San Andreas Huayapam Fiesta
Last week, with friends, I attended the annual San Andreas Huayapam Fiesta about 25 minutes northeast of Oaxaca City. Very well organized with a lot of people for such a small pueblo. There was a local band that played music during the fireworks that scared the heck out of me and kept me well back from the action. Men ran up and down with with fireworks shooting out of structures built like bulls and castles. Once in awhile small boys would chase after a wheel that would spin off into the crowd.
Then a huge structure was lit with continuous fireworks shooting up and down and up into the night sky. Young men walked around giving out free copas of mescal and cigarettes. Food stands and carnival rides for the kids surrounded the band stands and dance area. I understand that each family was assessed $30 for the fiesta…a very large amount for most people. By the end of the night no one had ended up in jail as is often the case. When the fireworks were finished a great band played for the dance that began at 1am. The band played until 5am with no break.
Tags: Dancing, Festivals & Ceremonies, Huayapam, Mexico, Oaxaca, Videos
Zoe
I waited so long to post a reply to this comment, because, frankly, it was frightening to me. Frightening because at the time I was living in Oaxaca and was afraid of being fingered by your corrupt government for being a “meddling foreigner” via your blog comment. How did I know who you really are? Why was I suspicious?
I don’t know how you got the idea I was an APPO supporter. I have only been observing and reporting what I see. I have seen people being beaten and arrested and either disappeared or thrown in jail without being charged for a crime. Nearly 25 people have been picked off and killed by your government thugs.
Where is your “due process?”
You say the APPO is an enemy of “the people,” not the government. What “people” are you referring to?
Yes, your government is corrupt…and a sham democracy. I suspect you have lived in the States for quite awhile. You know better.
You say the law here is “whatever the corrupt government wants it to be”, let’s take a moment to see what you are talking about.
Here is what the law is doing in Oaxaca. It is arresting people who burn down buildings, steal cars and burn them, steal buses and burn them, smash shop windows and then steal the contents of the shop, throw gasoline bombs in the street, deface public and private property, etc, etc, etc. And you have the audacity to call these arrests government corruption!!!
I would have thought that now that your leader Sosa is in jail that you might have learned to think before you write.
The government is not the enemy of the people, APPO is. The government has not burned buildings, stolen cars, destroyed livelihoods, almost bankrupted the local economy, APPO has.
Hopefully the next on the arrest list are the meddling gringos who are supporting the APPO terrorists. If you want to be a terrorist then do it in your own country. Our poor have enough problems here already without APPO and their gringo supporters destroying what little commerce we have.