Covered in Powder (o cubrió en el talco)

I discovered a new use for baby powder last weekend. I went with friends to Carnivale in Coita. I was warned in advance not to wear nice clothes and to bring a plastic bag to protect my camera. I learned first hand that it is tradition to throw baby powder on one another during Carnivale and for people young and not so young to have foam fights.

First, a quick overview of Carnivale. Carnivale begins the weekend before Ash Wednesday and celebrates native Zoque traditions that date back to pre-Hispanic times, as well as Arabic and Spanish traditions. The rituals symbolize the struggle between good and evil, between the Moors and Christians, which is why the main characters represented are Muhammad, David, and the horse of Arab-Spanish origins, and the tiger, jaguar, and monkey of Zoque origin.

Each small neighborhood in Coita is represented by one of the characters, my friend's family lives in the neighborhood that is represented by the horse. We started our celebration Saturday night at the marking of the horse (no horses were harmed). As with any good party, it starts with a parade. We waited at the party house, which I'm told switches every three years, and watched as the hosts prepared what seemed like thousands of tamales. Loud music signaled the parade was quickly approaching and I got a glimpse of the little boy who was dressed as the horse this year. Judge for yourself, but I think he looks just a little scared... But, as I said, no horses were harmed, including little kids dressed in costume. He quickly got out of costume and the horse (without the child) was hoisted to the ceiling. Then, a group of men practiced a really cool dance that was performed on Ash Wednesday. My favorite was the man practicing traditional dances in a Kiss T-shirt. I then had a "vegetarian" tamale. It was presented to me as having only vegetables, it's unfortunate that I don't consider chicken a vegetable or I could have finished the whole thing instead of passing it along to a friend. We went back to my friend's grandmothers for what I thought was the rest of the night since we put in "Despicable Me" (a great flick in any language). I was wrong, though. The movie was just tiding us over until the late night festivities.

The group of us went to watch a band play in what I can only describe as being a venue similar to a forest preserve shelter with open walls and beer in a can. It was a small group, like a family party that had someone's cousin's band playing. That is where I got my first experience with the baby powder. We were all dancing to the Marimba music, when the powder was all of a sudden flying. There is one difference in terms of dancing that can't go on unmentioned. The first band, a kind of alternative, rock-ish group played with the lights low and everyone sat around and listened, then the lights came up and the marimba band began and everyone was out of their seats. I cannot think of one occasion back home, besides Fred Astaire events, that people danced more when the lights were turned up. So, the band played, the powder flew and eventually, when the rock band came back and tried to sing in English, I made my way to the stage to help them out.

By the time we made it home, we took a quick nap and woke up an hour or so later for the morning parade. We knocked on doors and gathered offerings for the saint's alter at the party house. I had my first taste of pozol (a cold chocolaty corn beverage popular in Chiapas) and a caballito of what I assume was tequila to start the day off right. We left the "party house" for another nap before the afternoon parade. Similar to the parachicos, in this parade men dress in colorful feminine outfits and Spanish masks.

These green ones were my favorite, because they were the closest I was going to get to St. Patrick's Day here in Mexico (although I did do a good job of convincing most of my students to wear green yesterday). So, I joined these guys, along with people banging on drums, playing a reed with 24 notes and other traditional Zoque instruments that symbolize the beating of life and the whistling wind, through the streets of Coita for a good portion of the late morning. I came out of the parade covered in baby power and foam, and excited to have been able to participate in this amazing traditional event. Thanks to Estrella, Armando, Luisa and Estrella's family for having me!

Yikes, those crocodiles weren't plastic (o Ay, esos cocodrilos no fueron plásticos)

For those of you following me via my fb photo uploads, you know I went on an awesome nature trek last weekend. Where to? Amikuu.

Amikuu Marina is where our boat launched on the Grijalva River and made it's way through the canyon. I was looking up at has 900 meter cliffs (more than half a mile) for about a half hour until we made it to the park. Apparently it gets greener during rainy season, but for me, seeing that much green in February was fantastic. And there were spider monkeys and crocodiles. This canyon is so important to the state that its silhouette is the base of the Coat of Arms. And the boat paused just in time for us to take our pictures in front of the coat of arms.


Amikuu is part zoo, part nature preserve, part museum and 100 percent awesome! We disembarked and began exploring. I heard the Chiapas anthem, which is now one of my favorite Mexican songs, and passed though a rope entryway to the aviary. I'm not usually one for birds, but these were not your average birds. These birds were technicolored. The vibrant hues of teh macaws and tucans were unlike any color I've seen in nature before. I came nose to beak with a tucan, hesitantly, and posed for pictures with the "Fruitloops" famed bird. From the aviary we saw crocodiles, in cages, of course, because the force a crocodile's bite can excess of 5,000 pounds per square inch. Crocodiles also can go a year without eating, crazy. But, the snakes were in rooms with paths for people to walk through. It was creepy to be that close to a constrictor. After trekking past big cats we chose our two activities for the day: Repelling and Kayaking. I've never repelled before, and hope this first time won't be my last, because it was a lot of fun. We were only about 40 feet off the ground, but it feels higher when you look down. Then, we walked and walked to the front of the park to go kayaking. It was too bad that we couldn't go further than the little lagoon-like area, but it was still humbling to look up at the canyon from the water. The sun was warm and the breeze was calm, creating a perfect moment to sit back, relax, reflect and enjoy my amazing surroundings.

After our self propelled boating adventure we boarded our vessel back to the Marina. The driver sped through the canyon kicking up a little water which caused a bit of concern for one of the passengers who didn't understand the possibility, well the probability really, of getting wet when on a boat. After a "discussion" the driver slowed down. To be honest, I liked speeding though the canyon. The warm breeze was a welcome relief from the sun and the drops of water weren't anything to get uppity about, especially with the wind serving as a drier.

So, back at the marina, as the sun was beginning to set, I took a few minutes to get my land legs back. My Amikuu adventure was ending. We walked across the highway to catch a bus back home, and said goodbye to the great outdoors (for now).

(On a side note, I am ever amazed at how easy it is to find a bus going in the direction I need to go, and even more amazed at how cheap it is to get from point A to point B. We waited for maybe three minutes and caught a bus going straight to the city for less than two bucks.)