Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Sunday in Zihua

Yes, I realize it's Tuesday (and July, good lord) but yesterday was a little crazy. Among other things I've discovered ant nests in the handles of my blender AND coffee pot, a hornets' nest on the nightstand, and killed at least six cockroaches. Gross.

Sunday was election day here in Zihua so I went down to the plaza to take pictures of what I expected to be a chaotic scene. The two parties have campaigned heavily for the past month, plastering cars with their candidates slogans, covering buildings with banners and signs, and blasting recordings through megaphones. I assumed there'd be more of the same on the actual election day, so I hurried to the plaza to watch.

This is what I encountered:


The ballot boxes were in the gazebo and that's the only place I saw any sort of sign. This was the line:


I admit I was shocked at how quiet and orderly things were. Later that night Ibis and I decided to head down to the plaza to see if anything was going on. The community gathers there Sunday nights for food and entertainment, but we hadn't been in a while.

There was quite a display, complete with tribal headdreses and skimpy loinclothes. The vendors are in the same place as the election line in the previous shot. The rest are of different dance groups. They seem to have a thing for fire here.




Note the tiny little boy in the center of the circle. He's holding a torch as big as he is!


Here's the two of us.


And finally, boxing! Rumor has it there were supposed to be four fights, but only two boxers showed up. We stayed for the first couple rounds but had to leave because the bugs were eating me alive.


In all, a fun night!

12 comments:

colbymarshall said...

Interesting insight into another culture, as always. Cool pictures!

Spy Scribbler said...

Oh, man, is that food on the square? How fun is that? I'd go every Sunday!

You and your hubby look great! He's a cutie!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

We go at least once a month. The novelty wears off pretty quickly so unless there's a cool performance, we don't stay very long. My favorite ice cream place is across from the plaza so I ALWAYS hit that on the way home. :)

WendyCinNYC said...

The line to vote looks more orderly than it does at my polling station. Those old ladies can get cranky when they have to wait.

Janna Leadbetter said...

What?! No close-up of the skimpy loincloth? *gasp* You're dead to me.

lol...

CUTE pic of the two of you!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Wendy, I was surprised how calm everything was. Mexicans are not known for their orderly lines.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Janna, trust me, you're better off not seeing those pictures. I did take a closer shot, but the men are not in their prime. ;)

Melody Platz said...

I am still feeling large doses of sympathy for you and your infested kitchen equipment. I love to eat, and finding insects (especially nests) in my kitchen would dampen my joy just a little.

Melody Platz

>The Happy Wanderer – A Blog about Traveling Fun

Melanie Hooyenga said...

I forgot to mention the nest of mysterious origin I discovered in the guest room. At first I thought it was a hardened piece of dirt but there's ZERO way a hardened piece of dirt could have gotten there. Then I saw the tunnel.

*shudders*

Janna Leadbetter said...

Okay, Mel, I trust your judgment. You can exist again.

:D

Anonymous said...

HA! My glasses are geekier than yours cuz they're orange and blue. I so win the geek war.

jes

Melanie Hooyenga said...

JES?!?!?!?

Is that YOU?

You can win the geeky award if you're really back. Oh, I'm about to fall over with excitement. :)

And my glasses have neon green on the inside so they do have that little extra something.