Feria de Tlaltenango

    The Tlaltenango Festival has come to a close, and the only sign that a full half mile of street was for days a huge, vibrant conglomeration of smells, colors, and people are the freshly trimmed tree branches along the road and the brillant facade of flowers covering the church that sat at the center of the festivities.  

    This year was the 288th year since the miracle sighting of "Nuestra Señora de los Milagros."  Stalls selling everything from staplers to finely embroidered Chiapas blouses

lined the street in a double row. When it rained, tarps mostly kept the rain off people's heads, but the street ran with water, in some places a half-inch deep.  Regina and I were both fascinated with the sweet breads, but leery about the freshness of them.  our doubts were confirmed when we saw the number of flies trapped under the plastic put over the food to keep the rain off.  The word "swarming" came to mind.  No thanks! 

     We now have two new mugs (we can now host 4 for breakfast and coffee!) and I met a woman from Otovalo, Ecuador.  I was able to dredge up a little of my Quichua and we both had fun speaking a language not usually spoken outside of Ecuador (and Peru, if you count Quechua).   My one regret is that I didn't buy a bottle of the potent yellow-hued "rumpope" that we tried - you can get it in the stores, but it's always more fun buying something like that from somebody who made it!