns in the Oaxaca Valley (the other two being San Martin Tilcajete and La Union Tejalapan). The level of detail is pretty amazing, plus there's a picture of a bat on top. We had just learned in class that the Spanish word for "bat" -- "murcielago" -- is the only word in the language that includes all five vowels. It's like I was predestined to own this alebrije. Alex is working on his "Alas, poor Yorick" monologue so that he can entertain guests when we have dinner parties.