Oaxaca and The Day of the Dead

I never really focussed on the fact that my birthday is 

the Mexican Day of the Dead, but hey,  Dia de los Meurtos is very very cool!  

So black-humoured and campy and fun - it really kicks butt on Halloween!

So, the Oct/Nov week off came - and it just seemed right to go to the Mexican heart soul and funny-bone of Dia de los Muertos - Oaxaca.  And so I did - took a night bus from Mexico City with 2 of my 3 English lads and we arrived bright and early on Nov 1.  Now, let me tell you - crowds were predicted, as this is a BIG festival, but the trick is to arrive at these things early, and avoid the crowds - and so we did. 

We got to the hotel that I had arranged (remember, I am known as the Compound Mother) and there we were - a perfectly nice little hotel:

Now, I may be truly old now but I have not lost my razor-sharp wit:  I told the boys we could only afford a black & white hotel.  (It seemed funnier after a long bus ride) .

Here is me with some of the locals:

  Just so you know, I am wearing a fetching skeleton necklace and earring set  :>)

Here is one of hundreds of altars to the dead - this can be a very personal memorial to one's relatives:

Candy figures heavily into the whole D of the D scene - this skull is a cake covered in marzipan:

The next day was spent at Monte Alban - one of the great ruins of a great lost culture:

Do ya see the moon?

And there I was in heaven, on my birthday:  ancient Mexico, with an eagle that soared overhead at one point, and me reading Shakespeare's sonnets.  No, it actually doesn't get better than that!!

Will write about the 2nd half of this trip - the beach part - later...

Adios, KMG