SECOND HALF OF JUNE IN OAXACA ...VISITOR

   Sandra arrived today to visit from California where she was attending her daughter's graduation in L.A.

 She is a SERVAS member that I showed around last February and returned for a while to take a break .  Being a dancer, I signed her and I up for some Cuban Dance lessons at the library.  I need to stay active and it is a 6 week course.  
        We had lunch at the Pachote Market after she settled in.

SALAD AND GRILLED FISH

COCONUT SHRIMP FRIED RICE AND FRUIT

        That afternoon we attended the first dance lesson at the library.  Well after going forward when I was supposed to be going back and my confusion over dance instructions due to my poor hearing I turned in the towel and choose to keep walking instead.

    She retired early after a long overnight flight and 6 hour wait in Mexico City.  

    The next day we decided to attend an event on Porfirio Diaz Calle but could not find the place. Nice Market there that I seldom get to see because it's uphill.

 A Mexican shop owner told us the address was not in Central Oaxaca but in Colonial Reforma in the North.  After taking a bus and walking a while we found the area but no event was taking place.  We had lunch and caught the bus back.

MEXICAN SEAFOOD COCKTAIL WITH CLAMATO JUICE

That evening was dinner at Biznaga.

HUITLACHE QUESADILLA

CHICKEN VEGETABLE SOUP

SOUP STUFF

 Thursday we was nice so we took in some exhibits of textiles and upholstering.

Quick stop at a "Factory Outlet" store...where I sometimes buy my clothes.

More exhibits...

A late afternoon snack at the Bakery

Then a Tribute to Jango Reinhardt that evening. after Spaghetti and Wine at a casual Tapas Bar

The days were passing quickly.  Sandra ran off to do more dance or yoga or walk then we decided to treat ourselves at the Catedral,a cut above the other restaurants.  We paused on the way to listen to a band. We split a Corn Bread and Cheese appetizer.  She had the Seared Tuna and I had  Steak Mole with Oaxacan Cheese..

 Cabuche was our choice for late lunch the next day.  She had the salad and I had a Chicken Fajita Burrito.

Friday was Organic Market Day...I wanted to get some ingredients for our Pot Luck dinner on Sunday in Teotitlan de Valle.

We had a Comida Corrida at Sabor Restaurant across from a grocery store where I bought some canned corn for my Pot Luck Salad.  The comida is a three course meal with a beverage. It cost 65 Pesos, around $3.50 and you have a selection of 4-5 entrees to choose from and soup or salad with the dessert at the end. We had the Fruit and Vegetable Salad...which was a meal.  She had the Chile with Cheese and Rice..I had the Pozole Corn soup with Chicken and Pork..We had Poached Pears for dessert.

The weather started to change the next day.  It threatened rain and thankfully cooled down a bit.

 When Sandra returned from her Salsa Dance or Yoga....We visited Tres Bistro for Oysters, Mushrooms

PICKED IN THE MOUNTAINS THAT DAY...HUGE AND DELICIOUS.

I had my usual Broiled Salmon and Roasted Vegetables.  I ended up taking most of it home.

We passed a LOW RIDER showing his car to a friend.

There was a concert at the library we wanted to attend. The next evening.  The Sax seemed a little nervous...or Avante Garde?

You can judge for yourself.  There was another concert at the same time so we missed it...but the owner of Sol y Luna, a favorite restaurant was playing there.  We went to his restaurant after and when he finished, He stopped in his restaurant.  We were the only ones until he arrived with his fans following to fill the place up.  He told me he would be doing a repeat performance in the dining room with his Banda del Sur group on July 15th.  I will attend. A couple pictures on the way home.

On Sunday, we attended a fundraiser for an Organization that supported Latinos in America that needed legal representation to apply for Citizenship, Green Cards, Work Visa, or to fight deportation where families were split up...as in the case of a lady in Phoenix that had been in the USA for 17 years had children there, worked and paid taxes, applied for legal aide and had been granted asylum under Obama's Dreamers program but was sent to Nogales where her parents awaited her to take her back to Oaxaca...along with a few others.  Hundreds showed in Phoenix to protest and try and block her deportation but to no avail. The Legal Aide Fund is supports by a number of groups including Black Lives Matter, ACLU, etc.  Norma a 5 year resident of Teotitlan de Valle hosted the dinner along with Jackie.  There were 20 attending the Pot Luck.  We took a Taxi with a Corn and Bean Salad with Avocado, Tomato, Red Pepper, Pineapple, etc...it was well received. Norma supplied some local
Mescal along with Hosting one table of 10. while Jackie Hosted another for an interesting conversation among the guests.  Their were artists, s Professor that taught in Venezuela for 15 years,
Mexicans from Oaxaca, an Oncologist that worked and lived in Amsterdam for 7 years,  etc...all at our table were from the States and were world travelers.  We had a great time and managed to get a ride home with the Mexican couple from Oaxaca.

