Museum Opening, Puppets & More Park Time

Last day of cursos at the library was on Friday. Kaya had hard time separating from Dayanna but they all got tickets for a puppet show the following day so they agreed to meet up.
A new exhibit on Oaxacan photography opened Sat morning, so we were there with the crowd as the doors opened. As visitors milled in the giant two-story courtyard (photo), the band entered, followed by reporters. There were ceremonial speeches and long buffet table of free tacitos, horchata, and the potent little shots of mezcal. It was striking photography of traditional life from in and around the city. Here's the website of the exhibition. The colors on all the clothes are so vibrant. Somehow seemed a little corny to take pictures of the pictures so we embedded them in our minds. It is refreshing to see how valued the traditional Zapotec ways of life are and the support they get from the government of culture for the arts. Although the art support is obviously a boon to tourism, the government "functionarios" of Oaxaca are not well loved, especially the gobernador. The governor has been harshly criticized in the past few years because of various land distribution policies teacher salary reductions. Two years ago, there were mass protests and violence erupted with the police. As the annual Gaelaguetza Festival begins (dance ceremony pulling traditional dancers from all over the region), there has been an obvious upscaling of police presence. Not sure how reassured we should be with out "get out of jail free" card (tourist status that no one here wants to mess with)...... On Friday, the game on the way home from the biblioteca was to count all the officers (men in black with earpieces on the street corners with AK47s count too) and we got to 38. They all smiled at Max as he jubilantly said "buenas tardes Senor" to all of them.
I tried making a Oaxacan soup with squash flowers (sopa de guias) for luch and of course, as usual, I made enough for an army. Plus it wasn't exactly delicious. Kaya spent her quiet time making a cute card for Dayanna and taped a Burt's Bees lip balm that we'd brought just for this purpose. At the beautiful little downtown Teatro de Alcala, swarms of children flowing in from the rain. Dayanna was saving a seat for Kaya up in the very front row. Max and I sat a few rows back. The performance was a cute "talent show" of various giant puppents all manned by five university students. The singing was very "Cri-Cri"esque, which the kids love (can sound clowny for Mama's ears)- so after the show, we picked up a CD from the students in the lobby. I arranged with Dayanna's Mum to call on Thurs. of next week so we could figure out a way for the girls to get together again next week.
Kelsey's favorite spot in the city is the zocolo park. We could all sit there for hours watching the city hustle and bustle. It takes up two city blocks around the cathedral. People watching galore. We splurged and bought another 50 centavo long balloon to help fill up the Oaxacan landfills. The video of this is below. It didn't take long to deflate but just means stage two of the fun: tie each other together and go through the market.