Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
Staying somewhere with sweeping views of the sunset this year probably kept us focused that direction more often. But the skies above Oaxaca during January and February generally are pretty picture-perfect.
Music is everywhere in Oaxaca. Street performers park on the sidewalk, and wandering soloists and groups play for tips in the Zocalo. (If only they were forbidden from playing “My Way” ever again, particularly on the marimba….)
Dancers and brass bands booked for wedding celebrations are the norm every Saturday in front of Templo Santo Domingo and parading through the streets. Traditional jarocho bands perform regularly at Venadito Espacio Cultural.
An unusal addition to the sounds surrounding us this year was a musician who would show up most days at our extended breakfast time to practice classical pieces on the piano adjacent to our living area.
That, and the opportunity to hear a concert featuring Paul Cohen’s jazz group with an appearance by Lila Downs.
Leaving you with some snippets from celebrations in front of Santo Domingo.
He was handsome. And he knew it. Most mornings I would find him sitting on a limb outside our window as though to greet me. But he was a tease and would flitter off to a high bamboo pole on the far side of the yard the second a lens was pointed his direction.
This is the final delivery of postcards from our fall sojourn in colorful Guanajuato.
Postcards from Barton Springs 