We asked them to drop us near a Coffee House owned by Lila Downs, a world famous Oaxacan Singer that lives above the Coffee House.  They were having some Cuban or Brazilian band that played unique music.  My friend Zoe told us about it and she was there when we arrived after walking in a picturesque neighborhood I seldom visited...so I took some pictures.

It was on the side of a Mountain.  That is why I never ventured there.  We were anticipating great entertainment...but way too loud!  When we arrived Zoe took the opportunity to step outside while Sandra held our seats.

We returned but the noise was so loud..again judge for yourself. Zoe gave us a ride home.

The next afternoon we took a trip to San Martin where Sandra shopped and bought some nice carvings for her home to take back. I took a lot of Graffiti Art Photos...such talented artists and carvers.

SANDRA'S FINAL PURCHASE AND THE ARTIST...HE WAS SAD TO SELL IT

A Funeral Procession was in Progress as we departed San Martin with the Widower dressed in Black all the friends carrying Lilies with one carrying the shovel for all to assist .
     We took a Moto Taxi to the main road then caught a bus that took us to our Street.  

Break for Miscellaneous photos....Squash Blossoms...

 Mini Avocados with regular one...a real Juice Orange and Red Pepper

 Real 10%Oaxacan Chocolate with NO SUGAR...

Local Fortune Teller

The fortune?  
si no tienes pareja una parte di ti hoy deseara ser seducidoa y dejarse arrastrar por las pasiones pero la otra parte tendra muchas reticencias ya que necesita controlar.  

Tu hogar se convertira en el refugio perfecto si tienes pareja, la relaciou sera fenomenal vuestra comprension sera casi perfecta Felicidades

If you do not have a partner, one part of you today would want to be seduced and be dragged by the passions but the other party will have many reticences as they need to control.

Your home will become the perfect refuge if you have a partner, the relationship will be phenomenal your understanding will be almost perfect Congratulations

Tribute to EMT's and their Ambulances

My Casa behind the flowering tree.

Ceviche in Pepper

The most popular Corn on the Cob Vendor in Oaxaca

Experiencing a Thunder storm here at 5000 foot altitude is apparently different than Phoenix at Sea Level.  In Arizona we look up at the lightening here we look right at it...with ear plugs.

I decided I'm not doing politics ...only throwing support for organizations that Trump opposes...Planned Parenthood,Endowment for the Arts, PBS, Latino defense fund, the environment, solar energy, education, a decent Healthcare plan, legalized Marijuana, prison reform, climate change...doctor's without borders...etc etc etc

Our Representives

Taking away our freedom of choice and costing us money.

In Any Other Country, This Would be Decried as Corruption

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee agreed by voice vote earlier this week to add a new restriction on the ability of foreign airlines to fly into the US.  The measure will allow the Secretary of Transportation to deny requests by any foreign carrier to fly to the US if the Secretary believes doing so would ‘erode labor standards’ due to the airline being established in a country other than that in which its majority owners reside in, so as to avoid regulations of the country where the owners reside.

No, this isn’t valid legislation to protect either us as fliers or other Americans as aviation related workers.  ‘Erode labor standards’ is code for ‘sell airfares at lower costs than the US carriers do’.

This legislation is about one thing and one thing only – making it harder for airlines such as Norwegian Air to bring lower cost higher quality flights to the US.  The only thing being protected here are the dysfunctional US carriers that have no notion of how to compete with new quality airlines, and so resort to lobbying and deal making to erect specious new levels of protection against new quality carriers offering better service, better quality, and better value.

The legislation would also seem to fly in the face of the open skies treaty agreement between the US and EU.  What Norwegian Air is doing is nothing unique.  These days it is far from uncommon for an airline to operate from bases removed from where the majority of its shareholders live.  For example, British Airways, based in London, is owned by International Airlines Group, a company that is registered in Madrid, Spain.  KLM is owned by Air France.  Or how about any airline which has a hub in a country other than that which it is registered in, such as Delta with its hub in Amsterdam?

The US airlines already managed to delay for no valid reason at all Norwegian’s expanded presence into the US for three years, and now seek further ‘legislative clubs’ with which to bludgeon other low-priced carriers and to keep them away from us.

We love to ridicule corruption in other countries, while choosing not to see it in our own country.  How can this legislation be described as anything other than a corrupt piece of unneeded law that does not protect us, only the three major US carriers.  The legislation is anti-competition, and the complete opposite of the American values of free markets and competition which our country supposedly embraces and which we proudly claim made us the greatest economic power in the world.


See you in July!  Have a Happy Fourth!!