My Visit to México

One of my goals during my stay in Oaxaca was to venture to other parts of Mexico. After talking to a few friends, I decided it would definitely be worth it to visit the D.F. and fortunately I had the opportunity to do so a few weekends ago because I was invited to Rachael´s brother´s wedding, who also happens to be a good friend of my family. I boarded the bus to Mexico early Thursday afternoon and was well on my way around 3:00. It took over an hour to simply get out of the center of the city, due to the numerous street barricades and insane amounts of traffic that have accrued as a result of no police presence here. The drive to Mexico from Oaxaca is really pretty. I passed through a number of mountains and valleys along the way. And the time passed rather quickly until we arrived on the outskirts of the city around 7:30 that evening. Once we reached the D.F., I felt like it took us almost two hours to get to Tasqueña, the bus station where I was to be picked up. I was so happy to arrive that evening. Not to mention I was starving!

I stayed at Marco´s apartment in Coyoacan, which is a historic neighborhood within the city. The area has a number of really interesting museums, restaurants, shops and a lovely park surrounded by numerous cafes and storefronts. The next day we ventured over to the Anthropology Museum and spent over three hours exploring the different exhibits. The museum is organized according to the various cultural regions in Mexico. We spent a lot of time looking at codices and Olmec ruins. The Olmec region is in Tabasco, which is where my familia Oaxaqueña is from. This is a photo of Marco beside an Olmec sculpture (they have the same shape nose).

The morning before the wedding, we decided to visit Frida Kahlo´s house, which is also located in Coyoacan. Her home houses a museum now and you can see a number of her paintings and belongings. There is a large garden area in back (pictured here). The museum is amazing and I highly recommend visiting if you ever have a chance to go to Mexico. It was really interesting to see the work she completed right before she died.

Around noon on Saturday, we drove up to the north side of the city for the wedding. The ceremony and reception took place in a garden just a few miles outside of the D.F. We left three hours early for the wedding because we thought we would have enough time to change prior to the ceremony. Traffic was really heavy that day and it took us all of that time to reach the location. So we ended up changing in the tiny bathroom of the ceremony site, which was rather comical because we rushed about only to find we were the first guests to arrive. About an hour after the wedding was supposed to start, guests began to filter in. The wedding party arrived all at once and the civil ceremony, which was very short, was followed by an elaborate celebration that involved the consumption of large quantities of mezcal and a LOT of dancing. Part of the groom´s family is from the Isthmus (a region south of Oaxaca). Traditionally women from the Isthmus wear very ornate wedding garb with ribbons in their hair. Pictured here is one of the cousins performing a traditional dance in which candy is thrown into the crowds. The dance serves as a means to wish the couple well, to ensure they have a sweet future together. They also perform a snake dance in which everyone participates and forms a huge congo line which is led by the newlyweds. The festivities lasted until two or three in the morning. I returned home on a bus the next day with 40 of Rachael´s nearest and dearest family members and friends, most of whom I got to know very well during our 8 hour drive.

Being a part of a family has given me the opportunity to do a lot of things I would not have had a chance to see or do otherwise. Witnessing a Mexican wedding ceremony and reception was quite an experience. Celebrations are strongly valued here and people enjoy having any excuse to throw a party or festival. To the left is a picture of Marco and me after we´d been dancing for what felt like hours. You can tell we were both kind of tired. After the wedding I retired my dancing shoes for about a week.